Parallel Myths

Bierlein opens Part 1 with a poem by 19th-century American lawyer and writer

Robert G. Ingersoll. In his “Invitation to Myth,” Ingersoll lays out a bleak picture of humanity’s existence:

Life is a narrow vale between the cold

And barren peaks of two eternities.

We strive in vain to look beyond the height, We cry aloud;

the only answer

Is the echo of our wailing cry (1).

Humanity’s only recourse in the face of existential despair, Ingersoll argues, is to create myths that give meaning to our lives and give gods “the faults and frailties” of human beings. Myths give not only meaning but beauty to a world that can too often seem cruel and capricious.

Bierlein recounts a Chinese creation myth. When Hu, the Emperor of the Northern Sea, and Shu, the Emperor of the Southern Sea, discover Hundun, “a great chaos” (3), they pierce him with thunderbolts for seven days to create orifices in which to allow light to penetrate. In the process, Hundun dies. In this myth, creation begins when lightning penetrates chaos.

In a striking echo of this creation myth, chemistry graduate student Stanley L. Miller in 1953 performed an experiment in which gasses believed to have composed early Earth’s atmosphere were charged with electricity. The result was the formation of nucleotides, early building blocks of DNA. Bierlein writes, “This was the first time that nucleotides had been produced in any manner independent of a living organism” (4). The myth and the experiment converge in fundamental ways: Both posit, in their own ways, the beginning of life on Earth.

A common definition of “myth” is an untruth or falsehood, but in a cultural context, myth represents the purest of truths. Myths are the most primal form of religion, philosophy, government, and morality. In very general terms, myths are:

• Omnipresent across all cultures and civilizations, passed through generations, perhaps even part of our unconscious, cognitive structure.
• Stories that predate writing, part of an oral tradition that binds past, present, and future.
• A language beyond the five senses that bridges the gap between the unconscious and the limits of “conscious logic.”
• The “glue” that unites societies under the banner of shared identity.
• Necessary to understand codes of moral behavior.
• “A pattern of beliefs that give meaning to life” (6).

Subsection 1 Summary: “Language and Myth”

The English language is filled with mythological references, especially Greek and Roman: chaos, museum, erotic, Nike, Mars, and Venus, to name a few. These words provide a link to our past through the cultural connection of myth. Many cultures have words that describe that indefinable truth beyond human comprehension, and those words frequently carry over into that culture’s contemporary language, often translating to “God.” Those gods were frequently anthropomorphized—Greek gods took human form, and the Jewish prohibition against “graven images” was a refutation of this tendency; by refusing to see their god as similar to themselves, they created a hierarchy with God above and humans below.

The connection between language and myth is deep. In some cultures—Persian and Jewish, for example—simply speaking the name of God is a profanity. Maintaining ancient linguistic traditions—the Latin Mass in Catholicism or Muslims reciting the Koran in Arabic—separates “what is sacred from what is profane” (10). Returning to the origin language of the myth preserves its sacred integrity. Language also evolves alongside humans’ relationship with their god(s). In its earliest stages, the god is all-powerful, and humans must appease it, the language reflecting that relationship. As it evolves into a more codependent relationship, language reflects that as well: “the Great Self” in the Hindu faith or, in Christianity, the notion of God dwelling “within” the individual.

Subsection 2 Summary: “Time and Myth”

Our current way of measuring time—the solar year, for example—has its origins in Egyptian mythology. In many languages, the days of the week are based on myths: Friday is sacred to the Germanic goddess of beauty, Freya, and Sunday is a day sacred to the Sun. Similarly, the months are derived from classical mythology: January is named after Janus, “two-faced Roman god of the gates who faced backward and forward” (14), and April comes from the Latin aprire (“to open”), the month when many flowers blossom.

Bierlein makes a distinction between “sacred time” and “profane time,” the latter referring simply to clock and calendar time while the former represents a “connection, the sense of timelessness within time” (16). Myths—and religious rituals are part of the mythological structure humans observe—connect past, present, and future. The Christian Mass and the Jewish Sabbath both illustrate such a connection, the rites connecting acolytes through millennia of similar practice.

