Marianne
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Sunbug,
I enjoyed the joy in your response, and also thank you for the book recommendation, The Geese of Beaver Bog. It sounds like something I would very much like to read. One of my favorites is The Snow Goose by Paul Galico. It is a book Galico wrote based upon a legend. Thank you!
–Marianne
James, my dad and my grandmother before him both suffered from enlarged hearts. I thought of this because of the quote you mentioned about how symbols contain meanings that can dilate the heart when surpassing the brain. I would agree. My dad lived a life heavily immersed in symbols and mathematics and in translating the math into real architecture/buildings when figuring construction plans and also loved folklore and folk music and was so into religious symbols in his spirituality. This reminds me about how the symbols in language can sometimes fit the myth in our lives and vice-versa. So often we feel in symbols as much as we think in symbols.
“In a series called The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell said to Bill Moyers that we respond to a work of art because the order of the work mirrors the order of our souls.”–Stephen Gerringer quoting Campbell as he spoke to Moyers in Power of Myth
“but all part of an ongoing: ‘carousel of life’”–quote from jamesn
Just a bunch of free-association here…
I think I will be contemplating these two quotes for quite while today as I celebrate the Chinese New Year today on 2/12/2021! Stephen, when you posted this article there was also a link to another article from the museum about how this year is the Year of the Ox. I then thought of how James wrote how the article you posted reminds us about how much we have all dealt with this past year of Covid and how strong we all had to be which goes along with the strength of the ox and how we have been in it for the long haul. I think the ox is a symbol I will focus on for for a while in light of that quote of Campbell about the soul. The work of art that mirrors the order of our souls, or as art as life and life as art, the work of artful living in life we had to re-order while faced with Covid, and it was so interesting to me how this writer wrote about how she had transferred the habit of not being able to get close to people to how she kept her distance from the person in the painting–but that she then realized she could get closer to the person in the painting than an actual person. At least we have had our arts to interact with–I feel this has “saved” many of us from a more difficult time. I did wish I could go to a museum, I did wish I could hear live music around other people and not just stream it. Family and friends also saved many of us from feeling a desolate wasteland!–and maybe Facebook was actually a blessing in that we could easily connect with people then.
James, when I read your quote in your response it made me think about how carousel horses are all horses but each one on any given carousel is often different or painted differently–as if its own art form even if the same Bastian’s Forms which Campbell mentions in The Inner Reaches of Outer Space and also in The Flight of the Wild Gander, how different are the paintings of various artists of the paintings of our various souls or dreamer’s dreams yet all somewhat alike in some ways. So we are all human and all have our dreams in one way or another which can be very much alike even in their differences or very different even in their similarities. I then think about dream interpretation which feels a lot also like to ordering of the soul through an art form (the art/dream world of Psyche) and how you and I might both dream of a lizard but my dream lizard might not be the same as your dream lizard and how our dreams could both contain some different meanings–and then however that a lizard is often regarded by many shamans as the animal of dreams or symbol of the dreamer. What I really like is how you say the carousel is ongoing. And then I think about too that there are often other animals than horses on the carousel that all go round the circle. These images are strong in my mind this evening. I also like your references to the carousel because horses imply movement–as we all hope to move out of this stressful time of Covid and the isolation it poses. So poses is an art term if someone is posing for a painting. So to pose we have to stay still for a while. In a way with Covid around us many people expressed feeling somewhat frozen in time. Let’s hope for movement forward and that we get the carousel spinning again because “what goes up must come down” and “ride a painted pony let the spinning wheel ride” -Blood, Sweat, and Tears Spinning Wheel song (it popped into my head the day before yesterday and now again):
P.S. I would also like to mention that a friend of mine, who is now deceased as of December before Covid arrived on the scene, was an artist who painted the carousel horses at Cedar Point Amusement Park when they needed repairs or new paint and also much of her work of “retired” CP horses and other horses are featured at The Merry-Go-Round Museum in Sandusky OH
https://www.merrygoroundmuseum.org/
Hi Stephen, Philspar, and All,
What a lovely Mythblast–I find it lovely because I love words and writing and all that they can entail. I will go through the essay again and one by one bring up the thoughts I had while reading it, on its many excellent points.
I too as most professional writers I know or have known do painstake over the titles of their work; this is especially important for a title since it is a concentrated summary of the contents of the piece of work. Sometimes I have played around, however, with weirdly long and fun titles that act like a sentence: Most publications have a 17 or 18 (which one I in this moment forget!) word limit to the author’s title. Different “rules”–or “ways of doing things” are often unspoken in various types of publications, but word-play is often welcome in the creative arts and its publications, such as in the title of a poem (as well as the poem itself) or of a piece of art. Very popular and even encouraged in the currents of the publishing world is to, in a longer title, which usually will occur in a longer work (rather than a short essay), use a colon to say, “Look and Please Read This Title Completely: Herein Lies What This Book is About.” Philspar mentions this idea also in his response to this Mythblast. I like how Philspar writes that, “I’ve always imagined that some of Campbell’s titles were chosen to advertise a book’s climactic argument. I also like it that Philspar mentions Campbell’s title, “The Fire in the Mind.” I guess those can be seen as opposites also and transcendent because we know the fire has to be spirit-fire or soul-fire and therefore a metaphor, so the opposites here mix the physical body or earth with spirit, or any such combination of these words I could try to list. I like the sound or idea of “spirit of the mind.”
