Gwangju International Center

The Importance of Mythology

Speaker : David Mark Dannov

Review writer: Yeon-ju Kang

Proofreader: Bradley Weiss 

The speaker for the August 4th GIC Talk, David Mark Dannov, discussed the importance of mythology as related to metaphor. He detailed how many movies such as "Men In Black," "Star Wards," "The Matrix," etc. all incorporate some kind of metaphors. Dannov related early 20th century Swiss psychologist Carl Jung's theory that metaphor on one hand gives power to people, but on the other can cause severe problems. The speaker suggested one example, using the current international politics of the U.S. As people already know, the U.S. is the most powerful country in the world, and the its government is able to justify war by making use of some metaphors. The speaker llustrated another example of the power of metaphor involving the Bible. Before talking specifically about metaphor in the Bible, Dannov discussed the role of mythology and metaphor in the Roman Empire. He theorized that prior to the advent of the Roman Catholic church, the people were kept in check through fear based on beliefs founded in mythology and pre-Christian religion. Similarly, the Roman Catholic church encouraged the people's belief in hell and offered belief in God as the only path to escaped damnation. In this way, the church manipulated the people of the empire into adopting and embracing Christianity.

The speaker criticized the Roman catholic church for misrepresenting and misusing what he sees as metaphors and encouraged the audience to see things his way by “opening your third eye”. Dannov insisted his goal was not to get rid of listeners’ own beliefs, but rather through his talk, to let listeners know his own ideas about it. Every government in the world is well aware of how to monitor the public. If people are controled by the government, they all have same ideas and become like robots, such as in the movie "I Robot".

Returning to the Bible again, the speaker explained how there are a lot of metaphors present in Christian scripture. For example, the story of Noah’s Ark could be understood as a metaphor. The idea of taking one pair of all the animals in the world on an Ark sounds ridiculous when taken literally. Rather, this could be understood as the Ark is just oneself. The lesson from this story when seen as metaphor is to open your mind widely and take in all things. The speaker also referenced the works of another famous scholar, Joseph Campbell, who wrote at length about mythology in the 20th century. After researching many religions and mythologies from around the world, Campbell discovered that many religions make use of similar images. When we see all religion metaphorically, all religion is true, Dannov argued. After becoming familiar with Campbell's work, the speaker started to read the Bible metaphorically. He encouraged everyone in the audience to “find the christ in you". Dannov also illustrated what he feels many people believing in God and the Bible never recognize - that it is also a metaphor that Jesus Christ walks on water At some point, a person may feel depressed and almost dead, but maybe a single word from a book might renew one's spirit - that is Christ for the speaker.

The speaker said that metaphor, in short, is a weapon that protects us in our lives, and understanding and analyzing this metaphor gives out light in the darkness. 

To watch the video, Please click: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD2q-dVWV3g&feature=relmfu

To watch the photos, Please click:https://picasaweb.google.com/117593299426331932940/120804_DavidMarkDannov