Abstract

We have written the following study of myth symbol and ritual in the spirit of play. For us it is a quest, which like the carosel, can be leaped upon at any moment, yet the brass ring is never grasped; we simply go round and round lost in the spirit of the play. For us it is a serious business, an undertaking that seizes upon one demanding full commitment yet at the same time leading one into the fantastic world of the imagination and dream. ;Ostensibly, we consider the method used to be phenomenological. We use that term in a derivative sense, for we do not adhere religiously to the letter of Husserlian thought, but certainly his spirit is alive in these words and guides the journey, though it may not be apparent to many. We mean no blasphemy. Not only is the phenomenology here used only derivative of philosophical phenomenology, it is also not akin to the typological variety of phenomenology practiced by such men as Van der Leeuw or Christiansen. Rather, we seek, to gain entrance through a giving ourselves to the phenomenon, to its spirit; a spirit that is vague, yet so very alive, and which dwells within the structures of the typologists. This is not to say that we reject the typological approach, however, we seek to think through their contributions. ;We also owe a debt to the work of Carl Jung, a phenomenologist in his own right, who offers what we consider, to be some of the most profound insights into the human soul. Again, though we use the work of Jung and take seriously his conclusions, we in no way pretend to be an orthodox or professional Jungian. This same comment must be applied to the various historians and phenomenologists of religion cited, such as the work of Mircea Eliade. Although we owe a great debt to our teacher, we feel uncomfortable with the category of historian of religions. ;Perhaps what we are trying to do methodologically in what follows falls somewhere between the categories of art and scholarship. Techniques from both areas are used. It is not pure art for we "intend" a meaning to what we do. It is not pure scholarship for we accept the mystery of the divine in what we study, and allow that mystery to work what transformations it will within us. We hope that the reader will allow himself to enter the spirit of what is written here, and to enter that world playfully, full of seriousness and open to the wonder of the "other"