Myths?

I've heard that the world today is a world without myths. But, when you look from an other POV, you notice the world today is not a world without myths, but a world which is full of them. Myths we don't notice, Myths that we do believe, and base our lives on, but when it came to talking about them, we have nothing to say.

The first myth everyone believes in, without even hearing it, is perhaps the myth that say "....And finally the man appeared" which is an end to the myth of creation, and a beginning to myth of controlling.

What I want for you in this thread is, to think about your creation myth, think why it reach to an end that make us believe that we are on planet earth to control other creatures lives, and why we think we are superior than others. and of course, post it here.

Anyone who makes the statement that this world is without myths hasn't gone to the movies in the last 50+ years, or picked up a book in over a century. :laugh:

Now, on the matter that you have mentioned regarding the myth that we are suppose to be over other creatures. That is simply proven by the fact that we have no natural enemies. The only "spirit" (we can actually see in the works) which is above us is Mother Nature (Hurricanes, Earthquakes, etc).

Now, if Dinosaurs existed today, we couldn't claim the high ground, because we would not have evolved to the point we are at now. No time to create computers and such if we are constantly trying to find new ways to survive a dino attack.

Well, I agree that today there are many myths. The problem I think is that many people today have ceased to believe in the most popular religions, or religions of their ancestors. The main problem, and in this I agree with Campbell, is that most are myths designed for civilizations different from those we know today, and today many of those myths border on the absurd.

From where I see it, whether you believe it or not you think you're creating a myth, even the big bang theory is a myth if you think about it carefully, is a theory, an explanation for the mystery of the universe, only that scientists call "god" to this kind of explosion and energy that is constantly expanding.

Alethea Thompson wrote: Anyone who makes the statement that this world is without myths hasn't gone to the movies in the last 50+ years, or picked up a book in over a century. :laugh:

You wouldn't said that if you knew that person was Joseph Campbell, would you?

aha I was thinking "doesn't campbell whine about people giving up on myth?"

Indeed we have myths all around us, from books to movies. However we only hear them. Besides the religious myths that we feel we have to follow and live out, there aren't that many myths that stick with us. Even the moveis that we love so much are only felt and heard while the movie is playing.

How ever there is a myth out there that we all live every day. Its the myth that you've been told since you were born. The Myth that we do live out every day. Its constantly whispered in our ear and it says.

"The world was made for man and man was made to rule it"

Some of you might not have heard it in this way but trust me you've heard it. :dry:

It is a theory that man considers himself superior to all other life forms because of his "higher cognative brain function".

While most all life forms can communicate and act by instinct, man can do this plus it can do the most important brain function...Man Can Choose and Man has an EGO!

Basically what this says to me is that man's EGO has lead to a belief that higher brain function is a superior trait, when in reality it is probably one of our greatest downfalls. We toil and we reason and we work til our brains expolde, but in the end we die with what we came in with, nothing.

The myth is that we can become something greater than what we are, just another species of animal on a Blue Rock in the Universe. Another piece of the eternal Force. This is not to say we should not strive to become more intellegent or to invent great things. It is only to keep it in perspective and remember that we are all in this together. War, violence, murder solves no problems and progresses man no further than the base animal we are.

Hence the expression "man is the measure of all things" being a fallacy

Man IS a measure of all things...

But he is a small measurement in scale to the whole of existence.

Remember there is no right or wrong, there is only the Unknown Truth.

True right and wrong is a matter of perspective based on the existing level of knowledge

Thanks for all of your responses

Well some people pointed to movies, and some to religious myths... indeed Campbell was for some years ago, but in his age, both these kind of myths existed, so why did he said "The world today is a world without myths", while he knew those kind of myths existed?

If I want to rephrase what I said, it would be "Why Joseph Campbell didn't believe these Movies and religious stories aren't myths that today's world need?"

@Phortis Nespin

Pretty much everything you said was spot on. I'm impressed! The only thing that I'd like to clear up is that humans dont think that "higher brain function is a superior trait", only our culture thinks that.

There are humans that think of them selves to be on par with all other life forms. This is because the are completely reliant on other forms of life. Our culture likes to teach us that we are exempt from the laws of life.

I guess thats the biggest myth of all... Our cultures myth.

@Sajjad

Thank you for opening a discussion like this.

Because he needed to feel like his job had more meaning than it actually did? J/K.

I don't know. The funny thing is, almost a decade after Campbell's death we began really looking at Goblekli Tepe and discovered that this was the first site (that we have found thus far) which shows our placing ourselves above animals came much later than Campbell's research proposed (not his fault, of course, he didn't have access to Goblekli Tepe). Campbell believes it is recent, but now our findings are that it dates back to about 11,000 BCE.

