That Which I Have Learned

That Which I have Learned

Its not very often that I have a hard time “b-s”-ing a paper.  If you are any type of English or writing major, you know the drill: put on some mindless music and type a few pages of insightful, snotty reflection that will make you stand out from all the other snotty English majors. And, if you BS hard enough, your professor might even consider your snotty writing as witty, and then you’ve really struck the intellectual jackpot.  

However, for the first time since I entered the world of formal education, I had a really hard time spouting out crap that rolls off the tongue and puts across ideas that I don’t necessarily believe or care about.  I could have just gone on some huge rant about how mythology has magically solved all of my problems and that now all the stars are aligned and all of life’s questions have been answered.

Well, this time, however, that is not the case. I am going to be honest.

Isn’t that funny, that these myths which are popularly considered lies are in fact leading to truth?

Ill start by saying this: Mythology is hard.  Its complicated.  It asks the tough questions and answers the questions we don’t want answers to.  Like why Greek men have small butts, or the meaning of “sparagmos”, or all the ways a poor Australian boy can have his manhood sliced and diced. Like we learned from all the initiation rights, “no pain, no gain”.  The people who still practice these rituals might have something over us.  While we are growing up in a 100% organic, helmet-obsessed, plushy playground culture, we have forgotten that those scrapes and bruises we got as kids (back when things were a nickel) have turned into scars.  Scars tell stories.  They teach lessons that we will never forget.

Myth also makes us rethink the attitudes with which we approach everyday life. All the trials and challenges found in mythology make our daily struggles seem pretty trivial.  Maybe that is why we don’t acknowledge mythology as a truth-  it makes our reality seem less significant. Nonetheless, I would argue that more people need to experience this realization-  that we are small pieces in a huge puzzle, rather than the other way around.

Myth forces us to think deeper.

Heck, it made me think a lot more about why things are the way they are.  It stopped me from being lazy in my reasoning.  Rather than just giving the easy answer of “things are just the way they are because they always have been and ‘they’  say so”, I now find myself responsible for a lot of vital information that I can no longer ignore. Mythology gives mankind a base to explain the most difficult to the simplest of anomalies.  I find it comforting to attribute something to an ancient source rather than just a scientific theory.  While the latter can be argued to be more significant, I ask: what is more significant than history? Or culture? Mythology gives the human race something that we cannot cook up in a lab or write down in a scientific journal.

Mythology has also taught me the importance of listening.  Someone in our class made a brilliant statement about how one might lose an evening listening to a story, but in turn, they gain a lifetime.  While, I must admit, I sometimes find myself nodding off when Dr. Sexton goes into story mode, I can also say that I am often jolted awake by one of his insightful quotes that I feel like I need to frame over my fireplace.  Wisdom is something one cannot skim over on Sparknotes, or gain in a quick exchange of greetings on the street.  It takes time.  I guess you could say that myth has also taught me to be patient.  Over the hundreds of years that passed before we heard these myths, their truths were gaining the validity and knowledge that comes with old age.   How could we expect to understand them if we don’t take the time to listen? They have lifetimes of wisdom under their metaphorical belts, and who are we to give them any less time than they require?  Even by spending time in class listening to the stories of my peers,  I find  myself looking at people differently.  As a society, we have been conditioned to believe that all we need to know about a person we can learn on a speed date, or over a text, or through a Facebook picture.  I have learned that this is no way to truly understand a person.  To really get to know someone’s soul, you have to take the time to listen to the stories that have shaped who they are.

This class has become so much more than a blog post, or an attendance point, or a snotty paper.  It has truly been a learning experience that I will not soon forget.  It has helped me realize that mythology has always been and is will always be. And that, is what I have learned.