Hey there, I'm Mike Rugnetta, this is Crash Course Mythology,
And today, we are going-
spelunking!
Spelunking in the world of myth!
Also gardening in the world of myth.
You know what they say:
Dress for the job you want- not the one you have.
Many myths take place outside of time and space,
remember, "without form and void"?
But often, myths have specific meaningful settings,
and over the next few episodes,
we're going to talk about some of the most important places where myths have happened.
According to scholars Lenard and McClure,
there are many location-based tropes that repeat in myths from around the world.
Sacred waters, caves, mountains, and there are mythic gardens, and forests, too.
Scholar David Leeming has even added cities and temples to the list.
Today we're going to look at two mythic settings side-by-side:
the garden, and the cave,
which play complementary roles in various stories of creation.
(Theme music)
Considering that gods hate weeding, it's surprising how
many myths involve gardens.
We've discussed a few already, like the Garden of Eden,
or the Garden of the Hesperides, where the apples of immortality were kept.
Gardens come in different shapes, and sizes,
there are even stories of gardens, inside caves.
You can see this clearly in the Greek and Roman myths of the Underworld.
Hades is a vast, underground land.
Dark and shadowy, but it still has some lush garden features,
there are pomegranate trees that provide food for Persephone,
and grapes which tempt Tantalus.
And yet, when Orpheus attempts to bring Eurydice out of Hades,
He's described as bringing her up through the dark mouth of a cave.
Mythic gardens and caves often work as symbols,
more than literal descriptions.
And where the meaning of those symbols need to overlap, they do.
Sometimes in a way that's weird or otherworldly to those of us
with first-hand experience of actual gardens and caves.
But this raises a question:
What symbolic values do we associate with caves and gardens?
To answer, let's turn to a pair of stories about the origin of humanity.
First up, the garden.
We already talked about this story in an earlier episode,
with Adam, and Eve, and a sneaky serpent.
Then, we focused on the actions and relationships of these characters,
and how they set up a social order.
Now, we'll focus on how heavily rooted this story is in place:
the idyllic Garden of Eden.
We can talk about the garden of Eden,
as both,
a physical
setting and a metaphor, as a place
Eden is described as lush and growing.
In addition to Adam and Eve, the place is overrun
with nature and wildlife. Livestock
and creeping things and bests of the earth
According to their kinds. Hey! creeping things, we missed you
we missed you guys. Of all the fruits bearing trees
in the garden, there are two that matter most.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree
of eternal life. Entered the sneaky serpent,
and attempt to lied to Yahweh and... you know the rest
but more important than the physical features of Eden, is its position
as a paradise from which humans are expelled
because of their disobedience and as hopeful
state we supposedly want to return to.
Eden doesn't disappear, but humans
never find a way past the angel with the flaming sword
who's stationed at and blocking the entrance.
So, the perfect image of the garden,
helps tell the story of humanity's fall from a state of perfection,
to one of debasement. As mythology
scholars Lener and McClure put it, after their disobedience
humans must life "in an ill word,
marked by disharmony, broken relationships
suffering and death." We can compare this
story and the symbolism of the garden with a creating myth
from the zuni people of the american west which
involves a very important cave, one inspired
by the grand canyon. According to the Zuni,
humanity wasn't expelled from a bright garden,
but rather emerged from a system of dark
forbidden caves. Instead of paradise,
these caves serves as a symbol for chaos.
Lets go to the thought bubble. Long ago,
before humanity was fully formed, they all lived
deep on the ground, in dark caves.
No one can see could see each other, the humans have horns
and a tails, they have webbed finger and
toes and lack some... other... features
too. You'll see soon enough! The sun, sees
humanity living in this state and sends his two
sons, younger brother and elder brother to help
the people travel off to the bright hills of surface.
Elder and younger find the people in,
gross conditions
stepping and spitting and urinating on each other.
So, elder and younger plant trees.
Pines, spruce, silver spruce and aspen.
Each representing one of the cardinal directions.
