Why Mythology Shouldn't Stay in the Past | Sarah Bacha | TEDxHighTechHighSchool

Many people don't like to read books, which is surprising because the speaker has always enjoyed reading.

Sarah shares her love for books and describes the experience of reading as an out-of-body journey, a time machine, and a transporter. She talks about how the Percy Jackson series exposed every part of her to both the real world and the fictional world inside the story.

Chaos and Order were initially nothingness, representing the ancient symbol for chaos. From this state of chaos, order emerged and life arose seemingly out of nowhere.

Greek mythology has roots in the concept of order and chaos being similar. The Greek gods, such as Aphrodite and Poseidon, represent various aspects of life.

The Greek gods had similarities and differences with our modern concepts. Ares, the God of War, represented both order and chaos in solving disputes.

The Tale of Cadmus and the Dragon Cadmus seeks help from Apollo to find the lost land of Europe. He is given a cow to care for, which leads him to encounter a ferocious dragon. After slaying the dragon, he becomes indebted to Aries but eventually earns his freedom through mutual respect.

Athena and Arachne's Weaving Contest Arachne challenges Athena in a weaving contest after showing disrespect towards the gods. Both display exceptional weaving skills, but it ultimately comes down to what they are depicting in their weavings: Athena creates images of beauty and grace while Arachne portrays disrespectful scenes.

Athena punished Arachne for her disrespectful weaving by turning her into a spider, ensuring she would weave forever. This punishment demonstrated Athena's use of strategy and the balance between order and chaos in Greek mythology.

The story of the golden apple illustrates how chaos and order can be influenced by spite and anger. Discord, the goddess of chaos, felt excluded from a wedding on Mount Olympus and sought revenge by creating a chaotic event with a golden apple.

At a gathering of gods and goddesses, a golden apple is thrown into the middle of the table, sparking conflict among them. Three powerful goddesses - Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera - vie for possession of the apple. Unable to decide between them, Zeus passes on the decision to mortal named Paris who is promised gifts by each goddess in exchange for his choice.

Aphrodite offers a beautiful wife to a man, causing the Trojan War. The concept of order turns into chaos and then back to order when Aphrodite is deemed the fairest. This reflects how life is unpredictable with both order and chaos coexisting.

The worry about the future is a common experience for many people, especially in high school. The stress and anxiety revolve around things like college acceptance, test performance, and life after high school. This worrying stems from our human nature to be concerned about the unknown and uncontrollable aspects of the future.

Greek mythology teaches us to make decisions for the future, not in fear of it. It shows that stories are important and how order and chaos exist everywhere. The unpredictability of the future means everything is possible.