Whether you know it or not, you already have a personal mythology. It is made up of stories - stories of your place of birth, your family, your religion or spirituality (or lack thereof), your own lived experiences. Examining these tales can teach you a lot about yourself - and give you the agency to realign your stories to more fully reflect the you that you want to be.
Human Beings are Wired for Story: Here's Why - Forbes
The Neuropsychological Basis of Religions, or Why God Won't Go Away by Eugene G. d’Aquili and Andrew B. Newberg
How Where You're Born Influences the Person Your Become - The Conversation
National Myth - Wikipedia
Height Discrimination: How "heightism" affects careers - BBC
Religion and Identity - Steward Harrison Oppong, Polish Academy of Sciences Graduate School for Social Research
Colorado Gators Rescue Park
Suicidal Tendencies - Wikipedia
We want to hear from you! Please rate and review us wherever you find this podcast. Join our Patreon: patreon.com/yourmythicu
Whether you know it or not, you already have a personal mythology. It is made up of stories - stories of your place of birth, your family, your religion or spirituality (or lack thereof), your own lived experiences. Examining these tales can teach you a lot about yourself - and give you the agency to realign your stories to more fully reflect the you that you want to be.
Human Beings are Wired for Story: Here's Why - Forbes
The Neuropsychological Basis of Religions, or Why God Won't Go Away by Eugene G. d’Aquili and Andrew B. Newberg
How Where You're Born Influences the Person Your Become - The Conversation
National Myth - Wikipedia
Height Discrimination: How "heightism" affects careers - BBC
Religion and Identity - Steward Harrison Oppong, Polish Academy of Sciences Graduate School for Social Research
Colorado Gators Rescue Park
Suicidal Tendencies - Wikipedia
We want to hear from you! Please rate and review us wherever you find this podcast. Join our Patreon: patreon.com/yourmythicu
Hello, and welcome to Mythic U. I'm Erin Branham.
Karen Foglesong:And I'm Karen Fogelsong. Welcome back.
Erin Branham:We're here talking, as always, about the web of stories that create meaning in our lives. Since our goal here is about creating one's personal mythology, we wanted to talk a little bit about sort of where your personal mythology comes from, the different places in it, and how they interact with each other. You know, our goal here is to build your own intentional personal mythology. But to do that, you first have to address your current mythology, and you have one, whether you're aware of it or not. But it has largely been determined by your unconscious, it has been picked up through your life through all these different kinds of ways. So we want to bring that stuff out. So you can take a look at it. And and say, Is this the mythology that I want? And if it's not, then you can consciously replace some of that stuff?
Karen Foglesong:Consciously replace I like that, right? So our quote, one of our quotes this week is "A mythological order is a system of images that gives consciousness a sense of meaning and existence, which, my dear friend has no meaning it simply is, but the mind goes asking for meanings. It can't play unless it knows or makes up some system of rules." And this is what we're talking about these system of rules that are running through your subconscious and influencing your conscious daily waking life on a regular basis.
Erin Branham:100%, and I love that quote, because that's another Campbell quote, One of these days, we will move beyond him, I swear, and, but I like how he talks, it can't play, I love how it says, Can't put your mind can't play unless it knows or makes up a system of rules. I've worked most of my life with children. And I have to tell you that making up rules for play is something humans do instinctively. Absolutely, instinctively, nobody tells them, but kid put five kids on, in a space, and the first thing they're gonna do is start making up rules around their play. It is, it's just a spontaneous thing. So I love that because it really brings that that's true, our minds just do that. They, they need some rules, and then they can create this meaning, which, like Campbell says, is kind of just a human thing. It's not really any meaning, but we kind of need it.
Karen Foglesong:Our brains function better.
Erin Branham:Exactly. It's just our brains function.
Karen Foglesong:And we've mentioned before the book, Why God Won't Go Away. And that one talks about the same thing that the brain needs a system, it needs a higher power to be above it. In the thought process to feel comfortable and to thrive. And that's your set of rules, or your set of stories.
Erin Branham:And, yeah, and, and interestingly, that made me think of the Buddhist monks when they did - because that's in Why God Won't Go Away. Right? The - when they did the neurological testing of Buddhist monks meditating, what happens is that your sense of self, there's a part of your brain that, like, is your sense of self. And it just the activity moves away from that into these other parts of your brain which is where we perceive ourselves not as individual right? But as part of just sort of the grand flow of existence nature however you want to call it and it is a thing that that it likes it it's a part of our brain there's a part of our brain that has a sense of self - I am an individual, I am this - and there's this other part of our brain that is - no you're not, you're part of everything. And cultivating that part is kind of what we're, what we're talking about. That has a lot to do with spirituality and how much we need to feel like we are in touch with that part, being in touch with the infinite. Yes, which I think we've talked about. So...
Karen Foglesong:I think in our planning we've broken this down into sections. These aren't the only sections, y'all, you can come up with more sections where you can find the stories for yourself but these are the big, what do we say boxes or buckets that...
Erin Branham:Right, big buckets of some of the, some of the majors, where your mythology your personal mythology is going to come from.