I believe that Campbell's real aim in making the statement that there are no myths anymore was to point out that we do not pay attention to the myths we are given anymore-and in a sense have lost all meaning to the myth, making the ones in existence obsolete. If you think about it, even the real life myths of heroes are pushed to the wayside and you are told to become your own person. As individuals you have to create your own myth, something which is unique- never looking at others for inspiration. It's entirely inside of you. But that's not the case, we build off of others to create our own personal story. Without the inspiration of others, you may never truly live out your story line to it's best conclusion, instead you will find yourself running in circles trying to find the right road.

Anyways, Campbell aside, look at the animal kingdom- when a lion is in his own environment completely separate from humans, do you think he is any different from us? He (on some level, it may not be cognitively) acknowledges he is at the top of the food chain, and therefore superior to all other animals around him.

Alethea Thompson:

Thanks for your great response

you said "We do not pay attention to myths anymore," why? And why Campbell believed it was important to pay attention to myths? (anyone who know the answers, give them please )

The definition of myth I use: myth is a, “traditional narration which relates to events that happened at the beginning of time and which has the purpose of providing grounds for the ritual actions of men of today and, in a general manner, establishing all the forms of action and thought by which man understands himself in his world.” (Paul Ricoeur, The Symbolism of Evil, p. 5 ff)

Myth is the narrative embodiment of an idea. The narrative places the experience of man in a whole and so human experience receives orientation and meaning from the narration, thus, an understanding of human reality as a whole operates through the myths by means of reminiscence and expectation. Myth narrates a sacred history; it relates an event in primordial time; it tells how reality came into existence. Myth can be known, experienced, lived in the sense that one is seized by the sacred in the re-enactment the primordial, sacred event. In this way, myth is the symbolic expression of primal experiences. It is a narrative account of the origin of the symbol which represents a primary aspect of experienced reality. Myth can include reference to historic personages and events, nevertheless, there is no discernible correlation between the factual elements of history and the functioning adequacy of a myth. The truth, validity, or effectiveness of a myth is determined solely by those who participate in the ritual re-enactment of myth. True myth is not philosophical allegory as in Hesiod`s cosmogony. Robert Graves says that myth is not an explanation, satire, parody, sentimental fable, embroidered history, minstrel romance, political propaganda, moral legend, humorous anecdote, theatrical melodrama, heroic saga or realistic fiction. Finally, contrary to popular understanding, not every film narrates a myth, myth is not opposed to ‘fact’, nor is a every fiction novel myth.

Alan:

Thanks for definition of myth, and some explanation about it, but

Can you answer any of those question? I couldn't get answer of any those question from what you told.

"What I want for you in this thread is, to think about your creation myth, think why it reach to an end that make us believe that we are on planet earth to control other creatures lives, and why we think we are superior than others. and of course, post it here."

My creation myth? What if I don't have one? Zen doesn't dwell on it. Nor does Jedi... Well, Lord of the Rings does... but... hahah.

RiddleNox:

If you don't have a creation myth, then you can answer other questions I asked here

-If I want to rephrase what I said, it would be "Why Joseph Campbell didn't believe these Movies and religious stories aren't myths that today's world need?"

-"We do not pay attention to myths anymore," why? And why Campbell believed it was important to pay attention to myths?

-If I want to rephrase what I said, it would be "Why Joseph Campbell didn't believe these Movies and religious stories aren't myths that today's world need?"

Because today's world doesn't need myths. It needs to destroy consumerism and enact compassion. That will only happen when we're all dead. The stories in the movies are fantastic and are great myths, but their MEDIUM itself contributes to the collective dumbing down of society and the end of our intelligent generation while we allow technology to overcome us.

-"We do not pay attention to myths anymore," why? And why Campbell believed it was important to pay attention to myths?

Because the pretty lights are more interesting.

We believe ourselves Gods at night in our beds... not servants of Gods. And, as such, movies make our dreams real. We project these ideas into them. Television is much the same.

RiddleNox:

"If you are wondering what a world without myths is... Read NY times!" - Joseph Campbell

Today's world, need myths, but it lack myths, although it have a lot of it, none of them seems to work.

You said today's world doesn't need myth, then why are we creating them? The big bang theory is a myth itself, unless you look from scientist POV.

We don't need myths, and we are making one, daily. Why people go to university, study chemistry, biology, physics....? Don't you think the story that tell us "An atom is made from 3 different things, electron, proton, notron(not sure how you write this one), and these gather together and form an atom which........." is a myth itself?

If we don't need myth, why we create them?