Modern Myth Medicine-hope and heros!!

Somehow I could not help thinking all day about the G-20 Summit....OK, I'll be honest, I could not sleep last night very well, because I was worrying and during some of those awake moments, it occurred to me that the Summit is REALLY,REALLY, a BIG THING!!!

photo veronica tennant romeo plus my doodles

 To me it seems almost mythic, you'll see what I am getting at below.

Now some of you know from my earliest posts I was blessed with a fine friend & mentor Chrisitane Corbat who was an internationally renowned sculptor &  who was a student 

of Joseph Campbell.

Similarly, you know, he wrote the "The Hero with a 

Thousand Faces","The Masks of God", and "Creative Mythology".

And he influenced a number of artists and musicians including the Bob Dylan and George Lukas,to name a few. George Lucas has been noted to credit Campbell regarding the stories of the Star Wars films. 

 So what does this all have to do with the G-20 ???I know you thought I drifted off the subject, ((having been all sleep deprived,w-r-o-n-g! :).

You see, I had this image in my sleepy mind's eye of the Summit in London which, in the wee hours of the morning , reminded me of a Star Wars' scene

{ frankly, I am not that well versed in this double trilogy}

So what scene was it?

 It involved Princess Leah and the cast of leaders from strange universes sitting in a circle discussing strategies to solve HUGE problems. Yes, you are right, Yoda was there too, looking wise- and naturally a candidate for Botox...,just joking!  Come to think of it did not the King Arthur and his knights sit at the Round Table???

All of this musing surfaced because I have been worried about the world affairs as so many of us have, economic meltdowns, wars, changes in the environment...Right, I have to lay off the news Internet sites. but, really these concerns pressed on until I grasped that this is our modern day myth!!

each nation may have their own hero,but, nonetheless there are all the element of the hero's quest !

"We have not even to face the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time, have gone before us: the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god, and where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves. Where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence, and where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the World." (Chapter one, ending.) Joseph Campbell

Oddly enough, I found a mythical image from a meeting in Florence, Italy in 2007 called"Images and Myths of Europe: the Western and the Eastern perspectives"

                                                      Romualdo Del Bianco Foundation

and here was their accompanying program image

It appears to me as though the foundation or pillars had fallen under the weight of a Bull, (Wall Street icon of course.)  And above this powerful and stubborn animal is the injured winged lady receiving support from another female with a halo. Are the female images depicting humanity's intuitive or spiritual side in effect opposing the base instinct of greed & misused power?

Note this was conference in 2007 !

Now back to Chrisitiane work with another Dancing Doc and good friend, Colleen Cavenaugh,MD.who choreographed this piece.

                        They worked together to create the Global Heart Installation performance.

Below are some still shots . I believe Christiane created these castings to portray that though our bodies are different we are all intimately connected and jointly responsible. Note how different each hearts light is....she began this piece in 2003 just before Bush waged war in Iraq. 

"As we are told in the Vedas: 'Truth is one, the sages speak of it by many names,' 

" (Third edition, page VII)

Joseph Campbell

There are of course differences between the numerous mythologies and religions of mankind, but this is a book about similarities; and once they are understood the differences will be found to be much less great than is popularly (and politically) supposed. My hope is that a comparative elucidation may contribute to the perhaps not-quite disparate causes of those forces that are working in the present world for unification, not in the name of some ecclesiastical or political empire, but in the sense of human mutual understanding" (Third edition, page VIII)

Joseph Campbell here shares a perspective with Obama and Brown,

that the solutions to the tests or quests facing the world are indeed found in our similarities not our differences.

Lastly, what are your personal myths, what is the archetype you find yourself returning to ?

There is perhaps,something comforting in knowing this.

 photo anatomical man tres rich duc du barry

VITAL SIGNS PLEASE for Child Actors of Slumdog Millionaire!

We were all thrilled to celebrate the modern day beautiful "rag to riches" Oscar winner (x8)!!

It captured the world's imagination during this global period of economic crisis ,I believe, because it highlighted that love was the real prize,not the money or the illusions of living a rich lifestyle, or of obtaining power!

Underneath the celluloid tale,(ok maybe films are no longer made like this, I am not that old-seriously folks!!) Oh right, where was I, yes, underlying the Hollywood/Bollywood creation is the reality of these children's lives!??!

First photo presents little Rubina giving an interview prior to leaving for the Oscars.

check out the women's looks! oouch!

 This second photo shows their joy and anticipation en route out of Mumbai 

Of course , in LA at the Oscars, looking very westernized indeed,yet loving it!

Below, fatigue and intense emotions upon Rubina's return to Mumbai!

Their reactions returning home to the slums and to their families were concerning as described in The UK's Telegraph publication  By Barney Henderson in Mumbai Last Updated: 2:23PM GMT 01 Mar 2009

"Having flown in a plane, slept in a soft bed and used a clean and functioning bathroom for the first time in their lives at a five-star hotel, the kids say they have now realised what life is like on the other side of the coin and the reality of being back in the slum is hitting them hard."

"I don't want to live here in the slum anymore," Rubina said, wearing the dirt stained ball gown that she has not wanted to take off since Oscars night. "I don't want to sleep on the floor anymore. I want a proper bed and live where the air does not smell of poo. I have seen what it is like in America. Here, there is garbage everywhere, people get angry, swear and shout. I have realised how bad life is here. I just want to get out."

further photos upon their return to the slums

At school exhausted, Azhar is looking confused and as a pediatrician I would say he is not appearing well--- actually as became clear later, he developed a fever of 103° and required antibiotics for an illness as defined by a local doctor!

Rubina settling in ?!

Further excerpts from the Telegraph article cited above:

Social workers have called for the children to be placed in care and state that they need to be given protection – either from Danny Boyle and the film production company or the Indian authorities.

"I cannot believe these kids have just been left like this after being taken to Hollywood. It is bound to affect them psychologically," said social worker Sanjay Bhatia, who works in the slum.

India's Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chowdhary is "appalled" at the beating that Azhar took at the hands of his father on Friday. Azhar was thrashed for saying he wanted to sleep rather than talk to a journalist who had offered money to his father.

It is my prayer that these children can find peace and hope and can use this experience in a positive way, though I imagine it will place pressures on them to support their families financially 

• - I wondered as a child and also as an adult if people who are poor are made to feel worse when they obtain a point of comparison---does one miss what one does not know? or experience? 
  
• -does not a child within the Indian family unit find comfort,like all children, from their shared meals, from the banter of neighbors and friends, from the love of their parents? 
  
• -has modern life equiped with global communications, TV, radios brought the harshness of these comparisons into a more acute focus?  
  

I do not doubt for a second that the life within these slums is difficult,dangerous and does not offer its inhabitants an easy way to optimize their personal potentials- why? I believe perhaps, they are too burdened with the primary issues of survival ( I call this the strain of survival mode)where there is more fatigue and potentially illness!

 In any case, I hope you will join me in sending them good vibs ,thoughts or prayers !! What are your take about this issue ? 

photos credits - click on them for the URL's