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The meaning of Myth

Myths and the way you feel

A number of thinkers from widely differing fields have studied and commented on myths and legends. Here is a sampling of their observations:

  • A myth is a sacred story from the past. It may explain the origin of the universe and of life, or it may express its culture's moral values. Myths concern the powers that control the human world and the relationship between those powers and human beings. Although myths are religious in their origin and function, they may also be the earliest form of history, science, or philosophy (Rosenberg)
  • Myths are public dreams that, like private dreams, emerge from the unconscious mind (Sigmund Freud)
  • Myths often reveal the archetypes of the collective unconscious (Carl Jung)
  • Myths orient people to the metaphysical dimension, explain the origins and nature of the cosmos, validate social issues, and, on the psychological plane, address themselves to the innermost depths of the psyche (Joseph Campbell)
  • Some myths are explanatory, being pre-scientific attempts to interpret the natural world (Frazer)
  • Myths are usually functional and are the science of ‘primitive’ peoples (Malinowski)
  • Myths are both individual and social in scope, but they are first and foremost stories (Kirk)
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The Power of Storytelling

StorytellingShadowColour

Story is very important. A story can land you the job, make the promotion a reality, get you the girl (or the boy:?), get let off a speeding fine, convince a client to sign on the dotted line, resolve a long-standing conflict and create the possibility for anything else you desire. Stories can start a war (or a divorce), lose a court case, break a friendship or get you on the front cover of Noseweek or Newsweek.

Stephen Karcher's translation of the i-ching talks of certain stories and words that send you 'across the ghost river' into the world of spirit. Ancient cultures have long recognised that stories are intimately related to how you feel. This is not only true of the stories that happen in you head, it is true of those stories you expose yourself to on a daily basis. What are those stories and who do you trust to tell them and why? From where do you know what you know? What are the stories you pay attention to? What is the media? The internet? NBC, Fox, the Deutsche Welle, Beeld, The Star, The Sinday Times? The local knock and drop? How do you believe exposing yourself to certain stories in the media cause an emotional response that you act/think out in your day-to-day existence?

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Professional Storytellers

Myths and the way you feel

There are many professions in which proficiency in storytelling is vital. That is because all professions are based on beliefs about the world that are themselves completely contained in story, language and ritual.

Almost everything you do involves communication with other beings. If you think of the content and impact of these communications, they often involve the exchange of complex values, feelings and perceptions. Stories are used to persuade, describe and encourage action by motivating yourself and others. If you accept the notion that power and change are intimately related, then your ability to tell a convincing, motivating story that makes you and anyone who listens to it feel good is related to your personal power. It is your story that makes you who you are. Who would you be without stories?

Storytelling and the world of work

StorytellingShadowColour

At first the idea is a little puzzling - what has storytelling got to do with the world of work? Well, quite a lt it seems. Think of this - whatever we know of the world and of ourselves is story. And there is a lot of research around which suggests that it is the good storytellers who are generally more interesting, successful and wealthy. So is it in the story or is it in the way of delivery? Maybe it has a lot to do with:

  • what story are you are telling?
  • why you are telling this particular story?
  • how you are telling it?
  • who you are telling it to?
  • how are you responding to your audience? Is it authentic?

The most important thing you are ever going to sell is yourself. Your ability to tell an empowering story and to be able to paint a clear, finely granular word picture of 'who you are' and 'what is going on' is probably one of the most important life skills you have. The ability to tell a good story will literally help you get what you want. The only thing you need to know, is what you want.Stories are the way we transmit complex information to each other accross space and time. The way we tell a story is our qnique understanding or perception of 'how things are' or 'what happened or 'what is happening'.

