Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, this is Andrew from the Future. If you're
Speaker 1: listening to this now, you're probably introduced to the show
Speaker 1: at a more recent episode and then you decided to
Speaker 1: start back at the beginning. Well, if that's the case,
Speaker 1: then welcome now. Probably, like most podcasters, it took me
Speaker 1: a bit to figure out what I was doing with this,
Speaker 1: although I hope that I always feel that way as
Speaker 1: I look at the road behind me. In any case,
Speaker 1: I hope that you stick around as you follow the
Speaker 1: movements of my interest from careke Guard to fairy tales
Speaker 1: to Talkien and beyond. Also be sure to check out
Speaker 1: the Mythic Mind Fellowship podcast as well, which is a
Speaker 1: separate show designed for patron contributions. And now I will
Speaker 1: finally let you get back to the first episode of
Speaker 1: this show. Thank you again for joining me in godspeed,
Speaker 1: many greetings, and welcomes to the Mythic Mind Podcast, where
Speaker 1: we pursue wisdom on the path between story and reality.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Andrew Snyder, and I appreciate you walking
Speaker 1: these trails with me today. I just want to briefly
Speaker 1: introduce this podcast to explain what it is, why it is,
Speaker 1: and where we'll be going first, So, first to start
Speaker 1: with a name, it's called mythic mind. Well, what is
Speaker 1: a myth? Well, obviously, a myth is a story, and
Speaker 1: for that reason, sometimes the word myth is used to
Speaker 1: disparagingly refer to something as not true. Right, This is
Speaker 1: often the case when we call something a myth, we're
Speaker 1: trying to say it's not true, it's not real. Now,
Speaker 1: I would say that this framework for understanding myth is
Speaker 1: really derived from our modern scientific arrogance that looks down
Speaker 1: on that which doesn't neatly fit within a modern scientific framework.
Speaker 1: This mindset really fails to recognize that the mind of
Speaker 1: science and the mind of myth are really just operating
Speaker 1: with different methodologies and with different scopes. And so science
Speaker 1: deals with the world of matter, whereas myth deals with
Speaker 1: the world that matters. Myth is it's the realm of meaning.
Speaker 1: It might not describe our physical surroundings, but it describes
Speaker 1: our existential location. Right. The myth attempts to explain the
Speaker 1: world of meaning in our place within it. And so
Speaker 1: it's not as simple as a good scientific account of
Speaker 1: a phenomenon is true, and a mythic approaches faults or
Speaker 1: necessarily superstitious. It's simply that they're dealing with different domains,
Speaker 1: one with matter, one with what matters. And so you
Speaker 1: can think about this as the difference between a photograph
Speaker 1: and a painting. A photograph attempts to provide, or rather
Speaker 1: does provide, a precise representation of material reality. This would
Speaker 1: be akin to a scientific theory that at its best
Speaker 1: provides a clear cut representation of the physical world, whereas
Speaker 1: the myth is more like the painting. Right, it's an
Speaker 1: interpretation of reality through the lens of the true, the good,
Speaker 1: and the beautiful. And so just as a scientific theory
Speaker 1: can be true or it can be false, so too
Speaker 1: a myth can be true or it can be false,
Speaker 1: or very often some blend of the two. But it's
Speaker 1: not so simple as saying a scientific framework is good
Speaker 1: and a mythic is bad. In fact, both are important
Speaker 1: for understanding our world in a true, inaccurate way. Now,
Speaker 1: when I originally started to conceptualize this podcast and exactly
Speaker 1: what it would be, I thought that I would solely
Speaker 1: be focusing on myths, both ancient and modern, in order
Speaker 1: to to provide philosophical analysis and to demonstrate where the
Speaker 1: bridges are between the mythic and primary worlds, and this
Speaker 1: is still going to be the heart of this podcast. However,
Speaker 1: lately I decided to kind of expand the scope a
Speaker 1: little bit, and so we're gonna be looking at both
Speaker 1: philosophy proper as well as stories, frequently intertwining the two
Speaker 1: while demonstrating the application that these things have for everyday life,
Speaker 1: for relationships, for vocation, for living a life of purpose
Speaker 1: and meaning within the larger story of the cosmos. And
Speaker 1: so the first thing that we're going to do starting
Speaker 1: with the next episode is launch into a study of
Speaker 1: soaring carekeyguards, concept of anxiety, and the sickness unto death,
Speaker 1: in large part because these are the base text for
Speaker 1: my dissertation that I have just finished writing, and so
Speaker 1: these things are fresh in my mind and they are
Speaker 1: things that I'm eager to share with you. We finish that,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna switch gears and jump into stories. If I
Speaker 1: ever become wildly successful in producing content and I'm able
Speaker 1: to do this kind of thing full time, maybe eventually
Speaker 1: I'll split off into two different podcasts, one just focusing
Speaker 1: on philosophy and theology and one just focusing on narratives.
Speaker 1: But for the time being, we're going to kind of
Speaker 1: jump back and forth. As some concluding thoughts, I would
Speaker 1: like to say that while I already have an episode
Speaker 1: ready to go for next week, I can't guarantee that
Speaker 1: I'll be able to create and upload these podcast episodes
Speaker 1: at regular intervals. And that's because I have a full
Speaker 1: time day job, I have various academic commitments, and I
Speaker 1: have twins coming in a few months, and so a
Speaker 1: lot of exciting things going on. But there's a lot
Speaker 1: of my plate right now, and I would love to
Speaker 1: be able to release these episodes on a weekly basis,
Speaker 1: ideally even more than that. And I would also like
Speaker 1: to have time to write regular blog posts as well
Speaker 1: as to get into some more video content creation about
Speaker 1: topics involving the intersections of myth and our more primary
Speaker 1: lived experience. And so if you would like to support
Speaker 1: my efforts financially allowing me to pour more time and
Speaker 1: energy into these topics that I'm so passionate about that
Speaker 1: I believe might be of some utility to you as
Speaker 1: well as to the broader public, then you can head
Speaker 1: over to my Patreon just look me up at Andrew
Speaker 1: Snyder even supporting it the smallest heere would at least
Speaker 1: just let me know that you're interested in investing in
Speaker 1: building this community, and that in itself would go a
Speaker 1: long way. But if you can't do that right now,
Speaker 1: or don't want to do that right now, then I
Speaker 1: appreciate it if you just go ahead and at least
Speaker 1: subscribe to this podcast, leave me positive reviews on the
Speaker 1: various podcast outlets, so that way people will be made
Speaker 1: aware that this is here. And if nothing else, I
Speaker 1: appreciate you listening today, and I hope that you'll continue
Speaker 1: to walk these trails with me as we pursue wisdom
Speaker 1: wherever it may be found.