Karen Foglesong:First up, we have like a region or town or nation and these can be pretty sneaky, y'all, because these are programmed into you from the time you're a baby. Just being born into an area, right. So Erin and I are both from the south. I have friends here that I have -
Erin Branham:Definitely a region with its own culture.
Karen Foglesong:I have a friend here - we tell people we are southern survivors. So it has a very distinct flavor. And for me a big thing about that identity is the Bible Belt. And then, but Erin and I were both raised in the south, but I was raised in a small town and she was raised in a big city. So there's a little bit more access to what? Advanced...
Erin Branham:There was that and you were raised. Yeah. And you were raised in a Christian household.
Karen Foglesong:Yes,
Erin Branham:and I wasn't. So those are two big differences on that perspective, because that's one of the other things about this, like your region, your town, your nation, you're going to probably cleave to some of that stuff. And push against some of that stuff. Right? Like there are, I love Southern cooking and southern writing. I am very proud to be from those. Southern music. I love those things about the South. I feel - I hold those close. And I'm proud of them as a Southerner, Southern racism and bigotry and Christianity, not so much. I reject those and push those away. And that's important in my identity, right? This is what happens in your town or your region or wherever you grow up. And these are important markers. When you say yes, that is me. And no, that is not me. Right. That's how you form your personal mythology is by making those decisions.
Karen Foglesong:where we shop today. This was like a convenience store. But this is where our grocery store was, the next closest grocery store was an hour away. Right. But we had 12 churches, 12 white churches. There probably more because the the African American churches and the white churches did not mix. You did not go, you know...
Erin Branham:MLK said Sunday mornings most segregated time in America.
Karen Foglesong:But I was always jealous. When you drive past the African American churches, they'd be rockin, and you could hear the music thumping. Like I was like, Why? Why is our church not like that? It seems I'm sure they have issues too. But it seemed from the outside to be much more of a celebration of God than, like, repentance. In the inside of the church that I went to when I was a kid was shaped like a coffin. I mean, literally like. Anyway, I digress. Yes. Okay,
Erin Branham:For sure. So yeah, so there's these things. So you're thinking about think about this, what we're asking you to do is sort of examine, you may want to write this down. I mean, I, there's a million ways in which I've processed where I'm from, right. And especially if you still live there, both Karen and I both also left the South, which I think was, which is also a conscious decision. So you have to think about like, if you stay in an area, your relationship to it is different than if you have gone away from it and live in. So I think, honestly, I feel like I'm starting to become a Westerner. Do you feel like a Westerner now, Karen, you've lived in the West a lot longer than I have.
Karen Foglesong:Yes, yeah. It's the West totally feels right to me, like that wild, like that idea that I can take care of my problems myself. And I can go off into the woods with the gun. Like, yeah. Of course, it could be tying into my redneck...
Erin Branham:Karen sticks to the more - But you also stick more to the more rural areas, like I live in Los Angeles, not going into the woods with any guns. There are no woods to be had.
Karen Foglesong:That's true. But you're but I don't know, Los Angeles is kind of the, like, the dream place for other people. Right. So you live in the dream city. Now, the City of Dreams?
Erin Branham:Yes, I will certainly well, this is this is exactly what we're talking about. Right? every city and every place has a mythology. Right. And you, when you're, when I was outside of Los Angeles, I had a perception of it. And that's the mythology that story, what's the story of that place? Right? All we're talking about is this is like how we make meaning. We talk about it in the metaphor of stories, because it's a way to kind of get a hold of it. So I was amazed when I first got to LA in the ways that it did or did not match that mythology that I had in my head about it. Right. There are ways in which it's absolutely right on, just you know, 100% you know Are there certain places in town if you go grab lunch and there's somebody sitting next to you, you're gonna hear Movie Talk. You know, it's just gonna happen and you overhear that and it's which is an interest you know? Exactly. There is the whole movie and entertainment industry. Absolutely you will run into people. I saw Mark Rufalo at the farmers market. I saw Christian Bale at the movie theater, like just taking his kids to the movies like you just see people all over the place. Because they all live here. Yeah, so there's definitely that.
Karen Foglesong:when I come to visit you the the movies are big. Like, in in Pueblo, Colorado, there might be three or four billboards about movies coming out, but where you're at, they're everywhere.
Erin Branham:This is the weirdest thing to me about Los Angeles. Is that Yes. All the billboards, all the playbills all the bus stop benches, all the buses, all the trains, the advertisements that are on them are all entertainment advertisements. There's no there's nothing else. I came here from Chicago where like in Chicago, all the billboards are like trucks and beers and sports. You come to LA, and it is nothing but entertainment. It's weird. It's weird. I actually, I thought about that as like, if I ever leave here, it's gonna be so strange to be back in a more diverse. I hate billboards and advertisements shouting at you. But it's actually sort of fun in LA, because you're like, oh, maybe you want to see that?
Karen Foglesong:Yeah, they're pretty. They're pretty. They're like, it's, it's not? Yeah, I don't know. I enjoy it when I'm visiting.
