- Myths are constantly evolving,
they change and that's
what makes them endure.
That's what makes them relevant
to reflect our society,
our concerns, our values.
For the ancient Greeks, the
world was so much more alive
than for us.
There is a mindset where
the observable world
and the reality of it,
the tangible things we see
and deal with everyday,
are connected to a higher
reality which is that of the line
between the gods and the dead.
Underneath is Hades,
the world of the dead.
And then over the land and
the seas are the heavens
where the gods live, that's Olympus.
So while you're living,
you're sort of in between
these two other worlds.
And birds are very
interesting to the Greeks
because they mediate between the worlds
in a very visual way,
especially aquatic birds.
The notion is that these
birds are traveling
across boundaries of the human world.
They're good symbols to represent
that a person has passed
between various states of existence.
And that's where we see myths
of diving where the person
offers themselves up to the
gods and frequently is reborn,
renewed by this experience.
And several of the characters
come back as aquatic birds.
The protagonist might be
unwilling, for instance,
to submit to an attacker and
throws themselves into the sea.
Or a person might want
to redeem their crimes.
The gods seem to take pity on
them and so very frequently
you see them changed into these birds
and therefore unattached to the world.
The importance here is on the willingness
to give yourself up to
the will of the gods.
This symbolism continues
in western culture
when people talk about leaps of faith.
That's really the notion, right.
I'm leaving something behind completely.
However, there's a chance
of possibly something new
coming out of this.
Today, we tend to want to make
so many sharp distinctions
between what's religious and cultural
and what's real and tangible.
I think that we just need
to realize that we're human
and that what we're
looking for is meaning.
