What's hard for us to understand as mortals with a relatively short lifetime of 70-80 years on average is that we are having an experience that takes 1,000,000 years to conclude. And we expect someone to get it right in 1-2 years, especially if we are in love with them. Things are happening right on schedule; it's just we think it's a 70-80 year schedule and it's not. The question is, how do we handle a journey of that duration, a million year journey? Thats the beauty of it, by living in the moment. THe longer the journey, the more essential it is to live in the moment and it's in the moment that the essence of the journey's end is experienced.
yes, all we can do, is all we have to do, live the now.
I´m thinking about all these masculine myths, that giving up is the only way to gain true strength. Like Hercules fighting the Hydra; it was only when he surrendered and managed to get UNDER the hydra and lift it up, that he managed to win.
As well as in the greek myths as in the Marvel universe, it´s a central theme, if not THE central theme; that only by loosing can we win.
Now I wonder: Are there any similiar female myths?
I might be wrong, but I think that we haven´t needed many, because that´s what femininity has been about per se; to be just as good, just as strong as the man, yet giving up some of your strength for balance and fulfillment. So giving up strength has been a natural part of it.
So now, if women choose to walk a more masculine path, they have to learn to identify (I think) with Hercules who fought the Hydra, with all the sad Marvel characters, Odysseus, the failure of Iason etc. Or get lost in their own Super Woman myth, that is not going to show them (I think) where the only gate to heaven is, for man and for women: through surrender.
To make my question really clear: Are there any similar myths for feminine side of the psyche (and for the woman)? There might be, and many of them, they just don´t pop into my mind.
Mattias
Of course myths like Cinderella and the Beautie and the beasts, and many like them, are all about surrender as a way to glory. But in them the girls act in traditional female roles. What about our time, where myths like The girl with the dragon tattoo, Super Woman and the Kill Bill lady - are they going to develop their weak shadow as well? Or is it being expressed already, allthough I miss to see it (I don´t watch many movies neither)?
(I learnt from Cristopher Mac Dougall´s book Natural born heroes that the greek word heroes has it´s root in compassion and that the very central theme in the greek hero myths was about how they manage to turn their weaknesses into strength. Out of compassion - a vulnerable state - they become powerful.)
Mattias