Erin Branham:It definitely. So there's like you said, there's are these things when you have when people say like, if you go when I first moved to, you know, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, people would go, Oh, because they have a mythology in their head about what it means to move to southern rural Arkansas. You know, it's a very, so this is what we're talking about. What are the what are those things in your life, whether that you have taken from your region, your town, and then the nation, which is our mythology as a nation is under debate. Right? This is a big deal right now, as our Well, I mean, it's just a big what we're arguing about is our mythology, who is the United, who are the United States? Right, you know, and we're split right down the middle, and half of the people are like, we're brave settlers. And, you know, and we did this and tamed this land, and we're going to bring democracy to the rest of the world. And the other half is like, Ooh, no, right, like no, settler colonialism and genocide and hegemony and you know, capitalism, you know, and so
Karen Foglesong:now, I was very young,
Erin Branham:So we're arguing over this mythology,
Karen Foglesong:What our identity is, yeah, yeah, I remember when the, there was military action, when I was really young, about 10, or 11, or something, I was watching it on the news. And I was so you know, like, I was so patriotic, and I was praying for our soldiers, and we're gonna free these people. And then when about I don't know, Flash forward about 12, 13 years, and I was in college, taking an African American literature class, and the teacher explained that those people didn't want us there. That very same thing, those people did not ask for our help. We moved in because we wanted something, we wanted a naval position or something, because I believe it was an island culture or some around that. But anyway, so I remember like, my the bottom fell out of my universe, when I got that piece of information, you know, like, because the mythology was busted, was broken, right?
Erin Branham:The mythology was broken. And that is, that's why people,
Karen Foglesong:God help us if you look at Vietnam.
Erin Branham:I mean, really, I think that's what you know, Vietnam - Vietnam and Nixon were a moment when when the mythology turned and couldn't be, it could never be the same again, right after those two incidents, those two things, it flipped around on this issue of are we awesome and great, and you still get this"greatest nation on Earth". You have no idea how much I hate to hear people say that. One I just did like, I'm not, I just it - just strike. It's just so arrogant. I can't stand it. I'm like, and besides that, it's not a contest.
Karen Foglesong:It's not a competition. I wish we would maybe it is.
Erin Branham:It's not a competition. I swear to God, what -
Karen Foglesong:maybe we just need to compete on different points like How well do you take care of your people?
Erin Branham:And that's what that's the counter that a lot of people will bring is they'll say, Oh, if we're so awesome, why do we rank, you know, 50s around the world in this and this and this and this. So, definitely, but I think that like, that is whether or not you embrace, sort of the, say this, the conservative or the liberal vision of American history, it makes a difference in your personal mythology, what you think is true. And it's, you know, that's an important thing for us all to look at, make some decisions about. And along with that comes sort of the dominant culture. We're in the United States, the United States, definitely, regardless of which way you feel about this, right, which way you feel about the history, there are still certain other norms you are in. There are other norms. This is a capitalist society. This is a competitive society. This is a achievement Keeping Up with the Joneses. materialistic society. You got on here about the Puritan work ethic. Tell us about talk to us about that.
Karen Foglesong:This one that always drives me nuts, because we have this idea from the Puritan work ethic that idle hands are the devil's playground, so you shouldn't have any time. You should be having your nose to the grindstone all the time. And look what it look what this mythos gives us. Aren't you tired of working 80 hours a week? Like, I mean, why are we doing this? There's nobody coming down and making us all go crazy. If we know we have five minutes on this planet, and you're gonna spend four minutes of it working, like it drives me crazy because it boils down to shuffling paper.
Erin Branham:it's true and there's pushback against grind culture now. You see this, like I just bought for my sister the The Nap Ministries book, which is called resistant, Rest is Resistance.
Karen Foglesong:That's wonderful.
Erin Branham:Definitely. So it's pushing back against the idea the idea of the total grand culture that yes work work work work, get above, get that money, get the bigger house, get the boat, get, get, get, all of that is like I said, regardless of which side of the political spectrum you are on that stuff is everywhere.
Karen Foglesong:And those the capitalism, like the basis of capitalism has to be convincing you that there's something wrong, something amiss, something you need. So those two things in combination, like we're never good enough, we need to work harder to deserve better, you know, like, it's, but you already deserve it. You guys, we're all, we're all special. Because we're here, we're alive. We're like, you deserve a nap today.
Erin Branham:100%. And I'm really working on that. On the napping? You're working on the napping. Definitely. But this is one I'm literally working on rooting out of myself. I'm working on rooting out grind culture. I'm working on not feeling guilty when I want to, when I want to just like bum around. I've always been good at bombing around but I've usually felt guilty, right? So now try to get trying to get to that place where I'm like, I can this is okay, this is enough. I can do this. I just So yes, we have all of these things that are sort of working on us around and oh, and we should mention as well, if we're, if we're the United States, along with capitalism and grind culture and the Puritan work ethic, we also get a really severe culture of white supremacy, right? It is so deeply embedded in everything that it's, it can be hard to even see. That's another thing that's happening right now is people are trying to serve us. But and again, I believe this, this is part of my mythology. Not everybody's gonna agree with that. But the whole way it wraps in is that if you have a proper Puritan work ethic, and you conform to capitalism and grind culture, that you can be upwardly mobile, right? And the sort of implication of that is, hey, this system is a meritocracy, where your work is going to determine your social class, and anyone can achieve anything that they want. And the flip side of that this is the part they don't say out loud. If someone doesn't achieve wealth, safety, food security, it's because they're stupid or lazy, or both. Now this lovely myth leaves out that non, non white people are going to be systematically suppressed so that most white people never have to compete against them, right. And then you get to walk around going, Oh, look at how much I've achieved because I, you know, I earned all of this. When a whole set of people were removed from competition, and there are people are definitely white people who have to compete against the people who are suppressed and that but they're poor, so they're stupid or lazy. So that's, that's all your own karma, it's all your own doing. Yeah. It's, you know, nobody's fault if you would bring up pull yourself up by your bootstraps and all of this stuff, that stuff is all related to white supremacy, because then when you set up a system where people can't get over, you can go well look at them, they just don't work hard.
