Will and AJ’s talk is called “Healing Journey and Return”
By studying the myths we see in art, we can better understand the myths we experience in our lives and in our culture. Could there be a way to use this deeper understanding to engage our cultural and personal myths and to heal them?
Where Eliade describes the renewal of a culture as dependent on the re-enactment of its creation myth, Jung sees the renewal of self as dependent on the integration of repressed other. This presentation argues that the redemption of inner and collective wastelands depends on the living out of a new myth that is, at once, a renewal of the original creation myth AND an integration of repressed other. In a search for healing threads through the pandemic, this talk seeks to address the creation myths we are reliving, the otherness we are integrating, the wasteland(s) we are attempting to redeem and the new myths we are starting to tell.
This multimedia, interactive presentation will utilize musicmaking, video, written media, interactive webpages, writing prompts, and reflection to offer a grab-bag of tools attendees might use to recognise and heal personal and cultural myths.
About Will and AJ
Will Linn, Ph.D. is the founder of Mythouse.org and the General Education Department at Hussian College in LA Center Studios, where he teaches mythology, storytelling and philosophy. Will has appeared in several documentaries and TV series. He is the co-creator of a radio show for the Santa Barbara News-Press called Mythosophia, and he co-hosts the Myth Salon. His collaborators include many of the world’s leading mythologists and story experts. After working for the Joseph Campbell Foundation in a variety of roles for seven years, he supports musicians, filmmakers and brands on the development of their stories.
AJ Fleuridas is the head of technology at Mythouse.org, with experience mediamaking, educating, and building technical systems. His web-dev, media-making, and communication-tech skills have brought him the fortune of working with leaders across the planet with the purpose of changing the world of education and of storytelling. Some highlights include working to innovate technology, media, and education with the Global Schools Alliance in New Zealand, Autens in Denmark, Liger Leadership Academy in Phnom Penh, the city of Helsinki, and HundrEd.