Subsection 3 Summary: “History and Myth”

Only recently have human beings separated myth and history as two distinct disciplines. To “primitive man,” they were tightly intertwined, all human activity being a replay—and thus, a connection—to its mythical past. History, as defined today, is a discreet series of events and actors that have beginning and end points in chronological time. In essence, traditional cultures view history as “cyclical” while contemporary cultures view it as “linear.”

Subsection 4 Summary: “The Civic Myth”

Myths, in the form of national symbols, can also act as the “glue” that binds nations, especially ethnically diverse nations that may not share a common language or culture. In the United States, such symbols are, among others, the flag, the Statue of Liberty, and the icons found on national currency. In ancient Rome, the emperor was considered a symbol of unity; failure to worship him as such could carry severe consequences. Conversely, when those myths break down, so does social cohesion. The exile of the Jews in the Old Testament for failing to adhere to God’s covenant is one example.

Subsection 5 Summary: “Morality and Myth”

The association of morality and religion has a long and entrenched history, so much so that it becomes nearly impossible to separate them in the public imagination. The loss of connection to myth and religion, therefore, means a loss of morality. Moral relativism is a symptom of this decline. According to Bierlein, “The establishment and maintenance of a widely held moral code are the most important functions of myth” (22). Without the acknowledgement of a common morality—based on a set of common myths—social order devolves into violence and chaos.

Subsection 6 Summary: “The Sense of the Sacred”

Bierlein cites a German tale, Berufs-Trajik (“Vocation Tragedy”), in which a mighty bridge is built over an estuary on the Baltic Sea. It is an engineering marvel. Tremendous obstacles are confronted and overcome, and the bridge is completed, only to be swept away in a cyclone. Visiting the sight of the tragedy, the author is compelled to kneel in the face of such a great, existential mystery, a mystery that dwarfs both humans and their accomplishments.

Subsection 1 Summary: “The Greek and Roman Pantheon”

The “Olympian Twelve” are the major Greek gods/goddesses who dwelt atop Mount Olympus. Their Roman counterparts are designated in parentheses.

• Zeus (Jupiter/Jove): Zeus is the king of the gods who shares domain with his brothers—Poseidon, god of the sea, and Hades, god of the underworld.
• Hera (Juno): The wife and twin sister of Zeus. She often berates Zeus for his infidelities, and she is the patron goddess of brides and mothers.
• Aphrodite (Venus): In myth, Venus is born of the sea, and she is the goddess of sexual desire. Her Middle Eastern counterparts are the fertility goddesses Ishtar, Ashtaroth, and Astarte. Although given in marriage to the god Hephaestus, she bore children with Ares, the god of war.
• Hermes (Mercury): The son of Zeus, he is the god of commerce and a patron of “travel and thieves.” As the messenger of the gods, Hermes is often depicted with winged feet.
• Apollo: Also a son of Zeus, Apollo is the sun god, depicted driving a fiery chariot across the sky. He is the patron god of the arts and athletics and speaks through the Oracle at Delphi.
• Artemis (Diana): Apollo’s twin sister, Artemis is the moon goddess, patroness of hunters and children, and a “perpetual virgin.”
• Ares (Mars): Ares is the “bloodthirsty, hard-drinking, dishonest, and temperamental god of war” (26), disliked by the other gods.
• Hestia (Vesta): She is the goddess of hearth and home, gentle and kind.
• Poseidon (Neptune): God of the sea and brother of Zeus and Hades.
• Hades (Pluto): God of the Underworld; his name means “blind.” He is the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. His Roman name, Pluto, means “rich” in Greek, a reference to all the wealth buried in underground mines.
• Athena (Minerva): Athena, the patroness of Athens and inventor of math and various forms of practical technology, she is also the goddess of justice and said to be the only Olympian to have defeated Ares in battle.
• Hephaestus (Vulcan): The son of Zeus, he is the “lame god of the forge” (27), inventor of metalworking and the power of the volcano.