Karen Foglesong:And this is particularly focused on the white male. I was thinking about this particular section, actually, 100%. last night, and in it, I started thinking about how if you are a blond haired, blue eyed male and reasonably attractive, because we do have this attractive thing in our culture, but white hair white, blue eyed, blond haired male, there are so many things in this world that you never even have to think about. Like people just move out of the way for you, because that's our mythology.
Erin Branham:Tall. Don't forget tall, tall.
Karen Foglesong:Yes, we like tall. But yep, you know, we
Erin Branham:Tall, don't forget tall, right?
Karen Foglesong:And then it trickles down, you know? So if you're white -
Erin Branham:Tall men get promoted more often.
Karen Foglesong:Yes, yep, they do. And people, I mean, I don't know, if you walk into a room and there are people of different heights, you can actually visibly see people turn towards the taller person in the room. So all of these unless you're a woman, right? And then if you're too tall, that's a different thing.
Erin Branham:True. That's, and that's it. We have also, this is where you get into gender norms.
Karen Foglesong:Yep. And this is where I'd like to bring in this idea. This white supremacist, patriarchal culture also sets up this idea that the conservation of sperm is more important over the health of a woman's body. So the male oriented culture makes this like this is the only reason why it's there's even this question of being able to control someone else's body. Are you serious? Like
Erin Branham:Very true, very true.
Karen Foglesong:This is connected to Disney. The Disney is fairytales, right? We want to be like how long did it take us to see an African American princess? And have we seen a Latina Princess yet?
Erin Branham:No. They're moving away. Yeah. They're moving away from the princess nav. In Encanto.
Karen Foglesong:Yeah. Yes. But and we've had what's the Moana? Is that right? That was dealing with? Yeah, New Zealand culture. Kinda.
Erin Branham:Moana was kind of, Moana was still a little bit of a princess. She was. Yeah, she was a chief's daughter. And they make a little joke about it. But Encanto is just a family. So no, princess.
Karen Foglesong:I haven't seen that one yet. I'm looking forward to it.
Erin Branham:It's good. It's very good. I highly recommend Excellent. So okay, we talked about region and nation. Go ahead.
Karen Foglesong:And culture. I think we're moving into religion now. Right?
Erin Branham:I believe so which we've talked about a lot in various of our episodes, right? Because that's what when we talk about building mythology, go straight to religion. So definitely the religion that you were raised in, is going to have a big influence on how you make meaning in your life.
Karen Foglesong:Right? And, and just as you said earlier, you can push against the meaning, or you can adopt the meaning, you know, work with it. And one of my favorite Jung quotes I've said it before, is that if you can stick with the religion of your father, then you're great. If you can't, you're alone in the woods with a machete. You know, and that's, that's a great analogy for me, maybe because I'm so woodsy, but you have to make your own path if you're not following your family, your culture, you know, and that can be scary. Which is why we're doing this.
Erin Branham:Yes, definitely. And interestingly, though, as we were writing about this, and you were talking about sort of being raised in a Christian household, and I realized I was raised in a seeker household. My mother threw over Catholicism, which is why I was not raised in a Christian household. And, and well, so I have followed my family's religion, more or less, which is to be a seeker. But it's weird when it's not an organized religion, because you're still kind of in the woods with a machete. When you're like, seek and find your own spirituality, which is what we're saying. That's true. Yeah. If you still end up there.
Karen Foglesong:And some people will be scared of you not being a part of it, so you have to be strong, you have to know what you're doing is good for yourself. You know, that's that's the important part. Definitely. For religion we're talking about our culture is a monotheistic, like, the the main religion in our culture is Christianity or Catholicism and this is monotheistic, meaning that there is one, God. And this is very different from cultures that are polytheistic that have multiple gods, right, because monotheistic Gods tend to be more rigid, and it creates an idea in the culture that there should be an alpha. And one alpha, which, as you can see, would factor right into the white supremacy of the non, of the secular culture, of the non religious culture, right. Yeah. Both I mentioned Catholicism and Christianity, but Islam is also a monotheistic, and these are the three major religions in our culture. So they at least all agree that there's one God they just don't agree on. Which one is the one God?
Erin Branham:As I understand it, Muslims think that Christians are polytheist.
