Class Summaries: 6 JAN 06

This is the first entry of a daily class summary. After each class, I will compose a summary of what we did in class, including any handouts, announcements, graphics, and quizzes. I will explain the focus of the course, the policies, and the intro to mythology. I will divide the class summary into four sections each week: topics, announcements, handouts, and assignments. If you have any questions, please e-mail me (see the link in the title bar). The summaries should be especially valuable to those who are absent, but they also serve as a written record of class.

There are millions of ways to teach this class, but I have selected the most ancient readings of the earliest civilizations. There are many reasons for this. One is that you will be amazed that the oldest stories still pertain to our lives today. The people living 5,000 years ago faced the same human emotions, fears, concerns, and joys as we do in the 21st century. They worried about life and death, they had money problems, fights with their relatives, questions about their purpose in life, etc. Yes, the contexts are different, but the human experience is very similar. You will learn a lot about yourself and about your society through these readings. Also, you will be introduced to the origins of many familiar stories, including many myths from the Bible (Creation, Noah's Flood, Cain and Abel) as well as other classic literature (such as The Odyssey and even nursery rhymes). Let's examine where we as civilized humans came from and see how close or how far away we have traveled in the past 6,000 years.

Finally, here is an important word regarding the approach that I will be using this semester. When we discuss the different titles, I will share with you interpretations of these stories based on years of scholarly research in these areas, including references to psychology, sociology, medicine, law, science, archetecture, astronomy, and philosophy. One of the main voices will be that of the late Joseph Campbell, the pre-eminent 20th century American mythologist. When approaching extinct cultures, I will try to speak with the voice of the ancients and present the material as they might have wanted it to be understood. In sum, the words that leave my mouth will NOT necessarily be my personal opinions, nor the opinions of KSU. In fact, most of the things that I say in class will not reflect personal beliefs. You don't have to "believe in" or "worship" the Big Bad Wolf to understand Little Red Riding Hood. You have to understand what the characters symbolize and how these metaphors relate to your own experiences. Only you can answer that, and Joseph Campbell uses the same approach. He indicates in The Power of Myth that he does not discuss mythology centered around any one "system" of thought, but rather accepts each culture's unique insights and contributions to world literature.

Not every student will like every story this semester. Some of the readings address very blunt realities of life and death, including war and sexuality. I will not "sugar-coat" the messages from these stories (this is not Disney). If you are ever uncomfortable discussing these more serious topics, then I recommend having a conference with me. I also told a story today about a former student who was reluctant to read Gilgamesh, the world's oldest epic. He thought that he would go to Hell if he read the story, so he didn't read it on the assigned day. I asked him to discuss this quandary with his minister, who informed my student that he had read that very title himself in seminary school. After being reassured of its safety, my student read the story, after which he informed me that it was his favorite title that he had read by that time in his life. The literature this semester will be different, and at times very odd, but every one of them will help us to see valuable insights in to what it means to be a human being, no matter the time or place of your existence.

Lastly, I will be highlighting the feminine over the masculine throughout much of the semester. I do this to offer you a different perspective than you might expect from a literature class, since most of the authors that you are familiar with are dead white males. I am a white man myself, so I am not "disrespecting" men at all. We will see shortly that most of the early literature praises both men and women for their unique contributions, but the woman was granted a very special place in the early literature, mostly recognized through symbols. Women give birth to new life, and therefore were viewed as divine (until male-dominated societies effectively squashed their power). And yes, these feminine symbols are everywhere in the Bible, even though women as characters may not always be present. Where is woman during Biblical creation? You'll soon see.

NOTE: One text is still at the printer — my coursepacket, entitled Symbolic Connections in World Literature (7th edition). It should arrive at the KSU Bookstore in the next few weeks. It contains reading guides for every story on the syllabus, helpful background information, and many titles of literature, including every reading for the Egyptian unit. Until these materials become available, I will provide everything that you need in the form of class handouts or hyperlinks on this website. Here is the first one, your course syllabus.

