A Country Without A Mythology? PART II

by Mike Perschon - Copyright © Mike Perschon 1997

WHAT IS MYTH & RITUAL?

"In philosophical terms, initiation is equivalent to a basic change in existential condition; the novice emerges from his ordeal endowed with a totally different being from that which he possessed before his initiation; he has become another. . . He learns not only the behavior patterns, the techniques and the institutions of adults but also the sacred myths and traditions of the tribe, the names of the gods and the history of their works; above all, he learns the mystical relations between the tribe and the Supernatural Beings as those relations were established at the beginning of Time."

- Mircea Eliade, "Birth and Rebirth"

There are a few popular misconceptions regarding the terms 'myth' and 'ritual' which must cleared up before going on. For the scope of this essay, all religious activity and doctrine will be encapsulated by the terms myth and ritual. Part of the reason for modern contempt of myth and ritual is that they have been seen in a primitive, unenlightened perspective by so-called "forward thinkers." Modern Westerners generally hold myths to be the fanciful sort of stories found in collections such as Bullfinches Mythology, placing them on a par with fairy tails and bedtime stories. David Bidney argues the reason for this "is owing largely to Christian influence and intolerance. . . pagan religious scriptures have been regarded in the West as "myths" in the sense of discredited and incredible narratives." (1972. p.4) Early church fathers such as Augustine and Philo allowed for allegorical and literal interpretations of the Christian mythology, but excluded any pagan holy writings from such scrutiny. (Bidney, 1972, p.4) Even the Renaissance, despite its focus on classical Greek and Roman culture and mythology was unable to really restore these writings past the point of being interesting literary works of a bygone era. To it's credit, the Christian Church allowed for them to be seen as allegorical works which upheld the greatest virtues of the human experience. (Bidney, 1972, p. 4) However, Christianity found itself under a similar attack from Voltaire in the age of Enlightenment. Voltaire sought to prove his belief that the Bible was no more than a collection of 'myths' (in the same fashion Christianity had prescribed other religion's sacred writings to be.) as well by lumping it in with classical mythology of the Greeks and Romans, labeling them all "irrational superstitions," and "deliberate fictions foisted on the multitudes by the crafty priests." (Bidney, 1972 p. 5)

The last century has seen great changes in relation to the perception of mythology. C.G. Jung was perhaps the pivotal individual in this change of focus on mythology. Jung explained that myths are the product of the greater human unconscious mind, which is the place from which dreams are produced. As a result, myths come from the part of humanity which is unchanging. If the universal unconscious produced these stories and legends, then they are more static than other facets of society. "Through (myth) men are related to their environment, to their ancestors, to their descendants, to the beyond which is the ground of all existence, to what is permanent beyond all flux." (O'Dea & Aviad, 1983, p. 45) Even some thinkers in Christian circles have opened up to a more ecumenical approach to all mythologies of the world. (Miller, 1996)

For the scope of this study, myth will be defined as any writing or belief system deemed important by a specific group of people which enables them to determine who and why they are. Therefore, under this definition, the story of Moses leading the nation of Israel leaving Egypt will be classified as a Judeo-Christian myth, and the coming of the Koran to Mohammad will be classified as an Islamic myth. The purpose of this paper is not to prove one mythology as superior to another, nor debate the historicity thereof.

"The essential truth of the myth lies in the fact that it embodies a situation of profound emotional significance, a situation, moreover, which is in it's nature recurrent, and which calls for the repetition of the ritual which deals with the situation and satisfied the need evoked by it. . . It is in this sense that we may speak of the Christian myth, without the slightest reflection on the historical character of the events out of which the Christian religion sprang. The term is used to express the fact of the ever-recurring repetition of a situation in which human need is met by the life-giving potency of a sacral act." (Raglan, 1972 p. 123, quoting Locke)

The function of myth ". . . is essentially practical and social, namely, to promote a feeling of unity or harmony between the members of a society as well as a sense of harmony with the whole of nature or life." (Bidney, 1972, p. 12, emphasis mine)

Mythology then, is not merely a set of interesting stories collected by a group of people, but rather a guide book on how that particular people came to the place where they are in the present. "This 'sacred history' - mythology - is exemplary, paradigmatic: not only does it relate how things came to be; it also lays the foundations for all human behavior and all social and cultural institutions." (Eliade, 1958, p. xi.) Myth is the basis for the ritualistic practices which help socialize people into their culture.

