Welcome to our web page where you
can find an introduction to the
MYTHSEEKER PROJECT.

Here is how it works.

We have named it the MYTHSEEKER Project because we believe that very many individuals have yearned for a mythic story—a story which provides narrative meaning and spiritual content for the individual and the larger cultural group. We believe that the MYTHSEEKER Project can be helpful for this purpose. Over aeons of time a number of mythic systems have developed describing how life changes and transforms, how the individual can be connected with the world and its purpose. Within these systems there have developed teachings and techniques to help persons progressively find their way into their particular spiritual paths, realizations, and traditions. Great teachers have embodied and passed on these teachings and lineages. Over time, ceremonies have developed and texts have been written through which a person may participate to desired degrees in his cultural ethos.
In our modern 20th-21st century world we are gifted with knowledge and access to a wide variety of these spiritual paths. However, we are also plagued at the present with all-encompassing global disillusion and a breakdown of spiritual belief and practice. Across-the-board we seem to yearn for personal access to the sublime, the deeply meaningful, the celestial, or the spiritual in ways that are not rigid or dogmatic. Many persons are looking for parameters, and searching for teachings leading to sacred contact or grace which would be meaningful and accessible to themselves and all people everywhere.
We aren't promising all these, but the project truly reflects the very yearning spoken of above. We hope the project might provide significant tools, ways to accelerate the search through forming a large, inclusive community. We also wish the participant to engage and investigate the possibilities consciously—with the mature help of other persons similarly involved and inclined. This includes the hugely magnified possibilities offered by computer technology and interpersonal connection via the Internet and the World Wide Web.

Helping you.

Now we'd like you to become familiar with how the MYTHSEEKER Project might work for you using this presentation as an introduction. We are continually developing the software on all levels, including the use of new technologies and an integrated collection of programs allowing you an unprecedented method of connection with significant spiritual methods and traditions. Our intent is to enable your involvement with these mythologies. The involvement takes place via imagery and sound for the seamless imparting of dynamic systems of spiritual experience using computer-generated virtual reality. This is our first major public unveiling. There is far more to come as the project unfolds—and we invite your personal response (see PARTICIPATION page).
Foreseen applications of MYTHSEEKER technology include psychotherapy and medical diagnosis, drug rehabilitation, hospice care, education, cross-cultural communication, and personal life quest. The same software pertains to all applications. Our first major application is for psychotherapy and related areas
We believe there will be considerable demand for MYTHSEEKER products by a younger generation of explorers seeking new mythic dimensions, and by an older generation of explorers seeking to integrate their extensive life experiences. Many young persons are seriously seeking meaning and life purpose and will likely welcome the imaginative approach that MYTHSEEKER offers. Also, the first of the "baby boomers" have turned fifty. Many of these worthy people have grown up without strong spiritual roots and are coming to the stage of life where contemplation of who they are really begins—and their numbers are growing exponentially. Many persons in the general public are open to finding their Personal Myths and thereby shaping aspirations in non-doctrinaire ways. These groups together suggest an immense potential market for MYTHSEEKER products.

Our logo

Now discover our logo which we believe captures the vision of the MYTHSEEKER Project. It symbolizes mythic search both inwardly and in the external world.

The MYTHSEEKER logo is derived from an ancient megalithic symbol suggesting the depth and power of participating with myth. The logo implies levels of awareness that converge toward a center, which is analogous to the personal experience of myth-seeking. The logo grounds this process in the four cardinal directions; it signifies an internal compass by which to find, experience, and shape one's personal myth.

I stood on the highest mountain of the world and I knew more than I saw, I understood more than I knew, because I was seeing in a sacred manner. Behold, a sacred voice is calling you; all over the sky a sacred voice is calling.
(Black Elk, Oglala Sioux Shaman)

A stairway has been set up to the sky that you may ascend.
(Pyramid Text 619)

Accomplishments.

Perhaps you'd like to know what we've accomplished to date.

Our software architecture design is patented in the category Information Processing System Organization—Knowledge Processing. Extensive papers about the project by the inventor have appeared and are appearing in technical publications and conferences. Some examples are:

• "The MYTHSEEKER Project: Concepts and Realization" in Journal of Systems and Software June 1994
  
• two papers presented at the IEEE Wescon conference in October 1996, published in the proceedings
  
• presentation at the Medicine Meets Virtual Reality:6 conference, sponsored by the UCSD School of Medicine, in January 1998
  
• "A Software System for Psychiatric and Medical Diagnosis Via Exploring Personal Myth in Virtual Environments" in the Summer 1998 issue of the CyberPsychology and Behavior Journal
  
• "Virtual Reality in Psychotherapy: the MYTHSEEKER Software" chapter in the book Virtual Reality in Clinical Applications, published October 1998 by IOS Press, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  
• innovative course Myth, Symbol, and Metaphor at American College of Applied Arts in Westwood, California
  
• presentations at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, California; IEEE South Bay Chapter at Loyola-Marymount University in Westchester, California; Electronic Cafe International and the Learning Annex, both in Santa Monica, California; and other locations.
  

These screens that you are now reading are continually being updated. We publish a newsletter named Mortal Realms to express the project's mission and vision. We have a team of persons, highly regarded in their professional fields, lending their expertise and time to the project. There is also a larger community of supporters and advisors drawn from areas of technology, the humanities, and the creative arts. Please see the BIOS link in the Menu below to "meet" these persons, including the inventor. They are on the Board of Directors/Advisors, and some are serving as consultants.

Before you proceed with MYTHSEEKER, we suggest you become familiar with the terminology that will make you ready for more detailed aspects of the project, its unfolding and vision.
Of course you should understand that this exciting project is indeed to the best of our knowledge unique in its comprehensive approach. Research has shown no comparable Personal Myth software system in the United States, Europe, Japan, or other countries including Canada and the Americas.
You should know that there is a strong MYTHSEEKER code of ethics intended to protect all explorers from inauthentic, controlling, or manipulative use of this project. The code of ethics recognizes, however, that you may at times during exploration with MYTHSEEKER feel extended beyond your present limits—or feel called to tests and trials which are difficult. These facets are undeniable parts of true seeking, i.e., of "myth-seeking" which recognizes the fullness of spiritual and mythic endeavor. Indeed, they are natural parts of the human condition.

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Mythseeker © 1998 ® McCagie Brooks Rogers
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This page last updated on August 21, 1998