I see the moment of creation as a threshold, a fertile ground where anything is possible. My work combines an interest in science, mythology, cosmologies, and a childlike sense of wonderment to seek the unknowable. I create formless floating worlds that have a seducing, enlightening, and ultimately deceiving presence. Vibrant lusty clusters of candied opulence emphasize the wetness at the beginning of life. Dry folds give way to woozy nests and frenzied organisms while dripping crystalline structures puncture soft unknowable terrains. Through the process of making I indulge my desire to create an otherworld, one that bubbles, garishly drips, and slips slowly into lavish amalgamations. By combining artificial and organic materials with the rich traditions of metalsmithing, I am able to explore the infinity of tiny connections that make up the complex whole of the natural world. I make as a result of my own curiosity, drawing and building an imaginary world, from one layer to the next.

The thesis presents the mythological studies of the German Romantics. The research focuses on the four important mythologists - Johann Gottfried Herder, Friedrich Creuzer, Karl Otfried Müller and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling. The analysis of their work leads to their specific concept of the myth. The early enlightenment tendencies, which rejected the myths as stories about gods of the undeveloped men were replaced with the conception of the romantics. They disclosed the symbolic character of the myths and explained the origin and nationalization of the myth on the basis of the symbol theory. At the same time they award truth to the mythological process which the man necessarily goes through. The creation of God in the mind of man is clarified with the philosophy of mythology. This way the romantics contribute to the development of the mythology towards a critical historical science.

The Body as a subject and object is the way and possibility how to be in a landscape which does not tell how to touch it, how to move within it, live and die. However, we could find and see which particular behaviour is preferred to others. The landscape is a vertically and horizontally widespread area and a platform for potential range of body activities. Thirdly it is also a material, body, changing in time. We would focus on the moment when the body is trying to fuse into the landscape. So similar, so different, they are. The way how to achieve it for a human body would be a task to live it through, personally, as first shown as Symbiosis, on some examples from visual arts (performance, and site-specific usage of the place potential). In the Second part we would consider understanding the landscape (world) through the narratives with metamorphoses, when both entities are carnal and the same (Synonymical: body as a landscape, landscape as a body). The last Part (Synthesis) concentrates on the arts, rituals, philosophy and other modes of the "life view" in the context of crossing borders and immersion of real and the "different" (in a way virtual) world. Keywords: Body, landscape, arts, mythology, philosophy

Codemakers is a book of poems by Dawn Manning divided into three sections: "Topophilia," "Goodwill," and "Women's Work."

Serpent and dragon symbolism are ubiquitous in the art and mythology of premodern cultures around the world. Over the centuries, conflicting hypotheses have been proposed to interpret this symbolism which, while illuminating, have proved insufficient to the task of revealing a singular meaning for the vast majority of examples. In this dissertation I argue that, in what the symbolist Rene Guenon and the historian of religions Mircea Eliade have called ‘traditional' or ‘archaic' societies, the serpent/dragon transculturally symbolizes what I term ‘matter,' a state of being that is constituted by the perception of the physical world as ‘chaotic' in comparison to what traditional peoples believed to be the ‘higher' meta-physical source of the physical world or ‘nature.' What is called ‘nature,' I argue, is also considered in ‘Tradition' to be a perception of, from a certain state of consciousness, that aspect of existence that is called samsara in the Hindu philosophy of Vedanta, which Guenon equivalently describes, from a broadly traditional perspective in The Symbolism of the Cross, as "the indefinite series of cycles of manifestation." ‘Chaos,' according to Eliade in The Sacred and the Profane, is "the amorphous and virtual…everything that has not yet acquired a ‘form.'" The following elements have been useful in discerning the specified meaning of the serpent/dragon symbol: 1) Guenon's interpretation of the terminology of the ‘Hindu Doctrines,' as well as his interpretation of the ‘language' of traditional symbolism and the metaphysics that underlies it; 2) Eliade's interpretation of ‘traditional'/‘archaic' societies by means of his concepts of ‘chaos,' ‘creation,' Axis Mundi (‘World Axis'), and ‘Sacred and Profane'; and 3) the insights of various other researchers of serpent/dragon symbolism. Beyond purporting to resolve some of the mystery of the ancient and varied symbolism of the serpent/dragon, my dissertation strives, to a lesser degree, to serve two related functions: 1) informing the interpretation of the symbolic meanings of a wide variety of premodern artifacts and narratives and 2) providing a rough outline for a proposed prolegomenon to the study of the origination, and ancient human awareness, of the mentioned state of ‘matter.'

