Myths

Just to let you know, I'm listening to Something Just Like This by Coldplay and The Chainsmokers which prompted me to revise myths. Just thought you ought to know.

So myth is usually associated with something that is not true.

But here is its definition:

A STORY THAT IS TRUE IN A NON-COGNITIVE AND ANTI REALIST SENSE (more on this later)

Myths tell us about our society, world, but not empirical sensory... stuff so to speak.

You need to know that distinction between it and legend. Legend is a story that has basis in fact.

Myths can be said to be religious as many are rooted in religion of the culture.

Myths are old and often there will be many versions. We can say that they are open to different interpretations. The word myth comes from the Greek 'mythos' meaning story.

Myths have the following 2 characteristics:

1) Significance. The subject matter is important to those that use it

2) Staying power. Myths have a functional importance to those who hear it. It sticks around because of this!

Myths usually fall into these 3 types:

1) Feature a god/gods

2) Heroes

3) No god or hero

Going back to the anti realist idea. If you remember, the anti realist view of truth is that things are true because they fit in with what we believe. Take the example of the myth of Persephone. The myth's point, aside from the fact that you probably shouldn't abduct people, was to explain why certain times in the year are cold and some are hot. Some are good for planting but some are not. Whilst this may seem a bit strange to us, for them it was true because it filled that gap of knowledge. This myth is called an a/etiological myth or an origin myth because it tries to explain why things are as they are. in a sense, they are primitive, or early science.

I'm going to use a cool German term called 'sitz im leben' meaning situation in life. This basically says that in order to see how meaningful myth is, you have to consider it from their 'sitz im leben' or basically, how they would have seen it in 'those days' so to speak. If we only look at it with out own sitz im leben, then we can't interpret them because our perspectives are totally different to what theirs would have been like.

It is important to know that often, myths are not to be taken literally. They have 'hidden' meanings.

Let's consider creation myths.

I'm pretty sure most of you are familiar with the Christian creation story. God creates the world in 6 days out of nothing, rests on the seventh.

Let's look at it a bit more deeply.

It starts off with 'in the beginning.... the earth was a formless void'. Hang on, if it was a void, that is nothing, why does it say 'a wind from God swept over the face of the waters'? What happened to it being 'ex nihilo' or out of nothing? That's because there is mythological language here. The word 'waters' rather talks about something fancy called the 'primordial waters' (meaning before time). You see, in those times, water was a symbol of chaos. This is because it had not been explored. They did not have large boats and the oceans were often rough and unpredictable. So the creation story shows God as powerful enough to bring order out of chaos.

This is not the only creation story that uses water to symbolize chaos. The Ancient Chinese story of Pan Gu and the egg, the Egyptian story of creation, the creation story from the Philippines, to name just a few.

This trend was seen by Philip Freund in his 1964 work 'Myths of Creation'.

Tillich also leaps in and says that it is inescapable that the language of myth can be found in religion. Basically, the language used in myth and religion are both present (like myths aren't to be taken literally as in the whole water thing, neither are language in religion because it is all just a symbol.

'Myths are always present in every act of faith because the language of faith is the symbol'.

Creation stories also talk about the role of humans

Heroic myths often focus on a certain person or group of people. This inspired people because they talked about how a struggle is overcome. For example, there are many myths talking about a sun hero. For the people living in ancient times, the sun was often worshipped because it was the source of life on earth. An example of this is Rama rescuing his wife Sita from the demon Ravana using the bow and arrows of the sun. As well as this, there will also be a theme of good overcoming evil. When this happens, a Golden Age is said to happen (and what does this remind you of?? The sun!) As with the previous example, Rama overcame evil that was Ravana and then became the king, bringing the golden age. This idea of good overcoming evil was inspiring to people.

So to conclude:

Myth was often used as a means of explaining why things are as they are

Myth uses highly symbolic and significance language that is not to be taken literally: ie water.

Myth is anti realist because it fit in with what people believed at the time.

To gain an understanding of myth, you cannot look at it from a modern day perspective, but adopt their sitz im leben