What's On Your Wrist?

Our lives are filled with more myths than we can even imagine.

DB - The Vagabond
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Think of going to the supermarket, purchasing a few cans of food and a couple of boxes of cereal. Think of bringing them home and putting them on the shelf. Then think of taking them off the shelf everyday, reading the labels but never opening the box and pouring out the cereal or opening the cans to get at the fruits and vegetables

If you think that's stupid, you're right. But now think about all the ideas and theories you've bought, that reside nicely on your mental shelf, that you never open up to inspect and enjoy or discard. Think of the brainy little trinkets you carry with you like items on a charm bracelet that you've picked up from here and there and which you never look at.

When the ancient Greeks went to the theatre they already knew the plot. All of their plays were based on Homeric legends every school kid grew up with. Each play was reaching into the story to extract more wisdom and understanding.

Why didn't the Greeks get bored? Because those myths and legends struck at the heart of their lives. They still do. Sisyphus's task was to push a heavy rock up to the top of a hill only to see it slip and roll back down to the bottom. Endless, pointless labor. How are you doing with your rock? Damocles was forced to dine with a sharpened sword hanging over his head by a single hair. The knowledge of everpresent danger. .

Myths have morals but they don't have morality. They can help us to be careful about many things but they can also lead us in directions that are injurious or wasteful. Does holding a wooden clothes pin in your mouth really keep you from weeping when you chop an onion? Do you still put butter on a burn instead of cold water? Do you still keep your bananas out of the refrigerator so they can spoil faster? Some people still wound or mutilate themselves to bring them closer to God. In some places they search for aphrodisiacs in Rhinoceros horns. Somewhere in Africa they think having sex with a virgin cures Aids.

On the other hand Plato's famous Myth of the Cave has great lessons to learn. On the simplest terms it teaches us that we spend most of our lives looking at the shadows instead of the realities. That's a lesson of profound importance and benefit for all of us.

Check out the charms on your bracelet. Examine your ideas and theories. How many of them are myths or based on myths and are they good ones or bad ones?

DB - The Vagabond
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Does anyone know how to rearrange the titles under "My Blogs" on the home page?
If so, please reveal the secret to me.
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WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)

Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.

You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
19 responses so far.

DB - The Vagabond