Limitations in the Initiations

This morning as I was preparing for my presentation on the Eleusinian Mysteries, I completely started freaking out. I blanked on everything I have been studying on for months. I know nothing about them! In order to try and calm myself down, I decided to just read some of my favorite passages of my books to collect my thoughts and show myself that I really do know a lot. But going into my books with this frame of mind it suddenly occurred to me that no one knows anything about the Mysteries. They are...well the only word I can think of is..a mystery. Ironic, I know! But the initiates kept all of the proceedings so secretive that we truly will not ever know anything about the actual initiation ceremonies. Scholars can make guesses but there will never be any validation of these guesses into the lives and minds of the ancient followers of Demeter and Kore (Persephone).

After coming to this realization, I decided to stop stressing (if one can ever just decide to do that!) and just read for my enjoyment in the sections that I haven't explored as carefully. So I started reading on the "theology" of the Mysteries. There was a lot of interesting information in this section....at least it was interesting to me. I highly doubt many of my fellow business students would agree though...or my my family. They all think I'm crazy to be obsessed with a bunch of mythological stories and ancient religions and cults. But I digress. Back to my point of the theology perspective of the Mysteries. Here is the point that I think all of you will find interesting

"If we knew more of what happened in the Myesteries, we would still be left with the problem of interpreting the meaning of the rites performed, because such exegesis almost certainly played little role in these as in other Greek rituals. Similarly, myths such as that told in the Hymn to Demeter derived their meaning from the narrative itself, from their relation to ritual, and from their similarity to closely related myths. The read or hearer of the narrative is left to fill in what we experience as the gaps and to explain the religious significance of the story in the context of his/her knowledge of other and sometimes conflicting narratives about gods, humans, and the relation between the two. This does not mean that we cannot understand to some degree what kind of contribution the Hymn, its myth, and Mysteries made to the experience of Greek worshipers."

I think that this is vital in any study of culture but especially within cultures that we cannot see ourselves. It is important to understand and accept the limitations that time and personal cultures have placed upon us. Thinking of this in relations to my "freakout" puts a new perspective on the idea of my own personal knowledge of the Mysteries. I know that I could perform the necessary parts of the rituals to become an mystai (one who closes his eye and/or keeps his mouth shut) but never will I have access to the world and experiences of the epoptes (one who sees). That is my eyes will never be truly open. I can prepare myself, in the Mysteries, to close my eyes and experience new things but never will I be able to open them to see the world where Kore and Demeter truly exist. Even if I did know all of the sacred objects, what was said, and what exactly happened I could never be a epoptes (one who sees). 

I think this can be related to all of the initiations that we have studied or will study in our lifetimes. For example, I can see and comprehend the teeth chiseling rituals but never will I fully be able to grasp the innate value it provides to people who have been immersed in the culture that reveres that particular practice. Even if I spent the next fifty years studying teeth chiseling, it will never have the same significance for me. Even though I have this limitations, I believe it is still an admirable goal to try and come as close as possible to this experience. It is better to be an mystai with eyes closed than to be a murderer or a barbarian (people who were not allowed to partake in the Mysteries).