Thursday, January 24, 2008

Greek Polytheism

I think a better way to teach Greek mythology to today's high schoolers might be to use the analogy of a mixing board and/or a multi-track editing system.

Each god or goddess gets a track, and it's a matter of compensating, perhaps overcompensating, swinging the pendulum back, continuing to accommodate what Neoplatonists later called the Holy Spirit, or just Spirit if you didn't see the need for a qualifier.

Many philosophers like to say Zeitgeist instead, given their Germanic heritage and/or distrust of people who say "holy" for a living (an old "stones & glass houses" story, still plagues Old Europe).

Then you had these cults around each deity, basically ad agencies, PR firms, think tanks. On the ground, there'd be a war, like with the Trojans or something, Persians whatever.

Outward wars tend to be sick and twisted by definition according to my own Quaker F&P, so what's called for is therapy, and physicians with a sense of social responsibility.

You figure out what remix will maybe help restore peace and prosperity and lead to happier, more liberating pursuits and co-venturing.

In a modern context, for me, that'd mean more Athena and less idiocy, like I've been in this cult of Athena for some time now, duh. We have a longstanding alliance with the cult of Apollo, lots of other details I could go into, but why let the competition in on our secrets right?