Is it not "Down-to-Earth" to have your "Head in the Clouds?"

I happen to LOVE sci-fi and fantasy. One of my favorite authors these days is Kelley Armstrong. (And, yes, I'll come out and admit that I loved the Twilight series ... so there!!) And the Mortal Instruments is a great series, too. And, there are so many others!! I love getting temporarily lost in a fantasy world.

People tend to make fun of those of us who love sci-fi and fantasy. It is as if some people think that myths and fantasies are not rational or down-to-earth.

I am in the process of reading an academic research article for one of my graduate courses (I read a lot of them, but I'm really enjoying this one). The article is discussing the applicability of certain types of psychotherapy to different cultures. In part of the discussion prior to presenting the research findings, the author has said many things that I've found very interesting. (And yes, this DOES have a tie-in to how I began this post ... and you're about to get it ...)

So ... the author discusses the epistemological shift surrounding the Enlightenment - how empiricism and science came to be "the presupposed superior form of knowledge" and how that type of thinking lead traditional mythological beliefs to be sneered at. Then he sums up some thoughts of anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss (1949/1969), and how he "rejected the notion that mythical thought is somehow less rigorous and demanding than scientific thought. The difference between the two is not based on the quality of intellectual operations but found in the nature of the object or the dimension of reality being studied." Interesting, don't you think?

Later, the author states, "[t]he perception of the mythical mentality as a primitive, false, pathological, or infantile consciousness is a dogmatic and enthnocentric bias of empiricist science. In taking this stance, science becomes the very shadow of the dogmatic theological paradigm it rose to supplant."

I LOVE the way he said that!! I do love hard science, but I also love fantasy. These types of statements give power to us lovers of fantasy. And, more importantly, it helps us to appreciate better other cultures who have long-since based many of their beliefs on myths and what some might call "fantasy." But is it of any less value?

Interesting, interesting. Just thought I'd share my thoughts this lovely Saturday afternoon.

(All quotes from: Moncayo, Raul. Cultural diversity and the cultural and epistemological structure of psychoanalysis: Implications for psychotherapy with Latinos and other minorities. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 15, 262-286.)