Mythos and Logos
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| Zeus changed Metis into a fly and swallowed the fly. Later he gave birth to Athena from his head. |
Pre-modern people had two ways of thinking, speaking, and acquiring knowledge, often call mythos and logos. These two paths were regarded as complementary ways of arriving at truth. Myth was regarded as primary; it was concerned with what was thought to be timeless and constant in life. Myth looked back to the foundations of culture and to deep levels of the human mind. Myth is not focused on practical matters, but with meaning. Thus myths of a society provided people with a context that made sense of their lives beyond getting and spending. Myth directs our attention to the eternal and the universal, and is rooted in the unconscious mind. The stories of Zeus and the other Olympians were not to be taken literally, but were repository of cultural and spiritual history. Myths are intuitive, similar to those of art, music, poetry, or sculpture.
Myths become alive when embodied in cult, rituals, and ceremonies. They worked aesthetically upon worshippers, evoking a sense of the sacred and enabling them to feel the deeper unconscious currents of existence. Myth and cult were so inseparable that it is a matter of scholarly debate which came first: the mythical narrative or the rituals attached to it. Without ritual ceremonies, the myths of religion would fade, as they have in our modern world.
In the pre-modern world, people had another view of history. They were less interested in what actually happened, but more concerned with the meaning of an event. Historical incidents were not seen as unique occurrences, set in a far-off time, but were thought to be external manifestations of constant, timeless realities. History was cyclical and repeated itself, because there was nothing new in the world. Ancient Greek philosophers used the term in different ways. The sophists used the term to mean discourse, and Aristotle applied the term to refer to "reasoned discourse" or "the argument" in the field of rhetoric.
Stoic philosophers identified the term with the divine animating principle pervading the cosmos. Philo (c. 20 BC – 50 AD) adopted the term into Jewish philosophy and associated Jesus with the Logos. The Gospel of John identifies the Logos, through which all things are made, as divine and identifies Jesus as the incarnate Logos. Although the term "Logos" is widely used in a Christian sense, in academic circles it often refers to the various ancient Greek uses, or to post-Christian uses, within contemporary philosophy, Sufism, and the psychology of Carl Jung.
The word Sophia, which has it roots in the cult of Athena, is a central idea in Hellenistic philosophy and religion, Platonism, Gnosticism, orthodox Christianity, Esoteric Christianity, and Christian mysticism.
Sophia is honored as a goddess of wisdom by Gnostics, as well as by some Neopagan, New Age, and Goddess spirituality groups. In Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christianity, Sophia, or rather Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom), is an expression of understanding for the second person of the Holy Trinity, (as in the dedication of the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople) as well as in the Old Testament, as seen in the Book of Proverbs 9:1.
Logos, as language, is equally important as mythos. Logos is the rational, pragmatic, and scientific thought that enabled humans to dominate the world. We may have lost the sense of mythos in the West today, but we are very familiar with logos, which is the basis of our society. Unlike myth, logos must relate exactly to facts and correspond to external realities if it is to be effective. It must work efficiently in the world. Unlike myth, which looks back to the beginnings and to the foundations, logos forges ahead and tries to find something new or to achieve a greater control over our environment.
The term logos, as we have seen, has many definitions. On the mythological side logos began as the feminine aspect of Zeus, the inner voice that gave the god good advice. In the Greek Christian world logos will evolve into Hagia Sophia, holy wisdom and will remain central to the Orthodox church.
On the philosophical side starting with Heraclitus the term will evolve into speech, reason, and logic. Philo of Alexandria will change the gender of holy wisdom and Jesus will become the logos of western Christianity. Christianity will bind the Logos to its spiritual aspect, for 15 centuries mythos and logos are one. Jesus is the Logos and church rituals will evolve to an apex in the great cathedrals. However, with a closer examination we find that Jesus offers the disciples not the Logos but the