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sepdetFirst woman elected to baseball Hall of Fame
Mostly posted because, scarily enough, I am eager for the baseball season to start. Quoth Mr. Garibaldi: "Lousy Dodgers".
And in other news, I hope my current condition is PMS. Gosh I am impatient with things and people these days. I want to rant, bitch, and moan, but alas, that's all I do, and most of it is stuff I can't rant, bitch, and moan about in public places.
Okay, so this entry isn't a TOTAL waste of bandwidth.
Somebody on the plaza asked if anyone considered that there was a tiny, remote possibility that Elves really exist.
Going back to the quote that inspired you-- there is a third alternative.
Once upon a time (as all good stories should begin), the great Mythographer Joseph Campbell was interviewed by a belligerent radio host who started the interview with, "A myth is a lie."
Campbell said, "no, it's a metaphor."
The interviewer, who was interested in making Campbell look like an idiot, fell back on "It's a lie."
They went around and around. Close to the end of the time, Campbell suddenly realized that this fellow was falling into the usual trap of assuming that there is only black and white, true and false, lie and fact.
So he turned it around. "Give me an example of a metaphor."
"I'm not a teacher," the interviewer protested, or something to that effect.
"I'm going to ask a question. What's a metaphor?"
And the guy hemmed and hawed and finally said, "My friend John runs fast. He's like a deer."
And Campbell said, "That is not a metaphor. That is a simile. The metaphor is, 'John is a deer.'"
"That's a lie!" said the interviewer said angrily.
"No. It's a metaphor."
The End.
Joseph Campbell read the myths and tales of world cultures and felt extremely passionately about the functions of myth and its innate truths. He considered it a profound mistake of modern western culture, that we "historicize" mythology by emphasizing that certain famous incidents in our religious history actually happened -- to him, what is important is not whether those tales were "real" or whether Jesus even exists, but whether the message, meaning, and ideas that story tells us are true for us. Historical dates, facts and figures have no bearing on us, but what we know, think, dream and tell stories about...that dictates and shapes our lives.
Now Tolkien also understood this idea. In his private writings, he talks a lot about Sub-creation. Tolkien's line of reasoning, being good Catholic: God creates worlds. Man, made in the image of God, creates... imaginal worlds.
You don't necessary have to follow Tolkien's religion to grasp his concept of sub-creation. Well-designed fantasy is not simply lies, falsehoods, or flimsy and haphazard bits of random words thrown together without reason, logic, or meaning. No, stories are worlds woven of words that mean something... in fact all stories are is meaning, narrative, ideas, thoughts, images. There's nothing else to them save meaning, and meaning is a form of truth. Myths are not facts. But they are not lies. They are, in a sense, real in the way that the piece of music you heard yesterday is still music today even if you can't hear it with your ear right now. In your head, the music is there. Well-crafted fantasy worlds can be as meaningful and alive as that memory you have of someone you met ten years ago. You cannot touch or talk to either of them, but they occupy a place in your soul.
And soul is real. It's just not a fact, because you can't measure, dissect, or analyze it.
In soul... Tolkien's Elves are there, and the Silmarils shine as brightly as ever.
Or, as dorlith reminds us, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."
*wanders off to read my James Hillman homework for the day*
Mostly posted because, scarily enough, I am eager for the baseball season to start. Quoth Mr. Garibaldi: "Lousy Dodgers".
And in other news, I hope my current condition is PMS. Gosh I am impatient with things and people these days. I want to rant, bitch, and moan, but alas, that's all I do, and most of it is stuff I can't rant, bitch, and moan about in public places.
Okay, so this entry isn't a TOTAL waste of bandwidth.
Somebody on the plaza asked if anyone considered that there was a tiny, remote possibility that Elves really exist.
Going back to the quote that inspired you-- there is a third alternative.
Once upon a time (as all good stories should begin), the great Mythographer Joseph Campbell was interviewed by a belligerent radio host who started the interview with, "A myth is a lie."
