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The Mythology of Now:
 
A Mythological System for the 21
st
Century
By Joshua Hancock Faulkenberry
 
 
myth
 Pronunciation: 'mithFunction:
noun 
Etymology: Greek
mythos 
Date: 1830
1.
 
a usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people orexplain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon
2.
 
a popular belief or tradition that has grown up around something or someone;
especially 
: one embodying theideals and institutions of a society or segment of society
3.
 
a person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence
4.
 
the whole body of myths
my·thol·o·gy
 Pronunciation: mi-'thä-l
ō
-jEFunction:
noun 
Inflected Form(s):
 plural 
 
 –gies
Etymology: French or Late Latin; French
mythologie,
from Late Latin
mythologia 
interpretation of myths, from Greek,legend, myth, from
mythologein 
to relate myths, from
mythos + logos 
speechDate: 1603
1.
 
an allegorical narrative
2.
 
a body of myths dealing with the gods, demigods, and legendary heroes of a particular people
3.
 
a branch of knowledge that deals with myth
4.
 
a popular belief or assumption that has grown up around someone or something
All
 
Contents:
 
Copyright
 
©
 
2005
 
 Joshua
 
Faulkenberry
 
All
 
rights
 
reserved
 
Reproduce
 
as
 
you
 
please
 
 Apocalypse
 
Tao
 
Contact:
 
 joshua@apocalypsetao.com
 
Cover
 
photo
 
 by
 
 Joshua
 
Hancock
 
Faulkenberry
 
 
Walking down the street lately, more and more it seems that the people I see passing meby give off the impression of having a complete lack of any semblance of an inner life.Seemingly entirely empty on the inside; stuck in their right-off-the-shelf consumer worlds of nothing but work, watch TV, work, spend money, watch TV, sleep, work, watch TV, spendmoney, watch TV, sleep, watch TV, spend money, work, and on and on and on. Although someof them may actually pursue some mild extracurricular pastimes to feel like they have somethingleft outside of their work, they never seem to find any real fulfillment in life save for a newtelevision, more channels, a new car or house here or there, essentially
more stuff 
. It appears tome that most people cannot think, much less live, beyond the most basic passive/aggressivepsychological levels.Even worse, children today do not appear as though they will end up any better than theirparents, their lives spent raised on PlayStation, MTV, sex, and Pepsi. By the time most kidsreach the age of five, they have already become perfect little prepackaged consumers. Thesekids willingly fight and claw to buy into whatever next big new trend the media “happens”topush (a media that you cannot escape without going to the wilderness… and even then
*
).Children seem to worry more about what name brand they will sport on a particular day thanhow they can contribute to the world or gain fulfillment as a human being. Parents do not seemto supply any real guidance to their children in becoming a fully functional human being
†
. Iguess they expect the schools to take care of that, though it seems pretty clear that the televisiondoes most of the childrearing in the America of the twenty first century.Even assuming that the vast majority of homes in the US claim one religion or another,how spiritual does this next generation really seem? In lieu of church and family, these kidsmust have developed one skewed semblance of a mythological system (if you can even call itthat). A system that must consist of one very elaborate framework of superstar rappers andathletes regularly implicated in various criminal activities, television and movie characters soshallow and self-absorbed that they appear interested only in fucking and getting fucked, and agiant wad of celebrities that offer children a view of a life that they will probably never have andthen tell them to go out and drink a Diet Coke. Of course, I would imagine this mythology mustinclude some actual religion somewhere in there, as well (as if that really makes things anybetter).The accepted mythology of “modern” civilization appears to me somehow based on theidea that we all know that we all want and feel something more to this concept that we callreality, but everyone has made an unspoken agreement just to give up and simply wait around forscientists and the theologians (the “experts”) to explain it all. On the other hand, maybe thepeople who control us all have set up an elaborate system contrived, in part, so that all myth willdie out resulting in the populace now seeing the idea of Heaven on Earth as an empty dream thusembracing the status quo. Alternatively, maybe people have actually come to think they canreally find Heaven on Earth if they spend more money, or win that next trophy, or get that nextfix whatever the form it might take (and just maybe our masters planned this all out as well).Most likely, all three and much much more factors into the equation.In any case, like the proverbial hole in the ozone layer, the hole in the collectiveunconsciousness of America shows signs of exponential growth. I imagine it as a giant gapinggash in the side of the psyche of all of humanity. Supposedly, organized religion does what itcan to act as a bandage for the wound. Still in the dark ages, however, religion uses leeches,sucking the psyche dry leaving the original injuries entirely unaddressed. Bluntly, religion
*
A media whose agendas appear increasingly nefarious and increasingly tied to the agendas of others.
†
Quite the contrary, assuming that kids learn by example.
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