Ritual is the concrete manifestation of myth. Almost all rituals have their basis in a myth of some kind. For example, the ritual of the Christian Eucharist is derived from the myth of Christ's last supper with his apostles. The ritual is an enactment of the myth; ". . .do this in remembrance of me." (1 Corinthians 11:25, NIV) Rituals are milestones. They mark significant events in a culture, and provide a means by which that culture may continue to remember that significance. "For the Dagara, ritual is, above all else, the yardstick by which people measure their state of connection with. . . the entire community." (Some, 1993, p. 28) Rituals are a way for people to understand the world. Part of the reason for this nationwide search for meaning is that as a nation, there are no structures in place to socialize people in these areas. A secular society can provide no answers to questions outside the pale of it's secular understanding. For the Dagara and other similar tribal cultures, there are rituals in place to explain these occurrences. "But the important fact is that all premodern societies accord primary importance to the ideology and techniques of initiation." (Eliade, 1958, pp. ix-x.) Canada has no such set of national rituals, and in the absence of meaningful ritual in the church, Canadian society is floundering through life's major questions without a means of understanding.

"In its brute form, the actual world is infinitely complex, even chaotic, much too rich to experience meaningfully without some filtering process. This filtering process involves the use of symbolic categories. The words we know, the pictures and mental images we share all help to reduce the raw complexity of the world to a "reality" that has order and meaning." (Wuthnow, 1992, p. 12)

When the religious symbols, myths, and rituals of a society are lost, the society's ability to filter information becomes lost as well, as is noted in the incidents surrounding the Lakota Indians. Without these filters, people are left to find their own way to the answers to life's difficult questions. This is problematic, since "the sacred is always dangerous to anyone who comes into contact with it unprepared, without having gone through the 'gestures of approach' that every religious act demands." (Eliade, 1971, pp. 370-371) Rituals are all processes of detachment and reattachment. Which is why they are called rites of passage; something is being left behind even as something new is emerging. "Approximately nine in ten adults say they plan to turn to religious groups when they need weddings, funerals, and birth related ceremonies carried out. . ." (Bibby, 1993, p. 148)

Ritual and symbol enable us to use finite means and finite comprehension to attempt to touch the infinite. "Myths are then said to validate institutions and rites. They are rationalizations introduced to justify established social facts." (Bidney, 1972, p. 21) A modern form of ritual found in Canadian Protestant churches, specifically Baptist is the Sunday school. A direct correlation to church growth can be seen by comparing churches which still use Sunday School as a form of "major recruitment" versus those who don't. Churches which have abandoned the Sunday School program are seeing a loss in congregational numbers. Churches which have retained the programs, while not necessarily growing rapidly, are maintaining their present attendance numbers. (Bibby, 1993, p. 99) While Sunday School is not the only factor involved in these downward trends in church attendance, it is definitely a major consideration. Church rituals educate new members, enabling them to better understand their faith.

Society needs rituals to help socialize it's members. The conversation between Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers at the beginning of the last section begins our awareness of this problem. The continuance, however, is that without a set of prescribed rituals and myths, people will make up their own. Within the confines of a strong, well rounded community comprised of both youth and elders, the elders who have more life experience could assist the youth in creating such a mythology. The present problem lies in the fact that most elders in Canadian society have abdicated the responsibility of assisting the young people of Canada in this regard. Campbell states that in such a situation, we see the effects of self-imposed socialization in gang initiations and other related juvenile crime. (Campbell & Moyers, 1988, p. 9) A recent episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show featured a segment called "Dangerous Initiation Rituals." The segment focused on extreme forms of initiations from college and university fraternity freshmen initiations, to high school sports teams and the United States military. The shaving of eyebrows, genitals, along with such cruelties as putting liquid heat in a rookie's jock strap are all bastardizations of proper ritual which are used as substitutions in the place of something better or truer. These seemingly harmless forms of "hazing", as they are called, have lead to destructive, brutal forms of initiation. One young man recounted his experience of initiation into high school;

"Me and two of my friends were taken to a field by a highway. . . we were told to take off our clothes. . .I was in a T-shirt and my underwear and they made us drink bottles of barbecue sauce, eat sticks of butter, eat eggs. . they pelted us with eggs, poured human waste over us combined with paint thinner and animal waste and after that was over, I was paddled numerous times with a large wooden paddle. . ." (April, 1997)

Esther Wright, the author of "Torn Togas," a book on fraternity initiations gone wrong, stated on the program that the sorts of initiations involving heavy drinking and excessive, aggressive paddling occur on 90% of college campuses, and in the past 15 years have resulted in 70 reported deaths, with 100's of others being seriously injured.

The program also featured shocking footage of a ceremony called "pinning" or "blood winging" which is performed in the army when a recruit receives their medal for basic training. The ritual involves pinning the medal directly to the soldier's chest, so that the skin is pierced. The individual must wear the medal in this fashion all day long under their fatigues, and whenever an officer of superior rank sees them, the officer is to punch them where the medal is, as a test of loyalty. Al Sciarrino, author of "Officer Candidate School" stated that no good purpose was served by this form of hazing, in spite of a controlled hazing which most soldiers going into combat are required to endure. He also stated that the fraternity hazings served no purpose either. They are young men, seeking initiation into some form of society, without guidelines or accountability.

PART III