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Jargon, Language, Management & Stories

Myths and the powers that control the world
  • Every field of human endeavourhas its own language, jargon and stories – one of the best ways of connecting to the mind and language of business is to spend time looking through a variety of business oriented websites, newspapers and business programming on TV.
  • if you expect to manage people, be clear about who you are and who your role models are. Decide and be clear on what your core values are.
  • Substances (foods, drinks & drugs) that you consume will impact neurotransmitter levels in the brain which will impact your mood states, motivation and on your ability to learn. Stay off sweeties, caffeine, soft drinks and sugar.
  • Learning is optimal when it is approached with a feeling of fun and excitement which you will need to learn how to generate yourself (more tips on this later)
  • Exercise, spend time with yourself, appreciate yourself more. Hey, why not Love yourself a little more while you are about it?
  • If you'd like to explore management, a useful place to start is in the area of self management
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The nature of story

StorytellingShadowColour

We can only appreciate story through engaging it wholeheartedly, telling it and then reflecting upon it. Does story describe? Does it possibly create as well? Is story simply the only way we have of organising memory? What is the link between language and time? What is your story? Who are you? To what extent is a sense of identity created by the way you talk about yourself? Are you, in fact, a creation of your story or can the story, and thus the ‘you’, be changed? Are you free to change? Then how do you? And what does thinking have to do with language and story? What makes a story powerful? What stories are you paying attention to? Why do we feel so enriched at the end of a story well told?

Ken Wilbur has a beautiful definition of spirituality as 'your relationship to the realtionship between things'. If you like the definition, think about now your relationship to the world around you is actually the story you tell about the world

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The Tyranny of Rectangles

Steve Banhegyi

How did humans ever come to agree that one of the primary ways they would represent their experience of the world is through the rectangular shape?

The rectangle is rare in the natural world but it is the shape of the canvas almost invariably used by the artist to paint on. Rectangles are about limits and boundaries. Straight lines. Perfect 90 degree angles at the corners. It is this shape that a great proportion of humanity stares at much of the time. TV screens are rectangular - some studies suggest 6 hours of TV a day are not uncommon for many consumers. What about the shape of computer screens that mesmerise geeks, stockbrokers, shop assistants, hackers, bank tellers, teenagers and businessman alike? Most of our experience of the world comes through looking at through windscreens and windows. Into mirrors. At photos. In newspapers, magazines, traffic fines and comics. The words you read here are constrained within a rectangle. The rectangle of the screen, canvas or page are normally straight lines, creating authoritative boundaries, order imposed over entropy.

The Biology and Chemistry of Creativity

StorytellingShadowColour

Ultimately your experience of the world is reflected in the many billions of electro-chemical changes that occur continuously in your endocrine system, your immune system and your nervous system. It is known that the various substances we consume can have a profound impact on the way in which we experience the world. Make it your business to understand how common foodstuffs, drinks and drugs impact your moods and your creative abilities. Coffee is an example of how commonly available substances can impact your work; the 'lift' you get from coffee actually comes from the 'fight or flight' response -that cappucino has made you feel more awake by stimulating your body to produce adrenaline. Adrenaline is classified as a neurotransmitter and can often express itself as paranoia, angst and fear – emotions not useful if you want to create a creative space. Many people certainly do change their outlook on life after they contain a coffee habit. However, coffee is useful for certain kinds of thinking such as thinking in process (making sure all the ducks are in a row) and when there is an important deadline that can't be missed. Coffee is probably least useful when you want to create new associations and metaphors and to build vision – best performed when relaxed, laid back, chilled, playful, happy and close as possible to the creative space of the child.

Learning the Creative Game

You are a creation of your own story

Steve Banhegyi / steve@trans4mation.co.za
(c) 2007 Published in Enjin Magazine, 2007 June

"It takes a very long time to become young." (Pablo Picasso)

Did you have difficulty making friends as a child? Experience scholastic boredom and more than the normal helping of social problems? A little unconventional and nonconformist even at primary school? Eccentric parents? A study of gifted creatives by Psychologist Ellen Winner cited these early life experiences as stimulating creativity because of the introversion that springs from teasing or isolation; the greater the isolation, the more introspection and the more profound the gift she suggests.

There are many writers who suggest that the truly creative being is the child. And the child energy is still available and accessible to each of us. An interesting way of reaching this space is to think of the following question : Who were you before you became 'adult'? Before you knew all the big words that you know now? Many people when asked this question are stimulated to think of the events that made them adult on various levels Think what it was like to experience the world as a child.

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