Annie Van Voast

Myth Term Paper

11/25/13

That Anyway, is What I Have Learned

            As I try to think and put together all the things I have learned in this class I find it difficult to simply put it all down.  I know exactly how everything we have discussed has influenced me and made me feel, but putting in on paper is rather difficult sometimes.  As I have listened to other presentations about our class it seems what I have learned or rather “remembered” is nothing uncommon or new.  Obviously many others in this class have realized this.  However, I don’t find it a depressing realization; but rather a somewhat comforting thought.  When things are hard and one feels alone in a situation, really, it has already been experienced by someone else before.  Although it may not make sense or have an explanation it still is your story.  Someone may have experienced what you are going through but no one else has been you which I think still makes everyone special. 

            Being that this class was all about stories I truly enjoyed coming and hearing all about myths, initiation, experiences, love, hate, and everything in-between. It was quite the experience digging up all the ideas and knowledge I had forgotten.  Hearing about the stories of pain and suffering, separation and indifference really was a fascination to me.  When I first entered the class I assumed the basis of our time would be studying Greek mythology, taking a test on what we “learned” and memorizing some names.  I soon came to find this class was so much more than that.  We may not have taken many tests, or done much homework but I found that I “learned” more in this class than I did in many others I have taken in the past.  We may not have been learning the most recent discovery in scientific history, or the most efficient way to carry out a calculus problem but we were rediscovering things that in my opinion are just as important as all the other classes we are committed to; if not more.  In fact, based on what I have gained and experienced coming out of mythologies I believe it may be one of the most important classes I have or ever will take again. 

            When we first began to discuss what a myth actually was I realized my perception was totally wrong.  I didn’t delve deep enough into what a story really was and that myths were and are in fact true.  Upon realizing that, a lot more began to make sense; not only in class but in my life.  I remembered more and more about whom I was and what was happening to me.  When we talked about the Greek gods I thought they were simply gods that people made up to follow and worship in the ancient times and that a myth was just a lie. It wasn’t until later on I began to understand that the gods weren’t just a belief system, they are a part of people and who they are.  They are real; in a sense that they exist inside of us we and what we do and how we act are all due to “the gods inside us”.   I find that to be one of the most interesting things I realized.

            I also came to understand another very important thing about myself through this class.  That it is okay, wonderful even, to be a creative dreamer who loves stories. I absolutely love a good story; I love relating them to my personal experiences and creating new ones through my own.  Some people would argue that stories aren’t important; not as important as chemistry or spending time doing things that make money.  I believed that, and I pushed away my love for literature and creativity to force myself to be good at things I did not enjoy.  Mythologies helped me to see that stories and the things I love are in fact very important.  Perhaps even more important than a lot of things people now days spend their days doing.  Through being part of this class I realized telling stories and enjoying literature are one of the most important things I can partake in through my life.  It brings me great happiness that I have come to embrace that.

            Lastly, I wanted to bring up something that Dr. Sexson said in class that intrigued me.  He said how people now days instead of enjoying the ride and experience always seem to demand an explanation or a reason for events that happen in the stories they read, see, or live out themselves. I am afraid I am one of those guilty people; I am always looking for an exact reason to why something is happening to me in my own story, or what things could possibly mean.  Or I hear a story and I feel as if it was all a pointless experience if it doesn’t explain itself in the end.  As many of the stories we heard portrayed, there doesn’t have to be a reason or an explanation, what matters is what we get out of the story, and whether we be bitter about it because we don’t understand, or we take joy in the experience is our choice.  However, enjoying the ride and embracing change, bliss, disappointments, failures, achievements, relationships, or heartbreak will make continuing the story much more interesting and enjoyable.  That anyway, is what I have learned.

           

Empathy

A few classes ago we were talking about empathy: being able to understand different perspectives; and how having a good imagination helps a person understand others.  Upon hearing this I realize I have a fantastic sense of empathy.  My imagination has always been strong and I find myself using it everyday in every situation.  I even incorporate it into understanding my chemistry homework!  Without my imagination I wouldn't be who I am and I am very glad that I have this gift.  Being that my imagination is alive and well I find myself very in tune with the people around me and what they are feeling.  Friends often come to me when they need advice or comfort because I understand them, I can feel what they feel because I am able to put myself in their shoes.  I find this a tremendous gift to have as well.  Helping those in need brings me joy and the fact that I am able to do this through me powerful imagination is rewarding to me.