One thing I love about the book titles Stephen mentions above is how the singular and the plural nouns in each title demonstrate and give a feel for the one and the many. It gives that cozy feeling of the personal condition in the singular noun juxtaposed with the plural form of the universal condition–exactly as in The Inner Reaches of Outer Space does in its definition/synopsis. The title itself as well as the material then becomes transcendent because it bridges the opposites into that point where they meet as one in the same place and time in one’s experience of being.
I love the Campbell quote from Stephen’s post:
The rhythm of the prose is at the very center of the problem. I wouldn’t know how to instruct anybody, but it’s terribly important. And that’s why, when some goddamn proofreader turns something around, as they very freely do, the top of my head blows off. I’ve sweated it out to have it that way instead of the way that it’s been corrected to. Often what has been done is to restore a style that I have eliminated already. It may be more rational, clearer, but there’s no music.” (Retrieved from https://www.jcf.org/resources/discuss/topic/whats-in-a-name-with-stephen-gerringer/#new-post)
I used to write for newspapers in arts and entertainment and community/human interest stories, and I have felt what Campbell has expressed here, not so much, for me, about newspaper editors and proofreaders as about copy editors. One largely circulating paper I wrote for had copy editors that sometimes rewrote my titles which I felt did not adequately target the main point of my article and sometimes the inner content got botched or chopped up to an “all is not well” as well. Editors who communicate with their writer are one thing, yet copy editors who work in the wee dark hours of the night when writers are either home sleeping or perhaps home writing in those same wee dark hours of the night are another. There is no communication or back and forth–copy editors works fast, overnight, and their results appear in the next day’s headlines before the writer knows what happened!
Sometimes a smaller newspaper has an editor that wears all hats: General Editor, Managing Editor, Proofreader, and Copy Editor. I once had an editor who did not bother to read an article I wrote before publishing the paper when I had two typos in the title when I sent a rough draft of an article I wrote to the final proof board instead of the final draft and it was a terrible mess. She then told me she had not looked at the article before sending it to press because she never had to ever edit or do any changes to my work before. It seemed somehow like the reverse of crying wolf.
I agree also with Campbell about rhythm–rhythm sets the tone like a title and introduction do and the other point Stephen makes here. Depth Psychologist Susan Rowland wrote extensively on the use of language of C. J. Jung in this way. I will look for the articles she has written on this topic. Some of it appears on the Academia.edu website and can be found if you browse her work.
I love the image of the gander on Campbell’s desk. I was at the OPUS archives before (which was a wondrous expedition!) but do not remember at that time seeing the gander symbol on his desk. I like that the definitions given for gander are both a (male) goose and also “to take a gander,” a look, at something. Campbell does seem to be one of those very observant people, of both the outer and the inner meanings of perception and symbols. Much of what he relays to us are how the symbols in myth (and customs and rituals as part of that) are both to and from the unconscious to the conscious and back again, like the idea of the eternal dance encircling the cosmos. I am reminded also of Campbell’s book, The Flight of the Wild Gander.
I want to also quickly mention that I love watching and hearing the geese fly back and forth between north and south and back again every year and love when they stick around a while in the summer months. I have a ceramic goose figurine that is sort of a Mother Goose figure that was once my grandmother’s.
I agree that the writing itself is very important down to the rhythm of the words themselves (even in journalism and not just in artistic or creative essay or creative works, as journalism too has its rhythm). This was a refreshing topic for me and made me think about how context and content are related as writing teachers tell their writing students.
Thank you for bearing with me here in my response which was also to bear with me in my search for a response,
Marianne
Dear Professor Andrew Gurevich,
I love this Mythblast and the concluding paragraph that seems to summarize its content:
Engaging the emancipatory power of myth as a process of artistic reclamation helps us to unlearn the concrete categories of perceived difference. To ‘paint like a child’ is to forever be the witness of our own shared mythological becoming. Discovering the object only when–and this is essential–the subject is no longer able to see itself as wholly apart from that which it beholds. ‘All great artists draw from the same resource: the human heart,’ the poet and activist Maya Angelou reminds us, ‘which tells us that we are all more alike than we are unalike.’