(Note: I will be updating this syllabus because it does not yet contain the new page numbers that pertain to your version of the coursepacket. I'll post the new one in a day or two, so refrain from printing it for the time being).

(Also note that this syllabus differs from the one that my Monday-Wednesday sections will be using.

Today we examined the foundations of mythological thinking, which will allow us to understand the symbols and metaphors that will confront us all semester. Today we reviewed some creation stories from around the world, selected passages from Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth, and we were introduced to the concepts of dualism that we will see in nearly every story this semester.

Here are a few links that will explain a few definitions to several key terms that we will use throughout the semester:

Ancient Civilizations Timeline

Introduction to Mythology — a myth is a traditional story dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes that informs or shapes the world
view of people, as by explaining the aspects of the natural world or outlining the customs or ideals of a society.

Duality — the state of being twofold; existence divided equally between opposing attributes; necessary opposites

Archetypes — a term used to describe universal symbols that evoke deep and sometimes unconscious responses in a reader. In literature, characters, images, and themes that symbolically embody universal meanings and basic human experiences, regardless of when or where they live, are considered archetypes. Common literary archetypes include stories of quests, initiations, scapegoats, descents to the underworld, and ascents to heaven.

Also, we reviewed several different Creation Stories today. The focus of the presentation centered around metaphors, and how to examine an idea metaphorically, as opposed to literally. Nearly everything that we read this semester must be viewed metaphorically, since that was the intention of these early cultures. Talking animals and magical feats of strength are representations of something else that lives in the shadows of these ideas. We will look closely at these shadows. Here is a document that contains six creation myths. Try to answer the questions to see what the semester readings will be like. You will not be responsible for this information on any quiz or test, but it's a great place to start: Creation Stories.

To reinforce these ideas, I read an old fable, originally from the far East, called "The Oak and the Reed." The following version of this fable was translated by 17th century French author Jean de la Fontaine:

The Oak and the Reed Jean de la Fontaine (17th cent.) Translated by James Michie
One day the oak said to the reed,
“You have good cause indeed
To accuse Nature of being unkind.
To you a wren must seem
An intolerable burden, and the least puff of wind
That chances to wrinkle the face of the stream
Forces your head low; whereas, I,
Huge as a Caucasian peak, defy
Not only the sun’s glare, but the worst the weather can do.
What seems a breeze to me is a gale for you.
Had you been born in the lee of my leaf-sheltered ground,
You would have suffered less. I should have kept you warm,
But you reeds are usually found
On the moist borders of the kingdom of the storm.
It strikes me that, to you, Nature has been unfair.”

“Your pity,” the plant replied, “springs from a kind heart,
But please don’t be anxious on my part:
Your fear of the winds ought to be greater than mine.
I bend, but I never break. You, till now, have been able to bear
Their fearful buffets without flexing your spine,
But let us wait and see.”

Even as he spoke,
From the horizon’s nethermost gloom,
The worst storm the North had ever bred in its womb
Furiously awoke.
The tree stood firm; the reed began to bend.
The wind redoubled its efforts to blow —
So much so,
That in the end
It uprooted the one that had touched the sky with its head,
But whose feet reached to the region of the dead.

Notice that this story is filled with metaphors. The oak really doesn't speak to the reed — their actions are personified, and their behaviors are metaphorical. I did not have to explain this to you, since it was obvious. However, if you were to read The Bhagavad-Gita, you would see a god (a Christ figure named Krishna, which is the ancient Sanskrit term for "Christ") commanding a human warrior to kill his family on a battlefield. Again, if you look at this behavior literally, you will be angry and bitter with these readings. Once we understand the mythological and cultural contexts, you will see the wisdom and logic of these messages. Many students need a few weeks before these ideas begin to sink in, so please be patient and ask lots of questions!

I will avoid discussing "truth" in this class, since mythology does not address "truth" directly. Instead, we will concentrate on the validity of an argument ("validity" means something that is "reasonably acceptable") . Cavemen looked on the horizon and concluded that the Earth was flat, since that's what their eyes were telling them. Their conclusion was false, of course, when measured as truth, but given their understanding of the world and their limited technology with which to measure it, this answer is quite valid. Let's strive for validity in our interpretations — you don't have to be "right," but you do have to have a strong supporting reason for your interpretations, and they need to match with the intention of the mythological archetypes.

