“A good poem makes nothing happen.
It solves no outer problem.
It is inherently contemplative.”
– Jane Hirshfield
Mythos, is the language and realm of myth, art, and poetry, while Logos is the language of rational philosophy and logic. Mythos has a great capacity to bring coherence, meaning, healing, connection, and deep trust to our human journey.
Myth, poetry, and art heal. They evoke those levels hidden beneath the hard covering of the ego and speak to our unconscious as mystical and unitive knowing does.
Not all truths are created equal. It is sad that fundamentalists think the historical level is the “truest” one. Their Logos understanding is on the literal level and is the least fruitful level of meaning. Our capacity to understand that truth is filtered through our own unconscious cultural and personal biases. Truth on that level may be fascinating, but it seldom “changes our life.”
The Bible is mostly written in Mythos language. The whole point of Scripture is the transformation of the soul. However, when we stopped understanding myth, we stopped understanding how to read and profit from a sacred story.
Children can read stories repeatedly, fully fascinated, without needing to verify the historical question. Thus, they can live in eternal and always true time, given away by that lovely and captivating opening phrase “Once upon a time.”
Deuteronomy 11:18-20 “So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
