The Purposes of Mythology Essay 1

       Humans have always wondered how we got here, what our purpose is, is there something beyond? For years we have performed rituals to try and disconnect ourselves from the physical world. Yet one of the most important things we have done is to pass information and morals orally through myths. By looking at myths from various different cultures we can see various similarities of the human mind, the reflection of human stages and the moral example of how someone should act. Mythology has a great impact on human history because we wouldn’t have evolved mentally and morally without them. Myths also have a great connection to religion but are not necessarily the same. Myths are stories that show people how to act in society, they also show the transitions that humans go through in their lives and finally, they show us how we think in a similar matter. Religion on the other hand can be used as a tool to interpret and spread these myths. Mythology is a fascinating part of human history and of the human mind that has been crucial in leading us to ask the greatest philosophical questions.

       Myths tend to have a specific chronological order. According to Joseph Campbell’s concept known as the monomyth we can see a repetitive pattern in the way myths are performed. For example, a hero’s journey can be told step by step in various myths from different cultures. The hero lives his everyday life, something disrupts it and that forces him to go on a journey where he has to overcome some kind of task. We can also see various similarities in creation myths. Creation myths like India’s “There was Nothing”, “The thoughts of Brahma” and Greek’s “Geia and Uranus” we see many similar aspects. We see the concepts of emptiness and chaos. Here it is suggested multiple times that before the world as we know it there was “nothing” though it is more than nothing. We label it as nothing because we have no words to describe it. There is also the concept of chaos and the universe going in cycles. All this leads to the question, how can different cultures think of such similar concepts? The answer is actually quite simple, humans think in a similar manner. Through art and rituals like those shown in the documentary “The Cave of Forgotten Dreams” humans connect to this spiritual side of themselves which leads them to create myths to pass these senses down to the next generation.

       People I who lived before modern era didn’t necessarily believe the myths literally. According to the book A Case for God, fundamentalism is actually a fairly new concept. This is why people didn’t want a translated version of the bible, because by having these stories told to them in another language they would be able to interpret them how they wanted. The creation myths are a very good example of interpretation. People interpret creation in many different ways. One of the most interesting and maybe even accurate interpretations is one pointed out in The Case for God which states that the Genesis story from the bible, rather than just a creation myth is also a transition from child to maturity. Adam and Eve are in a state of purity (children) until the snake (rebel) tempts them to eat the fruit and when they do they are kicked out of the Garden of Eden or entering maturity. This suggests that myths are more than just stories, they reflect the experiences that humans transition throughout their lives.

       One of the most obvious purposes of myths is sending some type of message or moral. But myths are not like fables, myths are a lot more personal in the sense that in the case of a hero, for example, people would envision themselves as the hero. The hero is has visible human flaws but is a type of moral role model that people are suggested to follow. This is similar to the concept mentioned in The Sacred and Profane in which people build temples or cathedrals to be closer to God in an environment that is not soiled by man. These ideas have all been brought by myths. The way we want to identify with the morality of a mythological character can be compared to the want to have God close to you in a place that has not been corrupted by man.

       Myths have been crucial for human development and history. Without myths we wouldn’t have developed a sense of wonder. Like it is mentioned in the book Sophie’s World, philosophy is based on the ability to wonder. We wonder what we are doing here and how we got here and myths gave us a little push in encouraging us to continue asking them.