The second function
Of a mythology
Is to
Present
An image
A total image
Of the universe
As consciousness is aware of it
We have to
Encompass
The whole of what we know
And see that
In terms of this mystery
Now as you
Immediately realize
In the course of the ages
In the course of time
Man’s understanding
[Chorus]
A man’s image
Of the universe
Has great greatly changed
A man’s image
Of the universe
Has great greatly changed
A totally new cosmos
Has come into being
Has come into our consciousness
Has great greatly changed
The view
Of
The world round about
That the Pawnee Indian would have had on the plains of Nebraska
200 years ago
Is very, very different
From what is now propounded
In the University of Nebraska
Likewise
When we read
In the
Book of Genesis
The story of the creation of the world
That’s not the world
That our scientists are
Telling us about
Are are telling us about (faded)
[Chorus]
A man’s image
Of the universe
Has great greatly changed
A man’s image
Of the universe
Has great greatly changed
A totally new cosmos
Has come into being
Has come into our consciousness
Has great greatly changed
Read an account
Of the coming into being of the cosmos
From the spiral nebulae
Hundreds and hundreds of millions of years ago
And try to bring that into accord
With
The Biblical story
Or try to bring it into accord with any
Of the inherited stories
The
Image of the cosmos
Must change
With the development of the mind
And the knowledge
Otherwise
The
Mythic statement is lost
And man becomes disassociated
From the very basis
Of his own religious experience
Doubt comes in and so forth
You must remember
All of the great traditions
And little traditions
In their own time
Were scientifically correct
That is to say they were correct
In terms
Of the scientific image of that age
So there must be
A
Scientifically
Validated
Image
Now you know what has happened
Our scientific field has separated itself
From the religious field
Or vice versa
[Chorus]
A man’s image
Of the universe
Has great greatly changed
A man’s image
Of the universe
Has great greatly changed
A totally new cosmos
Has come into being
Has come into our consciousness
Has great greatly changed
It was actually
The religious community that rejected the scientific community
In the 17th Century
And this divorce
Is a fatal thing
And a very unfortunate
And a totally unnecessary thing
There is no reason whatsoever
For clinging
To the literal
The literal
Reading
Of a scientific statement
That is
4000
Years
Old
It must be read
Another way
And there is something else being said there
Which is lost
If you
Either hang on to the old science
Or reject it
Or reject it
[Chorus]
A man’s image
Of the universe
Has great greatly changed
A man’s image
Of the universe
Has great greatly changed
A totally new cosmos
Has come into being
Has come into our consciousness
Has great greatly changed
Of a mythology
Is to
Present
An image
A total image
Of the universe
As consciousness is aware of it
We have to
Encompass
The whole of what we know
And see that
In terms of this mystery
Now as you
Immediately realize
In the course of the ages
In the course of time
Man’s understanding
[Chorus]
A man’s image
Of the universe
Has great greatly changed
A man’s image
Of the universe
Has great greatly changed
A totally new cosmos
Has come into being
Has come into our consciousness
Has great greatly changed
The view
Of
The world round about
That the Pawnee Indian would have had on the plains of Nebraska
200 years ago
Is very, very different
From what is now propounded
In the University of Nebraska
Likewise
When we read
In the
Book of Genesis
The story of the creation of the world
That’s not the world
That our scientists are
Telling us about
Are are telling us about (faded)
[Chorus]
A man’s image
Of the universe
Has great greatly changed
A man’s image
Of the universe
Has great greatly changed
A totally new cosmos
Has come into being
Has come into our consciousness
Has great greatly changed
Read an account
Of the coming into being of the cosmos
From the spiral nebulae
Hundreds and hundreds of millions of years ago
