The Impact of Science on Myth – Myths to Live By: Chapter 1

Summary

Campbell begins this essay with an anecdote about overhearing a precocious youngster speaking to his mother about a paper a classmate wrote about evolution. Both the child’s teacher and mother were not interested in hearing about the “scientific paper”, as the child put it, and were insistent that Adam and Eve were our first parents. “What a teacher! What a mother for a twentieth-century child!”, Campbell laments.

Campbell indicates that 1492 may have marked the end (or beginning of the end) of the period where mythology served as the true force governing people’s lives and beliefs. After Columbus sailed West, a number of exploratory and scientific advances have slowly worked to shatter and discredit the myths of the past.

Campbell makes a great point that the countless and expansive galaxies, the billions of shining stars, the varied planets and their moons, the comets zipping through space, and all of the other diverse and bizarre objects found in the sheer unimaginable vastness of the Universe discovered by Science is infinitely more mind-blowing and spectacular and awe-inspiring than any of the old mythologies. The world of the Bible truly does appear to be a children’s story in comparison. Stories such as Noah and the Great Flood, Adam and Eve, and the Exodus have all been disproved by science or archaeological evidence.

It is extremely interesting that similar mythologies have developed all over the earth in civilizations that have had no contact with each other. Throughout history, there have been myths of virgins giving birth to heroes who die and are resurrected: Osiris in Egypt, Tammuz in Mesopotamia, Adonis in Syria, and Dionysus in Greece. Even the Aztecs had their own virgin-born Savior, who died and was resurrected and who also had a cross as one of his symbols.

Campbell then discusses how all great civilizations have a tendency to believe that their myths are truth and are superior to the myths and beliefs of others. In many cases (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), the believers in other gods are heathens or infidels. In the modern world, such beliefs are ludicrous and Campbell asserts that anyone with a kindergarten education could not take them seriously. However, since such fundamental beliefs form the moral constructs and supports of civilization, there is a danger in dispelling them so thoroughly by science. When the masses can no longer believe and have nothing firm to latch on to that explains their place in the Universe, uncertainty follows. With uncertainty comes a breakdown in the moral order. Campbell associates the increase in violence, crime, mental disorders, drug addiction, and other vices with the breakdown of these old myths by modern science. This prevents a dilemma for modern teachers and parents – where should their loyalty lie? In preserving the myths supporting our civilization or the truth found in science?

Campbell believes that the answer to this problem lies in psychology. Because of the common similarities in the mythologies throughout history and between disparate civilizations, there must be something deep within the human psyche that validates and explains these beliefs.

There has been progress in this area of psychology. Sir James G Frazer, a 19th century author, believed that mythology, magic, and religion would be ultimately refuted and abandoned by advances in science. Freud took the study of myths to new levels. Myths, according to Freud, are in the same category as dreams. Myths are public dreams; dreams are private myths. Freud believed that religion and neurosis were one and the same with the only difference being that religion is more public. Ultimately, Freud believed, like Frazer, that myth, magic and religion would eventually be refuted by science. Jung, on the other hand, believed that mythology and religion served a positive purpose. Myth serves to bring us back in touch with the powers of the psyche. These powers have been common to the human spirit for millennia and represent the cumulative wisdom acquired throughout the ages. They cannot be refuted by science as science only has the power to affect the outside world and not the depths of the subconscious mind. Through myth, we have the ability to get in touch with the greater and wiser world that exists in ourselves. Therefore, the civilization that has the ability to keep its myths active and thriving will benefit from the powers inherent in the human spirit. However, there has to be balance. By going to deeply into the world of myths and dreams, one would lose the ability to survive in the modern world.

Campbell worries about societies that reject any interaction and cooperation between science and myth. He brings up the point of the rejection of the influence of the Greeks, who had already established the fact that the Earth revolved around the sun, in the science of the Bible. By doing so, the world lost more than a thousand years of scientific advancements and further development of civilization. Instead, we have the despicable legacy of heresy trials and the burning of people at the stake. Another interesting example lies in the history of Islam. For centuries, Islamic society was a shining example of progressive scientific thought, especially in the realm of medicine. The, with the strict enforcement of the Koran as the Word of God, Islamic progress in science and medicine died – and with it Islam itself (as a religion that provides any sort of positive impact on human life in the aggregate). From that point on, the west took the lead in the advancement of science and we had unprecedented progress from the early twelfth century onward.

