"Go back to the darkest roots of civilization and you will find them knotted round some sacred stone or encircling some sacred well. People first paid honour to a spot and afterwards gained glory for it. Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her." (G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy)
The stories of Luke Skywalker or Han Solo are the sacred myth of my generation. Though set "Long ago and far, far away" They are the sacred fire we built our culture around.
Another is the story of Adam and Eve. This story has transformed my relationship with my mother. Thus the power of this myth.
Eve was a woman who desired to have children. In her desire to have children, she became broken. In this brokenness we now live. Eve sacrificed her presence with God so I could be born.
My mom and I have a difficult relationship. We are both broken souls. It is the power of the Eve myth that rebuilds our relationship. I value the sacrifices offered by her, her mother, and her mother's mother, to create my life. This gratitude has driven me, to restore my relationship, with my mother.
These sacrifices , are not in theory. These sacrifices, are in fact. My mother's family have collected these stories. I know their names and birthplace to at least 7 generations. I have their stories. The babies, they lost. The husbands they buried. They are real to me.
Thus, the power of the Eve myth to shape and forge, mine and my mothers relationship.
These myths tie me to my mothers, for all time.