And try to bring that into accord
With
The Biblical story
Or try to bring it into accord with any
Of the inherited stories
The
Image of the cosmos
Must change
With the development of the mind
And the knowledge
Otherwise
The
Mythic statement is lost
And man becomes disassociated
From the very basis
Of his own religious experience
Doubt comes in and so forth
You must remember
All of the great traditions
And little traditions
In their own time
Were scientifically correct
That is to say they were correct
In terms
Of the scientific image of that age
So there must be
A
Scientifically
Validated
Image
Now you know what has happened
Our scientific field has separated itself
From the religious field
Or vice versa
[Chorus]
A man’s image
Of the universe
Has great greatly changed
A man’s image
Of the universe
Has great greatly changed
A totally new cosmos
Has come into being
Has come into our consciousness
Has great greatly changed
It was actually
The religious community that rejected the scientific community
In the 17th Century
And this divorce
Is a fatal thing
And a very unfortunate
And a totally unnecessary thing
There is no reason whatsoever
For clinging
To the literal
The literal
Reading
Of a scientific statement
That is
4000
Years
Old
It must be read
Another way
And there is something else being said there
Which is lost
If you
Either hang on to the old science
Or reject it
Or reject it
[Chorus]
A man’s image
Of the universe
Has great greatly changed
A man’s image
Of the universe
Has great greatly changed
A totally new cosmos
Has come into being
Has come into our consciousness
Has great greatly changed
Let’s consider this
Problem
The human
Eye
Opens
At a rather late-stage
In the development
Of the individual
He has already
Done the most
Marvelous work
He will ever do
In a mysterious way
In his mother’s womb
He has built
A human body
And this body
Has organs
That are
Directed
To certain ends
And intentions
And these
Were not
The organs
Designed by reason
Designed by consciousness
Reason and consciousness comes to itself
And asks
Later
[Chorus]
What is it
I am all about?
What is it
I am here for?
What is it
I am all about?
What is it
I am here for?
Why is it?
I do this
And that?
Why is it
I do this
And that?
What is it
I am all about?
What is it
I am here for?
Furthermore
The coming of the eyes
Into the general biological picture
Is very late
Life had already originated
Hundreds of millions of years
Before eyes opened
And saw what was going on
Saw what life
Was doing
Now if you’ll see
And think
What it is
That life does
That life has to do in order to be life
It has to kill
And eat
Other life
That‘s the basic thing
This is a rather monstrous thing
And when the eyes see
What the
Situation is
On which its own life
Depends
Its own existence
When conscience
And consciousness
Become aware
Of the
Preconditions of their own existence
There is often
A sense of shock
A sense of horror
You know
The basic
Word of Buddhism;
All life
Is sorrowful
That’s one way
Of recognizing this
There is also the feeling
Many have of guilt
Simply for being alive
This is
In a way symbolized in the image of the fall in the Garden
Life
Is monstrous
Life
Is monstrous
[Chorus]
What is it
I am all about?
What is it
I am here for?
What is it
I am all about?
What is it
I am here for?
Why is it?
I do this
And that?
Why is it
I do this
And that?
What is it
I am all about?
What is it
I am here for?
Problem
The human
Eye
Opens
At a rather late-stage
In the development
Of the individual
He has already
Done the most
Marvelous work
He will ever do
In a mysterious way
In his mother’s womb
He has built
A human body
And this body
Has organs
That are
Directed
To certain ends
And intentions
And these
Were not
The organs
Designed by reason
Designed by consciousness
Reason and consciousness comes to itself
And asks
Later
[Chorus]
What is it
I am all about?
What is it
I am here for?
What is it
I am all about?
What is it
I am here for?
Why is it?
I do this
And that?
Why is it
I do this
And that?
What is it
I am all about?
What is it
I am here for?
