The Power of Myth

Super Heros


In rereading my previous blog, I may have come across as too smug and critical, especially when talking about the Scientologist's mythology involving Xenu. Yes, the story of an evil emperor and his thetans is far-fetched -- it would qualify as imaginative fiction. Such a silly story -- no wonder the Church of Scientology keeps it off their main web site. They don't want to scare a new prospect. You can tell there is a big "BUT" approaching....

BUT, mythology serves a purpose after all. In this wide world there are things bigger than us (some would liken it to God) and things invisible but quite real. Even in the realm of the ordinary, unaided human eyes cannot see atoms, photons, bacteria, radio waves, ultraviolet light or distant galaxies. In fact, our eyesight is rather crude and geared to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of early humans. The powers that made us deemed that seeing a buffalo or an opposing warlord was sufficient for human vision. Many things that exist and are worth seeing don't fall upon your retina without help from an electron microscope or a planetarium telescope.

So how does this tie back to Scientology? IF you have a belief in a superior intelligence, you may want to describe a cosmological or theological model. There may be forces of "good" and "evil" to which you want to ascribe values, characteristics, personalities. And thus, you have mythology. A sampling of mythic beings: ghosts, demons, witches, warlocks, aliens, zombies, vampires, monsters, super heros and the list goes on and on. Using such characters, your story will unfold in a way that is understood by children and yet it may be probed for deeper meaning by adults.

My own cosmology involves a superior intelligence that would be difficult to describe in ordinary terms. Also, the physics of time and space plays a part in mine. The characters are interesting and they play in a world of bizarre physics -- a time-warping, possibly recursive universe. If my cosmology were to steal from any story, it would be "Wizard of Oz". Why? Because there is a little bit of duplicity and duality of characters -- a Carnival Barker who is also a Wizard. Things so familiar have another role, a hidden side, a fantastic other dimension. What you see is only a fraction of what you get.

Crazy? I'm hearing the refrains of a Patsy Cline song. Now I've gone loony, just like L. Ron Hubbard. I still would never endorse Scientology -- I don't buy into their mythology, and they seem to be interested in your pockets more than your soul. But I will respect their right, and anyone's right to mythologize. I won't be sending them to Belleview, but neither will I put money in their hat.