Quem acompanha o noticiário de negócios já se acostumou com as manchetes sobre os executivos e suas incríveis realizações profissionais. Eles tiram empresas da falência, salvam empregos, investem milhões, são recebidos por presidentes e ministros. Sua ascensão ao longo do século XX acompanhou a evolução da administração de empresas como ciência pesquisada por nomes como Jules Henri Fayol, Henry Ford, Frederick Taylor e Peter Drucker. Todos tentaram explicar a forma como o executivo trabalhava e, como consequência, como as organizações poderiam obter mais sucesso. Ao mesmo tempo em que subiam na hierarquia social - Drucker chegou a chamá-los de \"indispensáveis\" ao sucesso econômico -, um novo campo de estudos se desenvolveu para entender como suas carreiras aconteciam, progrediam, seja dentro ou fora das empresas. Os estudos de carreira se intensificaram a partir dos anos 1970, coincidindo com as mudanças econômicas, sociais e tecnológicas que agitaram o mundo e exigiram uma nova postura dos profissionais frente a sua carreira. No coração das empresas, as relações de emprego passaram de estáveis para instáveis, de duradouras para efêmeras. Nesse contexto de ascensão dos executivos, um cargo em especial passou a representar as aspirações de toda uma categoria: a presidência da empresa. Chegar ao topo da hierarquia organizacional significava obter os símbolos de status e poder de alguém com capacidade para decidir o destino de pessoas e empresas. Em outras palavras, alcançava o imaginário coletivo de herói corporativo, aquele que venceu todos os obstáculos rumo ao sucesso. O objetivo central deste trabalho é o de verificar se os presidentes de empresa, ao falarem de sua trajetória profissional, também se colocam na posição de herói, representando o papel que a sociedade espera deles. Realizou-se um estudo qualitativo por meio da análise de conteúdo em doze entrevistas dirigidas, concedidas por presidentes de empresa para um programa de televisão, no qual responderam a perguntas abertas sobre sua história pessoal e profissional. Constatou-se que o relato público do presidente sobre a sua trajetória possui elementos que estão presentes no conceito de monomito do herói descrito por Joseph Campbell. Foi possível encontrar na narrativa dos presidentes características compatíveis com todas as 17 etapas da jornada do herói - desde o chamado à aventura até o retorno após as conquistas. Tais etapas - que ilustram o conceito de monomito - foram usadas como categorias de análise, assim como \"mundo comum\", que examina o período anterior ao início da jornada do herói. Foram analisados, ainda, os discursos dos presidentes sobre carreira e liderança, de maneira generalizada e em relação a suas próprias experiências. Esses resultados sugerem que o presidente de empresa, quando fala publicamente sobre sua trajetória, incorpora o papel de herói corporativo. / Those who follow the business news have got used to headlines about executives and their incredible professional accomplishments. They take companies from bankruptcy, save jobs, invest millions, and are received by presidents and ministers. Their ascension to the twentieth century followed the evolution of business administration as a science searched by names such as Jules Henri Fayol, Henry Ford, Frederick Taylor e Peter Drucker. Everyone tried to explain how the executive used to work and as a consequence, such organizations could be more successful. While they climbed the social hierarchy - Drucker called them \"essential\" to economic success - a new field of study developed to understand how their careers developed, whether inside or outside companies. Career studies have intensified since the 1970s, coinciding with the economic, social and technological changes that shook the world and demanded a new attitude of the professionals in their careers. At the heart of business, employment relations went from stable to unstable, from everlasting to ephemeral. In this executive rising context, an office in particular has come to represent the aspirations of an entire category: the presidency of the company. Reaching the top of the organizational hierarchy meant getting the symbols of status and power of someone with the ability to decide the destiny of individuals and companies. In other words, it reached the collective imagination of the corporate hero, who overcame all obstacles to succeed. The main objective of this paper is to verify that CEOs, when talking of their careers, also pose as the hero figure, playing the role that society expects of them. A qualitative study was carried out using content analysis of twelve directed interviews granted by corporate CEOs for a television program, in which they responded to open-ended questions about their personal and professional history. It was found that the CEO\'s public reporting on their path has elements that are present in the concept of the hero monomyth described by Joseph Campbell. It was possible to find in the narrative of these CEOs features that are compatible with all 17 steps of a hero\'s journey - from the call to adventure to the return after the conquests. These steps - which illustrate the concept of the monomyth - were used as categories of analysis, along with the \"ordinary world\", which examines the period before the start of the hero\'s journey. We also analyzed the CEOs\' speeches on career and leadership, both generally and with regards to their own experiences. These results suggest that CEOs, when speaking publicly about their careers, personify the role of the corporate hero.

