An adult bedtime story:
Once upon a time, Zeus, the ruler of all Olympian gods, loved Mnemosyne, the Titan goddess of memory, for nine consecutive nights. Not so long after that, she gave birth to nine lovely young ladies, who then went on to inspire the creatively-inclined minds of the classic and modern world…
One of the faq’s we get here at FAQ is “why the theme of ‘muse’?”
Well, what better theme for the starting point of an artistic journey? Before we could put pen to paper, paint to canvas, we need “an inspiration.” Something, or someone, to ignite the initial spark that sends us scrambling, scribbling on crumpled napkins a phrase, a crude sketch, a few bars of raw notes.
In the ancient times, the muses were called upon in the beginning of epic poetry and hymnals, as well as served as the “true voice” behind prose pieces – inspiration. So it’s not surprising that the root for muse, “mousa” in Greek, is related to the English words for “mind” and “memory,” the tools for igniting inspiration. It’s also not exactly shocking to uncover that the muses presided over domains that the ancients considered academics (i.e. history, poetry, drama, astronomy). For without a basic foundation of knowledge and examples, it’s rather difficult to offer up one’s own variations.
Muses, in the ancient world, were worshipped (surprise surprise) with their very own shrines. But what most seem to overlook is that we still pay our respects to these pagan creatures in our modern everyday – with visits to the museum. Though museums are more for the display of knowledge these days, nevertheless they are still homages to the goddesses who inspired the discovery and learning.
An amusing thought: “amuse” is the linguistic opposite of “muse.” Not surprising, since we were taught that the prefix “a-” has similar effects as the prefix “un-”. “To muse” means to think or to learn, and therefore “to amuse” is to entertain, to have fun – though a trip to the museum is actually both educational and entertaining, and “an amusing thought” has both components of thinking and fun… but we digress.
So what muses you to amuse? What amuses you to muse?