Karen Foglesong:Yes, I have read that as
Erin Branham:they're like, No, that's why they say -
Karen Foglesong:Because of the Father, Son, and Holy,
Erin Branham:That's why they say there is no God, but God and His Prophet was Muhammad, right. Like, that's the that's one of the ways they distinguish themselves. As far as that, like you're saying, We're truly monotheistic. Um, one of the reasons we like to study religion is it's a great place to get ideas for one's personal mythology. You know, and I'm not at all going to pretend like, I'm not a big old cafeteria style when it comes to the world's religions. I truly do go around and be like, I like that. And I like that. And it's totally appropriating. And I'm sure that's terrible for me as a white woman. But, you know, I just believe that every human everywhere on the planet has had, every culture has had something to tell us that was true. And we need to be more in touch with that. But as you say, that's a very multiplicity kind of viewpoint. And as you say, monotheism sets you up to think no, there's kind of one right answer, not many versions of the truth.
Karen Foglesong:And the mono core also sets you up as a subconscious in training to seek alpha in any given situation. So you almost can't get away from that. Even. Like, we're recovering from these, being raised in these religions ourselves. But you can, I can see it in myself, especially younger, you do tend to turn towards the like the we were saying earlier, the tall person in the room who is the alpha, where's the Alpha? Right.
Erin Branham:That's fascinating. I never really thought -
Karen Foglesong:You have to work that out.
Erin Branham:Yeah. I never really thought about that in terms of monotheism. But yes, I think you're right, it's it's definitely sets up a hierarchical structure. Right? It sets something up where yeah, there's somebody at the top, and that that is considered the natural order of things. Very interesting.
Karen Foglesong:Right? Well, with our patriarchal white supremacist culture,
Erin Branham:you see, again, how that all works together.
Karen Foglesong:It's usually the male in the room
Erin Branham:Right? Gotta have oversight. Yeah, you see how that all works together. And, and you see how we've seen over and over again, how these, that kind of Gotta have - exactly everybody has, needs to have some structure leads to a ripe situation for abuse. Because when you have that much hierarchy, the person at the top cannot be questioned, and then they can do whatever they want. Yeah, and bad things ensue. oversight. Alright, so we talked about our place that you grew up in, your religion of that - your your family of origin, makes a big difference. Your family of origin usually has some kind of story attached to them. And that again, you're going to absorb some of that and you're going to reject some of that. And it's something to really look at, and most people who've done some work have done some work against sort of their family history and thinking about it or trying to understand it, but it's really, it's it's key, certainly. And particularly as you're a young person, this is what I've noticed when - I was a young person, I was much more wrapped up in my family mythology And the older I got, the more I moved away from it, which makes sense, right? To your family of origin. You're developing further and further out and all that stuff, although I know some people who've looped back into their, to their family pretty hard as they got older.
Karen Foglesong:Yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, it is. It's easier to interact with your family, if you're reading the same story. You know, it does create a little schism. Like, for instance, when I first started moving away from Christianity, it created a lot of difficult, difficulty in my relationships with my family, until I was able to just like find a way to interact with them on their holidays, you know, so I still interact with Christmas, with my family exchanging gifts and doing dinners and things like that, because that smooths it all out, and I'm not lying. I am, I am appreciating the same kind of archetypes that they are appreciating in the same token, you know, and so, it was a compromise that I made. Hmm.
Erin Branham:I understand that for sure. I have two branches to my family. One is sort of similar to yours, in that they're Christian and, you know, still live in the south. And what's hilarious about that was I was never a Christian. But I was probably 30, in my 30s, before any of them knew that, because they just assumed that I was.
Karen Foglesong:Right? They just assume.
Erin Branham:Just like it didn't occur to them. There was no reality in which anybody would have even asked, Are you a Christian? And when I finally had to say to somebody who kept sending me, you know, a relative who kept sending me Jesus emails, and I finally had to say, you know, I appreciate this, I get that you're thinking about me, I think that's really sweet. I'm not a Christian. And, and they were like, they were literally just silence. After that, not - it was not, really? You're not? Tell me you about that. And it - just nothing, just stopped, just stopped. Which it goes to show like, there wasjust no -
Karen Foglesong:It didn't factor into their reality.
Erin Branham:Yeah, there was no space, there was no way to go. Oh, well, if you're not a Christian, what how do you feel about that? If there were just no, I don't know, it was a really interesting thing. Whereas, you know, if - I did years later, get a question on Well, is there something you're into? And I was like, Yeah, Taoism, let me send you a copy of the Tao Te Ching. Which I did. Never heard anything about it. But I did send them a copy of the Tao Te Ching. Yeah, you know, I gotta do that. So. So yes, that's very interesting part of it is you do have to sort of navigate I, you know. It's very interesting living in Los Angeles, which is, of course, a very, very, one of the most religiously diverse cities on the planet. And it's very Jewish city. So it's just fascinating to live in a place where Christmas is not the end all be all of everything. You know, it's just great. Like this city does not shut down on December 25. It does not. And everywhere else I've ever lived, it does.
Karen Foglesong:Yeah, it does. Well, most of my family is from the Midwest, and they originally moved- they kind of moved south, and a long line of factory workers. And I was taught from a very young age that you find a big corporation, you get on, you work hard, and they'll take care of you and you stay with them. And I always found it really ironic, because it didn't work out. Like that was our family myth. But like, a lot of my family worked for Ma Bell. And then when all those monopolies were split up, they lost their retirements, they lost, you know, like, and they had worked hard for one company. Yeah.
