Yes – trying to get all the JCF associates to talk about the same thing is like trying to herd cats. And I do appreciate your angle on the resurrection of myth. But for me recognizing science as mythic has everything to do with resurrecting the myth.Great little excursion into "science as myth". Now to get this thread back on to the original track...
- Nandu
A transition has been made whereby scientific authority has replaced religious authority. I guess some people are comfortable with a divided heart – consulting the preacher on Sunday and the psychologist on Monday.
But for many people my age, the religious ceremonies we grew up with are just too hollow to take seriously. And the reason they’re hollow is because, in Moyers words in POM, “science has made a house cleaning of our beliefs”.
So science has become the authority and I ask myself how this affects us mythically. And I look to some of the stories that have gripped our attention – 2001 Space Odyssey, the Star Trek mystique, and the Star Wars mystique. On a list of top grossing films of all time seven of the top ten had to do with science fiction and fantasy.
Through these idiotic stories, we are groping for a new mythology. But as myth watchers, we needn’t play favorites, preferring the monolith in 2001 Space Odyssey over the Michelangelo’s image of God, or ‘the Force’ in Star Wars to the ‘Holy Spirit’ of Western religion, or ‘the Matrix’ in the film of like name over Vishnu’s dream; but rather appreciate the persistence of myth, its transformation, and what Campbell referred to as – The Masks of God.
That’s how I consider resurrecting the myth.
- NoMan