The Earth Gods

• Demeter (Ceres): The goddess of agriculture, possibly a survivor of a pagan “mother goddess.” Derivations of her name mean cereal and beer.
• Dionysus (Bacchus): The god of grapes, wine, and theater. Dionysian rituals were often drunken revelries in his honor.

Interestingly, the inclusion of Demeter and Dionysus in the Pantheon illustrates the importance of grain and wine in Greek society.

Subsection 2 Summary: “The Norse Pantheon”

• Odin: The ruler of the gods, generally considered wise and just. Odin has only one eye after bartering the other away at “Mimir’s well of wisdom” (29).
• Frey: The god of agriculture in German and Scandinavian mythology whose name ties to the English free and freedom.
• Freya/Freja: A goddess of beauty and love, sister of Frey.
• Frigga: In Norse mythology, Frigga is the wife of Odin.
• Tyr/Tiw: The god of war, he is more prominent in German and Anglo-Saxon mythology than Norse.
• Loki: Loki is the trickster, god of deception.
• Hel: Hel is Odin’s sister, goddess of the Underworld, where the souls of the dead reside.

Subsection 3 Summary: “The Gods of India”

Religious mythology in India is both monotheistic and polytheistic. While Brahman is considered the Creator and the “Divine Self” in a monotheistic context, he also manifests as a trinity: Brahman, Vishnu (the Preserver), and Shiva (the Destroyer). The trinity also has female incarnations (“shaktis”) that are worshipped by some Hindu sects: Brahman’s shakti is Sarasvati, and Vishnu’s is Lakshmi.

Other Hindu deities are:

• Brihaspati: the priest of the Indian deities
• Indra: the sky god
• Varuna: known as “Father Heaven,” in Sanskrit, closely related to Uranus, the Greek personification of Heaven
• Kubera: the god of wealth
• Rudra: the storm god
• Pushan: the guardian of the flocks
• The sons of Shiva: Ganesha, the “elephant-headed god of wisdom” (31); Skanda, a god of war; and Kamadeva, god of love.

Subsection 4 Summary: “The Egyptian Pantheon”

• Ra: the sun god and ruling deity
• Shu: Ra’s son, god of the air
• Tefnut: Ra’s daughter, goddess of world order
• Shu and Tefnut’s children are Geb, the earth god, and Nut, his wife, the sky goddess.
• Geb and Nut’s children are Osiris, god of the dead, Isis, goddess of wisdom and beauty, Set, the “evil god of the desert” (32), and Nephthys, goddess of dusk.
• Bast: cat goddess, patroness of love and “feminine things”
• Hathor: goddess of vengeance
• Maat: goddess of justice
• Ernutet: patroness of women in childbirth

Subsection 5 Summary: “The Hawaiian Pantheon”

Hawaiian, Tahitian, Maori, and other Polynesian mythologies recognize two primordial forces of nature:

• Ao, the masculine force embodied by Ku, god of the sun, whose name means “rising upright.” Rituals honoring Ku always face east.
• Po, the feminine force whose goddess is Hina (“leaning down”). Hina is the goddess of night and earth, and prayers to her face west.

There are also:

• Pele: the volcano goddess
• Kanaloa: the sea god, personified as a squid and invoked for his healing powers
• Maui: the trickster, son of Kanaloa
• Lono: a god of agriculture.

Subsection 6 Summary: “The Aztec Pantheon”

• Onteotl: the supreme god of the Aztec pantheon
• Tlaloc: the rain god and leader of the rain spirits, the “Tlaloques”
• Ehecatl: god of the winds who assumes the form of the serpent Quetzalcoatl
• Xipe Totec: god of the spring
• Xochipilli: god of flowers
• Tlatzoteotl: goddess of sexual desire and one to whom sins are confessed
• Huitzipochtli: the sun god and patron of Aztec warriors

Lesser Aztec Gods

• Teteoinnan, Coatlicue, Cihuacoatl, and Itzpaplotl: goddesses of fertility and childbirth
• Huehueteotl: the god of fire
• Centeotl: the god of maize
• Ometochtli: the god of drunkenness
• Chalchiuhtilicue: goddess of fresh water; and her sister, Huixtochihuatl, goddess of salt water and the ocean