MYTHOLOGY US AND THE ETERNAL

MYTHOLOGY, US, AND THE ETERNAL

How Mythology has Blessed a Garden, myself, my Fellow Humans, and Human Life in General.  A Little Philosophical Musing on the Importance of Mythology... How it Connects us in our Everyday to Eternity.



A friend has posted a lovely photograph of a statue based on a mythological subject, and included the background myth.  The story is so interesting!  

In a comment I left on his deviation, I  told him about the wonderful statue of Demeter in my college botanical garden.  I like to go and visit it.  I sit in various spots and look at her in her fountain, flanked by long lawns and flower gardens.  She presides over the garden, living at it's center, reminding all that those who walk in it, and all the elements of it are the things that man has loved, expressed, valued throughout the ages.  She reminds us that these are expressions of what make us lovely and noble.  She reminds us that if anything will save us, the things in this garden will.

And what is in the garden?  What are the elements we see in it?  What is represented that is us, is what comes forth from us, and will, when all is said and done save us?

Well, here is a description of the garden.  It is a magical spot with a chiming carillon that plays music while the breeze blows.  There is the statue there, a poetry garden, a philosophy garden and a long lawn leading up to the statue.  No matter what is going on in my day, when I visit, I am both in my day, and connected to eternity.  I think that others feel this way about the garden, too.

In this garden, I see flowers and the natural world, I see the past and am aware of humanity's long journey and my connection to it.  I am, if I turn my head to the philosophy garden, aware of how important is thought and discourse, and that someday, hopefully, the "kings of the earth" will be philosophers.  There is poetry etched into the benches of the philosophy garden which I may read and muse upon.  All this while gentle breezes blow and music flows from the carillon and Demeter stands guard, reminding me that from days of old, all this has been important, soothed and inspired the hearts of mankind.

I see and experience all of the above whether I visit physically, or in my mind's eye, for this place, with all of its beauty, is etched upon my soul and spirit.  Someday, if the world ends, and I am the last man (like in the movie Omega Man/I am Legend), I will go and live in this place, residing in the Carillon house, which sits at the edge of this garden.  I will play the Carillon, hoping perhaps that some other survivor of said future apocalypse (as does the protagonist in Bradbury's Martian Chronicles or Omega Man/I am Legend) might hear and come visit me.  I will tend and walk amongst the flowers, though I am sure the garden will be overgrown!

A part of me always lives in this magical, mythology-grounded and inspired botanical garden.

Mythology lends a touch of the universal to our surroundings.  We can sit with statues representing mythology and feel in touch with the ages, as though we are part of the eternal and in our now, all at once.