What is Myth?

A camp fire with pepole telling stories. How can mythology affect us today? — *Photo by* *Tomáš Malík* on *Unsplash*

Most people assume myth is dead, that it is a relic of a bygone era and replaced by the age of logic and reason. People see myth as an outdated mod of thinking, something “primitive” people performed. Myth has come to mean falsehood and untruth. Headline after headline utilizes this definition, continuing to cast myth as the binary opposite of truth.

Myth is not dead. Myth, mythology, and mythic images surround us. There are the apparent myths, like the Norse gods Thor and Loki appearing in Marvel comics and movies, Slender Man, Zombies, Atlantis, Vampires, UFOs, Friday the Thirteenth, black cats, and killer clowns. Every superhero iteration is a reiteration of an older myth that has been retold.

Then there are deeper myths that emerge when we peel back the top layers of the world. Apple, the fruit of knowledge, is one of the most powerful companies in the world that, when harnessed, allows the user to access unlimited knowledge. Information is stored on the cloud, the realm of heavenly assent where the wisest and most powerful beings dwell.

Bots online are called Trolls, creatures that are not human who lurk under bridges, out of sight, and harass people. Vans intended for long journeys are named Odyssey after Odysseus, cleaning products boasting to be the strongest are called Ajax after a mighty Greek Warrior and bulls, and an ancient sign of fertility and strength stands guard outside Wall Street. Each of these, and countless other images, represent thriving myths.

But what exactly is myth?

where does mythology come from? — *Photo by* *Aron Visuals* on *Unsplash*

There is no one way to define it. Each scholar can come to different contentious about what constitutes as myth. Like a spider's silken web or the vanishing trails of smoke, myth defies definition. Myth must be seen like the individual-colored threads that make up a tapestry, each meaning serving a different purpose that, when woven together, offers an underlying worldview.

Myth, like dreams, has been brushed aside as unimportant when in actuality, myth and dreams are the bedrock of what it means to be human.

Myth as Story

The word “Myth” comes from the Greek word “mythos” (plural “mythoi”) and means an utterance or telling. Myth was used by philosophers like Plato as a poetic telling in public. Aristotle took myth to mean an arrangement of elements in a story. At the simplest of meanings, myth is a story, a tale. [1]

Myth as Sacred Narrative

Myth is a “narrative which discloses a sacred world.”[2] When we remove sacred from the political and inflammatory redirect that misuses the word, we find that sacred means extraordinary. It is a space that is opposite the mundane and ordinary. Sacred is the non-ordinary. [3] Myth, then, is something, a story, a being, an object, or a way of thinking that is different from the ordinary. Myths bring us into the sacred.

Myth as Patterns of Meaningfulness

Myths are repeated patterns, images, and archetypes that are reused repeatedly. archetypes and myths are “images in events that give rise to meaningfulness, value, and the full range of experience.” [4]

Myth as Meaning Making

Humans see the world through patterns and images. These patterns and images make up myths that make sense of an often-senseless world. [5] We see the world in patterns and images and use these to create structures and give significance to life. Myths are reflections and self-interpretation “of our inner selves in relation to the outside world.” [6]

Myth as Shared Uniting Narratives

Myths are shared narratives that bind a community together. They create a shared sense of self and identity. They keep people unified. People can define themselves and their communities within the stories they tell each other. These stories and myths hold special importance in the community and are deemed worthy of passing down to each generation. Great care is taken to ensure that the next generation knows the stories. These stories must remain flexible enough to adapt to the community's needs. Myths that become brittle are oppressive and fragile. Eventually, they break, and people forget them.

Myths as Seekers of Questions

Myths try to answer the unanswerable. They are stories that ask and attempt to answer, "Who am I?" "Why am I here?" and "What happens when I die?" Myths ponder the unknown and seek to know.

What this description of myth leaves us with is:

A myth is a collective community tale told from one generation to the next that provides patterns and images to make sense of the world, ties together different people in a shared community, and a narrative that discloses the extortionary world while trying to answer the mysteries of life.

stardust that repesents mythology and stories. Can mythology be real? — *Photo by* *Dan Cristian Pădureț* on *Unsplash*

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[1] Craig Chalquist, Myths among Us When Timeless Tales Return to Life (Goleta, CA: World Soul Books, 2017) [2] Lawrence J Hatab, Myth and Philosophy (Open Court Publishing Company, 1990). [3] Hatab [4] James Hillman, The Essential James Hillman: A Blue Fire, ed. Thomas Moore (Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, 2013) [5] Rollo May, The Cry for Myth (New York, N.Y.; London: Norton, 2011) [6]