In civilizations untouched by this progress, such as in developing nations, all social change is the result of conflict with others. Each distinct groups is frozen in time; change only occurs with the influence of invaders. In the modern Western world, continuous progress has occurred due to the inspired quest of a relatively few number of people to seek out the truth. However, what is so wonderful about this journey is that all of this scientific progress cannot be considered as the final truth. Instead, there is a relentless and unquenchable thirst to learn more and progress further.

Campbell concludes with the notion that the only certainty we have is that we do not know a thing. All we can do is continue to strive for the truth no matter where it leads and what fears it may awaken within us. Where the old mythologies strived to comfort us with the idea of an all-knowing presence that is concerned with our plight and is ready to receive us with open arms, the new science shows us that nobody knows what is out there or if “out there” even exists at all. We can only observe what appears to be out there and strive to explain it. And, within us, there is a different kind of phenomena, experienced best during sleep, that we do not know the source of, the reason for, or even what they really are. Again, we can only hypothesize. The only absolute known is that the source of myths and dreams is absolutely unknown.

Notes and References

Flat Earth
Sumerians
Greek astronomy
Plato
Sirens
Dante’s The Divine Comedy
Satan
Mountain of Purgatory
Biblical Plagues
Orinoco
Magellan circumnavigates the Earth
Vasco De Gama sails around Africa to India
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Copernicus and the heliocentric universe
Galileo
Sir Walter Raleigh
Cain
Enoch
Nod
Eden
Canaan
Ikhnaton
Ramses II
Merneptah
Moses
Creation
Genesis
Torah
Ezra
Quetzalcoatl
Aristotle
Hesiod
Aristarchus
Eratosthenes
Hipparchus
Justinian
Mohammed
Vedas
Shiva
Samudra manthan (Churning the Milky Ocean)
Jesus

The Egoscue Method of Health Through Motion by Pete Egoscue

“A Revolutionary Program That Lets You Rediscover the Body’s Power to Protect and Rejuvenate Itself”

In The Egoscue Method Pete Egoscue presents the argument that today’s increasingly sedentary lifestyle is responsible for the weakening of muscles which in turn adversely affect the body’s natural and normal alignment. The result is poor posture and chronic pain. The solution: a set of twenty some exercises that stretch strengthen, and aligns the body properly.

I first heard of The Egoscue Method from a list of recommended books on Steve Pavlina’s personal development site. I read the book and self-diagnosed myself with mild Condition II dysfunction (Egoscue breaks down dysfunctional systems in three categories). The list of exercises (with page number) I try to do daily is below.

 

• Arm Circles (pg 88)
• Gravity Drop (pg 103)
• Downward Dog (pg 94)
• Runner’s Stretch (pg 111)
• Frog (pg 102)
• Supine Groin Stretch (pg 118)
• Standing Quadriceps Stretch (pg 116)
• Abdominals (pg 84)
• Foot Circles and Point Flexes (pg 100)
• Crocodile Twist (pg 92)
• Pelvic Tilts (pg 108)
• Upper Spinal Floor Twist (pg 120)
• Air Bench (pg 86)

Note that there have not been any clinical trials or scientific assessments of the Egoscue method.

Investment versus Speculation – The Intelligent Investor: Chapter 1

Results to Be expected by the Intelligent Investor

Summary

Investment: through thorough analysis promises safety of principle and an adequate return.

Anything else is speculation. The word investor is misused often when actually describing speculators. Risks are inherent and inseparable from profit opportunities and must be allowed for when making investment decisions. There is always a speculative factor in stock investing. The important task for an intelligent investor is to keep that speculative factor at a minimum and to be prepared, financially as well as psychologically, for negative results in the short and long term. Speculation can be done intelligently but, often it is not. There are three main signs of unintelligent speculating:

1. You believe you are investing when you are really speculating
2. Serious speculation instead of as a fun pastime when you lack proper knowledge and skill
3. Risking more money than you can afford to lose

Trading on margin is, by definition, speculating. Following the latest hot stock pick is speculating. If you must speculate, allocate a very small portion of your money for this purpose. Do not continue to add to these funds and do not mix these funds in your real investment portfolio.

The future of security prices is never predictable.

