This month’s topic: Mythopoesis and Personal Myth
Mythopoesis is myth creation. As we go through our lives, we are writing another segment of our own personal myth. This month, we will discuss the various paths this process can take and some of the guiding myths passed down through the ages. Feel free to share a personal story or experience that has served a part in your own personal mythopoesis.
We will meet at Book People as usual, but please note the new time:
August 30, 2008
2:30pm-5:30pm
Book People Cafe
603 N Lamar
Austin, TX 78703
Please RSVP by the morning of August 30th. Guests are welcome. I look forward to seeing you there!
August 23rd, 2008 at 11:18 pm
I hope this is the right place to RSVP. So, I just wanted to say that I intend to be at the Roundtable discussion this Saturday.
August 24th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Great! See you there.
September 7th, 2008 at 4:42 am
It’s been a little over a week since the last Roundtable discussion on the topic of “mythopoesis” or “myth creation.” I had never really tried to imagine “creating” my own myth. I guess I feel like I’m more in the process of trying to discover what my myth is. Perhaps if I can get a handle on that then I’ll be more in a position to have some say in the unfolding of my myth. One can only hope.
To that end, though, I have discovered, in the brief time that I’ve been with JCF, that these online discussions are immensely helpful. To write out comments to be submitted makes me have to organize, elucidate, modify, etc. my thoughts into a cogent(to me anyway; and not even then) discourse. The more intensity with which I attempt this, the more that comes up. It becomes a vehicle for getting in touch with deeper contents that I otherwise would overlook were I to just think or daydream about the topics discussed. Then I have new material to reflect on which I can then watch slowly-so damn slowly!- integrate into consciousness- if I’m lucky.
The best part about a JCF crowd is the empathy. They may not know exactly where you’re coming from; but they know that you’re on a journey coming from somewhere(and it could be any ol’ “where”), and going to somewhere. It is the journey that is respected and considered; not necessarily the factitious details in which the journey is cloaked(One thing that amazes me about JCF online discussions is the absence of vitriol. One realizes that things potentially offensive said in these online discussions is only an outward landmark of where someone is on his inward individual journey; which is almost certain to change: “To The Journey!”(from Star Trek Voyager; or was it The Next Generation?) This realization allows to be more forgiving- just as much of ourselves as others! Listening to others gives us the opportunity for reflection as we analyze our reactions to what others say. I say glom on to the person that upsets you the most (easier said than done) because, “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves”(I took that quote by Jung from the package for a “Carl Jung Action Figure.” Has anyone seen these? They’re a hoot! It’s a Carl Jung figurine that moves like a GI Joe action figure. The one I have came from Toy Joy))
Anyway, I want to thank Priscilla and JCF for shepherding this forum, giving us the means to discover more about ourselves.
September 8th, 2008 at 4:43 am
I’m glad you’re finding this forum helpful!