Read the creation stories in the above link, then read further commentary about them in the following section:

http://pere.20megsfree.com/linux/lletters/Yin-yang.png
Since we started class with the Taoist creation story, I used the yin/yang diagram to illustrate this interaction between opposing forces (hence, a duality). These opposing (but necessary) concepts of creation, such as the interaction of opposing forces (dualities), are the building blocks of everything (metaphorically speaking). Taoism uses the yin/yang symbol to represent the need for two forces to come together in the act of creation. The yin and yang promote two sides (a dark side and a light side), commingling in a circular boundary. Each side contains a tine speck of the other side's substance, demonstrating the interconnectivity between both sides.

The YANG is known as the MALE force, while the YIN represents the FEMALE forces of creation. Keep in mind that these two sides do not refer to men and women, but rather opposing forces in nature. The list below does not intend to infer that men are hot and women are cold, for instance. The combination of heat and coolness makes living as men and women possible. All people contain combinations of both male and female forces:

YANG	YIN
active	passive
light	dark
hot	cold
fire	water
sun	moon
heaven	earth
firm	loose
strong	weak
male	female

We looked at the consistent interplay between male and female forces in each of these stories. Each Creator contributes to the world only by assimilating, commingling, or accepting these dualities into one transcendent manifestation. In other words, we see male creator gods who create by injecting their idea into the form. The male forces (actions, movements, inseminations, etc.) cannot create anything unless it uses the female force (water, soil, egg, and other "building blocks") as well. These stories do not tell us the secrets of where all these things came from, but they show how the pre-existing entities must combine in order for a third to be created. Several stories show creatures springing forth from cracked eggs or rocks, and then combine their creative ideas with their shells (forms) to create the first beings. These beings then take over the creation themselves.

Remember that we are looking at the metaphors in these stories. Metaphors ask us to transcend (go beyond) their physical forms. Joseph Campbell suggests that the concept of god cannot be understood by limiting him/her/it to our world of dualities. God must exist beyond our forms (language, symbols, words), and it is our job to find these concepts beyond these dualities (the universal concept of "God" therefore cannot be either "male" or "female," not only "good" with no trace of "bad." This concept must transcend these physical limitations, and can only be experienced by understanding the unification of these pairs of opposites). We will see this message reinforced throughout the unit.

In fact, the ancients idealized perfection (or godliness, eternity, truth, etc.) as the unity if the dualities. We humans are stuck in this world of dualities, which causes our conflicts. Immediately, we tend to place things into dual categories: "I like brunettes, but I don't like asparagus." But can you both enjoy AND dislike something simultaneously? Yes we can, but this is the closest that we can get to transcending these dualities. I am a man, so I have no understanding of living in a female body. If I cannot experience this first-hand, then I really can't know how to unite this and other dualities. That wisdom belongs to the realm of the gods.

As a preview to several readings, I explained that a snake or serpent is an archetype, but it usually does not represent evil, as is taught in many Sunday Schools. The serpent is a universal symbol of life and rebirth, because it sheds its skin (and then often consumes it), re-emerging as a new creature, changed in some way from its previous form. Joseph Campbell calls this being "twice born," and Christians call this concept "born again." Mythologically speaking, we are constantly being born again, as new phases of our lives provide us the impetus for changes, yielding our more complete understanding of something after living through these new experiences.

We will see many creatures become "twice born," and many will become born again, and again, and again, etc. Sure, you can still consider the serpent to be evil in the Garden of Eden story if you'd like to, but you will be missing the metaphors and archetypes that hold a deeper meaning than the literal interpretations can provide.

