Mythic Imagination Institute

Last updated

The Mythic Imagination Institute is a non-profit organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, whose purpose is to encourage a creative response to life, both individual and collective, through storytelling and mythology: "Every life is a story, and a story can change the world." The Institute's main vehicles for achieving this purpose are conferences, performance festivals, lectures, and educational classes.

Past events organized or sponsored by Mythic Imagination Institute include:

The Mythic Imagination Institute's official website features an online, quarterly magazine Mythic Passages, which includes contributions from renowned scholars, artists, poets, and performers.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Campbell</span> American mythologist, writer, and lecturer (1904–1987)

Joseph John Campbell was an American writer. He was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the human experience. Campbell's best-known work is his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), in which he discusses his theory of the journey of the archetypal hero shared by world mythologies, termed the monomyth.

Religion and mythology differ in scope but have overlapping aspects. Both are systems of concepts that are of high importance to a certain community, making statements concerning the supernatural or sacred. Generally, mythology is considered one component or aspect of religion. Religion is the broader term: besides mythological aspects, it includes aspects of ritual, morality, theology, and mystical experience. A given mythology is almost always associated with a certain religion such as Greek mythology with Ancient Greek religion. Disconnected from its religious system, a myth may lose its immediate relevance to the community and evolve—away from sacred importance—into a legend or folktale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emory University</span> Private university in Atlanta, Georgia

Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campus is in Druid Hills, 3 miles (4.8 km) from Downtown Atlanta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sphinx</span> Mythological creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion

A sphinx is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle.

<i>Lamassu</i> Tutelary spirit in Assyrian mythology

Lama, Lamma, or Lamassu is an Assyrian protective deity.

Mythopoeia, or mythopoesis, is a narrative genre in modern literature and film where an artificial or fictionalized mythology is created by the writer of prose, poetry, or other literary forms. The concept, which long preexisted him, was widely popularised by J. R. R. Tolkien in the 1930s. The authors in this genre integrate traditional mythological themes and archetypes into fiction. Mythopoeia is also the act of creating a mythology.

Jean Houston is an American author involved in the human potential movement. Along with her husband, Robert Masters, she co-founded the Foundation for Mind Research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Berry</span> Catholic priest and scholar (1914 – 2009)

Thomas Berry, CP was a Catholic priest, cultural historian, and scholar of the world's religions, especially Asian traditions. Later, as he studied Earth history and evolution, he called himself a "geologian".

Mythic Journeys is a performance festival and conference gathering held in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Founded in 2004, it began as a celebration of the works of Joseph Campbell and has expanded into a celebration of the role of myth and storytelling in the modern world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael C. Carlos Museum</span> Art museum in Atlanta, United States

The Michael C. Carlos Museum is an art museum located in Atlanta on the historic quadrangle of Emory University's main campus. The Carlos Museum has the largest ancient art collections in the Southeast, including objects from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Near East, Africa and the ancient Americas. The collections are housed in a Michael Graves designed building which is open to the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Young (psychologist)</span> American mythologist (1944-)

Jonathan Young is an American psychologist who was the founding curator of the Joseph Campbell Archives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Campbell Foundation</span>

The Joseph Campbell Foundation is a US not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserve, protect and perpetuate the work of influential American mythologist Joseph Campbell (1904–1987). It fosters academic and popular discussion in the fields of comparative mythology and religion, psychology and culture through its publishing program, events, local groups and its website.

Mythic humanoids are legendary, folkloric, or mythological creatures that are part human, or that resemble humans through appearance or character. Each culture has different mythical creatures that come from many different origins, and many of these creatures are humanoids. They are often able to talk and in many stories they guide the hero on their journey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akinyele Umoja</span> American educator and author

Akinyele Umoja is an American educator and author who specializes in African-American studies. As an activist, he is a founding member of the New Afrikan People's Organization and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. In April 2013, New York University Press published Umoja's book We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement. Currently, he is a Professor and Department Chair of the Department of African-American Studies at Georgia State University (GSU).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egyptian mythology</span> Myths of the Ancient Egyptians

Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world around them. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part of ancient Egyptian religion. Myths appear frequently in Egyptian writings and art, particularly in short stories and in religious material such as hymns, ritual texts, funerary texts, and temple decoration. These sources rarely contain a complete account of a myth and often describe only brief fragments.

Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the veracity of a myth is not a defining criterion.

Ari Berk is an American writer, folklorist, artist, and scholar of literature, iconography, and comparative myth. Berk holds degrees in Ancient History (B.A.), American Indian Studies (M.A.), and Comparative Literature and Culture (Ph.D.) from Humboldt State University and the University of Arizona respectively. His dissertation was directed by Pulitzer Prize winner N. Scott Momaday and Berk was appointed to the committee that developed the first American Indian Studies doctoral program in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weak River (mythology)</span> Mythological river in Chinese culture

The Weak River also known as the Weak Water or Ruoshui is an important feature in the mythical geography of Chinese literature, including novels and poetry over a course of over two millennia from the Warring States to early Han dynasty era poetry of the Chuci onward. The Weak River is one of the mythological rivers flowing near Kunlun, home of a Western Paradise. The Weak River flowed with "water" so lacking in specific gravity that even a feather would not float, thus being a protective barrier against the unworthy, who otherwise would profane the paradise on Kunlun, and perhaps even climb up to Heaven and disturb the deities and other inhabitants residing there. In the novel Journey to the West, the Weak Water River forms one of the obstacles the fictional version of the monk Xuanzang, the magic monkey Sun Wukong, and companions must cross over on their mission to fetch the Buddhist scriptures from India and return them to Tang China.

The Red River or Red Water is an important feature in the mythological geography of Chinese literature, including novels and poetry over a course of over two millennia from the Warring States to early Han dynasty era poetry of the Chuci onward. The Red River is one of the mythological rivers said to flow from Kunlun, a mythological land, with mountainous features. Translations into English include "Scarlet River".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moving Sands</span>

The Moving Sands, also known as the Flowing Sands, is an important feature in the mythological geography of Chinese literature, including novels and poetry over a course of over two millennia from the Warring States to early Han dynasty era poetry of the Chuci onward to the present. In his poem "Li Sao", author Qu Yuan describes an aerial crossing of the Moving Sands on a shamanic spiritual Journey to Kunlun. "Moving Sands forms one of the obstacles the fictional version of the monk Xuanzang and companions must cross over on their mission to fetch the Buddhist scriptures from India and return them to Tang China. In this story, Xuanzang recruits the former sand demon and eater-of-humans Sha Wujing who is living in Moving Sands as his third disciple. Sometimes the Moving Sands seem to depict drifting dunes or desert, sometimes a sand or quicksand-like river, in which case, in Chinese, it would be (Liúshā-hé.

References

  1. "Ancient Spirit, Modern Voice by Ari Berk". Archived from the original on 2008-11-21.
  2. "Books to Look For".
  3. "Emory professor featured on public radio broadcast".
  4. "The American way: Planning without imagination creates deliberate cruelty".
  5. "Ari Berk Live at the Human Forum". YouTube . 5 May 2007. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.