Emma Scott: What is Cosmos and how Does Myth Intertwine?

The concept of a cosmos is one that I have always found difficult to understand and fully grasp. Normally, I just chalk it up to the fact that a cosmos is something in the sky. Throughout this class I have been able to gain a greater understanding and definition of what a cosmos actually is. A cosmos is looked at in order for someone or something to find order or a line of reasoning, but cosmos does not encompass everything while some people may believe it does. There is a limit to the cosmos. This brings up the question, What is the limit to the cosmos? I have tried to answer this question by myself and I truly am not sure what the answer is. Everything in the world has a limit and a reasoning behind the limit, but what the specific limit of something as complex as the cosmos could be is still unknown. 

Cosmos was defined as an ordered reality which people typically look to the sky for. The sky was the symbol of the cosmos because typically you look to the sky for order and in medieval times the stars in the sky are something that stays constant. Do stars always stay in the same place? No stars do move, but they move in the same pattern which is how they are able to be used for navigation and telling time. If something is not classified as a cosmos then where does it fall? The answer to this comes with an understanding of the word chaos. Chaos is the opposite of cosmos in the sense that if something is chaotic there is no order; everything is random and disorderly. What is an example of a cosmos in the atmosphere? Think about the North Star and how everything moves around it, because it is the center and something that can be relied on. The planets do not stay in the same place and their location is always different/changing/moving. What is the origin of the word planet? It comes from the Greek word planetes which means wandering. 

This introduces the question of how myth is involved with the cosmos and the order of reality. Myth is how people are able to see reality, since people can not order reality itself. What is a myth? It is a narrative symbol system and through it order is presented. Myth is what has given our world culture and then the order that the myth presents some people will try to follow that specific order. Some people would argue that myth is a true narration. Myths can help us to understand birth and death and there is no truth without reality. How can myth affect people's day to day lives? I can look back on my childhood memories and remember certain situations where myth was in my life. Almost all of the books I read were based on myths, for example my dad used to read me The Three Billy Goats Gruff. It was about three billy goats that tried to cross a bridge, but a big bad troll lived under it. As I have gotten older however I wonder where the myth in my life comes into play now that I am not reading fairy tales.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kip Redick Introduction

Welcome to the Heroes and Mystics blog for 2024. Make sure to start the blog with your name and the subject of the entry (Just as I have done with this post). . Blog entries will be considered informal writing assignments and as such will be graded more in relation to content than style. Blog entries will contain questions and answers to questions, as well as reflections that relate to daily classroom discussions, completion of exercises, and reading assignments. Any questions the student has while reading or completing assignments should be written in their blog. Reflections may relate to connections the student makes between discussions in this class and those in other classes, between arguments raised in the readings in this class and those raised in other classes or from informal conversations. Students are encouraged to apply the ideas learned in this class to activities that take place outside of the class. These applications make great reflections. The student should bring ques...
Read more

The Untethered Soul

Another one of the many books that I am simultaneously reading with other books that I am really excited about is The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael Alan Singer. Although I am not very far in the novel, I think that the first bit that I have read is already so rich and ties in well to Somewhere I Have Never Traveled because of the idea of the sense of self. Both works mention the idea that we as humans are always trying to grapple with our sense of selves. I think that it is a really interesting concept and my philosophy, perhaps it's just the easy out, is that our brains were simply not created to be able to comprehend things outside of our world. I think it's a great thing to try but I believe that there is so much more knowledge that we cannot know.
Read more

Iris Denner: The Iliad (Assigned Readings)

The Iliad is a Greek epic that follows Achilles throughout the Trojan War . Achilles becomes the hero of the epic by killing his enemy, Hector, brutally. This series of poems is rather violent and follows Greek tradition in writi ng style. It is simply titled with Iliad meaning the town in Troy. At the time it acted as a history story for the Greek people and was passed down through spoken word. We now attribute the writings to Homer and interpret them as something that one st rives to accomplish the greatness that Achilles reached. The journey took place during the war, making it connect well to today’s society of veterans who go on journeys throughout their time being deployed.  
Read more