Metaphors are very important to understand when reading the Central African story, where Bumba vomits up the elements of creation. Notice that Bumba is white. Why would a Central African culture depict their god as white? Well, don't think of the skin color, but rather the light force (male force) what activates the darker (earthly) matter. Likewise, don't be disgusted with the acts of vomiting or dismemberment. Bumba projects his creation in a unique way, since he cannot give birth as a woman does. We learn here that Bumba really isn't puking (not a flattering position for a god to be in!). Rather, we learn that creation is the act of releasing the creatuive force that resides inside each of us. When we give birth to a creation, we can do so through our mouths, hands, or birth canals. These are gods making the ultimate sacrifices for their creations — giving completely of themselves because we are all part of their creation. Even the ancient Norse (Scandinavians) told a story of their gods dismembering a giant (Ymir), using his body to make the mountains and the valleys, using Ymir's eyebrows creatively as fjords! These are universal creation archetypes, and they are very beautiful when not taken literally. Rather than looking at a puking god, uncover the meanings behind the images.

Amongst some of the more interesting ideas discussed today was the Melanesian story of Qat, the Banks Islands Creator God. In this tale, Qat must find a way to create night (rather than light out of the darkness). He does this by exchanging a pig for night, trading with a neighboring island. This shows how cultures exchanged goods as well as ideas. It also demonstrates again the need for united dualities. It seems odd to see Qat teach his brothers how to fall asleep, which shows that they were not in touch with their natures until the balancing force of night was introduced to the society. In fact, we see that the duality of society/nature is also a male/female force duality. The word "cosmos" is the ancient Greek word for "village," which is opposite from "chaos" ("yawn," or indifference to order). Qat, by attaining night, allows the village to be created and better managed (day — sleep — day, etc.).

The story of the Earth Diver represented this by showing both "god" and "man" as two identical black geese. Both are creators, but they appear in the same form. If these two birds were to fly overhead, which one would be God and which man? By looking at them, we cannot tell. We have to examine their actions, not their appearances! In this story, man is also called "devil," which got some people confused today. The ancient Greeks looked at "the devil" differently. The original word "daemon" actually is defined as an "intermediary between gods and man." We'll see many examples of this later, especially in the Adam and Eve story, where we will see the serpent as the demon ... although a necessary dark force that helps us to understand God by combining it together with the light forces. Be patient ... you will understand more and more as we go along.

Two other tales, the creation story from the Rig Veda and The Churning of the Milky Ocean, come from Hinduism. The Rig Veda creation tale demonstrates the creation as first existing in a feminine ideal, then action from the male forces causes the dual mixture to stir, thus creating a third, unique entity. Notice that this reading overtly states that nobody really knows about creation, since creation came long before the gods did! This story begins with a watery void of chaos (feminine qualities), and then in infused by "seminal powers" ("seminal" means "semen"). We see these male and female forces at work here. The end of this reading suggests that God Himself might not know too. This does not dilute the power of the god concept, but rather places it into a different construct than Western ears are accustomed to hearing. We'll understand this viewpoint better when we study the Eastern unit later this semester.

I also summarized the Hindu creation story from the handout, called "The Churning of the Milky Ocean." We saw this tale represented beautifully in a video that I will show you later, Quest for the Lost Civilization. In this myth, at the beginning of creation, the gods were not successful in acquiring the elixir of life from the bottom of the ocean. Vishnu, the Hindu god of preservation, incarnates himself into a tortoise that rests at the bottom of the ocean and allows Mount Mandara to pivot upon his back, allowing the mountain to rotate easily. Working together, the gods AND demons equally assist each other to stir the mountain that churns the elixir of life. The gods tugged at one end of a giant snake (Vasuki), while the demons yanked at the opposite end. The snake wrapped itself around the mountain, thus twisting it with each tug. The churning motion released the magic waters, which still had to be separated from the poison (remember that with the good comes the bad!). The Hindu god of destruction (Shiva) volunteered to drink the poison, which turned his throat a deep blue color. Since then, Hindu art depicts their gods as having blue skin, a sign of holiness. Western art typically uses a halo around a god's head. Again, the looks of a god are not necessarily representing the way the people actually looked — everything is symbolic.