Furthermore
The coming of the eyes
Into the general biological picture
Is very late
Life had already originated
Hundreds of millions of years
Before eyes opened
And saw what was going on
Saw what life
Was doing
Now if you’ll see
And think
What it is
That life does
That life has to do in order to be life
It has to kill
And eat
Other life
That‘s the basic thing
This is a rather monstrous thing
And when the eyes see
What the
Situation is
On which its own life
Depends
Its own existence
When conscience
And consciousness
Become aware
Of the
Preconditions of their own existence
There is often
A sense of shock
A sense of horror
You know
The basic
Word of Buddhism;
All life
Is sorrowful
That’s one way
Of recognizing this
There is also the feeling
Many have of guilt
Simply for being alive
This is
In a way symbolized in the image of the fall in the Garden
Life
Is monstrous
Life
Is monstrous
[Chorus]
What is it
I am all about?
What is it
I am here for?
What is it
I am all about?
What is it
I am here for?
Why is it?
I do this
And that?
Why is it
I do this
And that?
What is it
I am all about?
What is it
I am here for?
Now there have been
In the past
200 years
A great, great many
Investigations and researches
Some of them very
Pious
Some of them
Very
Cynical
Of the religions of the world
And certain
Quite constant
Motives
Basic themes
Have come out
Throughout the whole field
These universals
These continually recurring
Themes
Also, in each of the various areas
There are quite special
Particular inflections
Quite different
From those in
Other areas
That is to say, we have this spectacle of
Continuity
And consistency
And at the same time
Differentiation
I want to speak tonight in a very general way
To
The main
Problems
That these situations
And these observations
Bring up
[Chorus]
What are the functions
The human functions
Served by mythologies
What are the functions
The human functions
Served by mythologies
By symbolic forms
Which
Have been served
For 200,000 years
200,000 years
And have sustained the race
Even on the simplest level
And even on
The levels of the highest cultures
We all know the greatest
Monuments
The greatest
Architectural
And
Art
Monuments
Are in celebration of these mysteries
I don’t care where you turn
These are the things
We now
Go by jet
To see
[Chorus]
What are the functions
The human functions
Served by mythologies
What are the functions
The human functions
Served by mythologies
By symbolic forms
Which
Have been served
For 200,000 years
200,000 years
What are the functions
The human functions
Served by mythologies
What are the functions
The human functions
Served by mythologies
By symbolic forms
Which
Have been served
For 200,000 years
200,000 years
In the past
200 years
A great, great many
Investigations and researches
Some of them very
Pious
Some of them
Very
Cynical
Of the religions of the world
And certain
Quite constant
Motives
Basic themes
Have come out
Throughout the whole field
These universals
These continually recurring
Themes
Also, in each of the various areas
There are quite special
Particular inflections
Quite different
From those in
Other areas
That is to say, we have this spectacle of
Continuity
And consistency
And at the same time
Differentiation
I want to speak tonight in a very general way
To
The main
Problems
That these situations
And these observations
Bring up
[Chorus]
What are the functions
The human functions
Served by mythologies
What are the functions
The human functions
Served by mythologies
By symbolic forms
Which
Have been served
For 200,000 years
200,000 years
And have sustained the race
Even on the simplest level
And even on
The levels of the highest cultures
We all know the greatest
Monuments
The greatest
Architectural
And
Art
Monuments
Are in celebration of these mysteries
I don’t care where you turn
These are the things
We now
Go by jet
To see
[Chorus]
What are the functions
The human functions
Served by mythologies
What are the functions
The human functions
Served by mythologies
By symbolic forms
Which
Have been served
For 200,000 years
200,000 years
What are the functions
The human functions
Served by mythologies
What are the functions
The human functions
Served by mythologies
By symbolic forms
Which
Have been served
For 200,000 years
200,000 years
Many of you I’m sure
Have heard the saying that
Mythology is other people’s religions
Now I am going to ask you
To put yourself in other people’s shoes
And have a look at your own
As mythology
As mythology
[Chorus]
What is this mystery?
That makes the
Human species bow
Before some sign of mystery?
What is this mystery?
That makes the
Human species bow
Before some sign of mystery?
Nietzsche
Has said;
“This is the age of comparisons.”
