Myth as Ontogenetic Enactment: Reframing Neheh and Djet in Egyptian Cosmology Beyond Symbolic Representation

Dominant approaches to myth in the humanities continue to treat it as symbolic narrative—a representational medium through which transcendent truths are rendered intelligible. This paper challenges that assumption by proposing a process-relational account of myth as ontogenetic enactment, in which meaning is not represented but generated through ongoing relational activity. It does so through an examination of the Egyptian temporal modalities of Neheh and Djet. Methodologically, the paper adopts a diffractive approach, reading Egyptian cosmology through Karen Barad's concept of intra-action and Gilbert Simondon's theory of individuation. Rather than treating Neheh and Djet as symbolic representations of cyclical and eternal time, they are interpreted as interdependent processes of renewal and stabilization through which reality unfolds. Myth, in this sense, is not a structure that is preserved, transmitted, or rewritten, but an ongoing process enacted through relational becoming. The paper argues that myth functions not as representation but as ontogenetic enactment. This reframing positions myth as an immanent, participatory process embedded within lived and artistic practices, with implications for how myth is created, interpreted, and performed across narrative and aesthetic contexts.