Rozworld’s WebLog

We had a very nice time visiting family this Thanksgiving. Rosalind really enjoyed spending time with her cousin Teddy. We also got to see our new cousin Molly during the trip. She is such a nice happy baby! Here are some photos of our holiday.

Thanksgiving 2006 Photos

This collection also includes photos of :

I just finished Joseph Campbell’s book, “The Power of Myth” with Bill Moyers. This book was based on a recorded conversation between the two that aired on PBS in the late 1980s. Joseph Campbell was the prominent author and Professor of Mythology and Comparative Religion at Sarah Lawrence University for a number of years and Bill Moyers is the award winning journalist for PBS. I used to believe that myths were some dotty irrelevant Greek stories that have no bearing on the way we think, but have now come to the realization that mythos is the underlying structure to every religion and belief system that has ever existed.
The ideas that myths convey are simply the ideas on how to conduct one’s self in life told in the context to have profound meaning. The rites of passage, from birth to coming of age to marriage and death, myths help give meaning to a seemingly meaningless world and extend rules for the individual and a society. Myths give comfort because they show that others have walked the same path.

The commonalities of myths show that across cultures, across religions, across languages, we are all human and share the same needs and a common psychology.

Some parallels between different beliefs systems, i.e. or things they won’t teach you in Bible school:

The Buddha and the Christ
The striking similarities between the life of the Buddha and the life of Christ are remarkable. For instance both characters had special births from their mothers, both found salvation beyond death. During life the Buddha was tempted 3 times, so was the Christ. And even parallels between their disciples, Ananda and St. Peter for example can be drawn.
Savior Gods
Savior gods permeate myths from around the globe. For instance take the “Corn Boy” in American Indian Myths. The corn boy is a story of a young man who was killed and was buried, only to come back and grow into the first stalk of corn for the purpose to feed his people. Another is the savior god Osiris, who died and was resurrected to become King and judge of all the dead.
The World Center
When I was in Alaska in August this year, I met one of Roger’s friends who was a fellow Taxidermist and who also happened to be a native Ojibwa Indian from Canada. He said something very profound that rings true throughout many of the world belief systems. He asked me where I was from and I said, “Wisconsin…”, “Well”, he said “[That is where my people started, Wisconsin is the sacred land, do you know what I mean?]”, and I said “Yes, I know what you mean…like Mecca”. In the Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell talks about that there is a place in the world where everything else revolves around it. It’s the place where a people find balance and a center between them and the world. Many cultures have a world center. Mecca for the Muslins is a world center. The Holy land or Jerusalem is also a world center for many of the other world religions. It was comforting to hear that our land here in Wisconsin, is considered by some to be a sacred site, but I’ve always known this in the back of my mind.
The Greek-ness of it All
Some of the Christian stories would have been very familiar to the pagan Greek listeners of the 1st Century: Christ turning water to wine, Dionysius also did this. Hermes walked on water in the Odyssey. If you were anybody of anything, you were descended from a God. It was common among the Greeks and Romans, for instance Caesar and Alexander the Great were both descended from the gods. This validated the individual and legitimized their rule.

Every night when we read a fairy or folk tale to Rosalind I now take heart that we are not just spending critical time with her but also being part of a larger tradition to convey and teach children moral conduct and comfort them with the end result of helping them to gain meaning from real world situations. There are myths for all phases of life, seek them out.

Rosalind had a nice birthday party with her friends on Sunday and with her family on Tuesday. Here are some pictures from those parties.

Rosalind has been enjoying the 2006 school year. She has been keeping us on our toes with all the things she’s involved in. Rosalind’s antics are the stuff that makes living in this household never a dull moment. The things she thinks up….

Rosalind finds a snake on a walk in the woods.	Tusken Raider Taters
Rosalind and a friend making cookies.	A vote for Rosalind is a vot for relaxed spelling standards.
Rosalind with a lampshade on her head.	Rosalind pretending to be an old woman.
Rosalind on her swing.	Rosalind in her Halloween costume 2006.