Musing

The concept of essence families is somewhat unfamiliar I suppose, but those ancient Greeks, the Geeks, recognized it, and incorporated it into their myth and literature in the form of muses. Not that there is a lot written about the muses, and within that, the definition is rather fleeting like meditation. The muses are presented abstractly as a guiding spirit or inspiration, and as vapor as the breath. And like the breath, quite noticeable when not present. They also represent a state of mind, when one is mind-full.

The muses are born of Mnemosyne, the Goddess of Memory. But not as much memory, as mnemonic, that which is intended to assist the memory. She is also known as the Goddess of Remembrance, remembrance not as memory, but as a state of being, or to resonate. Mnemosyne is a re-minder, and so are her nine daughters of social artistry and music. It was Mnemosyne that gave Apollo self realization.

Essence families are races of consciousness, species of consciousness, or pools of consciousness. Whatever. However you want to think about it. Imagine consciousness as being energy, and that it flows through the prism of this physical reality and pools into vibrations designated by color. And that each of those colors vibrates at a particular frequency and also holds other attributes unique to it, like personality trait. In fact, if you look it up in the dictionary, you will find that color actually means personality trait, as in "show your true colors." (We still use the language of the Greeks.)

So the muses are representations of archetypes of personality, or as I like to think about it, the original arch types of the rainbow of Iris. Iris is also a Greek goddess. The Goddess of the Rainbow and messenger of the gods to the mortals. And it is no coincidence that iris also relates to the vision, and regulates the amount of light entering the eye. (Mnemosyne wrote the dictionary. She re-minds that sounds and words have many meanings or ways to interpret.)

I know a lot got lost in translation over the years, cause the essence of something holds many properties that serve to characterize or identify it. All the external senses come into play; seeing, feeling, touching, smelling, and tasting. Also the internal senses of how it makes one feel, what memories come to mind, how does it relate? The Greeks tried to capture essence in imagery, poetry, and bemusement.

The original Greek statues were painted in various colors, not the statues that we see today. The colors were also part of the expression of essence. To the Greeks, essence is an incorporeal entity creatively expressed through the language of objective imagery, subjective poetry, and behavior.

The remarkably intuitive Greeks understood drama and the psychology of creativity, and expressed this as the beauty and eloquence of the many forms of the vibrations of music, or the muses. Music presented as something aesthetically pleasing or harmonious. Or perhaps drama with music, if one takes the attitude that life is really about the theatre of individual expression.

So if you were Greek, you would not even think about giving a party without inviting the social graces, Aglaia, Euphrosyne & Thalia. The goddesses of beauty, mirth, and festive good-cheer, and close companions of the nine muses. In fact, Thalia is also a muse, and is the one representing the muse in amusing. The Mask of Comedy Theatre. Mask meaning persona.

I thought that the muses defined as families of consciousness, or essence families, widened their influence within a culture, and gave a new meaning to an ancient concept, and that they were well deserving of a new more modern image. For they are the social artists, painting in reality.

So here they are....ta da.....the nine sisters.

The original arch-types.

(And I suppose I do plan to ramble on about this in the illusion of future.)