The Storyteller

In class we discussed things that were "startling".  Being that "The Story Teller" was basically the point of view of a completely different culture than our own I did not find only one thing startling but rather the whole aspect of the story.  Reading about their ways of life, beliefs, customs, their stories, I was being startled quite often.  I found Mascarita's fascination with the tribe intriguing, mostly because of the fact that if he was born into the tribe he probably would have been killed for having his birthmark.  Yet, he still had a passion for their ways of life.  What also startles me is the fact that these people still exist the way they do.  I find it remarkable that their culture has remained generally unchanged for hundreds of years.  While technology is progressing and apparent in most corners of the world the Machiguengas and other tribes remain untouched by the modern world. What a deal! It is just amazing that the world we know was and still is generally unknown to many of these people.  Part of Mascarita's dream was to keep the modern world's ideas away from the tribes, to preserve their ways of life and let them exist in their own ways.  I thought about this and I want to agree with him.  Very few of these tribes that live away from the modern world exist; I think allowing their traditions to carry on may be important.  However, their customs are often cruel ones and wouldn't it be in our best interests to end them and teach them better? But what they do is their way of life, though cruel is it our place to tell them otherwise? It is a tough thing to consider. 

Telling Stories

Here is me telling my story to my cousin Kaycee, who is apparently very enthralled!

A Seemingly Uneventful Place

Everyday I walk through campus and I don't think a whole lot about what I am walking by, the history of the place, the people before me who have tread their feet on the sidewalk and sidewalks before.  All I think about is making it to class on time and whether or not I have to stop at the library to print something or if I have to do any forgotten homework before chemistry class.  I'm sure there is a lot I do not know about MSU and it's territory.  Over the years since the turn of the century what has happened here? How did it all begin? What was it like when all that was built on campus was a few small buildings and Montana Hall? I came to find out that Hamilton Hall was one of the very first women's dormitories.  To think  it is now filled with classrooms and newly refurbished! It obviously is very different now then it was back in the early 1900's. I think about all the progression since then, the extraordinary people that have learned before me.  I realize I walk all over, around, and by history all the time.  A seemingly boring everyday walk to class suddenly sparks curiosity in my mind.  Who knows what the whole of the MSU campus has seen from it's birth to the present year.  

The picture is one taken around 1915 on visitor's day, Montana Hall is on the right and as you can see, there is no city in sight! Fascinating to see all the production done in the last century! 

Common Rituals

My everyday rituals are about the same as anyone's I suppose.  I wake up in the morning and get dressed and brush my teeth, eat breakfast head to class. Go to work after class , do homework whenever I can spare some time, and do the same thing every week.  I often feel like a robot when things get busy with my everyday demands.  They become rituals and often times I don't think about much else.  That has be a good and bad thing.  It distracts me from certain personal things that cause me to feel saddened but it also prevents me from feeling good.  I don't have time to do things that make me happy or see people that I enjoy.  So my rituals have put up blocks both ways in my mind.  However, I am working on creating ways to slow down my lifestyle and make time for the things that make me happy.  Sure, rituals and everyday work are important in succeeding in today's world but I think making time for fun and doing what you love is just as important. 

Page 9 Analysis

I chose to analyse a part of page 9; The contents in the section were said by Gustave Moreau, a french symbolic painter of the 1800's that specialized on scenes in mythologies.  This section caught my attention mostly because it asked me questions I didn't really have an answer to.  They were rather dark questions, "What will become of you? What will your destiny be? Where can you hide your fearful passions? " Although I didn't feel that they were questions directed towards the reader I still couldn't help but ask myself anyway.  It was a little disturbing to think about such things. I don't know what will become of me, or what my destiny is. 
As to what the "huge, pale figures, tremendous, lonely, dark, and desolate, fatal, mysterious lovers condemned to titanic infamies" are I am not entirely sure.  However, I think the previous questions that I asked myself were directed at whatever or whoever those descriptions apply to.  Perhaps it is directed towards Io, Telephassa, Europa, Argiope, Pasiphae, Ariadne, or Phaedra.  They are all related to each other in some way, mostly through pain and suffering brought on by their issues with the gods.  Maybe Gustave Moreau was asking them, but also the reader the same question; even the gods! " What terrors, what compassion you inspire, what immense and awesome sadness you arouse in those mortals called to contemplate so much shame and horror, so many crimes, such great misfortune." I feel what he says in this section applies to the gods.  He is, in a way, "calling them out" on all the things they have done to mortals.  Particularly the women mentioned earlier.   Gustave described their names as having an effect like the moon, lighting things up from a distance, a broad pure light (page 9).   Perhaps their experiences with the gods have allowed true light to be shed to the rest of the world what happens when humans get tangled up in business with the gods?  Gustave wishes to warn the mythological world of the dangers the gods pose to mortals? These could be only a few of the many meanings hidden on this page.