My Life as Mythic Detective

At the beginning of this class, I was unaware of how much it would impact me. When I thought of mythology, I’ll admit that I only thought of ancient fictitious stories that had nothing to do with my life. Mythology, to me, was perceived as something ancient that had no relevance to me personally. If you would have told me that after this semester there would be a huge change in the way I see things and what they mean to me, and that I could relate everyday things to mythology, I would have thought you were crazy. However, despite my skepticism, my eyes were soon opened to the world of mythology and I realized how much it has to do with my life. It was not something distant from me, but rather something personal to me. Everything I do has some reasoning behind it. Myth is the precedent behind every action, no matter how insignificant that action may seem.

            There are so many concepts in this class that it’s hard to wrap my head around all of them and put them all together in a cohesive way, but I’ll try my best. Being a mythic detective this semester is a concept that I’ve struggled with. What exactly is a mythic detective? At first I thought that I was supposed to go out and have these great epiphanies about mythology and discover great things about the world. That’s why at first I was having a rough time connecting mythology to my life. However, as the class progressed, I realized that I didn’t need to look far from my everyday life to find mythology. It was all around me to begin with and I didn’t even realize it. It was all a matter of consciousness. This idea struck me with our first assignment of hugging a tree. I thought about what tree I wanted to hug, and was having a hard time deciding which one to hug because there were so many options. At last, I ended up hugging a tree right outside my apartment. I pass by this tree everyday but had never really given it a second thought. But when I gave it a second look I saw its true beauty. It’s amazing how you can walk past something every single day, but never really see the beauty behind it until you start examining your surroundings more closely. Now every day when I walk to school I see that white birch and it reminds me of mythology, about Daphne turning into a tree, and how I should pay more attention to my immediate surroundings and see the true beauty in things.

            This concept of paying attention to things close to you reminds me of my photography. I’m a photography major and one of the lessons that has stuck with me is that you don’t have to take pictures of grand, extravagant things to make great photos. Sometimes the best photos come from things that you find at home and close to you. It’s all up to you to choose how to take the photograph and make it your own and interesting to the viewer. If you see things in a certain way, you have to find a way to show that through the way you photograph them. So, if you see things beautifully and show that through your photographs, then the viewer will likely see it that way too. It’s all about consciousness and perception and the way you choose to view things. For my final project in my photo class, I was having an extremely difficult time trying to come up with an idea for my project. I went through about five ideas before finally choosing the one that meant the most to me. I notice that I always try to complicate things and think that I have to come up with an amazing concept to have a successful photo series, when in reality that is not the case. My final project now is portraits of my mom, dad, and sister. I take photographs of these three people all the time, but it never occurred to me that I could make a project out of it. I guess I thought that a final on my family might be boring, but I now realize how wrong I was. These three people are the people that mean the most to me in the world, and if I photograph them in a way that shows that, then my project will be successful. If I would have only thought about the idea of what I’m looking for being right in front of me, it would have made choosing a final idea much easier, but I’m glad that I went through this experience and realized that it all goes back to mythology.

            Another important concept I learned was the idea of a circle and transformation. At the beginning of the class, it was said that there are three parts to mythology- a beginning, middle, and end. This can also be described as creation, initiation, and apocalypse. I liked the idea of mythology being a circle. It shows that life is a cycle and you always end up back where you started after going thought many trials and adventures that develop you as a person. You might end up exactly where you started from, but everything has changed. This idea really impacted me. I love quotes and when we learned about this idea in class, a certain quote immediately came to mind. This quote, by C.S. Lewis states “Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is different.” I feel like this quote really describes how mythology is directly related to life. Mythology involves a circle transformation, and so does life. This semester, in fact, can be described as mythology. At the beginning of the class, I was sitting in my seat knowing nearly nothing about how mythology relates to me. Now, twelve weeks later, I’m back in the same exact seat, but my whole mind set is changed. I’m now more aware of the things around me, and I feel like my life has been changed for the better.

            There are no ordinary days, and also no ordinary people. Even in the most boring actions, there are reasons and stories behind them. Most likely, everything you do, someone else has done before. Therefore, there can be no originality. At first I found this realization sad, but as I think about it I realized that it just gives us the ability to interpret things in our own unique way. Someone else has likely taken photos very similar to me, but it’s all about interpretation. It’s up to me to take that photo in a way that says something about me, and it will be worthwhile. Also because of this class, everyday things that were normally boring to me are now becoming much more intriguing. Before, when I looked at the big and little dipper, they were nothing more than constellations. Now, however, I think of Callisto and Arcas up in the sky and that makes it all the more intriguing. Before, when I saw a spider all I did was scream and run for my life, begging for someone to kill it. I can never seem to kill spiders by myself, or even watch one being killed. Now I’m realizing there might be a reason behind that. Now when I see a spider, I think of Arachnea. Even though I still run and freak out about them, I’m now aware of the myth behind the spider. Now whenever I see a peacock I will be reminded of the eyes of Argus and where its tail feathers come from. Every time I see men eat m and m’s now, all I can think of is Saturn devouring his children. Even the most boring days have meaning. Brushing my teeth, showering, going to school, and studying are now all a part of mythology because they are daily rituals. Even though they are not painful rituals like sticking my hand in a glove full of bullet ants, or cutting my skin to look like a crocodile, they are rituals nonetheless. A great lesson I’ve taken from this class is that everything can be extraordinary if I choose to make it that way. I might think that my life is boring now, but if I choose to look at my surroundings and see the beauty in everything and the stories behind everything, then it won’t be boring anymore. It’s all about consciousness.

            Finally, the last important lesson I learned from Ovid’s stories is the idea of doing something you shouldn’t. In most of these stories, someone does something they shouldn’t. Icarus is told not to fly to close to the sun, yet he does and is killed because of it. Many characters challenge the gods, such as Arachnea, and things normally don’t go too well for them. These storied seem to tell us to be careful what you wish for. Midas wanted all the riches in the world, but his life is not what he expected when he gets the golden touch. Most of the mortals in these stories defy the gods, and it never turns out well for them. This could be a sign to us to not push our limits. Life as mortals is finite, and can end at any moment. I agree that we shouldn’t be reckless, but not sure if I agree that we shouldn’t take risks. After all, where is the enjoyment in life is we don’t take risks every so often? I’ve also learned how amazing being mortal is. It seems that the gods in a lot of these storied envy the mortals, because they don’t get to experience the entire beginning, middle and end of life. However, as humans we get to experience the entire circle and transformation in life from beginning to end. I like to think that my life is still in its beginning stages, but I know that I’ve experienced many trials that have to do with the middle of my life. I’m hoping that I’ll learn enough and experience enough in my life so that I have no regrets at the end of it. I now know that after this class, all I have to do is have a higher consciousness of the things around me and that this should be possible. On a closing note, I feel that the poem “Happy Endings?” by Shel Silverstein sums up endings, middles and beginnings quite nicely. “There are no happy endings. Endings are the saddest part. So just give me a happy middle. And a very happy start.” I’ve learned so much about mythology and my life in this class, and it’s something that will hopefully stick with me forever. I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to have learned so much and can now say that in addition to being a student, I’m now also a mythic detective.