Varieties of Mythic Experience

We need a sense of myth for our individual and collective equilibrium. Sanity itself may be tied to having some kind of lively imagination so that one can feel the strange fantasies that continue to insist themselves into consciousness in both waking and dreaming states....

– from the Foreword by Robert Sardello

The essential paradox is this: Myth points to a baseline that can never be fully drawn; there exists no lowest layer for myth.

– from the Introduction by Glen Slater and Dennis Patrick Slattery

... rituals in fact do not require complementary myths to ’explain’ them, nor is ritual a ’re-enactment’ of myth, but that rituals speak eloquently in their own right.

– from Chapter 3, “Rambu Solo’: the Toraja Cult of the Dead and Embodied Imagination,” by Laura Grillo

A myth occurs when the objective reality confuses itself with a subjective reality. The myth is, so to speak, a montage, and montages can lie – but they can inspire as well. A myth can support either revolution or the status quo; it can provoke enthusiasm or repression.

– from Chapter 7, “How is Psychology a Mythology?” by Ginette Paris






Contents

Foreword by Robert Sardello

Introduction by Glen Slater and Dennis Patrick Slattery

Religion

1. The Myth of Biblical Monotheism by Christine Downing

2. The Heart of Hindu Mythos: Yogic Perspectives on Self-Realization by Patrick Mahaffey

Ritual and Symbol

3. Rambu Solo’: the Toraja Cult of the Dead and Embodied Imagination by Laura S. Grillo

4. Mandala of the Naropa Dakini: Archetypal and Psychological Commentary by V. Walter Odajnyk

Literature and Film

5. Oedipus at Colonus: Pilgrimage from Blight to Blessedness by Dennis Patrick Slattery

6. Aliens and Insects by Glen Slater

Psychology and Philosophy

7. How is Psychology a Mythology? by Ginette Paris

8. Légende-Image: The Word/Image Problem by David L. Miller