Back to main page

why greek mythology?

Ok, yesterday's post mentioned Greek mythology and how it led me down the twisted roads of a conversation through IM which came to some rather unusual conclusions regarding religion. I also mentioned there would be more on that today....and there will be, but not in the original way in which I was going to! Instead I'm going to share with you why I like Greek mythology, in fact any society which has numerous gods and we'll see where it ends up.....warning, this could be long, boring and so full of guff and bull that you wish you'd never dropped by today, but I don't care, to quote myself "my blog, my way!" This is what you call distraction therapy ☺

Greek mythology appeals to me for one major reason. Balance. Gods and Goddess'. Light and Dark. Night and Day. Masculine and Feminine

The Greek's way of thinking offered variety, choice, an abundance so that no matter the need, there was a story, myth or deity to turn to for guidance and help. Each deity represented something different. Something that also corresponded to an aspect of human nature. Like Dionysus, the God of Wine - he represented spontaneity. Like Eos, the Goddess of Dawn - new beginnings. Its very similar in a round about way to how I see tarot cards. Both sets of ideas revolve around completeness, acknowledgment of ALL things. Of all emotions, ideas, ideals, events etc etc.

When aspects of life, and therefore human nature, are denied and suppressed, issues arise. Problems manifest themselves in other ways, because there needs to be an outlet for the suppressed ideas and emotions. Unfortunately this is how I see some of todays religions. They are by their very nature patriarchal, therefore losing the balance. Their is no light AND dark. There is light, which is good, and there is dark, which is evil. All things evil must be denied, feared and stamped out. But without the dark, how do we define the light? Are they not intricately linked in a way that we cannot change? Without one the other does not exist. How can the human race evolve and develop if we only acknowledge half of ourselves? I am not saying that we should allow the feral side of humans to roam free, simply that we need to acknowledge that it does exist and is NOT the work of some separate entity. The same goes with masculine and feminine. Without one, the other would not exist. And please note I didn't say male and female. They are two separate ideas. One is based on a physical idea, the other a mental or emotional one. We all encompass aspects of both, yet how many of us TRULY acknowledge both sides to us?

As humans we need something to believe in...the societies that had many deities encouraged an individual approach by offering so much choice..todays wants to pigeon hole you and tell you WHO you should be, and HOW you should be and I honestly believe sometimes that this is what has messed us up so much we are literally killing ourselves in the name of GOD. I know that some of you will totally disagree with me on this, and that's ok, after all this is simply my perspective, there is no right or wrong here. I did not live in those ancient days, have no personal experience of worshiping multiple deities and will freely admit I have issues totally unrelated to all this with todays religions so therefore I could simply be looking for ANY reason to bad mouth it. I mean no disrespect to those that do follow a one god religion. To be honest, I envy you your faith, I really do....

I could go on forever about this, citing individual things that I think have been affected, but quite frankly my head hurts so I'm leaving that for another day! I, as always, welcome your comments on how I see things, even if you completely disagree with me, however back up your thoughts. I'm all for an intelligent conversation, not mindless name calling and disrespect for others opinions and beliefs....