NOT Greatly Changed

The fourth function
Of a mythology then
Is to center
And integrate
The individual
In relation
To himself
The microcosm
In relation to
Its society
We’ll call that the “mezzo-cosm,”
The in-between cosm
In relation to
The universe
As he’s able to know it
And finally
In relation to that
Ultimate mystery
Of which I spoke
In the beginning
Now let me say
A word
About
The problem of integrating
The individual

[Chorus]
This is the thing
That has been the same
This is the thing
That has been the same
Societies have changed
But the problem of the individual in his life course
Has not
Greatly changed

The human being
Is a very
Strange animal
He matures
When he is about
Twenty
Years old
He has been
Growing
For twenty years
For most animals
That is the length of a lifetime
So here is a creature
Who has grown for twenty years
In an
Attitude
And in a position
Largely of dependency
Uncertain of himself
Turning
To his parents
For
Help
Instruction
Protection
Approval
And punishment
This creates
A psychological structure
Of
Dependency
The individual
Is in an attitude
Of dependence
On parental figures
Then
We ask him
To become
Responsible
To assume
Responsibility
Grow up

[Chorus]
This is the thing
That has been the same
This is the thing
That has been the same
Societies have changed
But the problem of the individual in his life course
Has not
Greatly changed

This
Is the crisis
Of the transit
From infancy
To adulthood
From dependency
To
Responsibility
Something has to be done
To make it happen
It won’t happen automatically
As we now know
From the problem of psychoanalysis
A person who
Looks like an adult
But every time responsibility is thrown upon him, turns around to see where mother or daddy is
Just hasn’t passed that threshold
A neurotic is a person who is having responses
Of dependency when there ought to be responses
Of
Responsibility
That’s all it is
So then he goes to a
Psychiatrist who tells him
“Grow up”
That’s about all
The problem is
But that is not so easy
After you have
The business of a reflex
Stimulus
Response
Response takes place
The response of dependence
Dependence, dependence
And now suddenly it’s got to be
Responsibility

[Chorus]
This is the thing
That has been the same
This is the thing
That has been the same
Societies have changed
But the problem of the individual in his life course
Has not
Greatly changed

This is the thing
That has been the same
This is the thing
That has been the same
Societies have changed
But the problem of the individual in his life course
Has not
Greatly changed