It works on all levels
And in the realm of
What I’m calling “mythology“, which many people call “religions“
There are cross-influences
Operating today
That would have been thought
Impossible
A hundred years ago
Furthermore, it is good to recall
To remember
That our cultures
And our races
Are very, very late arrivals
In the history of the human species
And we already have
Very interesting
Evidence
Of religious, or mythological practices
In races long antedating
Ours
For instance
In the high Alps
There were discovered in the (19)20s
In
Very small caves
Right below
The ice level of the glaciers
Little shrines
Containing the skulls of cave bears
Now during the course of the last glaciation, the Würmglacial period
Those caves were covered with ice
No one could have gone there
And after The time of that glaciation, there were no cave bears in the world
So these little shrines
With these cave bear skulls
And little fires
And
Little
Instruments of
Showing that there had been worship practice there
Date from 200,000 years ago
200,000 years ago
[Chorus]
What is this mystery?
That makes the
Human species bow
Before some sign of mystery?
What is this mystery?
That makes the
Human species bow
Before some sign of mystery?
What is this mystery?
What is this mystery?
Each of us
Has been brought up
In some tradition
That has its imagery
Of that mystery
But the point I want to
Start out with
Is that in the human heart
And in the human mind
No matter what
The race
The culture
The language
The tradition
There is this
Sense
Or at least the possibility of experiencing the sense
Of a mystery
And an awesome mystery
And a very
Terrifying mystery
Inhabiting the whole
Universe
The very
Mystery
Of being
Itself
And here in these very early little signs
These very early shrines
We have the evidence
Of man 200,000 years ago
Bowing
And asking for something
And devoting themselves to something
In this way of religion which we continue
To know
In this aspect
That inflection
And that other
Throughout the world today
[Chorus]
What is this mystery?
That makes the
Human species bow
Before some sign of mystery?
What is this mystery?
That makes the
Human species bow
Before some sign of mystery?
What is this mystery?
That makes the
Human species bow
Before some sign of mystery?
What is this mystery?
That makes the
Human species bow
Before some sign of mystery?
What is this mystery?
What is this mystery?
Have heard the saying that
Mythology is other people’s religions
Now I am going to ask you
To put yourself in other people’s shoes
And have a look at your own
As mythology
As mythology
[Chorus]
What is this mystery?
That makes the
Human species bow
Before some sign of mystery?
What is this mystery?
That makes the
Human species bow
Before some sign of mystery?
Nietzsche
Has said;
“This is the age of comparisons.”
It works on all levels
And in the realm of
What I’m calling “mythology“, which many people call “religions“
There are cross-influences
Operating today
That would have been thought
Impossible
A hundred years ago
Furthermore, it is good to recall
To remember
That our cultures
And our races
Are very, very late arrivals
In the history of the human species
And we already have
Very interesting
Evidence
Of religious, or mythological practices
In races long antedating
Ours
For instance
In the high Alps
There were discovered in the (19)20s
In
Very small caves
Right below
The ice level of the glaciers
Little shrines
Containing the skulls of cave bears
Now during the course of the last glaciation, the Würmglacial period
Those caves were covered with ice
No one could have gone there
And after The time of that glaciation, there were no cave bears in the world
So these little shrines
With these cave bear skulls
And little fires
And
Little
Instruments of
Showing that there had been worship practice there
Date from 200,000 years ago
200,000 years ago
[Chorus]
What is this mystery?
That makes the
Human species bow
Before some sign of mystery?
What is this mystery?
That makes the
Human species bow
Before some sign of mystery?
What is this mystery?
What is this mystery?
Each of us
Has been brought up
In some tradition
That has its imagery
Of that mystery
But the point I want to
Start out with
Is that in the human heart
And in the human mind
No matter what
The race
The culture
The language
The tradition
There is this
Sense
Or at least the possibility of experiencing the sense
Of a mystery
And an awesome mystery
And a very
Terrifying mystery
Inhabiting the whole
Universe
The very
Mystery
Of being
Itself
And here in these very early little signs
These very early shrines
We have the evidence
Of man 200,000 years ago
Bowing
And asking for something
And devoting themselves to something
In this way of religion which we continue
To know
In this aspect
That inflection
And that other
Throughout the world today
[Chorus]
What is this mystery?
