Counterculture Through the Ages From Abraham to Acid House

Abraham and Prometheus Mythic Counterculture Rebels The Mythic Countercultures A new mythology is possible in the Space Age, where we will again have heroes . . . as regards intention towards this Planet. William S. Burroughs, 1978 To hell with facts! We need stories! Ken Kesey, 1987 Myth is as important to counterculturalists as historical fact, and perhaps more poignant. Avant-garde by nature, most countercultures engage the imaginal and the ideal, as well as the real. In his book Untimely Meditation: On the Use and Disadvantage of History for Human Life (1874), nineteenth-century Promethean philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche even suggested that we should eschew history in favor of myth. For Nietzsche, myth created feelings of spiritual community. History deadened such feelings. With a few exceptions (possibly including our current historical moment), countercultures have been inspired, optimistic, one might say mythical historical episodes. Whenever people courageously and passionately engage in rule-challenging behaviors that attempt to liberate humans from oppressive limitations (or limitations perceived as being oppressive), excitement, conflict, and scandaland therefore engaging storiesare sure to follow. And while modernist and postmodern novelists have shown us that stories can be constructed out of the most ordinary livesindeed out of banality itselfmyths emerge from heroism, whether victorious or defeated, whether lived or imagined. Sometimes by design, often by accident, countercultureseven such renunciate, contemplationist countercultures as the Taoists, Zen Buddhists, and Transcendentalists (as we shall later see)produce legendary heroes who sometimes rise to the level of myth. In Prometheus and Abraham, we have two of the West's most resonantly countercultural myths. Prometheus is pure storypart of the pantheon of Greek godswhile the narrative of the Tribe of Abraham probably has at least some basis in historical fact. Although I briefly discuss the possible historic Abraham, I am primarily viewing these apocryphal tales as myths, fulfilling their function as two different rebel archetypes whose styles and trials we still find manifested in countercultures today. Prometheus: The Hacker God Prometheus stole fire from the gods on behalf of mankind. That's all some youthful hacker outlaws today need know to inspire them to adapt Prometheus as their icon, and to adapt the Greek deity's name for their online monikers. The actual Greek myth is a bit more complex. In a reductionist nutshell: Prometheus is a Greek god of Olympus, ruled by Zeus. He initiates animal sacrifices. One day during a sacrifice he sasses Zeus. He cuts up a bull and divides it into two parts: one containing the flesh and intestines wrapped up in the skin; and the other consisting of only bones and fat. Prometheus asks Zeus to choose his share; the rest is to be given to man. Zeus picks the bones and fat, making him bitter against Prometheus and against humankind. Zeus punishes the mortals by withholding from them the gift of fire. Prometheus steals it back. Then Prometheuswho is known to have the gift of foresightfurther sasses the great god Zeus by predicting that one of Zeus' children would one day dethrone him, but refusing to say which one. The enraged Zeus punishes Prometheus by binding him in steel chains to a rock in the Caucasus Mountains. There, every day for eternity, an eagle is sent to tear and eat Prometheus' liver. Every night, the god Prometheus' immortal liver renews itself so that he can be tortured again in the next day's light. This was no mere story to the ancient Greeks. As Carl Kerenyi writes in Prometheus: ArchetypalSirius, R. U. is the author of 'Counterculture Through the Ages From Abraham to Acid House', published 2004 under ISBN 9780375507588 and ISBN 0375507582.