Thesis advisor: David Gill / The idea that mankind's history is one of regress rather than of progress has been seen as central to the classical outlook on life. Bury and others have gone so far as to state that the idea of Progress in its modern sense could not have even occurred to the Greeks. This is perhaps too extreme, but it does reflect an important point: if regression over time was not the only idea for the Greeks, it was at least the dominant one. No story in classical literature reflects this idea more clearly than the Myth of the Ages. The earliest extant version of the story comes in Hesiod's Works and Days (c. 700 B.C.), after which it appears dozens of times throughout ancient literature. The myth in its standard form tells that the history of mankind takes the form of four ages, each represented by a metal: the first is a happy and virtuous Golden Age; the next is a less perfect Silver Age, followed by a warlike (and even worse) Bronze Age; and the last, the most impious and wretched of all, is the current Iron Age. The early Hesiodic version uses this framework merely as a means to show man that he has fallen from divine favor and is left with a life of hardship that he must deal with through honest work and reverence for the gods. As other authors pick up the myth, alluding to it in genres as diverse as philosophy, theology, humor, and panegyric, the story changes in several ways. Each author of course uses it for his own purposes and alters it accordingly. In addition the Myth of the Ages undergoes an overall change: after Hesiod authors such as Aratus, Ovid, Seneca, and Maximus use the myth as a means to pair material progress with moral regression. These authors do not merely tell a story; they present a model, a simple and pre-civilized way of living that they see as vastly superior to modern “advanced” society. These authors look at the results of technological progress and see only negatives; for them the ship and the sword have brought nothing but greed and violence. They present a simple and virtuous Golden Age that lacks the fruits of civilization and a wretched and bloodied Iron Age that is flooded by them. The implication is clear: mankind has fallen from a life of primeval bliss at its own hands as a direct result of technological and societal advances. This becomes the dominant message of the Myth of the Ages, so much so that by the time of the Romans the myth had become little more than a literary cliché for criticizing civilization. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2004. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Classical Studies. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Mesmo que seja impossível determinar as origens das práticas atléticas na Grécia antiga, podemos dizer que elas existiam e faziam parte do cotidiano daquele povo naquela época, como nos demonstram as obras de Homero. Por isso, os sacerdotes daqueles antigos rituais decidiram realizar uma competição atlética para determinar quem seria incumbido de concluir o cerimonial. Eles acreditavam que nada de importante acontecia sem a interferência dos deuses, portanto, os vencedores de cada competição venciam, porque assim estava determinado pelo seu destino, tornando-os heróis, e consequentemente, escolhido dos deuses. Por isso, as origens dos principais rituais eram atribuídas aos heróis mitológicos, cuja estrutura cosmogônica de Hesíodo os coloca a um nível superior de existência. Então, além de buscar a re-atualização do gesto sagrado realizado na origem, procurando dar continuidade ao mundo tal como eles o conheciam, os cerimoniais ao mesmo tempo re-atualizavam a ação dos heróis em um momento mítico, que se confundia com a realidade. Dessa maneira, os Jogos foram a materialização desta estrutura mitológica, tendo nos heróis a consolidação desta imagem, ao mesmo tempo em que proporcionava o caráter de humanidade que lhe rendeu toda sua grandiosidade / Even that being impossible to determine the origins of the athletic practices in the ancient Greece, we can say that they exited and were part of the daily of that people at that time, as show us the Homers poetry. Therefore, the priests of those ancient rituals had decided to make an athletic competition to determine who would be charged to conclude the ceremonial. They believed that nothing of important happened without the gods interference, therefore, the winners of each competition were successful, because thus were determined by its destination, becoming heroes, and consequently, chosen by the gods. Therefore, the origins of the main rituals were attributed to the mythological heroes, whose Hesiods cosmogonic structure, place them in a superior level of existence. Then, beyond to search the reactualization of the sacred act realized at the origin, looking for to give continuity to the world as they knew the ceremonials at the same time re-actualize the heroes action at a mythical moment, that it confuse with the reality. In this way, the Games had been the materialization of that mythological structure, having in the heroes the consolidation of that image, at the same time that it provides the humanity character that relieved it all its greatness