Campbell said, "no, it's a metaphor."
The interviewer, who was interested in making Campbell look like an idiot, fell back on "It's a lie."
They went around and around. Close to the end of the time, Campbell suddenly realized that this fellow was falling into the usual trap of assuming that there is only black and white, true and false, lie and fact.
So he turned it around. "Give me an example of a metaphor."
"I'm not a teacher," the interviewer protested, or something to that effect.
"I'm going to ask a question. What's a metaphor?"
And the guy hemmed and hawed and finally said, "My friend John runs fast. He's like a deer."
And Campbell said, "That is not a metaphor. That is a simile. The metaphor is, 'John is a deer.'"
"That's a lie!" said the interviewer said angrily.
"No. It's a metaphor."
The End.
Joseph Campbell read the myths and tales of world cultures and felt extremely passionately about the functions of myth and its innate truths. He considered it a profound mistake of modern western culture, that we "historicize" mythology by emphasizing that certain famous incidents in our religious history actually happened -- to him, what is important is not whether those tales were "real" or whether Jesus even exists, but whether the message, meaning, and ideas that story tells us are true for us. Historical dates, facts and figures have no bearing on us, but what we know, think, dream and tell stories about...that dictates and shapes our lives.
Now Tolkien also understood this idea. In his private writings, he talks a lot about Sub-creation. Tolkien's line of reasoning, being good Catholic: God creates worlds. Man, made in the image of God, creates... imaginal worlds.
You don't necessary have to follow Tolkien's religion to grasp his concept of sub-creation. Well-designed fantasy is not simply lies, falsehoods, or flimsy and haphazard bits of random words thrown together without reason, logic, or meaning. No, stories are worlds woven of words that mean something... in fact all stories are is meaning, narrative, ideas, thoughts, images. There's nothing else to them save meaning, and meaning is a form of truth. Myths are not facts. But they are not lies. They are, in a sense, real in the way that the piece of music you heard yesterday is still music today even if you can't hear it with your ear right now. In your head, the music is there. Well-crafted fantasy worlds can be as meaningful and alive as that memory you have of someone you met ten years ago. You cannot touch or talk to either of them, but they occupy a place in your soul.
And soul is real. It's just not a fact, because you can't measure, dissect, or analyze it.
In soul... Tolkien's Elves are there, and the Silmarils shine as brightly as ever.
Or, as dorlith reminds us, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."
*wanders off to read my James Hillman homework for the day*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-02-27 10:41 pm (UTC)Elves: =D
Cranky: =
no subject
Date: 2006-02-27 11:00 pm (UTC)Why do I not stop when I say I'm going to?
Make that REALLY cranky.
Okay. Time to get back to depth psychology.
It doesn't help to understand why the little autonomous psyche-demons from below are going to pay NO ATTENTION whatsoever to the top of the brain saying, "I like these people. I like doing these things. There is so much good stuff here, and things I am good at doing, and things I can make happen. This is all very worthwhile, and I know I have the skills to do this well." And then the demons from the depths snarl, claw, and spit at the people who seem unkind, inconsiderate, abrupt, and dismissive of others. And the demons say, "I I am not good at this anyway... and I am screwing up all these ways, and see, I'm letting down THAT person and THAT person and THAT person." And the demons say, "I don't want to do this now, I want to go write, or... be able to do what i wish, without feeling guilty for what I'm not doing."
Beh. No wonder we have so many wish-fulfillment legends about dragonslaying.
no subject
And of course elves exist! Hel-looo, Daughter of the Three Kindreds of the Eldar here! Bearer of Silcarch, rider of Ranaroch, mother of a dynasty into forever and a day! Pick a cliche, and that's Mantauriel the Heaven-singer :-DDD (Who is a metaphor for Miss Marion's wish fulfilment, I think)
no subject
Date: 2006-02-28 08:45 pm (UTC)