Victor Pelevin - The Helmet of Horror: The Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur (Myths, The)

No one realised that the book and the labyrinth were one and the same Borges, The Garden of Forking Paths According to one definition, a myth is a traditional story, usually explaining some natural or social phenomenon. According to another, it is a widely held but false belief or idea. This duality of meaning is revealing. It shows that we naturally consider stories and explanations that come from the past to be untrue or at least we treat them with suspicion. This attitude, apart from creating new jobs in the field of intellectual journalism, gives some additional meaning to our life. The past is a quagmire of mistakes; we are here to find the truth.

We know better. The road away from myth is called progress. It is not just scientific, technical or political evolution. Progress has a spiritual constituent beautifully expressed by F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby: [a belief] in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but thats no matter tomorrow we will run faster, stretch our arms further And one fine morning So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

In other words, progress is a propulsion technique where we have to constantly push ourselves away from the point we occupied a moment ago. However, this doesnt mean that we live without myths now. It only means that we live with instant myths of soap-bubble content. They are so unreal you cant even call them lies. Anything can become our mythology for fifteen minutes, even Mythbusters programme on the Discovery channel. The foundation of this mind-set on progress is not faith, as happens with traditional cults, but the absence of it.

However, the funny thing is that the concept of progress has been around for so long that now it has all the qualities of a myth. It is a traditional story that pretends to explain all natural and social phenomena. It is also a belief that is widespread and false. Progress has brought us into these variously shaped and sized cubicles with glowing screens. But if we start to analyse this high-end glow in terms of content and structure, we will sooner or later recognise the starting point of the journey the original myth. It might have acquired a new form, but it hasnt changed in essence.

We can argue about whether we were ceaselessly borne back into the past or relentlessly pushed forward into the future, but in fact we never moved anywhere at all. And even this recognition is a traditional story now. A long time ago Jorge Luis Borges wrote that there are only four stories that are told and re-told: the siege of the city, the return home, the quest, and the (self-) sacrifice of God. It is notable that the same story could be placed into different categories by different viewers: what is a quest/return home for Theseus is a brutal Gods sacrifice for Minotaur. Maybe there are more than just four cycles, as Borges called them, but their number is definitely finite and they are all known. We will invent nothing new.

Why? This is where we come to the third possible definition of a myth. If a mind is like a computer, perhaps myths are its shell programs: sets of rules that we follow in our world processing, mental matrices we project onto complex events to endow them with meaning. People who work in computer programming say that to write code you have to be young. It seems that the same rule applies to the cultural code. Our programs were written when the human race was young at a stage so remote and obscure that we dont understand the programming language any more. Or, even worse, we understand it in so many different ways and on so many levels that the question what does it mean? simply loses sense.

Why does the Minotaur have a bulls head? What does he think and how? Is his mind a function of his body or is his body an image in his mind? Is Theseus inside the Labyrinth? Or is the Labyrinth inside Theseus? Both? Neither? Each answer means that you turn down a different corridor. There were many people who claimed they knew the truth. But so far nobody has returned from the Labyrinth. Have a nice walk. And if you happen to meet the Minotaur, never say MOOO. It is considered highly offensive.

Started by ARIADNE at xxx p.m. xxx xxx BC GMT I shall construct a labyrinth in which I can lose myself,together with anyone who tries to find me who said thisand about what? :-) Organizm(-: Whats going on? Is there anyone there ? Romeo-y-Cohiba Im here. Organizm(-: So whats going on round here? Romeo-y-Cohiba Your guess is as good as mine. Organizm(-: Ariadne, are you there? Romeo-y-Cohiba Whos she? Organizm(-: She started this thread. Seems this isnt the Internet, just looks like it. Romeo-y-Cohiba xxx Organizm(-: Hello! If anyone can read this, please answer. Nutscracker I can read it. Organizm(-: Who posted the first message? Nutscracker Its been up on the board a long time. Romeo-y-Cohiba How can you tell? Theres no date on it. Nutscracker I saw it three hours ago. Organizm(-: Attention, roll-call. Organizm(-: Attention, roll-call.

Theres just Nutcracker, Romeo and me here, is that right? Romeo-y-Cohiba Thats right. Nutscracker At least, were the only ones who want to join in. Romeo-y-Cohiba Right, so there are three of us here. Nutscracker But where is here exactly? Organizm(-: How do you mean? Nutscracker Quite literally. Can you describe where you are now? What is it a room, a hall, a house? A hole in someones xxx? Romeo-y-Cohiba Well Im in a room, anyway. Or a cell, I cant tell which is more correct.

Not very big. Green walls, white ceiling lamp. A bed by one wall and by the opposite wall a desk with the keyboard Im typing on right now. The keyboard is attached rigidly to the desk. Above the desk theres an LCD screen set in the wall behind thick glass. Thats where all these letters appear.

Its impossible to break, I tried already. The room has two doors, one made of strange, blackish-green metal. Its locked. Theres a raised section in the middle of it. The other doors made of wood, painted white, and it leads into a bathroom. Organizm(-: Ive got the same as Romeo. Organizm(-: Ive got the same as Romeo.

A locked metal door with some kind of relief design on it. A hotel-style bathroom with soap, shower gel and shampoo on the shelf under the mirror. Everything in packaging marked with a strange symbol something like a little cogwheel. So where are you, Nutcracker? Nutscracker In the same kind of room. I think the doors made of cast bronze. But Organism, the symbol on the soap looks more like a star than a cogwheel.

In fact it looks like the symbol they use in books for a footnote. Its even on the loo paper, every sheet. Romeo-y-Cohiba So were all in the same hotel. Lets try knocking on the walls. Can you hear anything? Organizm(-: No. Organizm(-: Ill try knocking on the door, listen. Romeo-y-Cohiba I cant hear a thing. Organizm(-: So how did we get here? Romeo-y-Cohiba Personally speaking, I havent got the slightest idea. Organizm(-: So how did we get here? Romeo-y-Cohiba Personally speaking, I havent got the slightest idea.

How about you, Organism? Organizm(-: I just woke up here wearing this pooftahs housecoat with nothing underneath it. Nutscracker Its not a housecoat. Its a chiton the kind of tunic the ancient Greeks used to wear, so I wont take issue with your opinion of it. I dont think they wore any underclothes either. Romeo-y-Cohiba Its a good job its warm in here then. Romeo-y-Cohiba