Entre as trevas e a luz: o percurso labiríntico em Todos os nomes de José Saramago é uma dissertação que visa mostrar de que modo o caminho trilhado pela personagem protagonista do romance constitui um processo de autoconhecimento em meio às múltiplas possibilidades de um espaço que se configura como labiríntico. Os conceitos de símbolo, espaço, lugar, não-lugar, individuação, anima, advindos da diversidade teórica, da qual se destacam C. G. Jung (1967/ 2000/ 2007), Gilbert Durand (2002), Marc Augé (1994), Gaston Bachelard (1988/ 1990/ 1993/ 1997/ 2001), Michel de Certeau (2001), contribuíram e sistematizaram o percurso analítico do presente trabalho, que ora propomos. Nosso intuito primeiramente é verificar como os espaços da porta e da escada aparecem enquanto símbolos que levam a personagem de uma condição à outra, estabelecendo mudanças que variam entre o eu e o outro e entre as trevas e a luz, buscando também o sentido destes elementos. Em seguida, demonstramos como a imagem do labirinto é (re)construída, tanto mitologicamente (através de referências intertextuais) quanto individualmente (pelo próprio percurso da personagem) em sua passagem por portas e por escadas em espaços interiores e em espaços exteriores na busca de sua anima. / Entre as trevas e a luz: o percurso labiríntico em Todos os nomes de José Saramago is a study that aims at showing how the path chosen by the novels main character constitutes a process of self-knowledge among the multiple possibilities he comes across in a labyrinthic space. The concepts which structure and contribute to the development of this paper come from different theoretical backgrounds and include the notions of symbol, space, place, non-place, individuation and anima, as articulated by C. G. Jung (1967/ 2000/ 2007), Gilbert Durand (2002), Marc Augé (1994), Gaston Bachelard (1988/ 1990/ 1993/ 1997/ 2001), Michel de Certeau (2001). Our objective is first to consider how the space re-presented by the figures of the door and the stairs acquire symbolical value as they lead the main character from one stage to another, signaling the changes between the I and the other and between darkness and light, as he tries to unveil the meaning of such elements. Then, we focus on the way in which the image of the labyrinth is (re)constructed, both at a mythological level, through intertextual references, and at an individual level as we follow the course marked by the character in his journey through the doors and stairs he encounters in inward and outward spaces, in the pursuit of his anima.

林豔. / 論文(哲學博士)--香港中文大學, 2007. / 參考文獻(p. 170-191). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Lun wen (zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2007. / Can kao wen xian (p. 170-191). / Lin Yan.