In The Beginning Was The Mythos

A plea for storytellers, a Gaelic poem and a reading list.

Grave of Saint Caomhán, Inis Oirr

A quick and secular way of looking at it is that the Logos wins the argument, but the Mythos tells the story.

Apollo once heard that Hermes had stolen fifty of his cattle, and had him brought to their father Zeus. Apollo spoke out the details rather like a police report, factual but a wee bit cool. Hermes rocked up to the stand – only a few hours old at this point, and not wearing a stitch of clothing – and he didn’t bother tossing semantics back and forth with grim-faced bro. Nope. He did something older. He encountered the thin gruel of Apollo’s complaint with a story. A story so wild in its truth, so wayward in its depth, so circular and inventive, so moving in its propulsion that Zeus, cloud compeller himself, clapped his hands and laughed with delight.

Hermes’ story completely circumnavigated the facts of the matter and got everyone into the truth of the event.

I sometimes wish John had said: In the beginning was the mythos. It really would have equipped me so much better to approach Genesis. So – maybe heretically, I certainly hope not – I say it. Story first. Image first.