I have always felt enthralled with Blake’s idea that, “In order to write we must become like little children”: the idea of childhood innocence of knowing, when we see and hear the world with eyes that are fresh and look at the world in that “new” way of discovery in which the world feels so enchanted and enchanting. Some have also said that the artwork of Miro is childlike. There is such a fun and refreshing simplicity to it yet the lines hold things to weigh in balance that would create transcendence of tension of the lines and shapes. I think too of the game of charades when we use our bodies to “draw” out the most simplest of non-verbal descriptions in the air or on paper, and what and how we relate to things around us or in nature with our bodies as well as our minds. How a tree makes us want to stretch out our arms or climb into the air or see what the birds see. Or the physical sensation we get when watching a seashell or piece of driftwood get carried out on a wave to further out on the lake or sea. I think when we see and feel the wonder of nature we are receiving the gift of being young again, or free from our most constrained older selves. I think dance is a wonderful art form to help release ourselves from this no matter how old we are or how “unlearned” we might be. To engage in the art and in the world more freely is what I get from this Mythblast. I think this makes a great New Year’s Resolution here at the beginning of February.
I am also enthralled with this Mythblast, Stephen’s questions, and your answers. Lately I have been re-reading Campbell’s The Inner Reaches of Outer Space and it is such a treasure of synchronicity to read this Mythblast while in chapter 3 titled “The Way of Art.”
I was particularly drawn to that statement in the Mythblast about how God does not enjoy the ritual practice of those who are disenchanted with the ritual or the myth! I recall moments when as I was growing up and had to go to church so much that in the Catholic Mass I was bored with going through the motions of the repetition! If I was bored, how boring I must have been! And could we say that often about any of our moments or activities in which we feel bored, that it is not life that is lacking the artistic quality (or boring) but our attitude towards life or that activity that is lacking the art that could otherwise lift our spirits to the moment (that is boring)? This is such a mindful reminder to be mindful of that!
I enjoy thinking back to when I was a child, as this Mythblast has me do, and basking in my memories and the sensation of how fun it was to paint a tree the way I felt like painting it (the way I was naturally seeing it or sensing it) or a poem or story the way I was feeling an event whether an imaginal event or a real one—before encountering so many constructs of the should’s and should-not’s. (Sometimes that is what my journal is for.) There is also such joy as an adult when drawing and painting with children or grandchildren when it brings me back to feeling like who I most honestly and truly am—yes, under all the language skills, vocabularies we use, etc. However, I can also say that sometimes language is so much fun and gloriously exhilarating when it can express and with ease a metaphor or myth so perfectly at times! But those metaphors and myths do get us to the hearts of matters as you discuss in this Mythblast.
Oh and I meant to add after the paragraph quote of yours above that when Maya Angelou as you say tells us that we are more alike than not alike that that means not just the likenesses between people, but people and trees or other flora life, or people and animals (and animal masks), or people and the masks of God. Campbell quoted Shakespeare when he wrote that,
Shakespeare said that art is a mirror held up to nature. And that’s what it is. The nature is your nature, and all of these wonderful poetic images of mythology are referring to something in you. When your mind is simply trapped by the image out there so that you never make the reference to yourself, you have misread the image.” (Joseph Campbell, from Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers, p. 57, retrieved from, https://www.jcf.org/works/quote/shakespeare-said-that-art/)
Thank you, Professor Andrew Gurevich, for your inspiration through art and mythology, which feels especially vital in these times of isolation–and thank you to all the deep responses to this Mythblast from those who responded that remind us all how in oh so many ways we are connected.
Sincerely,
Marianne Bencivengo
Hi James and Everyone,
That is a great reminder, James, that the “sacred space” Campbell suggested we each find can be in any of the arts and not just in writing. And that sacred space can be not just the hour in which we write, paint, draw, sculpt, dance, choreograph, or make music, but in the artwork itself. The sacred space can be both the time spent on a poem or being within the poem (the thoughts or sense of place) as it is being written. Or, same with a song: being within the song one is composing or playing on an instrument and feeling within that space and timing of the song.
Stephen, thanks for sending me the pic of your Norse/Yggdrasil World Tree/solstice/yule tree! It is beautiful!
Thanks so much Stephen! It is so nice to feel better and have more energy again! I do think that I first saw the photo of the tree and that then when I went to respond I no longer saw it. I will do some practicing also on the posting of pics in the forum–apparently I still have to learn more about posting links here too…so I have been trying to use just copy and paste of the addresses instead of direct links–
Marianne
Thank you, Robert (R superscript 3!) Your poetic associations/word play/poetry offers insights I always enjoy–a different dimensional take on things–Like 3-D R3, or R3 in 3-D
Back at you, Robert: Merry Christmas Happy Hanukkah Happy New Year Celebratory Solstice Joyful Convergence
and yes, I do hope to catch drops of Jupiter in my hair this convergence and Yule-New Year! 🙂 You might already know that is one of my fave feel-good songs–!!!!!!!
