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Two myths constructed in the latter half of the nineteenth century dominated the discourse archive determining the canonical “history of English” till late in the twentieth century. The first of these is the “myth of the ancient language,” and Chapter 2 represents a deconstruction of it. The idea of a “Beowulf poet” and “lost” earlier manuscripts of the text form an important part of this myth. Kiernan's work on the extant Beowulf manuscript supports his theory that the manuscript at present in the British Museum is the one and only manuscript. However, in his plausible alternative reading of the data, he still insists on talking about the “Beowulf poet”, which this chapter also attempts to deconstruct. The message here is that the attempt to establish a linguistic pedigree by tracing the “line” of the language as far back as possible is ultimately an ideological discourse supporting sociocultural and political ends.

Georges Dumézil's work is primarily linguistic, or, to be more precise, philosophical. That is, the classification and interpretation of ancient myths in terms of textual structures or types. His first concern was to discover what the earliest texts of the various Indo-European civilizations might have in common, what similarities of function might exist in different mythic or religious orders to suggest a shared source. Eventually, he discerned the “Ideology of the Three Functions”—Sovereignty, Force, and Fecundity—firstly in texts representative of diverse layers of Vedic, Germanic, and Roman civilization. This led Dumézil to ascertain that there existed a specific conception of the three functions in all of the Indo-European cultures from India to Ireland. In short, philology enabled him to posit the existence of an underlying Indo-European ideology.

This chapter reflects on how we can use myths to explore and illuminate the inner landscape through which we journey, and in which we are, inevitably, often lost. It describes the Untermyer Gardens in Yonkers, New York, and its centerpiece: the Walled Garden, or “Garden of Eden.” A brainchild of Samuel Untermyer and designed by William Welles Bosworth, the Untermyer Gardens also features the Lion's Gate and the Tree of Knowledge. In the same way that Untermyer and Bosworth grew a garden by mythologizing a place, we can start to “grow a soul,” as anthropologist Barbara Myerhoff once put it, by mythologizing our lives. The trek through the gardens invites us to consider our inner journeys where ancient myths entwine with our own life stories. In The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell writes about the patterns in ancient mythology, offering as examples Prometheus and Jason. These ancient myths resonate not just in our popular culture but as metaphors in our own lives.

This chapter draws upon the film Avatar to explore antidotes to the modern human folly of “Ignoring Nature”. It examines the wisdom implied in key quotes, events, and images from the film, and interprets these ideas in light of biosynergy research and theory, ancient myth and folklore, and the authors' own personal experiences. The first section of the chapter emphasizes the benefits of seeing and treating all earth-life and ourselves as kindred spirits in a harmonic universe. The second section focuses on the transformative and healing power of the human-horse connection.