Changing the Story
Marylyn Ferguson has since passed away but I remember her presentation as one of the memorable ones (she wrote The Aquarian Conspiracy). She spoke at Paradox III of creating a new story, a new mythos for human civilization. This seems like a similar point to what Daniel Quinn was expressing when he wrote Ishmael. The "uncivilized" and "primitive" state of indigenous societies has been and still is often used as an excuse to subjugate primitive people and take their lands. Ironically civilizations as they reach their "peak" end up encouraging their people to behave in ways that are more brutal and savage than the simple societies that are labeled primitive and barbaric by the civilized people. Many have grown up challenging the prevailing assumptions of reality that arise from a social system built on immediate gratification and greed, they now seek to create a new value system to better explain life and also sustain human civilization.
The creation of a new mythos is really what many intend as they communicate these concepts and understandings to humanity. Mythology and the Human Condition are tied closely together. Mythology tells us much about the human condition. The ancient Gods once played an important part in the lives of our ancestors. Modern day psychology suggests that the powers and activities of these Gods are simply the inner powers of the individual, disowned and projected into their outer environment. With the growth of Identity Consciousness (IC), there perhaps comes a realization of this situation and a reclaiming of these powers. Whether or not this is the case, mythical symbols can be extremely valuable in identifying and giving color to the various attributes of the human being discussed and described by our model. Attributes which we will now expand upon.
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