There are a few tricks played by Vishnu in this story, and trickery will be a common motif this semester as well. Cunning or slyness (trickery) is usually associated with the dark forces (devils, demons, etc.), not the gods or the forces of light. However, Vishnu transforms himself into a beautiful woman (Mohini), who attracts the demons and forces them to follow her commands. This trick allows the gods to sample the nectar of immortality, but the demons were left with none after Mohini disappears. Thus, we see an example of a god acting like a demon (a force for order acting like a force for chaos). Likewise, we also see instances where the demons act in orderly and structured ways, such as when they agree to participate in the churning (they play an equal role with the gods) and when they adhere to the promises that they make to Mohini. Much like the yin/yang, a little speck of sinfulness appears in the gods, and a little speck of righteousness appears in the demons. Both sides must work together to create a perfect balance. In order to understand this, however, we must see past (transcend) our limited world of dualities.

In sum, we looked at the consistent interplay between male and female forces in each of these stories. Each Creator contributes to the world only by assimilating, commingling, or accepting these dualities into one transcendent manifestation. In other words, we see male creator gods who create by injecting their idea into the form (the feminine contributions). The male force (spirit, soul, idea) cannot create anything unless it uses the female force (water, soil, egg) as well. These stories do not tell us the secrets of where all these things came from, but they show how the pre-existing entities must combine in order for a third to be created (an original form of the "holy trinity"). Campbell explains these stories as helping us to see the Divine in our surroundings. Several stories show creatures springing forth from cracked eggs, and then combining their creative ideas with their shells (forms) to create the first beings. These beings then take over the creation themselves.

In sum, we looked at the consistent interplay between male and female forces in each of these stories. Each Creator contributes to the world only by assimilating, commingling, or accepting these dualities into one transcendent manifestation. In other words, we see male creator gods who create by injecting their idea into the form. The male force (spirit, soul, idea) cannot create anything unless it uses the female force (water, soil, egg) as well. These stories do not tell us the secrets of where all these things came from, but they show how the pre-existing entities must combine in order for a third to be created. Several stories show creatures springing forth from cracked eggs, and then combine their creative ideas with their shells (forms) to create the first beings. These beings then take over the creation themselves.

These stories will NOT be a part of any quiz this semester. We simply used them to warm up for our first unit on mythology. I guarantee that you will understand the material better when you read several stories from the same culture that incorporate the same gods over and over. You will be able to see more patterns and to understand the context and environments of these early cultures.

If you missed the first class, I'd love to receive an e-mail from you regarding your entry into class. let me know if I can assist you with anything to bet our semester started.

The following readings are due (to be read before entering class on Friday). The documents highlighted in dark red are required readings. Please print them, annotate them, and bring them to class.

The remaining titles are supplemental, and are not required to print or read. I will not quiz or test you on them, but reviewing them will give you a deeper and more complete understanding of the concepts introduced in the main required titles.

Although each quiz is only worth 2% of your semester grade, they will allow you to test and measure your progress and receive feedback each week to build your foundation of understanding.

When answering questions for the one-paragraph response, you cannot address all the stories. Rather, make an assessment of the actions of the male and female forces overall. How do the male forces seem to work in all or most of the stories? Are similar characters given these qualities? How are the feminine forces represented? What is the interplay between these forces, and what is the result?

When writing a paragraph response to a 5-point question, he very best way to impress is to do the following three things:

1) Establish a clear thesis (opinion/conclusion) at the top of your paragraph.

2) Devote some time to explaining and defending your points of view. Since this is an interpretive response, your answers could differ from those of your classmates. Therefore, you need to write convincingly, demonstrating your knowledge of the material as well as your understanding of the concepts at work.

3) Refer to specific examples from one or more stories to justify your interpretation. You may wish to quote or summarize specific portions of the texts to indicate the exactplaces that you are discussing. Provide page references whenever appropriate to help me to locate passages and sections that might not be identifiable at first glance.

FYI: Your response does not need to be typed. A handwritten response will be evaluated the same way as one that is typed. If I cannot read your handwriting, however, then I may not understand your response.

	Class Summary: FRI 6 JAN 2006
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