The Modern Myth Part 1
Even with countless repeats and endless sequels, who says we don’t have any good stories anymore?
Many consider the ancient Greeks to be the master myth makers, but I must disagree. The Greek mythic fables were designed and created as a form of upper class amusement and peasant pleasure. Ripe with imagery the moral underpinnings were clear even though the stories themselves were often like fantastic dreams. But if you are looking for the true masters of myth manufacture one need look no farther than modern man. For here the myths go beyond entertainment, beyond the boundaries of whimsical imagination and with ever-increasing sincerity are thrust into the public consciousness until they become accepted as truth.
Historically the most memorable myths usually follow a predictable and oft repeated plotline. The myths of modern man follow in those same well worn footprints. The victorious conquest of good over evil, life over death and karma over hopelessness. Add on a liberal dose of unexplainable magic and its all there. The makings of a great modern myth.
Our modern myth begins in space.
Referring to space, as gene Roddenberry did, as the final frontier only serves to bring it full circle as it was the original frontier as well.
In the dark void of endless space nothingness was surrounded by nothingness. No life, no joy, no hope, no gods, no Starbucks, just the cold emptiness of endless space. But within the blank canvas of everlasting emptiness developed a small static charge, perhaps as a result of nothing rubbing against nothing. From this charge came the infinitesimal power to create a single electron. As this lone electron dashed headlong through the void it created yet more static which not only created more electrons but forced each of them to bend into an ever-tightening tail-chasing concentric path. Each of these brave electrons raced aimlessly in their circular sojourns, eventually being drawn together into groups and, like the tiger that chased Little Sambo around the tree until he turned into butter, formed the nucleus of the first atomic particles. Free from all bondage and restrictions these first atoms grew in strength until they could no longer bear their own weight. It was then these genesis atoms imploded into themselves causing subatomic novas. As faint and infinitely small as they were, for the first time in all time there were flashes of light piercing the blackness as each imploded. And with the birth and death of these oracles of origin came the scattered debris of what had once existed. These spent atomic particles, having lived their lives to the fullest now served their final destiny. From the ashes of their remains rose the Phoenix that would over trillions of years accumulate to become the Mother Rock of our universe. Life fulfilled. Death with purpose.
As Mother Rock grew she too followed the same unwritten law of natural progression eventually becoming so dense that, like her atomic ancestors, she could no longer bear her own atomic weight and for the first time in all time the sound of a massive implosion broke the eternal silence of space. It was of course what we now call the Big Bang. For Mother Rock burst forth, not in death, but in life as her massive implosion caused a nuclear reaction igniting a colossal ball of heat and energy. From the Mother came the Sun. The implosion cast additional offspring populating the four corners of the endless void. The molten fragments of trillions of years of accumulated atomic remains decorated the darkness by reflecting the wondrous light being shown by the sun. The largest chunks formed the planets, several of which began to make orbital circles around this new blazing center-point, almost as if in reverent memory to their ancestral electrons. You see the newly created Sun had developed a string attracting force that kept eight of its closest brothers and sisters in perpetual concentricity. While each of these siblings were dwarfed by their superior kin they all developed their own levels of force which today we call gravity. Almost as if in an act of juvenile jealousy these subservient siblings held their own smaller underlings in their gravitational grip. We know these today to be the moons.
Each of the eight continued to tumble and spin, becoming rounder and denser as they cooled. Each took their own course around their now radiant brother, never to leave his side again.
And as the dust settled the sky began to lighten, for the first day had dawned on planet earth.
Our myth continues tomorrow.
