New Beginnings

My first quarter at Pacifica is wrapping up and I am proud to say that I have learned a great deal in the last ten weeks. I have not come to feel any deep bond with the myth of Prometheus, but I have gained an entirely different perspective on the myth. Through the exploration of the Prometheus myth, I have come to understand a great deal about other myths. I have also come to respect Carl Jung’s perspective on humanity’s relationship with mythology. It is the human who creates the myth but it is also the myth that creates the human. If one observes a proper relationship to mythology then a whole new aspect of reality opens up for the individual. I am only beginning to work through this thesis but I think it will continue to guide me throughout my career as a graduate students.

I have been researching Prometheus for a depth psychology class at Pacifica rather heavily in the last week or two. I have been using the model of childhood development that Edward Whitmont presents in this text The Symbolic Quest Basic Concepts of Analytical Psychology. It is fascinating to recognize the ways in which the Prometheus myth represents the earliest stages of Human development. Prometheus himself seems to be an initiator to consciousness. He creates humankind and tricks the great father Zeus in order to provide them with good meat. This is symbolic of the initial development of the ego in the child. The ego begins to separate out of the Self and establish some form of conscious awareness. Humans are punished by not being able to have fire to cook their meat with and so Prometheus steals fire away from Zeus. This furthers the symbolism of the separation that occurs in early stages of development. It also details the child's initial awareness of themselves as a thing in the world. They are no longer one with the parents, but finding their own path of development in the world. Zeus punishes Prometheus by chaining him to a rock for eternity and unleashing a great deal of suffering on humankind. This is symbolic of the parents still holding all power over the child. Despite the fact that the child has branched out in the world, it is still responsible to the god-parents. Further, the punishments inflicted on Prometheus and humankind are symbolic of the development of a conscience within the child. Now that it has begun to separate itself as an ego, it becomes responsible for its actions in the world. It is no longer inside the Self where everything is one, but in a world where actions have reactions. I have always loved myths but never gleaned this sort of insight from them. Fascinating.

Chained to the Mountain

After turning in my midterm paper for my process class I had a few more insights about Prometheus. Prometheus is the giver of the sacred fire, this can be interpreted as development of new consciousness or new technology, or both. This Promethean spirit is at work in our culture today. Stem cell research is a great example of the Promethean drive. Those scientists and supporters of this sort of research are not confining themselves with the mythology of today, they are only interested in the results. Many fear that the results of stem cell technology will be a Pandora’s box, bringing the good with the bad.

In my paper I argued that technology and mythology should seek to synthesize their motives and work together in the future, but the case of stem cell research is a sketchy one. This sort of research has been greatly censored by people’s mythologies. Going along the lines of my paper I could find a mythology like the Prometheus myth that supports these technological advances but then I would run into another problem.

How can we choose which mythology should be actualized in the determination of any given event. If we choose to embrace the Prometheus myth then we would brave the results good or bad and set forth into the world of stem cell research. If we accept modern mythologies and find stem cell research as an assault on divinity then we will most certainly not move ahead with it. In the latter case we are left in a world where people continue to suffer over diseases that stem cell research could prevent or eradicate all together.

This is the question that my paper must address in order to hand together as a whole, but I am not sure that I can provide an answer to this predicament. If anyone out there has any thoughts on the matter I would be happy to read through some replies to this issue. Thanks.