and now I am thinking about how these lyrics correlate to the Inner Reaches of Outer Space by Campbell—“as you are looking for yourself out there,” he sings…
and great as “heaven” is/sounds/is imagined, there is a heaven right here on earth for sure! 🙂 there is heaven in a good friend, a soy latte, in the snowflakes falling, and in the ice to go skating on; there is heaven in the champagne on new year’s and in the wine on Christmas Eve or Day or sparkling apple or pear juice… There is heaven in understanding here on earth between people, in the eyes and hearts of our loved ones, there is heaven in our animal friends and tree and flower friends, in our flora and fauna friends, and heaven in our myths even when they are about hell—!
for whoever wants to hear it, here is the cut and paste link to the song you probably know:
Train–Drops of Jupiter (Official Video):
!!!!!!!
Stephen, I love hearing of the peacock feather above your tree! thank you for sharing your personal touches here in your World Tree~
Hi R3–sorry the 3 is not above the R here the way it should be–hopefully here it is the thought that counts. I enjoyed your free-floating word association as usual. Thank you for all the special holiday thoughts! Happy Holidays to you and yours, Robert,
Marianne
Happy Yuletide, Stephen! I cannot see the image of the Yule tree you put up and decorated and can only at this point imagine it! I like hearing about the Yggsdrasil, the World Tree of Norse mythology, as you write. I celebrate the Winter Solstice/Yule and Christmas too, in my family’s Roman Catholic tradition. Both are meaningful to me; many people in my life have asked me if I find these things contradictory to one another but for me they are not–they are so much alike at their cores.
I have no tree up yet, due to the laziness that Covid has brought into my home. Mostly we sleep and nap a lot in between meal times. But I thank gods that our quarantine is almost over! 🙂
This is one time I could not resist including an emoji!
Season’s Greetings to you also James, and to Everyone here! James, thank you for sharing with us one of the most amazing times of “peace on earth” with us, when during WWI the war was put aside for the sake of peace among humankind. It is such a meaningful story and song and lovely at that. One thing that always meant so much to me throughout my life is the Charlie Brown Christmas. I will try to post a You Tube video or something from that here in the responses.
James, what I thought of while watching your video was also all the people away from their family and friends this season over the holidays for whatever reason–being in the armed forces, being stationed overseas, being in a nursing home and faced with isolation as a result, people in quarantine, people doing social distancing…it seemed to me that your video was so timely also in the theme of isolation and it is so good to see the message of peace on earth and good will towards men/women/human/all living things–may we also extend our love towards all nature and all animal natural life. May we feel peace and love for all things on this earth, and feel peace for and within the cosmos.
Merry Christmas, Winter Solstice, Yule, Hanukah, Kwanza, and New Year~ Wishing all a year of health and happiness.
I tried linking the you Tube video below by the title but it did not work–you can copy and paste into search bar if you want to see/hear it.
Vince Guaraldi Trio “Christmas Time Is Here” (vocal version from A Charlie Brown Christmas)
Thank you for the Mythblast, Norland, and your answers to questions. I especially feel elated when you say, in answer to Stephen’s question about what this awareness does for people at large/in general and not just the artist, “this ‘knowledge’ or gnosis remains hidden, in exactly the way Michelangelo understood it, waiting to be released from the Primal Matter of the Stone—hence the ‘practical’ need for the Artist in society as the one who ‘knows’ consciously how to set it free!” This also brings me to recall a quote I heard years ago (I forget who to attribute it to–it has been said so many times since by so many!): “Any art form reflects the society within which it lives.” When we see this in a film, a novel, a short story, a poem, a painting, a piece of music, a dance, etc. we see something of ourselves in there, whether we are consciously aware of or not I might suppose.
P.S. For the second part of your question, I think that parents should not hide truth from the child–maybe aside from stories about Santa Claus…I think that children can usually ferret out the truth of situations, that their intuition and instincts are very strong, and that adults, who are by the time they are adults are less in touch with their intuition and instincts in many ways (perhaps other than when a child might be in danger) often forget that. I believe it is a mistake to lie to children to cover up the truth–and let the child cover him or herself up in their blanket. I suppose by the time they are a certain age they would be told to not carry it around everywhere they go, but I for one don’t see any harm in keeping it or the child knowing it is kept in the cedar chest and still “honored” as memory.
I am sorry for your pain and sadness you went through as a child, and how this memory can still hurt today. If you would wish, you could visit your blanket in the imaginal realm and re-write the history of the event to your satisfaction and healing today. I think when we are children we personify our blanket just like a toy or stuffed animal and part of what we feel is not our own sorrow when an item is thrown away is our anguish for the blanket as if we have deserted it and caused it pain–as if we have caused it sorrow, not just the sorrow of us missing it, but the sorrow that it will miss us.
–Marianne
