The primitive
And
Traditional
Initiation rites
Have to do with
Transforming the mode
Of
Reaction
Sometimes
And usually
Terrifically
Frightening
And actually
Very painful
Rituals
So that the individual will no longer think he’s a little boy
There are some rather amusing ones
From Australia, for instance
Where things are pretty fierce
When little boys
Begin to become kind of nasty
And difficult for their mothers to handle
The women get together and give them a good beating
Around the legs with
Sticks and so forth
And then in a few weeks
Something very interesting happens
The men
All dressed up
In strange
God-like costumes
Such as the
Youngsters have always been taught were the
Figures of the
Divinities
They come in with bullroarers and yawls and all kinds of terrifying noises
And the children
The boys
Run to their mothers for protection
And the mothers PRETEND
To protect them
Then the men
Grab them
And take them away
So mother’s no good anymore
Now they have to face this thing
And then
What they have to face is – is – is really no fun
[Chorus]
So mother’s no good anymore
Now they have to face this thing
And then
What they have to face
Is really no fun
So mother’s no good anymore
Now they have to face this thing
And then
What they have to face
Is really no fun
One of the
Ah
Little crises
The boy is behind
A screen of bushes
And a lot of very interesting things are going on outside
At night
Dances and so forth
The boys are told not to look
Well any boy who does look
Can you imagine what’s done with him?
He’s killed and eaten
That is
One way to handle juvenile delinquents [audience laughter]
Any
Youngster
Who will not
Cooperate with the society that is supporting him
Is just eradicated
Then
He is given a chance
To see what is going on out there
So he is sitting, a scared kid
I mean, he is about twelve or thirteen years old
At the end of this
Dance field
It’s night
A strange man comes out
Performing
The
Myth
Of the
Cosmic kangaroo
The cosmic dog comes out and attacks the kangaroo
Now after the youngster has seen this
Two big fellows come rushing down the field
And jump on the kid
And
Continue to jump on him
He is going to remember kangaroo
And dog forever
This thing is built-in
It may not be bright
But they get the point
And there are not many points to be gotten
[Chorus]
So mother’s no good anymore
Now they have to face this thing
And then
What they have to face
Is really no fun
So mother’s no good anymore
Now they have to face this thing
And then
What they have to face
Is really no fun
There are other things that happen that I won’t go through
But they are all pretty
Um
Exciting
Let’s say
And when they are all over
The kid isn’t the kid he was
Before he changed
A lot has happened
His body has been changed, and
And
He’s then sent back
To the girls
And there is one of them already selected to be his wife, and he’s now a guaranteed little man
And he’s going to behave
As a man of this crowd
Ought to behave
And
Traditional
Initiation rites
Have to do with
Transforming the mode
Of
Reaction
Sometimes
And usually
Terrifically
Frightening
And actually
Very painful
Rituals
So that the individual will no longer think he’s a little boy
There are some rather amusing ones
From Australia, for instance
Where things are pretty fierce
When little boys
Begin to become kind of nasty
And difficult for their mothers to handle
The women get together and give them a good beating
Around the legs with
Sticks and so forth
And then in a few weeks
Something very interesting happens
The men
All dressed up
In strange
God-like costumes
Such as the
Youngsters have always been taught were the
Figures of the
Divinities
They come in with bullroarers and yawls and all kinds of terrifying noises
And the children
The boys
Run to their mothers for protection
And the mothers PRETEND
To protect them
Then the men
Grab them
And take them away
So mother’s no good anymore
Now they have to face this thing
And then
What they have to face is – is – is really no fun
[Chorus]
So mother’s no good anymore
Now they have to face this thing
And then
What they have to face
Is really no fun
So mother’s no good anymore
Now they have to face this thing
And then
What they have to face
Is really no fun
One of the
Ah
Little crises
The boy is behind
A screen of bushes
And a lot of very interesting things are going on outside
At night
Dances and so forth
The boys are told not to look
Well any boy who does look
Can you imagine what’s done with him?
