• “We continue to see myths in current novels, where we see a hero that defies the odds and make the world a better place. However, we read these passively instead of becoming inspired to be a hero in the real world that we live in. Myths were never meant to be passive. They were meant to be learned from.” [Britni Heckerman’s Mythologies 285 Journal: Prompt 14- Karen Armstrong’s Conclusions] [Emphasis Added] goo.gl/HjuXSB
• “The myth of the hero was not intended to provide us with icons to admire, but was designed to tap into the vein of heroism within ourselves. Myth must lead to imitation or participation, not passive contemplation…There is nothing new in the godless mythologies of contemporary novels, which grapple with many of the same intractable and elusive problems of the human condition as the ancient myths, and make us realize that — whatever the status of the gods — human beings are more than their material circumstances…” –Karen Armstrong [Britni Heckerman’s Mythologies 285 Journal: Prompt 14- Karen Armstrong’s Conclusions] [Emphasis Added] goo.gl/HjuXSB
• “A myth…is true because it is effective, not because it gives us factual information. If, however, it does not give us new insight into the deeper meaning of life, it has failed.” [A Short History of Myth Quotes by Karen Armstrong] [Emphasis Added] goo.gl/cB6Z32
• [Amazon | A Short History of Myth (Canongate Myths series Book 1) (English Edition) [Kindle edition] by Karen Armstrong* | Social Sciences | Kindleストア] amzn.to/2SS4hpn

Your enemies are not gods. Your opponents are not invincible. They may be powerful, but they are finite. They have limits. They have weakpoints. They can be cut. They can bleed. And if you make them bleed enough, they will pass out and perhaps even perish.

Maybe the image of yourself as Kratos, towering over the immense corpse of a “vanquished” language is not the nicest or friendliest to have. But there are worse images. The point is this. You’re small, but you’re not that small. You contain universes within you. You have dreams and aspirations that you want to unfold. And you can. And you will — if you are proud enough to fight but humble enough to do kaizen, that is, to reflect and improve.

The reason why we have — no, need — power fantasies is because too many of us have powerless(ness) fantasies, disempowerment fantasies, daymares and nightmares about our utter uselessness. Disempowerment fantasies are inaccurate and untrue; they are an example of the rounding problem: us rounding our value down to zero and rounding the opponent’s value up to infinity.

Don’t be so humble as to give up all hope and thus make no attempts. Don’t be so naive as to trust only in hope and make no attempts. Be neither so humble nor so arrogant as to think yourself beyond all improvement. (Isn’t it interesting how extremes of both arrogance and humility lead to the exact same end — stagnation and decay? Kind of like how extreme left- and right-wing governments end up almost indistinguishably sucky).

• [(52) 『 ゴッド・オブ・ウォー』 日本版トレーラー – YouTube] goo.gl/bDdMk7
• [【解説】『ゴッドオブウォー』 アトレウスと母フェイの正體 – 主要キャラの神話との比較【ネタバレ】 – sibafutukuri] goo.gl/rd4aa1
• [ゴッド・オブ・ウォー | プレイステーション] goo.gl/7mWKJ4
• “クレイトス” [ゴッド・オブ・ウォー – Wikipedia] goo.gl/a8bFyR
• [クレイトス (くれいとす)とは【ピクシブ百科事典】] goo.gl/dW9kYG
• [(52) ゴッドオブウォー 実況プレイ – YouTube] goo.gl/xQ3XdL
• [(52) #1【アクション】弟者の「ゴッド・オブ・ウォー」【2BRO.】 – YouTube] goo.gl/KYSLq7

*Former nun and current awesome public intellectual, Karen Armstrong, has a great deal to teach us on the subject of myth, and hers is easily one of the best books of our young century. Karen has only ever either been a nun or an academic, so she has this rather unfortunate predilection for radical socialism, but we must forgive her stupidity and ignorance in the field of economics, an area in which she has never had the opportunity to mature beyond teenage idealism, because she’s so incredibly smart and well-informed in other areas. Pobody’s nerfect, right? 😉