Keuka College - Kiondaga Yearbook (Keuka Park, NY)

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10 THE COLLEGE RECORD. world of thought and feeling. It recognizes a two- fold nature in the poetry of myths : the imagery that pictures pro- cesses of natural phenomena and the imagery that sees, in the invisible psychical realm, movements corresponding to and parallel with physical processes. So that myths in addition to being allegories of nature become also allegories of human ex- perience. This method is in harmony with the science of Symbology, and sees that mythical forms are symbols of uni- versal principles. From this the name symbolic method of in- terpretation arises. It regards myths as parables of life; from this the name parabolic method of interpretation is equally appropriate. Thus it is believed that myths were intended to answer, for those who understand them, much the same purpose that alle- gorical and parabolical elements in the Bible are intended to serve for those who accept it as their religious authority ; furthermore, it is seen that they hold in guise much the same principles. Also, they are open to like difficulties of interpre- tation. The purpose of a parable or symbol is three-fold : To pre- serve, to reveal, to conceal ; to present truth in such an attrac- tive form that the form, by its own peculiar attractiveness, is preserved and handed down from generation to generation ; to reveal the truth in proportion to one's ability to understand and appropriate ; to conceal the truth, as by a veil, from those who are not qualified to appreciate and obey it. Thus it is seen that the very nature and purpose of symbolic literature leave it open to difficulties of interpretation and make it improbable that a given rendering would appeal to any except those of the same degree of development and of kindred temperament. Likewise the very nature and purpose of sym- bolic elements explain how the same Law that gave them birth may elose the mouths of interpreters who understand the true meaning. It is in harmony with the Law of its own creation that tli is should be so. The great difficulty to be overcome in interpreting symbolism is the tendency to press into signifi- e tin- details of a narrative ; the story with its accessories is but the garb or form in which a general truth is clothed. If holds himself to the consideration of principles and essen-

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THE COLLEGE RECORD. 9 any indication that the world suffers on this account. Each reads and receives according to his need and according to his experience. Each sees in poetry and in art that which satisfies his particular fancy, and there is no occasion for anxiety be- cause others do not receive the very same message from them. Possibly the plea most needed, in regard to any subject that calls for interpretation, is the plea for open-minded and open- hearted hearing of different views, with no exacting demand for authority. The error into which the educational world has fallen is the tendency to worship authority with pharisaic narrowness as well as with pharisaic devotion. Scholarship should be recognized and the results of intellectual research should be respected. But that which has poetic instinct as the basis of its creation should be allowed explanation in the poetic instinct of each interpreter, and no stress on authority should interfere with one's right to this privilege. There is another understanding of myths that has held its place with a few in all periods of history. It has never been without advocates, although it has often been lost to the general public. It is not regarded with favor by recognized scholars of to-day ; yet justice has not been done to the sub- ject of interpretation unless some attention has been given to it. This way of treating myths has many points in common with the methods previously mentioned ; but it believes, in ad- dition, that myths are an expression of general principles or truths of vital importance to humanity in its varied stages of development. It may be stated that, according to this type of interpreta- tion, the intuitive faculties of the soul must be called into activity as well as the intellectual in determining the portent of mythical literature, Spiritual insight is required as well as mental accuracy. Since it is believed that myths originally had close connection with religious ideas it is needful that in- terpreters should be those whose religious natures are well developed. This interpretation is based on the Law of Correspondence, and is in keeping with the Hermetic principle of philosophy ; As above so below ; as below so above, or in other words : As in the visible world of physical processes so in the invisible

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THE COLLEGE RECORD. 11 tials he need not become entangled in the meshes of minute- ness. These minor features — the details — are points in which myths of different nations vary, and only illustrate and empha- size the mythic law of revealing yet concealing. It is only to be expected that the results of this method should seem capricious and arbitrary to the distinctly intellec- tual temperament. It will be argued that it is absurd to claim that the mind of myth-makers ever saw such meaning in the products of their creation. No such claim is made by those who see traces of a deeper truth in them. Why limit ourselves to what myth-makers saw ? Is it reasonable to claim that we can determine, with any degree of certainity, what primitive consciousness saw in myths ? No claim is made of being able to determine the primitive significance of myths in the sense of discovering, with ac- curacy, what they may have meant to early tribes. But it seems reasonable to many minds to cherish the hope of de- ciphering the primitive significance of myths in the sense of finding in them a portrayal of primitive or first principles ; simple, fundamental laws of life, which, in some way, found birth in the race mind and became clothed in beautiful or in grotesque imagery, the meaning of which in the evolvement of human thought has passed through many phases of interpreta- tion ; simple, fundamental laws of life to which primitive organisms in the process of evolution may have given only instinctive obedience, with no comprehension whatever of the vital principles involved, with no consciousness even of render- ing such obedience. For the purposes of this article a few generalizations from mythic material to illustrate the symbolic type of interpreta- tion must suffice. Myth-makers were in an environment of constant changes. The myriad phases through which the elements of nature pass in one brief hour furnish material for weird fancies, in which the leading factors are given personal names and personal traits. Nature's sports and havocs under different circum- stances present different aspects. Hence in various localities stories that picture her ways take various shapes and colorings.