He’s killed and eaten
That is
One way to handle juvenile delinquents [audience laughter]
Any
Youngster
Who will not
Cooperate with the society that is supporting him
Is just eradicated
Then
He is given a chance
To see what is going on out there
So he is sitting, a scared kid
I mean, he is about twelve or thirteen years old
At the end of this
Dance field
It’s night
A strange man comes out
Performing
The
Myth
Of the
Cosmic kangaroo
The cosmic dog comes out and attacks the kangaroo
Now after the youngster has seen this
Two big fellows come rushing down the field
And jump on the kid
And
Continue to jump on him
He is going to remember kangaroo
And dog forever
This thing is built-in
It may not be bright
But they get the point
And there are not many points to be gotten
[Chorus]
So mother’s no good anymore
Now they have to face this thing
And then
What they have to face
Is really no fun
So mother’s no good anymore
Now they have to face this thing
And then
What they have to face
Is really no fun
There are other things that happen that I won’t go through
But they are all pretty
Um
Exciting
Let’s say
And when they are all over
The kid isn’t the kid he was
Before he changed
A lot has happened
His body has been changed, and
And
He’s then sent back
To the girls
And there is one of them already selected to be his wife, and he’s now a guaranteed little man
And he’s going to behave
As a man of this crowd
Ought to behave
The fourth function
Of a mythology then
Is to center
And integrate
The individual
In relation
To himself
The microcosm
In relation to
Its society
We’ll call that the “mezzo-cosm,”
The in-between cosm
In relation to
The universe
As he’s able to know it
And finally
In relation to that
Ultimate mystery
Of which I spoke
In the beginning
Now let me say
A word
About
The problem of integrating
The individual
[Chorus]
This is the thing
That has been the same
This is the thing
That has been the same
Societies have changed
But the problem of the individual in his life course
Has not
Greatly changed
The human being
Is a very
Strange animal
He matures
When he is about
Twenty
Years old
He has been
Growing
For twenty years
For most animals
That is the length of a lifetime
So here is a creature
Who has grown for twenty years
In an
Attitude
And in a position
Largely of dependency
Uncertain of himself
Turning
To his parents
For
Help
Instruction
Protection
Approval
And punishment
This creates
A psychological structure
Of
Dependency
The individual
Is in an attitude
Of dependence
On parental figures
Then
We ask him
To become
Responsible
To assume
Responsibility
Grow up
[Chorus]
This is the thing
That has been the same
This is the thing
That has been the same
Societies have changed
But the problem of the individual in his life course
Has not
Greatly changed
This
Is the crisis
Of the transit
From infancy
To adulthood
From dependency
To
Responsibility
Something has to be done
To make it happen
It won’t happen automatically
As we now know
From the problem of psychoanalysis
A person who
Looks like an adult
But every time responsibility is thrown upon him, turns around to see where mother or daddy is
Just hasn’t passed that threshold
A neurotic is a person who is having responses
Of dependency when there ought to be responses
Of
Responsibility
That’s all it is
So then he goes to a
Psychiatrist who tells him
“Grow up”
That’s about all
The problem is
But that is not so easy
After you have
The business of a reflex
Stimulus
Response
Response takes place
The response of dependence
Dependence, dependence
And now suddenly it’s got to be
Responsibility
[Chorus]
This is the thing
That has been the same
This is the thing
That has been the same
Societies have changed
But the problem of the individual in his life course
Has not
Greatly changed
This is the thing
That has been the same
This is the thing
That has been the same
Societies have changed
But the problem of the individual in his life course
Has not
Greatly changed
Of a mythology then
Is to center
And integrate
The individual
In relation
To himself
The microcosm
In relation to
Its society
We’ll call that the “mezzo-cosm,”
The in-between cosm
In relation to
The universe
As he’s able to know it
And finally
In relation to that
Ultimate mystery
Of which I spoke
In the beginning
Now let me say
A word
About
The problem of integrating
The individual
[Chorus]
This is the thing
That has been the same
This is the thing
That has been the same
Societies have changed
But the problem of the individual in his life course
Has not
Greatly changed
The human being
Is a very
Strange animal
He matures
When he is about
Twenty
Years old
He has been
Growing
For twenty years
For most animals
That is the length of a lifetime
So here is a creature
Who has grown for twenty years
In an
Attitude
And in a position
Largely of dependency
Uncertain of himself
Turning
To his parents
For
Help
Instruction
Protection
Approval
And punishment
This creates
A psychological structure
Of
Dependency
The individual
Is in an attitude
Of dependence
On parental figures
Then
We ask him
To become
Responsible
To assume
Responsibility
Grow up
[Chorus]
This is the thing
That has been the same
This is the thing
That has been the same
Societies have changed
But the problem of the individual in his life course
Has not
Greatly changed
This
Is the crisis
Of the transit
From infancy
To adulthood
From dependency
To
Responsibility
Something has to be done
To make it happen
It won’t happen automatically
As we now know
From the problem of psychoanalysis
A person who
Looks like an adult
But every time responsibility is thrown upon him, turns around to see where mother or daddy is
Just hasn’t passed that threshold
A neurotic is a person who is having responses
Of dependency when there ought to be responses
Of
Responsibility
That’s all it is
So then he goes to a
Psychiatrist who tells him
“Grow up”
That’s about all
The problem is
But that is not so easy
After you have
The business of a reflex
Stimulus
Response
Response takes place
The response of dependence
Dependence, dependence
And now suddenly it’s got to be
Responsibility
[Chorus]
This is the thing
That has been the same
This is the thing
That has been the same
Societies have changed
But the problem of the individual in his life course
Has not
Greatly changed
This is the thing
That has been the same
This is the thing
That has been the same
Societies have changed
But the problem of the individual in his life course
Has not
Greatly changed