Erin Branham:Oh, that hurts so much. I know. I know, people who You know, when you want to sort of express who you got caught in that, too, that sort of the things changed. That happened to my dad, he worked for a company that worked - same thing, same sort of like you get on you work your way up, you do all this stuff. Somewhere along the line, they're like, Yeah, we're over this and cut him off. And it just, it was really Yeah, it was really sad. And which is interesting, because we are Gen X, Gen X was inundated with the idea was with that with just sort of like, it's not like that anymore. You can't just have one job. You're gonna have to have many jobs. You're gonna have to are, how you are about something, you generally will have many careers - blah blah blah I remember just that sense of that breaking down, that kind of 1950s idea of how you work and get into the American dream. You know, something is a mythology and when it has a name like that. So definitely sort of family of origin. And then there's your life experiences, and your found family. Right? These things also get incorporated into who you know, into who you are, like, so by have a tale to tell. You have something that happened to you the time you're our age, you have the stories that you tell, well, that's your mythology. or something that you did, that are identity, you know, they're part of your identity. Do you have a story like that, Karen?
Karen Foglesong:Well, the one that I like to brag about is I like to do these things for my birthday. I like to do these adventure kind of, or challenging things for my birthday. And one year, I came across a gator farm in Colorado and they have to treat their gators for skin problems so you can go learn to wrestle alligators. And I went and did this and I love to tell people about it.
Erin Branham:I remember that one. Right, exactly! There you go. You love to tell people about it. That's where you know, okay, this is something that's important to me as my identity. I want to project it. This is how I want people to think about me. Right? That's your personal mythology. I think if you've ever wrestled gators that must be a regular one. My husband grew up in Florida. I've heard many a gator wrestling tale.
Karen Foglesong:I didn't know I had that in common with Eduardo.
Erin Branham:Oh for sure. Oh, for sure. Yes you do!
Karen Foglesong:His might have been forced if he was in the wild.
Erin Branham:You both wrestled a gator but no, he grew up in Miami. There's no wilds. Gators just roll up on your front porch.
Karen Foglesong:Well, that's that's kind of what I meant. Like I was in a you know, I had a helper like somebody training me like I didn't have a gator on my porch.
Erin Branham:Oh, oh, no, this was just like the guys, this is he talks about this. Like we were 14, we would go out and you know, find one. He says there's a way you can put them to sleep by rubbing on their chest.
Karen Foglesong:Yeah, If you can get them to that position. Yeah. But
Erin Branham:Right, exactly, if you can get him in that position.
Karen Foglesong:So it sounds like a fun thing to tell people like adventure story. But for me, it was also personally connected to my mythology, my internal mythology. And I'm still working out why. But there was something to do with the serpent, the symbology behind the serpent and, and those kinds of things. So, so yes, it's a fun, silly story to tell people but also has deeper meaning for me that I'm still working on. You know, there's but I still think it tells you a lot of good though.
Erin Branham:That's a good point. External versus internal.
Karen Foglesong:Yeah. And I think it tells you a lot about me from the front end. I'm stupid enough to get into a pond with gators for the challenge of beating myself.
Erin Branham:There you go. I agree.
Karen Foglesong:Yeah, you should know that about me if you're gonna spend time with me. What's What's one of yours?
Erin Branham:Oh my goodness. I don't know mine come up so spontaneously, then I'll be it but then I'll be like, Oh my God, how many times have I told this story? And I even don't tell them exactly the same way. Right? Because I - everyone should know I started my career as a tour guide and you work out a patter you just you work out a patter.
Karen Foglesong:You do. Yep.
Erin Branham:It's just the way it is. You have to so that you have it right there.
Karen Foglesong:Yeah
Erin Branham:I don't know like one of mine that I have ones that are sort of that are sometimes they're like about my family. You know, because I tried. I agree. This is sort of an external like, I like to let people know that I look very conventional and I always have my whole life. So I don't I'm not I'm just no good at dressing myself or do anything interesting with the way that I look. So people I sometimes have to tell stories that are a little nuts so that people will understand that the inside is not - doesn't match the outside. So you know, I will tell stories like oh, you know, I come from really weird family. One, one afternoon when I fell asleep on the couch I was like 16 or 17 and I, I woke up and I went to the kitchen and in the kitchen, like literally in the refrigerator was a guy with an orange Mohawk. And because I knew my sister who was a punk, and my older sister was a punk. I was like, Oh, hey, what's up? And he said, I, he says, I'm looking for something. And I said, Well, why? And he said, well, the bands coming over and I was like, what band? He goes Suicidal Tendencies. And I was like, Suicidal Tendencies is coming to my house? Right now? Why? It was like they wanted to barbecue. So they're gonna be barbecuing in your carport soon, and then just, you know, then Suicidal Tendencies showed up. And we all hung out. And you know, they barbecued in our carport. And that's just the kind of stuff that used to happen around my house. Now, this all happened because my sister was a punk and she would go down to the punk club, and she would take photographs, she was a photographer, she take photographs of the bands, and then she would always sort of get to know them. And then she and my mom were both these tremendous. They loved strays. So they were always like bringing these strays home. And that was both, you know, strays like dogs and strays like people. And so that was that. So one afternoon, Suicidal Tendencies showed up at my house. So, Suicidal Tendencies, for those of you who don't know, Google them, they were a punk band. They were the I cannot begin to tell you how much mileage I got out of that story in the late 80s. And the 90s. Because they were just like the height of, you know, oh, cool.
