Underworlds

In numerous mythologies, religions and fantasy settings we find the concept of the underworld. This is, of course, because the concept of the underworld has significance as an archetype. That is, it resembles a psychic force or pattern that operates in all of us.

What is the underworld? In greek mythology the underworld is ruled by Hades, in the norse mythology by the godess Hel. Hel is of course the word the christians would later use to describe their notion of a Hel, though the concept is very different.

The underworld is the place that the dead go to. But yet they are not dead, they are alive, or dead-alive. They are living a dead life in the underworld. It is said that in the underworld you can't eat anything, or else, you will never be able to leave. The underworld is also a place of great emptiness and despair, a place where nothing is valued, and nothing is lived, yet the lives of the inhabitants go on and on....and on..

The underworld is the place where you can eat and eat, but never be satisfied. You can touch, but never be touched. You can drink, but never be fulfilled, and sleep, but never get rest.

The underworld as an arcetypical force or concept refers to the land of the dead that exists in all of us. When a living human goes to the land of depression, of emptiness, to a world without dreams, without hope, without magic. When the sparks of life are lost, yet life goes on and on. It is something that is to some extend known by every human, and thus everyone gets touched by these tales. Depression is when you eat without getting satisfied, or when you touch without being touched. When you go through days of the life without really living.

The tales tell us about the human conditions, or the conditions of the human psyche and the challenges that we go through in our lives. Challenges that have basicly been the same throughout the ages. Myths from ancient tiems still have the same relevance as they once had, but sadly our cultures lost its myths, leaving the individual lost and ungrounded. Myth and stories are the connection between man and universe.