As the brothers rise through the levels of the under realm,
they drive a prayer stick from one of the trees
into the earth.
This creates a sound like thunder,
that raises the people into each new world.
The people are now on the surface but they aren't fit for their new home.
Elder and younger,
given them corn, only to realize, the
people have not mouth
so while the people sleep, the two sneak among them
and cut mouths into their heads
so they can eat and luckily, the people love eating.
Until... another problem pops up.
All that digested corn has no where to go. Younger
realizes that none of these people have anuses. [fart sound]
So, another round of sleepy top surgery and everyone
fells much...relieved. Over the next days
elder and younger keep tweaking the humans,
slicing their webbed hands so they can cook, chopping off
their horns and tails, until at long last, humans...
are complete. Thanks thought bubble! there are other versions of
the Zuni myth where, after emerging from a spot at the grand
canyon, the Zuni people set off in search of the "idiwan'a"
or "Middle place", where they can achieve
balance. On their journey, they stopped
at a number of sites that become sacred to the Zuni, until finally
settling at a spot near the head waters of the
Zuni river. All the sacred places are tied together
by the river of the region. But, we're going to talk about the sacred waters
in a later episode, whats important for now, is the role that
caves play in the symbolism of this
creation story. As a place of confusion,
out of which humanity is guided. Before,
comparing this cave of creation with the garden of Genesis,
it's interesting to look at another image of the cave that has had
profound influence on the western thinking,
and echos
the association of caves, with immaturity
or under development. Plato's
allegory of the cave. In his Republic, Plato describes
a great cave as a way to explain, why people wouldn't
readily accept the wisdom of
awesome philosophers? like himself.
It asks us to imagine a world in which humans are sitting in
a dark cage, chained up so they can only face forward.
Behind them, out of view, unseen agents parade
a series of objects, in front of a great light,
from where humanity sits, they can only see
the shadow that flicker across the wall, cast
by the real objects
behind them.
The shadows, are
their reality. Plato says
imagine that one of the chained viewers
breaks free and makes his way out of the cave.
Just like the Zinies, Plato's imaginary escapee is
blinded by the brightness of the world outside the
cave. Eventually, his eyes adjust
and things come into focus but, he still has difficulties
believing that what he sees, is real but
knowing about whats outside the cave, he runs back in
to tell the others. When he tries to explain to them that what they
think is really is only a projection,
people in the cave don't believe him. Plato
suggests that those chained up might even try to kill,
who ever got free. That person, who escape
the cave is, you guest it a philosopher.
Point out to the rest of us that our reality
its actually a pale reflection of a more
true world. Plato's cave and the Zuni
emergence story are obviously very different but
we want to involve the creation of the anus, for instance. But in both
cases, the world of the cave is both physically
and metaphorically dark, The cave is a
position of ignorance or inability and the surface
represents represents enlightenment figuratively and
literately. One can even say that, the emergence
leads to humanity reaching a more perfect state.
As Lener and McClure put it: "In the Zuni tale...
humans existed in a dark, imperfect world...
At the calling of father , they emerged from this
dark chaos into a world of light and
healthy relationships and harmony with
their fellow inhabitants...." This is a stark
contrast to the creation story of Genesis,
where human beings, having being created by God,
begin as perfect beings and then are
forced into a state of imperfection, when
ejected from the garden, like the heaveness revelers they are.
The story of humanity, isn't only a story of a
fall but a quest to return, to
reenter paradise. Obviously, in the Zinies story,
none is clamoring to get back into the cave of
no anus. We can ask then, whether this
inverted orientations regarding creation make a difference
in their respect to cultures. Do you go
about your day differently, depending upon whether you think of earth
as a place of punishment for leaving
a perfect garden versus
the garden itself? A reward
for making it out of the dark cave of chaos. Next week,
we are going to stick with our mythical settings and head for the hills
to talk about, magical mountains. Thank for watching,
well see you next time.
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[Theme song]
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Thanks for watching and
while you might thing endless soups, salads
and bread-sticks
must be a myth!
That garden, is for real