Do you TRULY dislike mythology… Or are you just viewing it through a narcissistic lens?
Pills of wisdom #6
People think gods and mythical creatures are like Marvel comic superheroes… Some of them even took that literally, ran with it, and built an entertainment empire on that very assumption.
(I’m kidding, in fact I have MORE respect for Stan Lee and Jack Kirby than I have for the pseudo-intellectuals in “pagan” communities today. At least the Marvel authors admit they made a simplified spin-off for entertainment. And it’s really cool! I like the comics and the movies. Great concept).
When I say people view mythology through a narcissistic lens, I’m not accusing every one of these people (who will relate to my comment) of being narcissists or having a personality disorder of the same name. What I’m truly saying is they’re having a narcissistic attitude — not that they, as people, are inherently and entirely narcissistic. You can have attitudes that don’t define your entire self, FYI.
Narcissism is, after all, the act of fixating on yourself and forgetting about everything else. So, for example, reducing something complex (such as thousand-year-old myths) to the teeny tiny interpretation by one person (you) and disregarding the fact that the same myth could be interpreted in other ways by other people, and all of these billions of possible interpretations are equally valid. Look at all the riches of information we’re ignoring when we have a narcissistic attitude! When we say, “my understanding of this old story is the only one I’ll ever pay attention to, my understanding is the only one that matters”. Wow! How self-important! Should we all bow to you?
The above is usually done unconsciously. I know people are very unlikely to use the exact words I used above (unless they DO have the personality disorder, lol), but on an unconscious level, that’s what their brain is doing. That’s why some will go like, “oh, this myth right here is stupid. Everybody knows such-and-such thing can’t literally happen” (assumption of literality. I interpret it literally, therefore everyone should too. Only my interpretation matters. Narcissistic). Or alternatively, “oh, this myth here reflects a societal norm/prejudice. That’s the only possible explanation for god X behaving in Y manner” (assumption of morality. I interpret it as a moral lesson like, “oh, let’s all behave like this god because he’s the main character” instead of seeing it as an allegory for an implacable phenomenon of nature, or a paradox, or a cautionary tale, or a zillion of other possibilities. Only what I saw matters. Narcissistic).
If you’d like to get a bit more clinical and less speculative, actually, there is one trait of NPD (narcissistic personality disorder) that can be perceived in this negative attitude most people have against polytheism: lack of object constancy.
Have you ever tried making a god object constant? Or are you just going to keep making your judgement constant, and freezing this deity in time as “the one who did [insert wrong thing here]”?
I mean… can’t gods grow as characters, just like every fictional character ever? Are we cancelling gods now? Is that what cancel culture has come to?
Don’t worry. There’s no need to worship them (only if you wanna. In that case, welcome to the club). I’m just challenging you to try looking at the same story from a variety of angles and not just yours. It’s fun, and it can also be informative. What do you have to lose? I thought you didn’t even believe them? ;)
I’ll use Hellenic examples since I’m familiar with them.
Minerva cursed one of her own priestesses and transformed her into a monster (Medusa) because of envy. Oh, you thought it was Athena? Nope. We’re talking about the Roman version of the myth here. In Greece, Medusa was born a monster. You’re welcome. But let’s run with the controversial and most recent version of the myth, the one by Ovid, because even in that one, there can be a wise lesson and something beyond “just ignorance and prejudice”. How do you think Minerva became wise? Was she just born that way? Well… Not exactly. She was born armed, strategic, and devoid of emotion (or empathy for that matter) but not necessarily wise. This myth could serve as an explanation of how she learned, the hardest way, that wisdom doesn’t equal shutting down your heart. Hence, (and not since birth!), she became a god of wisdom. Ya know… object constancy is a beautiful thing. It helps you see the character (or god) through a more complex lens and give them grace to learn lessons along their journey through myths. See how much better that is, instead of just judging and condemning and not looking back unless they’re flawless and cuddly?
Apollo killed python, a child of Gaia (“mother Earth”) to defend his mother Leto from being harmed by this dragon. But it was a murder nonetheless, of a holy creature, for which he (yes, a god) needed purification afterwards. So, what does that symbolise? Some people would say “men replacing women” (because that’s when the goddess’ oracle started belonging to a god), but that’s simplistic. First of all, how funny, how very funny and ironic that if that was the case (if indeed it symbolised “men replacing women”, and nothing else, period), culturally they maintained, ya know, a PRIESTESS doing the job and not a male priest. I swear to god, the dumb simplistic interpretations I keep hearing are outrageous, I wish I could unhear them. Anyway, back on topic: what else can that myth symbolise? What about a “lesser of two evils” dilemma, also bringing us a lesson about the importance of liminality (the line between life and death, between chthonic and ouranic, between earth and sky) when we communicate with the divine in search of inspired answers? I bet many people hadn’t thought of that. No, of course they haven’t. They’re too immature. It’s definitely more fun to go like “good girl, bad guy, that’s it, period”. Ooga-booga back to you, ya dimwit.
Hades kidnapped young and innocent Persephone and forced her to marry him. Oh no! How cruel! How reflective of sexist Ancient Greek society! Yes… AND… What else is there to see in this myth? I mean… Isn’t Hades death? Doesn’t death take away young girls from the caring embrace of their mothers every now and then? (Definitely more back then. All hail modern medicine). Death is implacable, and also, death is natural. It’s the only certainty we have. We’re all gonna die. There’s a lot more to the myth of Persephone which I won’t get into (or this post will become a book), and yes, there IS sexism in it, because if there wasn’t it could be, IDK, a young man being kidnapped by mother death. Or father death. Or gender-fluid and non-conforming death figure. Whatever. We all know and aren’t ignoring the fact this myth was written by people who lived in a sexist society. I’m not denying that. I’m simply saying, “is that all there is to it”? If a sexist teacher teaches you a lesson, are you going to dismiss the entirety of the lesson? If there’s a baby in the bathwater, do you throw it away with the dirty bathwater?
Object constancy problems make us… a little too perfectionist, don’t they? Like, holy moly, how high up in the sky ARE your standards? If someone isn’t completely flawless, spotless, perfect and wholesome in every way from goddamn day one, you’re going to cancel them?
Food for thought.