Karen Foglesong:That's awesome.
Erin Branham:At the time, well alt cool, right? Like they were, you know, they were edgy, cool. And I didn't care. I didn't like punk music, I went to the punk band, the punk club one time was like, uck! It's noisy. But I got a lot of mileage out of that story. And it is true, it really does tell you something about as you're saying, he tells you something about me. My tolerance for weird. My willingness and joy in weird, ya know, that kind of thing. So,
Karen Foglesong:you know, the punk movement is interesting that you brought that up, because when I did an exchange program to England, and while I was in the United States, I didn't really get the punk movement, I got the you know, like it was breaking convention, and it was loud, and all these different things. But when I went to England where the punk movement was born, I really understood what it was about. Because nobody looks at anybody in England, if you don't make eye contact, you're not in the same space. So the punk mmovement then makes perfect sense. Like we're trying to get you to look at me. And then I was like, oh!
Erin Branham:That's fascianting, for sure. Right.
Karen Foglesong:But yeah, I think that says a lot of -
Erin Branham:Maybe that's why punks felt so completely out of place. Maybe it's why punks got so completely out of place in Memphis, in Memphis, Tennessee. It's great. Where everybody is like, Hi, how you doing?
Karen Foglesong:It's not, it's not as hard edge. Oh, yes. Yes. Like, somebody with the orange hair went into a
Erin Branham:while it just seems you're just sort of like, why
Karen Foglesong:the orange haired guy would go into a gas station and the lady behind the counter would be like, Well, hello, honey, bless your heart. What can I do for you today?
Erin Branham:Look at you is your head cold? I worry about - you need a scarf
Karen Foglesong:Totally messes up that bad boy exterior.
Erin Branham:Definitely, but as you say, in context in England, that makes more sense.
Karen Foglesong:Right? So that's a great example of shifting, like, an identity from one place to the other and seeing how it doesn't. It kind of works but it doesn't quite fit, you know, right. So another part of this would be how do you make -
Erin Branham:well, history matters, right? Like history and context? Yeah,
Karen Foglesong:it does matter. So another part of this question here is How do you make your money? How do you spend your time? You know, like, is, is your work your identity? For a lot of people in America, that's the truth. I am a police officer. I am. Notice like, I work as a police officer versus I am a police officer.
Erin Branham:That is 100%
Karen Foglesong:So a lot of myth around that.
Erin Branham:Yes, there is and there's as you say that also hobbies and things like that. I know people who have you know deeply deeply identify with - my stepdad is a birder and that is a real, like that is a key piece of his identity. That's what he does for fun. He goes out counts the birds and he sees all the birds and that's a whole thing. It's a whole subculture. It is, you know, it's very it has to do with being part of wilderness. He's big sponsor or donor to the nation, Nature Conservancy, which is all connected right into his personal mythology of who he is.
Karen Foglesong:Right.
Erin Branham:And as I've mentioned before, like I'm a
Karen Foglesong:Right you're a Trekkie. Trekkie.
Erin Branham:That's a big part of my personal mythology.
Karen Foglesong:Yeah, but I was riffing on the birding because if you're, even if you live in a city, you can be a birder. And it helps you to feel connected to nature.
Erin Branham:Yes, definitely.
Karen Foglesong:The museums you you were talking about earlier, the culture in the museum about how you're mythmakers specifically, and I thought that was interesting. I know, we're close to time. But -
Erin Branham:Yes, my career has been in museums, museums are, have a lot of mythology, a lot of internal mythology, and a lot of external mythology as well, the way people perceive them. And you know what they are, for instance, they did a some time ago, somebody did a study on what people think are the authoritative institutions, institutions that are going to tell you the truth. And museums were top of the list. In America, which was really interesting, because again, and museums will be the first people to tell you this, museums don't tell THE truth, museums tell A truth.
Karen Foglesong:A Truth. Yes.
Erin Branham:You know, it's it's very, yeah, it's, well, the you, you're very aware of the fact that you're limited. You can't do all the things you want to do. You can't include everything, right? It's this big editing process. But yeah, I miss, you know, there's a lot of museums as mythmakers as meaning makers. My job in museum education has been to teach people, everyday people walking in off the street or school kids or whoever has been to facilitate for them, how to make meaning from art, how to make personal meaning from art, because, particularly with visual arts, people don't really always know how to do that. They don't know where to start, they don't know how to make that looking process meaningful to them.
Karen Foglesong:Right.
Erin Branham:So like, that's my job is to and we talk about it a lot. And in museum education, we're like we're meaning makers, meaning making, thinking about making meaning. All of these things are super important, because it that's the mythology of my career field, is we are out there empowering people. We are out there helping people connect to art. We're making people more creative, you know, all of these things.
