AUGUST 25, 2023 STREET MYTH We use myths to cope Drawn from conversations with JAMES MANNING Groundcover vendor No. 16 Mythology is totally necessary on the street. You have to deal with reality in this world whether you like to or not. You are here on this planet. You are in it. You are part of this thing one way or another, so deal with it. Here’s your bed, now you have to lie in it. But in order to handle reality, you also need to cultivate an imagination. Just like music or art, myth is a tool that humans evolved so that we can handle living in this world. Whether you are trying to score a cup of coffee from McDonald’s in 2023, or a peasant in Egypt in 10,000 BCE trying to get enough grain smashed to make a patty of bread, you are stuck in that situation and there’s your reality — deal with it. One way is to use your imagination and spend time thinking about what you could be. Myth has power for people who are in tough life situations, because they relate to it in an immediate way. We have this ability to have dreams and visions or make up fiction and stories, or ponder in whatever form that takes. You can talk about science fiction, other dimensions, auras, magic or ghosts and the paranormal — any of that. When we think about possibilities of those things beyond us, in that moment we are not having anxiety about where the next meal is coming from. As far as somebody on the street or in some position of vulnerability, mythology speaks for itself. In a lot of myths, there are situations where a common man rises up to become the hero of a nation, or an underdog character rises up to affect the society around him, and his life takes on a bigger meaning, and a profound story develops out of his life. You could say that indicates delusions of grandeur, but the power dynamic is what makes mythology popular. It appeals to the common person, the underdog, the blue collars, lower classes or people on the bottom of society. Myth empowers them to imagine their situation differently and think of how they could potentially escape or resist whatever situation they happen to be in. No matter how they’re treated on the street by others, the person feels like they are part of some bigger story. And then it provides relief and therapy because you have at least one moment where you are off in this other world and not faced with some of the harsh reality. Myth can be used like medicine: the imagination is like a drug that keeps us alive. Mythology is closely related to music and art because you get some relief out of it instantaneously. You feel the vibes enter and spawn so much energy and bring so much relaxation and harmony to your mind. In that moment, when you read a myth or listen to a song you love or draw or create something, or you ponder what’s out there in space or beyond time, where we came from as beings, how we should live our lives, gods or science or the paranormal or what have you — in those moments, you are not thinking about your bills or how you’re going to scrounge for something to eat. I use mythology to cope all the time, even subconsciously without my own knowledge. I just let my mind wander. Humans have to have mythology because it’s in our nature. We evolved the ability to have creative expression to keep our minds functioning at any level as we get through life. Imagination is an unbelievably powerful and underrated tool. Sometimes it’s the only way you can get away from whatever situation you are in on the street. There’s one thing every sentient living creature asks itself during life at some point, which is, who am I and what is my place in the Universe? Mythology conveniently shows up to give you a nonsensical character without a real purpose, but it actually does provide meaning because it speaks to that point and provides some kind of answer for that question, so of course you find it everywhere. It’s a totally natural response to being alive on this planet, especially to somebody who’s nobody among the billions of the people in the world, to reimagine ourselves as heroes and gods. Originally the myths were meant to explain mysterious things, like natural catastrophes, earthquakes, volcanoes, lightning and that sort of stuff. People explained stuff using stories about gods and whatnot. But they also want to exercise their imaginations and imagine the greatness and the possibility of things beyond. We have fabulous mechanisms for stealing our attention away. But we always drift in our thoughts, and we like to exercise our imaginations and ask what could possibly be out there, beyond what we know, beyond what’s right in front of us. I think mythology is just a natural evolved occurrence, since it’s human nature to come up with stories and narratives about greater and better things out there, just so we can cope with the fact that we’re down here living in this really chaotic world. Our modern day rat race after material wealth and power in the world is just so pointless. GROUNDCOVER NEWS 7 Graphic by Adam Bowman, Bum Fabulous. You go after getting a bunch of stuff that you don’t need — you really don’t. You can appreciate the fact that you have sentience, that you are living, that you are here and awake. Just the sheer fact of consciousness is a blessing, not in a religious sense or anything, but just the ability to bear witness to reality. It’s an incredible gift that we have and we tend to squander because we get lost in these other things. The greatest lesson of the world is turning your back on temptations and riches for the sake of the greater good. Mythology has always been about that journey: turning away from desire and toward something better. That’s the basic journey of life and it’s what we are all struggling with, whether you are on the street or not. Everybody chases self-fulfillment, but you have to know where to draw the line and not just eat until you are sick. Spiritually, people on the street are more sensitive to the pain and the suffering and the reality in the world. I throw rich people a bone and forgive them, because in my mind they are all actually just stupid. Many rich people have never experienced pain; thanks to compartmentalized lives they live in an entirely different reality. There’s an alternate reality, but then people on the street who have actually suffered know things better, and yet we have to use our imaginations more just to stay healthy. We are living in a time of such convenience that there are people who are totally oblivious to what life could possibly hold beyond a Netflix subscription: their only encounter with the world is through some made-up television screen.
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