“This simultaneity of the underworld with the daily world is imaged by Hades coinciding indistinguishably with Zeus, or identical with Zeus chthonios. The brotherhood of Zeus and Hades says that the upper and lower worlds are the same; only the perspectives differ. There is only one and the same universe, coexistent and synchronous, but one brother’s view sees it from above and through light, the other from below and into its darkness. Hades' realm is contiguous with life; touching it at all points, just below it, its shadow brother giving to life its depth and psyche.”
Fantastic. So exciting to find some of the same ideas coming in from other, unexpected places. Like Greek mythology. I should amend: unexpected to me, since I know nothing of it except some childish memories and some movies. It all seemed silly. This doesn't. This is getting to the core of our existence.
What it doesn't get to is our reluctance - which may be a modern phenomenon, I don't know - to confront this reality, and more importantly, to live with it. To be in both Zeus' and Hades' realm simultaneously. Now that's what I call living.
For me we are living in both worlds all the time. The old myths are really recognitions of energy channels that are around us all the time. It somehow makes it easier to call them Zeus or Hades or Poseidon or (you choose the name). By naming the energy channels "external gods" we are separating the reality of that energy from us. The myth makes it all a bit more unreal, and possibly a bit easier to hang out with.
ReplyDeleteagreed that that's where we are all the time. I think our problems - at least the psychological ones, and I mean that in the deepest sense - come from trying to hide from that, not confront it, cover it over, to not "be there" and so, eventually, we're not anywhere at all.
ReplyDeleteRe the myth, I find all approaches to this mystery helpful as I go forward. In a certain sense I'm working against my own (human) nature here, so new info like this makes a surprise attack possible.