Karen Foglesong:I like the myth of the museum's. You know, it's been in the news lately, too, though. And I'm not disparaging museums, y'all. Please don't get me wrong, because I think museums are wonderful places. But this idea that we brought up about colonization earlier in this broadcast, is goes hand in hand with museums. Right, Erin, I mean, like, we have collections in America that belong to other countries, right. And it's this white supremacist idea that we know how to take care of it.
Erin Branham:Yes, museums are wildly problematic. The museum field is very aware of the fact that museums are wildly problematic. They're complicated. It's it's that way, there are things that museums do that are great. There are things that museums do that are terrible. The definitely the thing that everybody is coping with right now is the repatriation of objects. There's a lot of museums that work very hard to go through their collection and make sure that anything that was looted or taken illegally is being given back. But it's a huge issue, because there's the whole issue like, well, if it was illegal, we'll give it back. But a lot of the legal trading is sketchy. Not so awesome, either. And definitely, we have great deep history in Yeah, we have deep history museums have deep history. And in the, you know, inappropriate taking of objects, keeping of objects - don't even get started on the British Museum and the Parthenon Marbles. And, you know, like, just, there's just so much, and that, you know, and then they do things like okay, well, we'll, you can have them but there'll be on permanent loan, and we still own them, right, just stop it. And, and they're like, well, it's functionally the same. It's like no, if you really meant it, you would just give it back to the people who it belongs to. Like I said I can get very passionate, very quickly about this. So yeah, I mean, and there is a lot of colonialism. There was recently a museum that did a wonderful exhibition. Where they put up, they have a, they have a collection - it's a place in New England, the Worcester Art Museum did a show where they have a lot of works of art that are of the colonial era Era of America, the people who had portraits
Karen Foglesong:Okay. made at that time, were rich people. And so they have these already in there. And what they did was change the labels. So it's the same work of art. And it would have the regular label, this is, you know, such and such, and her family owned this, and they were important trading family and blah, blah. And then underneath it, they added a label that told about that family's connection to the slave trade. And they went through the entire exhibition, and did that, put these things on here to put that context in it. So there are all kinds of efforts underway to try to address some of that stuff. But it's, you know, it's a long field, because it's been around for hundreds of years, we And it's difficult because the families got a lot to make up for. that were attached to the item, or getting the item, or they have a mythos attached to it, and they're proud of that mythos. And the world's changed around them. And so that pride has to be mitigated now in a new, light, new knowledge, you know. So it's, you got to give respect on both ends. And I think it's, it's this mythos, it's this internal mythos that we're all trying to be careful of, with one another. Or we should be trying to be careful with one another.
Erin Branham:Absolutely.
Karen Foglesong:We mentioned earlier about found family and this is a big deal for me. This help, has helped me a lot in my life. And I have learned that the people that I'm actually attracted to, or are people that are growing and trying to figure out their own path. And I've learned that it doesn't matter if they're a traditional Christian, or some combination of various things. If they are aware of their selves, and they're growing, I have learned that this is the kind of person that I'm attracted to. And those are the people that are in my family. How about you?
Erin Branham:Um, I found family is super important to me, I grew up and dealt with depression for well into my 30s. Some of the friends that I made at that time, making friends with you and our friendship, those have been, you know, absolute mainstays in my life, in terms of found family, and that's
Karen Foglesong:Absolutely. And, and I, I've always relied always you know, these are people who open your perspective generally, and, and who you absorb some of who they are and what they are. I have learned so much from you and your, you on your logical sense, because I can go way off into crazy real know, artist's life, and it has made me so much bigger to be friends with you. To know who you know, is really forged a path that is not the grind culture and go and work for this organization, or have the stability and you know, all of those kinds of things. I think found family is incredibly quick. So no matter where I'm at, I'm like, I need to talk to important. And important to know that you can have that and have that be just as strong as your family of origin, because a lot of people's families of origins were, you know, destructive, or are difficult. And it's you've got to know that you can go out Erin, I need to find out what she thinks about this right now. there and make your own.
Erin Branham:It is we've always been good sounding boards.
Karen Foglesong:The differences between our personalities have been learning curves for both of us. And I think that has made both of us stronger. Absolutely. And I hope if you're listening that you have a friend like that.
Erin Branham:Exactly. That's what found for found family can do for you. 100%, just something for everyone to think about. We would love to hear from you. In the comments about your experiences, your personal mythology, if there's anything, share something that's a important piece of your personal mythology or tell us about a time that you became aware of - that come up, become aware of a personal myth that you went, Oh, I don't think I believe that anymore, or more or that this is a really important story of mine. I'm going to keep it close. We'd love to hear that.
Karen Foglesong:We hope that you're starting to see how this strand of web stories can be altered and strengthened or shifted as you need. You can do this.
Erin Branham:Absolutely, it is within your power.
Karen Foglesong:It's within your power.
Erin Branham:And we're in close it out with another lovely quote. This one's by Neil deGrasse Tyson. "Many people look for meaning in life. As though it would be under, as though it would be under a rock, or behind a tree and I'm thinking to myself, you have more power than that you have the power to create meaning in your life rather than passively look for it." which is what we're all about here at Mythic U. Thanks so much for joining us.
Karen Foglesong:Create meaning!
Erin Branham:Create meaning! Ya
Karen Foglesong:See you next time. Bye