Assignment #10
React to this statement quote by author Madeline L’Engle, “when we lose our myths we lose our place in the universe . . .the only way we have to grope toward the infinite is through myth.”
In this piece specifically, Â the author reacts to the story of King Midas and how it comes to give meaning to baptism and ritual purification through water. This is a great way to look at the L'Engle quote because of how it puts into perspective the author's (and many other people's) abilities to read into narrative and storytelling. Storytelling was originally used as a form of communicating lessons to young children, hoping that through narrative they would come to learn a powerful life lesson. Even if these myths aren't quite routed in reality, they are routed in a real sense of morality. Without this ability to allow narrative into our lives, we lose the ability to make sense of the world we live in, in some regards.
Name 5 rituals you practice and why you follow them
1. Sitting down to eat breakfast and drink tea, looking out the same window for a 10-15 minutes or so. I do this each morning to try and start my day without my phone, just observing the people out on the street. 2. Connect with my dog in some way or another. Each morning I also like to get down and either play, or snuggle with the dog. She's usually the first person I come into contact with in the morning and seeing her is a lovely way to start the day. 3. Using the same mug for tea. I'm not exactly sure why I do this, but I use the same mug for tea in the morning. It's a "Will & Grace" mug that somehow ended up in our apartment and I find it funny, so I like to use it every day. 4. Ritual order to my shower habits. Though this is on the border of ritual and habit, I've chosen an order for my shower activities and like to stick to it. There's something kind of satisfying and lovely about having a precise order, a definite beginning and end to my shower experience. Stretching. After my showers I like to stretch on my carpet before I get dressed. It feels great to stretch just after a warm shower, and it's something I look forward to most mornings.







