A myth is a way to represent a truth that we can accept and understand. Unlike many symbols, myths are actually true.
People are often mistaken about understanding myths. Over half of us think of them as inventions, fantasies, fairy tales or lies. The real meaning of myth is quite different from this. But even if everyone could agree about this, religions would still be on different pages. Solve this and something else would get in the way.
People are often afraid of letting go of their allegiances to things like religion and politics. The fear is that if we give up what we believe in, our personal safety somehow crumbles. And we just can’t afford to face that kind of threat.
So the problem isn’t that we don’t get the idea of understanding myths as symbols. No, the root problem here is the way we behave in an effort to keep ourselves safe. Then we resist looking at whether our false safeguards make any sense. We don’t want to find out that perhaps we were wrong.
In short, a myth is a way to represent a truth, conveying it in a way that we can accept and understand. Similar to a symbol, they are concisely constructed—like a vast truth in picture form. This is not unlike the picture language used in the Spirit World or the picture language we experience when we dream.
While the principle is the same, there is a difference though between understanding myths and symbols. We can have a symbol for anything, whether its important or not. In dreams, we have symbols but they are personal to us, with our own unique little idiosyncrasies. By contrast, myths deal with general, universal truths, presented so that we can grasp them. Unlike many symbols, myths are actually true.
Jill Loree grew up in northern Wisconsin with parents who embraced their Norwegian, Swedish and German heritage. Foods like lutefisk, lefse and krumkaka were prepared every Christmas. And of course there was plenty of beer, bratwurst and cheese all year round.
She would go on to throw pizzas and bartend while attending college at the University of Wisconsin, and then moved into a career in technical sales and marketing. She would settle in Atlanta in 1989 and discover that the sweet spot of her career would be in marketing communications. A true Gemini, she has a degree in chemistry and a flair for writing.
One of Jill’s greatest passions in life has been her spiritual path. Raised in the Lutheran faith, she became a more deeply spiritual person in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) starting in 1989. In 1997, she was introduced to the wisdom of the Pathwork Guide, which she describes as “having walked through the doorway of a fourth step and found the whole library.”
In 2007, she completed four years of training to become a Pathwork Helper, and stepped fully into her Helpership in 2011. In addition to offering individual and group sessions, she has been a teacher in the Transformation Program offered by Mid-Atlantic Pathwork. She also led marketing activities for Sevenoaks Retreat Center in Madison, Virginia and served on their Board of Trustees.
In 2012, Jill completed four years of kabbalah training and became certified for hands-on healing using the energies embodied in the tree of life. She began dedicating her life to writing and teaching about personal self-development in 2014.
Today, Jill is the proud mom of two adult children, Charlie and Jackson, and is delighted to be married to Scott Wisler. She’s had more than one last name along the way and now happily uses her middle name as her last. It’s pronounced loh-REE. In 2022, Scott joined her full time in their mission to spread the teachings of the Pathwork Guide far and wide.
