Verità

Some experiences are beyond words. They are ineffable, which means "incapable of being expressed; indescribable or unutterable." What is ineffable cannot be told, only shown or shared. We share ineffable experiences, always imperfectly, through metaphor, symbol, ritual enactment and myth. Myths are the great teaching stories, told by the ancestors, polished through countless generations, conveying all that is strong and worthy in a culture.

Dreams are personal; myths are collective. Myths arise from the shared experience and the collective unconscious of the group. They give us some sort of way to communicate about ineffable experiences. If we share the cultural referents from which the myths are built, so much the better. Think of a graceful suspension bridge, poetry in form and function. The interaction of forces made visible by that construction are like the power of the Ancient Gods. The cultural referents are like the steel and stone and cable, the materials that make that power visible and usable. We compose our dreams from fragments of our day, and our myths from fragments of our culture. Both tell us things we need to know. - JH