Day 3

Ritual Design for Mythic Hygiene

During which experimentation is required

Because we don't know what myths and rituals will work

To address amythia and regulate death anxiety

Synopsis

Today we progressed the development of our symbolic immortality projects. I decided to call mine Reclaiming the Golden Calf. My project included two main components: the Golden Calf Elevator & Café and my Master of Scenarios, who I had already begun training. I kept re-asking, “But what is this project, really?” An exemplar for ritual design as a genre of creative writing? Yes. A way to rationalise my hypergraphia? Undoubtedly. An instruction set with which someone, in the far future, might realise my Café and the virtual self I leave behind? Well, speculatively. What might happen when someone presses “Launch”? 

Might my descendants visit me here? If so, I am uncomfortable with the visions of horror and violence. These are symbols and archetypes – not memories. Yet they are as powerful and real (physiologically) as memory. If we want to foster a more just and peaceful world, we must come to a deep understanding of the horrors of human nature. Therefore, we should allow re-envisioned myths to enter dark spaces. That is simply part of mythic hygiene.