Keuka College - Kiondaga Yearbook (Keuka Park, NY)

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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.

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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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12 THE COLLEGE RECORD. But in all of these is this one factor : Something going on, action, changes, processes, movement. It is not difficult for some types of mind to see in this por- trayal of the ever-present principle of life — the Law of Growth, the Law of Change. It is not necessary to suppose that primi- tive mind was purposely developing a philosophy, or that it had any more than an instinctive consciousness of this great law ; if indeed the word consciousness, as we understand it, may be used at all in such connection. But it is easy to ob- serve that myths are a portrayal of action, and this, in general, expresses the Law of Growth. Whether an esoteric signifi- cance was intentional on the part of myth makers, or uninten- tional, does not matter. This fact of outward movement finds a true correspondence in the myriad changes that take place in the inner world of thought and feeling. How much or how little the ancients may have appreciated this truth need not concern us. Such is the law of life ; as it is in the visible world of changes so, in general, is it in the invisible psychical realm. Thus mythic lore may be said to have application in both realms, the visible and the invisible, and to illustrate the Law of Growth in all departments of life. But an environment of constant changes leads to an inquiry concerning the beginning, the origin of things, and in particu- lar concerning the origin of man. One great class of mythic stories presents theories regarding man's origin. These theories belong to two classes. Common to all such literature are traces of totemistic ideas ; man has arisen from beasts and is akin to them. Likewise common to such literature is the idea, couched in various weird stories, that man has arisen from the gods and is akin to them. Fundamentally there is truth in each kind of story ; man partakes of divine and of animal qualities, and in so far as he partakes of the character- of each he may be said to have arisen from each. Again another great group may be made of those myths that represent the alternate victories of king, hero, or giant over each Other. These are classed as solar myths by philologists, and are said to represent the victory of light and warmth over darkness and cold or the alternation of (lay and night, the re-