The Truth in the Clouds: A Walk Through the Myth of Nephele
What wisdom comes from Zeus’s nubile creation
I recently came across the word Nefelibata, a curious word used in Portugal and Spain to describe someone with their head in the clouds, a tendency to daydream.
It led me down the rabbit hole of research and I found that it related to Greek mythology. The challenge with mythology is that the myths are not simply stories in a book of fables. They are intertwined in other myths, other versions of the same myth, and also in etymological roots and psychological themes. To try and dissect a myth without digging deeper is like trying to prescribe the same medicine for everyone, everywhere, as if one size fits all.
What I find most inspiring in the study of myths is that the intertwining stories show that the “characters” are multi-faceted, like humans are. They are not reduced to a mere “caricature” as if they were a role in a Hollywood movie. While the caricature can help us understand story context, we have to remember that people are never so simply understood.
Myth is from the Greek mythos which means “speech, thought, word, discourse, conversation; story, saga, tale, and perhaps most importantly “anything delivered by word of mouth.” Myths are fluid and are recompiled into text for modern…
