Gods, Myths, Philosophers -- and Projected Self-Energy Centers: Part 3: Mythology and The Make-Up Of The Human Psyche

Modern religion needs psychotherapy. It is too reductionistic, too specialized, too schizoid, too alienated from the full dynamics -- the full soap opera -- of the human psyche. In this regard, modern religion is a reflection of modern day man -- and partly a reflection, partly a counter-thesis, to modern day Capitalism and Industrialism. Steeped in personal and collective-cultural narcissism.

Perhaps I am being a little harsh here. For those of you who have managed to bring a certain element of 'liberalism' and 'religious-righteous tolerance' into your lives, then modern religion -- regardless of what denomination you may belong to -- may work just fine. 'Integration' is the key here and movement away from hardline religious 'either/or' righteousness...'Either you do this and you go to 'Heaven'; or you do that and you go to 'Hell'. This alienated and schizoid divisionism is the trademark of all past and present pathological religions...It involves an avoidance, a denial, and a flagrant hatred of the full psycho-dynamics of the human spirit, the human soul. Any religion that preaches hatred has itself gotten lost along the way in the poisoned spirit and archetype of Ares, Lucifer, Satan, and/or 'Hell'...It has gotten lost in the narcissistic Underworld -- with no 'Hero-God' anywhere to be found... Such religions need to find the archetypes of Apollo, Hera, Hestia, Eros, Aphrodite, Dionysus...and come back from Hades, come back from the land of the 'living dead'.

In contrast, Greek mytholody -- as alluded to above -- gives a much fuller, more vibrant, more passionate -- both divided and unified -- vision and picture of the human psyche. We just need to know how to interpret Greek mythology as a product of the creative, human imagination -- steeped in 'projections', 'projective-identifications', 'theses' and 'anti-theses'...with ancient Greek man, standing in the middle of these creative projections, trying to make sense of them all -- trying to harmonize them all -- just as unconsciously, he was trying to harmonize the inner Gods and Anti-Gods, heroes and anti-heroes, in effect, the projected 'archetypes' that made up the dialectic, multi-dialectic, and pluralistic dynamics and structure of his own psyche. Indeed, even the word 'psyche' has come down through the ages from ancient Greek Mythology, as 'Psyche' was a Greek Goddess with a very interesting evolution and history that we need to talk about. We will come to that in the process of the developing events as they are unfolded right here.

This essay here is the creative offspring of two of the most influenctial philosphers in the history and evolution of Western man -- Hegel and Nietzsche. Nietzsche would probably want to pound me over the head with his 'philosophical hammer' if he ever heard me say this, or saw me write it -- but Hegel and Nietzxhe make up two of the best 'dialectic philosophical lovers' (and I say this metaphorically of course) in the history of Western philosophy. The only two other pairs of dialectic philosphical lovers (DPLs) that I can think of off the top of my head that would rival the dual impact of of Hegel and Nietzsche would be: 1. Plato and Aristotle; and 2. Adam Smith and Karl Marx. You see the evolution of man -- and life -- is built more on the harmonization of differences -- or 'differential unity' -- than on sameness, sameness, and more sameness...Incest does not create a healthy offspring. This is where Darwin and Hegel meet -- another set of important DPLs. It is no co-incidence that 'dialectic logic' and 'copulative-fertilization' both involve the resulting integration of 'differential opposites' -- genetically, biologically, physically, physiologically, psychologically, and philosophically.

Here are some other important DPLs worth noting: Anaxamander and Heraclitus, the Sophists and Plato, Socrates and Plato, Heraclitus and Parmenides, Diogenes and Alexander the Great, Spinoza and Hegel, Hume and Kant, Voltaire and Rousseau, Nietzsche and Christiantiy, Hegel and Schopenhauer, Hegel and Kierkegaard, Hegel and Marx, Spinoza and Nietzsche, Freud and Jung, Freud and Adler, Freud and Perls...The Structuralists and the Deconstructionists, Foucault and Derrida, Hegel and Foucault, Hegel and Derrida...I'm sorry if I have left out any notable female philosophers because for the most part Western philosophy is a domain that has been dominated by male philosophers. To be sure, there were probably many notable 'female philosophers' hanging in the background of many of these male philosophers' lives...But until the rise of feminism, many of these 'covert female philosphers' have remained 'ghostly figures'...Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) might be viewed as the mother or grandmother of 'modern feminism'. Writing around the time of Tom Paine and his famous work 'Rights of Man', Wollstonecroft wrote that: 'Mind has no sex' and therefore rights are not determined by gender. (Richard Osborne, Philosophy for Beginners, 1992.). Thus we could dialectically pair Wolstonecroft with either 'Male Chauvanism' and/or Tom Paine.

The history and evolution of Western Philosophy can be viewed as the history and evolution of a multitude of DPLs 'cross-fertilizing' their ideas with each other.

In similar fashion, this essay is born mainly from the cross-fertilization of Hegel's 'The Phenomenology of Spirit' (1807) with Nietzsche's 'The Birth of Tragedy' (1871).

Let's plunge into Greek Mythology and bring back the Greek Gods and Anti-Greek Gods -- re-introject and re-integrate them back into the human psyche, and see where this takes us. The path is full of psycho-drama -- as is man's life. Greek mythology is a projection or a projective-identification of man's life into the minds and the spirits of the Greek Gods and anti-Gods...Some 2500-3000 years later -- or more -- it is time for modern man to take re-ownership of these Greek Gods and anti-Gods -- and to both re-introject and re-integrate them back into his own personal and collective pscyhe.

In this essay, we are not looking for 're-born Christians'. Rather we are looking for re-born 'Greek Mythologists' who are willing to take 'self-accountability' for all of the Greek Gods and Anti-Gods, Heroes and Anti-Heroes, that may be either integrated -- or differentially running amok -- within the conscious and/or subconscious confines of our learned and/or genetic psyches.

To be sure, I am not the first to go here. In fact, I forgot to give full recognition and appreciation to another important influence in my philosophical and psychological thinking, as projected out in this essay -- Carl Jung (1875-1961). Twenty-five years ago I could never have envisioned myself studying Greek mythology. But things change. Times change. We change. We better change -- or get caught in a living death -- a life of sameness, without variation and change -- and creative growth. Call this: 'Parmenides Existence'. It's not one that I am interested in.

Be re-born every day of your life -- or succumb to a 'lifeless existence' -- land of the living dead. --dgb

'You cannot step into the same river twice.' -- Heraclitus

It has been a long time since I used this next quote -- back around 1977 -- but I found it in my library in about 15 minutes.

'In the art of living, man is both the artist and the object of his art; he is the sculpter and the marble; the physician and the patient.' -- Erich Fromm, Man For Himself, 1947.)

Where Greek Mythology did take us -- and leave us -- modern man must go back to revisit and re-claim his 'psychic heritage'. Call this 'DGB Psychic Archaeology'.

Stand by and stay tuned for Part 4 of 'Gods, Myths and Philosophers: DGB Psychic Archeology'.

-- dgb, April 20th, 2008.