The role of myths and recovery from addiction

Introducing people of all ages to mythology... in pre-college educational curricula, youth orgs, the media, etc. Share your knowledge, stories, unit and lesson plans, techniques, and more.

Moderators: Clemsy, Martin_Weyers, Cindy B.

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Gregory Casey (engima)
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Post by Gregory Casey (engima) »

Are there any thoughts on the role or myths and recovery from addiction?

Gregory
Los Angeles, CA
People are not looking for the meaning of life, they are dying to add meaning to their lives...Mystics can help in that transistion.

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Post by Guest »

Gregory,

There's a thead called "The Mythos of AA" in the Conversation with a Thousand Faces forum.

Your contributions would be welcome.

T.H.

walter
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Post by walter »

gregory, I am a substance abuse counselor for high school kids at the local high school. I share your desire for a way to teach kids using myth/metaphor. I don't have any great ideas at the moment, but I will think about it and get back to you at this site. So many of my kids are from such dysfunctional families and have abusive parents that Cindarella comes to my mind. I feel like all of my kids are hero's and heroine's because they are fighting powerful destructive forces so any of the hero's journey tales might be instructive..I am just not too familiar with myths. lets keep talking ..

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Post by Martin_Weyers »

Yeah, Walter, let's keep talking ...
... our moderator Clemsy, who is a myth-inspired teacher, has some experience with an abused pupil, and this seems to be your professional field of action. Maybe, once there will be opportunity to share your insights!

http://www.jcf.org/new/forum/viewtopic. ... orum=27&13

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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Martin on 2003-02-20 22:43 ]</font>

Mark O.
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Post by Mark O. »

Walter,

I just welcomed you in a private message, but let me do it publicly here: Hello and welcome!
On 2003-02-20 21:58, walter wrote:
I share your desire for a way to teach kids using myth/metaphor. . . I feel like all of my kids are hero's and heroine's because they are fighting powerful destructive forces so any of the hero's journey tales might be instructive.
A post by ksumpter in the <a href="http://www.jcf.org/new/forum/viewtopic. ... 1"><b>High School Mythology</b></a> thread included the URL for <a href="http://www.midwaycenter.com"><b>The Midway Center</b></a>. There you will find a link to "The Journey, A Creative Approach to the Necessary Crises of Adolescence" - a very compelling approach to helping kids navigate the murky waters of teendom.

Caveat: I don't know anything about the Midway Center or its packages and workshops. I just thought that the information on the site was pertinent to the discussion...

Is this the kind of stuff you're looking for? Or would you like some references to specific stories?

Mark

walter
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Post by walter »

Mark and Martin, thanks for the replies. Martin, how about this one: "rythmic arcs of red pulsed gently in the morning sun."

Mark, I checked out that website and that curriculum is expensive.. I dont know about you, but I am not wild about spending $300 on something I don't know if I can use, but I would like to keep talking about it and researching it to see if it is something I can use with my kids. I went on to read another thread in "Mythology in High School" and it inspired me to think about the possibility of analyzing popular cultural mythology that the kids enjoy such as Eminem to learn what messages the kids are responding to and to help the kids communicate what they are thinking and feeling. What do you think?

Gregory Casey (engima)
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Post by Gregory Casey (engima) »

Walter, I am glad to read your response. I believe that are lives are full of living myths. People can relate to Cinderella because they have lived it or parts of it. That is the gift of story tellers, to tell stories that touch us all. Your students are all mystic story tellers or their own lives. They, like the rest of us, need to find their own solutions.

I taught mathematics and use to talk about the myths of math. For example a circle has 360 degrees in it. Each degree is equal distance from the other. If you look at a circle like a present situation or problem and each degree like a present answer or solution; that means you have a potential 360 answers to get you beyond that situation. The realities are that many of us do not try to look at the many answers. We run to old reliable ones. You see that in addictions.

Math like all of life is full of opportunities.

Gregory
People are not looking for the meaning of life, they are dying to add meaning to their lives...Mystics can help in that transistion.

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Post by Mark O. »

To Walter:
I thought the same thing when I looked at the price tag of the Midway Center curriculum. I wish I lived near D.C. so I could stop by and see it in action.

About "the possibility of analyzing popular cultural mythology that the kids enjoy..." I think it is one of the most important responsibilities we have working with kids. It's just hard when their idols are our worst nightmares:
Rapper Juvenile, accused of hitting a man on the head with a champagne bottle and grabbing a police officer, pleaded guilty today (Feb. 21) in Miami to felony battery and was sentenced to 75 hours of community service. Juvenile, whose real name is Terius Gray, will also be on unsupervised probation for one year, donate $5,000 to a local children's charity, and pay $782 in court costs as part of a plea deal. If he violates his probation, he would face a possible five years in prison.
...
Juvenile still faces legal trouble in New Orleans, where he was arrested late last month on cocaine possession. He also faces a simple robbery charge from an incident in September. (<a href="http://www.billboard.com/billboard/index.jsp">Source</a>)
On Tuesday, the day his new album ''Chocolate Factory'' was released, R. Kelly was hit with yet another accusation of illicit sex. A 24-year-old woman accused him of sexually assaulting her that day at a Chicago recording studio, the Associated Press reports.
...
Kelly is currently free on bond and awaiting trial in Chicago on 21 counts of child pornography over the notorious videotape that emerged last year that allegedly shows him having sex with an underage girl. He also faces child porn charges in Florida stemming from similar images allegedly found on a digital camera in his home there. (<a href="http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,4253 ... >Source</a>)
If you want a crash course in youth culture, see my next post...

