Mythopoeia, as it is relevant to our lives, must reside within the enactment and expression of mythological thinking and poetic imagination. The "concept" --which is the product of the rational-mind-- is more narrow and constricted than the associative and inclusive "deep image"--which is the product of poetic imagination. What the "concept,", as a container, is incapable of holding and will not include, the poetic image can. As Eliade told us: "without imagination we are cut off from the deeper reality";; if we are to truly appreciate the value of myth and poetry we must confirm that imagination is a valid and essential dimension of reality.
Because the primal images are so resonant with associations to origins and sources, they work in our lives as connective and affiliative triggers; the deep images activate our associative capacities.
The story teller and the hearer enter a kind of communion, where the heart of the hearer elicits the careful attention of the teller. The images then, are colored in the mind of the teller by the need, or hunger of the hearer; in this way they make a living exchange of value, wisdom, and love. Stories told through books, television, and movies, cannot respond to the audience --the communication is one-way-- but when we tell a poem, or a fairytale, we invite the enthusiasm of the listener to inspire our telling, and thus the images grow inside us, making us deeper and enriching our relationships. |
