With the recent launch of my first novel Man In A Castle, planning all the promotional gigs that coincide, whilst staying true-to-schedule on writing my current novel (thus aptly untitled), working my day job, being an emotionally available dad and husband, following my rigorous (and frankly American Psycho-esc) exercise routine, all the while finding time to just… be a fucking person, Substack will sometimes take a backseat. Nevertheless, my gears have been churning over an idea that I think will not only be fun to write, but also produce a sense of wonder and horror in the minds of my readers.
One of the greatest aspects of understanding ancient civilizations is to peer into the deep crevices of their Mythologies, where one will uncover a vast understanding behind the modes of thinking and being that was consistent amongst their contemporaries.
Be it Greece in the west, Egypt to the south, Sumer, Babylon and Assyria in the near east, scattered Pagan Kingdoms to the north, China, Japan, and Mongolia to the far east, or one of the many native civilizations found in the Americas— Mythology had proven to serve as a lens to gaze through into the minds of ancient peoples, and subsequently, come to understand their culture.
Perhaps it is how they best understood themselves?
The gods they worshipped, the heroes they praised, the maiden’s whose beauty ascended mortal understanding, and the devils they feared all stand today as monoliths to the progress of the ever developing human understanding of a world that continues to prove itself far more complicated than we precedingly let on.
But what about today? Where are our myths and our legends? Where are our gods? Our Devils?
Some might argue that comic books, cinema, anime, manga, and literature fulfill this otherwise empty gap in our minds and hearts. Others might say that religion fulfills this. But no one today really believes that the former are illustrations of actual happenings, and those rarely grasp hold of worldly explanations, being satirical at best. While the latter bears no legend nor story that quenches the hearkening lack of modern relatability. Our era of concrete and digital worlds, the looming threat of world wars, the exploration of the impossibility of space our ancestors could only fantasize about, the existential possibility of environmental apocalypse, the integration of world-wide communication, and perhaps most recently the advent and deployment of artificial intelligence are just a few of the great many of examples that the myths and legends from the past have no answers for.
How many of us have the time to sit under a tree until we reach Nirvana? When was the last time you met someone who watched their wife transform into a pillar of salt because she watched twin cities being reduced to ash by heavenly fire? Anyone ever seen a burning bush? Ever built an arc?
Of course not. Most religions today draw from ancient cultures that are so incomparable to the problems we face in modern existence, that its hardly surprising that those who actually believe the stories to be literal facts are dwindling into obscurity, while the rest of us are left rather hungry and unfulfilled.
Are we not?
Secular minded people will likely say that the only difference between Religion and Mythology is time and organized institutions. Meanwhile religious people will likely shun the very notion of such a statement. The common ground between these two modes is often one that regards the ancient and magical stories of Christ, Gautama, Mohammed, Moses, and many others as… well just that: stories. Stories of great and sincere symbolism that adhere to higher principles of morality, honor, spirituality, and how to bear the force of incomprehensible suffering.
But what happens when those stories become so diluted with controversial dogma, priesthoods, meddled translations, and every type of debased rigmarole that the intended purpose of these stories become so intangible that they lose their significance to our species at large?
I don’t think that it needs to be outlined in totality, but it has become all too clear to us bald primates that the world seems to be resting on a tiny pebble, rocking uneasily to and fro between the ever lurking forces of entropy.
A German man named ‘Fred’ predicted this would happen. He said that we’ve killed our own line of sight with divinity, and if we fail to evolve beyond the need for a sky-daddy (and by extension fulfill that role ourselves), that we would inevitably destroy ourselves.
I want to construct a Myth from series of events that occurred leading up to, throughout, and after the Industrial Revolution at the end of the 19th century. I will be anthropomorphizing the unseen forces that led us into the 20th and 21st centuries. A story (or a short series of stories) that are both tangible and paradoxically intangible. Something relatable enough to the modern mind that draws upon actual (even if dramatized) events that isn’t simply cast aside by our inherent rationale and scrutiny. All the while possessing the sort of meaningful symbolism that will click snuggly into that place of wonder so often forgotten in our modern age.
In the months to come, I will be publishing a series of dramatized historical narratives that side-step straight forward and mind numbing academic fact, but rather observe and dramatize certain peculiar (and sometimes esoteric) events that transpired that just might help paint the picture of why our world is the way it has been for the last thirteen decades.
So to be sure, what is to come shouldn’t be viewed as history, but rather Myth. Much like how the story of Adam and Eve shouldn’t be taken as literal history, but rather as the symbolic uprising of an animal that evolved too hastily for its own good.
And perhaps by gazing through Myth, like our ancient ancestors, we might come to better understand our strange world that seems to be growing evermore violent.
Chapel Perilous is now available in paperback and ebook!
Love this B!
I’m convinced the world is sorely lacking living mythology and that this is a major problem that the worst among us might exploit. Neitzche pointed out how rational observations killed God 150 years ago. Hitler and gang ran with the idea, trying to make the Aryan nation the new God. Nihlism reigned supreme, momentarily, at enormous cost to humankind.
After WW2, comparative mythology guru Joseph Campbell highlighted again the lack of mythology in the then-modern world. He noted artists and storytellers are creators of myths and inspired many among the beat and hippie generations to create new unifying mythologies. For example, George Lucas, creator of Star Wars and Grateful Dead lead Jerry Garcia, credit Campbell. One might note how thoroughly intertwined their arts are to our culture, creating points of unity and shared values that transcends political divides.
Today, we seem to be at another crossroads. The likes of Trump and Putin, their minions, like the Nazis before them, issue conspiracy theory and competing mythologies to degrade social fabric and moral boundaries that our unifying mythologies and beliefs foster. They specifically use Christianity as a tool of reactionary politics. It is an intensely scary moment. And we need so much more of this type of effort. Thank you!
I love this piece so much! I'm obsessed with myths and am putting out a workshop next year called From Myth to Medicine -- all about taking the medicinal and poignant meaning from myths to apply to our life today. But I love to see how others dive into and respond to myth like you do here. It's so fascinating to me!