Mark O.
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Post by Mark O. »

<b>The Three-step Youth Culture Crash Course</b>

<b>STEP 1:</b> Go to Billboard.com's "<a href="http://www.billboard.com/billboard/char ... 0.jsp">The Billboard 200</a>." See who's hot (at this posting, 50 Cent's "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" album is #1).

<b>STEP 2:</b> Go to <a href="http://www.dapslyrics.com/">Dap's Lyrics</a>. At the top of the page you will find a horizontal alphabet menu. Select the first letter of your artist's name (I clicked the # sign for 50 Cent).

<b>STEP 3:</b> Select your artist's lyrics from the list and explore a new world (I followed the link to the <a href="http://www.dapslyrics.com/albums/50Cent.html">50 Cent album lyrics</a>). Warning: The lyrics for this album may be offensive to some people -- read with caution.

Optional Step:

<b>STEP 4:</b> Take a deep breath and then <a href="http://www.com-www.com/musiclyrics/mcfe ... tml">click here</a> for the antidote.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: mythinker on 2003-02-23 00:13 ]</font>

walter
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Post by walter »

yes, mythinker, isnt it part of the Hero's Journey, though, to experience the dark side. Do hero's go thru "bad boy" phases? Or are they always "good boys/girls" battling the "dark forces"?
I don't have a lot of knowledge about Mythology, but it doesnt seem realistic to me, to expect only some of the population to be able to be instructed by Myths. If we all cannot learn, especially those of us who need it most (drug addicts/truants/drop outs), what good are the myths. My gut tells me that there is something important all of us can learn from these bad boy rappers..they must be reflecting thoughts/feelings prevalent in our youth. I would like to find a way for popular culture/art to be instructive to kids. I am still learning. walter

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Post by walter »

mythinker, I just read the lyrics to "8 Mile" on the Dap web page you posted..please read it and tell me what you think.

Mark O.
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Post by Mark O. »

Some heroes do go through bad-boy phases (Gilgamesh starts of as a bad-boy). They all grapple with darkness, evil, desolation, etc. at some point.

Walter wrote:
I don't have a lot of knowledge about Mythology, but it doesnt seem realistic to me, to expect only some of the population to be able to be instructed by Myths. If we all cannot learn, especially those of us who need it most (drug addicts/truants/drop outs), what good are the myths.
I agree with you. Mythology books are written for the entertainment of young children or the education of adult scholars -- not for teenagers. For adolescents, we find that mythology has pierced its ear, gotten tattoos and a nose ring and is comfortably nestling into a form that many adults can't recognize. Or don't want to recognize.

If we wish to nurture and guide our children (as parents, counselors, teachers, etc), shouldn't we explore the worlds they inhabit? Or do we give up because it's too hard: my kid won't talk to me / I can't stand that noise she calls music / why did you do that to your hair? -- Of course it's hard. Translating between two cultures is very challenging and requires us to learn a new language, or dialect, or at least vernacular. It seems especially hard when addiction is a factor in the equation.

Walter continues:
My gut tells me that there is something important all of us can learn from these bad boy rappers..they must be reflecting thoughts/feelings prevalent in our youth. I would like to find a way for popular culture/art to be instructive to kids.
Me, too. My point in the posts above is that we adults are often offended, incredulous, shocked by the art/ists our kids respond to. Which means that we will be less likely to see any positive message or grounding principles.

Eminem's music (and here I'm responding to your last post) is powerful stuff. It has attracted the attention not only of youth, but of many activist groups, the US Congress, and concerned parents. Why? His lyrics are angry, misogynistic, homophobic. They promote violence (against society, his mother, his wife, etc.), crime, and drugs.

But wait. Look closer. I see what you see, Walter. I am still more child than adult inside. I respond to it - makes me want to rage against the machine, monkeywrench the system, topple the ivory tower. Pandora's box flies open revealing the darkness and pain and suffering, the violent aching rage. That's what most adults hear. They don't/won't take the time to read to the bottom where that little fleck of hope shines:
<i>
"I am no longer scared now, I'm free as a bird
Then I turn and cross over the median curb
Hit the verbs and all you see is a blur from 8 Mile Road" (from 8 Mile)

"Hailie, remember when I said, if you ever need anything
Daddy would be right there? Guess what?
Daddy's here, and I ain't going nowhere baby
I love you" (from Hailie's Song)

"I found my niche, you gonna hear my voice,
Till you sick of it you ain’t gonna have a choice,
If I gotta scream till I have half a lung,
If I have half a chance I grab it, rabbit run..." (from Run Rabbit, Run)
</i>
So, yes. Mythology is for everyone. The trick is finding mythic expression in the folds of pop culture. Yes, Eminem is a Hero/Trickster of the highest order. Do we have to like him? No. Do we have to live with him? Yes. Can we learn from him? Yes, if we listen with right kind of ears. If seek the message in the music, try to understand how he wields words as swords, hear that underneath the bravado and image he slips in a little hope and you-can-do-it-because-I-did-it.

One parting thought: in many oral cultures, some stories were to be told only to men, or specifically to young men undergoing particular rites. Some tribal traditions speak stories as medicine and only certain people can tell them. Some stories men didn't hear because they travelled from mother to daughter at the hearth. So, in a way, some mythology was not for everyone, but we all have our myths.

Mark

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