That makes the
Human species bow
Before some sign of mystery?
What is this mystery?
That makes the
Human species bow
Before some sign of mystery?
What is this mystery?
That makes the
Human species bow
Before some sign of mystery?
What is this mystery?
That makes the
Human species bow
Before some sign of mystery?
What is this mystery?
What is this mystery?
Consciousness
Has other notions
Of how things ought to be
What virtue is
And so on
And so on
One
Of the problems
That
Man has to face
Is reconciling himself to the foundations of his own existence
[Chorus]
And this
Is the first function
Of mythology
And this
Is the first function
Of mythology
That reconciliation
Of consciousness
With the mystery of being
And this
Is the first function
Of mythology
Not
Criticizing it
Shakespeare
In his definition of art in Hamlet
Where he says;
“Art”
“Holds the mirror up to nature"
Is a perfect
Definition
I would say
Of the first
Function
Of mythology
When you hold the mirror
Up to your self
Your consciousness becomes aware
Of
Its
Support
What it is
What it is
That it is supporting it
You may be shocked
At what you see
You may be greatly pleased
But one way or another
You become aware
Of yourself
Your consciousness becomes aware of that darkness
That being
Which came into being
Out of darkness, and which is its own support
[Chorus]
And this
Is the first function
Of mythology
And this
Is the first function
Of mythology
That reconciliation
Of consciousness
With the mystery of being
And this
Is the first function
Of mythology
And the realization
Of their mystery
As something that consciousness
Is not going to be able to criticize
Not even going to be able to elucidate
Not even going to be able to name
It is something
Beyond naming
Beyond all definitions
That is the first point
And when that is lost
One loses
This sense of
Awe
Which Goethe calls, “The best thing in man.”
The sense
Of gratitude for one’s
Privilege
Of having
This
Center of consciousness aware of these things
[Chorus]
And this
Is the first function
Of mythology
And this
Is the first function
Of mythology
That reconciliation
Of consciousness
With the mystery of being
And this
Is the first function
Of mythology
Has other notions
Of how things ought to be
What virtue is
And so on
And so on
One
Of the problems
That
Man has to face
Is reconciling himself to the foundations of his own existence
[Chorus]
And this
Is the first function
Of mythology
And this
Is the first function
Of mythology
That reconciliation
Of consciousness
With the mystery of being
And this
Is the first function
Of mythology
Not
Criticizing it
Shakespeare
In his definition of art in Hamlet
Where he says;
“Art”
“Holds the mirror up to nature"
Is a perfect
Definition
I would say
Of the first
Function
Of mythology
When you hold the mirror
Up to your self
Your consciousness becomes aware
Of
Its
Support
What it is
What it is
That it is supporting it
You may be shocked
At what you see
You may be greatly pleased
But one way or another
You become aware
Of yourself
Your consciousness becomes aware of that darkness
That being
Which came into being
Out of darkness, and which is its own support
[Chorus]
And this
Is the first function
Of mythology
And this
Is the first function
Of mythology
That reconciliation
Of consciousness
With the mystery of being
And this
Is the first function
Of mythology
And the realization
Of their mystery
As something that consciousness
Is not going to be able to criticize
Not even going to be able to elucidate
Not even going to be able to name
It is something
Beyond naming
Beyond all definitions
That is the first point
And when that is lost
One loses
This sense of
Awe
Which Goethe calls, “The best thing in man.”
The sense
Of gratitude for one’s
Privilege
Of having
This
Center of consciousness aware of these things
[Chorus]
And this
Is the first function
Of mythology
And this
Is the first function
Of mythology
That reconciliation
Of consciousness
With the mystery of being
And this
Is the first function
Of mythology