Results to be Expected by the Defensive Investor

The basic compromise policy for the defensive investor is to have a significant portion of investment funds in stocks and bonds. The simplest choice in allocating assets is a 50-50 proportion between stocks and bonds. The allocation can be adjusted but bond allocation should never be less than 25% or greater than 75%. In 1972, Graham states that the defensive investor should be able to rely on a 3.5% dividend return on stocks and an average annual appreciation of about 4% for a combined return of 7.5%. This is an example of the “Gordon equation” which says that the stock market’s future return is the sum of the current dividend yield and the expected earnings growth.

Remember, the defensive investor cannot hope for better than average results. The defensive investor cannot expect to beat the market.
Results to be Expected by the Enterprising Investor

Being an enterprising or aggressive investor does not imply stock trading. Trading does not fit the definition of an Investment as seen above. In order to have a chance to experience better than average results, the enterprising investor must follow policies that are

1. sound and promising
2. unpopular on Wall Street

Market prices do not always reflect the true value of a stock and therefore, the enterprising investor does have opportunities to purchase undervalued securities that will lead to better than average returns.

Commentary by Zweig

3 elements to Investing

1. Analyze and understand a company and the soundness of its business before buying its stock
2. Deliberately protect yourself against losses
3. Aspire to adequate, not extraordinary, performance

An investor calculates what a stock is worth based on the value of its business. Only invest if you are comfortable owning a stock if you have no way to know its daily market price.

In investing, you cannot lose in the end as long as you play by the rules. Investors make money for themselves while speculators make money for their brokers. 10% of your overall wealth is the absolute maximum amount to be used in speculation.

Introduction: What This Book Expects to Accomplish – The Intelligent Investor

Summary

Graham begins by stating the purpose of this book: to provide guidance in terms of solid principles and attitudes in investing. The focus of the book is not security analysis. He stresses that much attention will be paid to the history of financial markets as an intelligent investor needs to know how stocks and bonds have behaved in the past. Some of those conditions are bound to repeat themselves and an investor who is equipped with this historical knowledge will have an advantage.

“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it” – Santayana

Graham also intends to emphasize the difference between an investor and a speculator. He touches on the fact that many speculators are traders and use a technical approach (i.e. charts) to determine when to buy and sell. He points out that buying when the market is going up and selling when it goes down is a fundamental mistake. Using sound business principles, the idea is to buy low and sell high. You cannot make money following the market.

Regardless of the current market conditions, investors must be prepared to experience significant losses (as well as rises) in their portfolio. Graham notes that he historically recommends at least 25% of an investor’s portfolio be in equities. He leans more towards a 50-50 split between stocks and bonds.

Graham explains the two types of investors he is going to covering in this book.

1. Defensive Investor
   • Avoids serious mistakes and losses
   • Has more freedom from effort, annoyance, and decision making
2. Enterprising Investor
   • Devotes time and care to the selection of investments that are fundamentally sound and more likely to generate better returns

Graham points out two fundamental principles an intelligent investor must be aware of:

1. Obvious prospects for growth does not necessarily mean obvious profits for investors
2. There is no thoroughly dependable way to select the most promising companies in the most promising industries

Intelligent investors should develop a habit of quantifying the price of an investment and to be able to distinguish if it is cheap enough to buy or expensive enough to sell. One of requirement he recommends is that investors limit themselves to securities that are not priced above their tangible-asset value. While there are some opportunities in growth stocks that trade well above this value, they are very sensitive to market fluctuations.

Graham finishes the introduction by reiterating that investing is hard work. By bringing just a little extra knowledge may cause you to perform under the market. Even the so-called expert fund managers have extreme difficulties in beating the market. The key is to build a simple and diversified portfolio that does not require expert assistance and based on the margin-of-safety principle.

“There are no sure and easy paths to riches on Wall Street or anywhere else”. – Graham, from the Introduction

Commentary by Zweig

This book will not teach you how to beat the market. Instead it will teach you:

1. How you can minimize unrecoverable losses
2. How you can maximize gains
3. How you can control the self-defeating behavior that ruins most investors

Once you lose 95% of your money, you have to gain 1900% just to get back where you started. How often can you buy a stock at $30 and sell at $600?

Intelligent investing requires patience, discipline, and an eagerness to learn. You must be able to control your emotions and think independently. Intelligent investing owes more to character than brain power.

The most significant losses in investing come when the buyer forgot to ask the important question: how much?

Stocks become more risky as their prices rise and vice versa. An intelligent investor dreads a bull market and welcomes a bear market because that is when stocks are on sale.

Other Notes

Dollar-Cost Averaging: regular monthly purchases of stock regardless of the market conditions