Blog #2: The "Ineffable" Aspects of Myth??? - Vickie GG

Blog Post #2
Vickie Garton-Gundling 
1/20/2023

I'm struggling to understand the "ineffable" aspects of myth that we've been discussing. Here are some questions I still have or quotes that I still don't understand related to the mystical aspects of myth. I would welcome some guidance from the Philosophy majors (or any other students) in our class and/or Dr. Redick. Thanks! 

1. Plato's Simile of the Line from The Republic 
I get what Shadows and Body are, but I still don't think I really get what Concepts are vs. Forms, nor am I sure what is meant by "the Good." How is a Concept different than a Form? I thought maybe a Concept was akin to the "essence" of an entity or thing. But then what is a Form? The perfect version of that entity or thing? If so, can the Form ever be achieved? And what, then, is "the Good"? Is "Good" here meant in terms of morality? In terms of deity? Something else? 

Update: based on our 2nd class and talking with some professors outside of our class, I think I get this maybe a little better now. The concept is like the essence or goal of a thing, and the form is the most ideal (unattainable) trueness of the entity? Still not entirely sure on "the Good," though...

2. "...give itself from itself" (Redick, Saturated Meaning, Poetic Portrayal - Draft).
What?! I'm honestly not sure I can even hazard a guess on this one. The only thing that comes to mind is Jesus - both his death for the salvation of mankind (so, a literal and symbolic sacrifice) and the Catholic belief in the transubstantiation of the body and blood of Christ (perceived as the bread and wine). But I think both of those examples are attempted literal interpretations of something that's not literal...but what is it? When a myth "gives itself from itself," is there a sacrificial element? Does the narrative lose something or become lesser in giving itself (to readers) from itself? 

Update: after our second class, I'm thinking that maybe this has something to do with the "fourfold," as well as with the idea of "dwelling" within a myth. Story gives itself from (within) itself, which doesn't mean just that the story is the thing that gives AND the thing that is given (which makes sense), but also that it gives itself to you because you are WITHIN itself (as a dweller in the story). As for the fourfold, it is about mirroring - the story gazes upon itself and finds itself? (Not sure on that last part.) 

3. "The meaning of my whole life is communicative…..the meaning of another life becomes a totality only when received fully within my life" (Angel Medina, qtd. in Fisher, Narration as a Paradigm of Human Communication 7).
The "another life becomes a totality only when received fully within my life" seems related to but almost the opposite of "give itself from itself." But perhaps it is meant to be both? Is myth-making and myth-receiving understood as some kind of reciprocal interchange? If so, between author and reader? Or between the narrative itself and both the author and reader? What is the nature of the interaction? A kind of reciprocal (spiritual) penetration that changes both story and reader? Those kinds of interpretations seem really out there, so not sure...? 

Update: related to just above, and also to intending and being intended, which we talked about in class 2, so this now makes a little more sense to me. 

4. "Is not the sky itself a myth" (Lewis, Myth Became Fact, 4)?
The context here is God's mythopoeia, but I don't get how the particular aspect of God's creation would be considered a myth. If the Second-World of myth abided by Fisher's argument that "the world as we know it is a set of stories that must be chosen among...," then I wouldn't think the sky could be a myth, since the sky is not "alive" and cannot choose things. (Though, if you believe Chesterton's idea that things in nature are not dead but have life - like the sun that chooses to rise again each day - then I guess the sky could have choice...?) Or does this mean that the sky tells us truths about the nature of God? If so, how, and what truths? (I personally don't believe in God, but I'm asking the question from the perspective of those who do, since that's the context, and since I believe at this point Lewis believed in God again.) 

Update: still unsure, but maybe the idea that the sky is one of God's (most beautiful) creations, so it is a part of the story of God, that he made / gave to us?  




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