The Myth of Myths

Having just watched the video by J Campbell on the Message of the Myths, I'm afraid it has just left me cold. He is obviously a very learned man and an excellent orator but to me a Myth is just that, a Myth.
I don't need fairy tales from times gone past used to frighten, impress or to try to justify their chosen religion or god to influence me. I may be un Jedi like in my thinking but I think logic, deal in facts and see things mainly in black and white, good and bad, up or down etc. For me the are very few grey areas, we are born-live and die, this is a fact of life. No metaphoric stories or tales will change that.
The sooner we leave behind these archaic religions and myths behind, they mean nothing, then we can look to the future. When I see some of these grand structures depicting Myths, all I see is the slavery and hardship endured by the poor people forced to build them, that is a fact.
After all the Force is seen as black and white, to that there is no Myth, go forward in peace,may the force be with you.

Ah but many don't see the force as black and white...

I used to see everything as black and white, but life taught me that there is a lot of grey...stealing is wrong, stealing food to survive falls into that grey area...

I agree that archaic views need to either evolve or perish...

For me, every myth, every legend is based on some fact, some small nugget of truth...we must sift through all the "crap" in order to find that nugget...in order to do that we need the myths and legends, otherwise we lose that nugget, until someone manages to rediscover it...there can be valuable lessons if one is able to see through the illusion...

To me, stealing is stealing, to justify it by saying its a need to survive is not right, there is no grey area, do we rob Peter to pay Paul?
In my experience "Grey Areas" are used by individuals to try and support their claims or arguments to try and sway things in their favour or cloud issues as the example above, theft is theft whatever the reason, doesn't make it right.
As for Myths, these may be based on fact, which I don't dispute but in this day and age there is nothing new to be learned from them. As I see it see them they are like the fisherman who caught a tiddler but to friends it was a marlin, just tales to impress the masses.

Your senses do not necessarily deceive you, but your interpretation may be limited. Logic, left to itself, denies itself ...

The stories are not to be believed as facts, they are only analogous ... They are cautionary, give us the means of making sense of things once logic fails.

You must be libertarian, after Robert Nozick, William. As such, I must oppose your opinion : yes, we do rob Peter to pay Paul, when Peter has too much and Paul has nothing. If some consider that 'theft', well, I wish them a good solid dose of desperation in order to see things more clearly.

Compassion and economy may most certainly be bedfellows. Compassion and avarice may not be ...

:dry:

Logic frees my mind to focus on whats important in life and not to dwell on fairy tales and analogues. The spirituality i get from this enables be to fully embrace life, this i get from my learnings and experience and my ability to pass these on to others whether their free thinkers or not.
In all forms of life it is simply the survival of ther fittest so to speak and man is no different in that respect. A person may be greedy but the journey to that greed may have been a hard and deserved one so who are we to rob him of his right to that journey.
This is a fine example of how "Grey Areas" can mask the injustice of the haves and have not, If you dont have then work for it.

That seems to deny the concept of inalienable rights (Locke).

Moreover, recent studies in empathy (Batson, University of Kansas) suggest that your opinions are largely untenable. But you are free to feel that way until you don't or are shown differently.

We somehow do not turn out to be as much the "dog-eat-dog" bastards that we may even want to be ...

Being as I don't believe in god in any of his concepts, then I certainly don't believe in any of his " inalienable rights "

Stealing is stealing you are right...

And against the law...

But to feed my family, I would do it cause the greater good, of feeding my children, comes before my worrying about the lessor good of man's law...

Have you never learned a lesson from a mythical tale?

The tale is ultimately all that matters. The why, the motivations. It is why we have trials.

If everything were black and white, cut and dry, we would have no reason to go to court to tell our stories. Facts is facts right?

This is not true in all cases, but I have observed many times that people tend to claim they don’t believe in a higher authority out of convenience. Being “nice,” “good” or “moral” seems to be a serious inconvenience to some. And if they claim not to believe in the things that help to govern others than that can be an easy personal justification for whatever behavior they desire.

Part of a hypothetical conversation…
I would act like a decent human being, but I don’t believe in the deity or the principals put forth by the religious orders which submit to that particular belief system, so I am excused from being held accountable for my behavior based on how it is judged by others.

I know, that sounds harsh. But, based on my beliefs and willingness to stand for those that can’t or don’t stand for themselves, it is my response.

Andy Spalding wrote: The tale is ultimately all that matters. The why, the motivations. It is why we have trials.

Its not the destination, but the journey...

if one doesn't stand for something, they'll fall for anything...

we all believe/have faith in something...even atheists...you believe in logic/have faith in it...do you not?

i believe in the power of the human mind to achieve many things and to solve many mysteries...however personal experience has shown me things that mankind has yet to explain...when presented with the "unbelievable" i first look for ways to debunk it...to recreate it so it can be explained...i research it, look for others that can explain it...when these fail i then turn to the hard to believe things as a possibility...not a final solution but a possibility...until proven otherwise, then i incorporate the new knowledge...

and i agree with wescli...without something to believe in as far as a moral standard to uphold, many would simply do whatever evil,vicious, and murderous things they want and use the lack of a standard as their excuse for doing such things...and i do understand that some use these standards in a twisted way to justify the same...

as the saying goes: you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't

WilliamHaining wrote: Logic frees my mind to focus on whats important in life and not to dwell on fairy tales and analogues. The spirituality i get from this enables be to fully embrace life, this i get from my learnings and experience and my ability to pass these on to others whether their free thinkers or not.
In all forms of life it is simply the survival of ther fittest so to speak and man is no different in that respect. A person may be greedy but the journey to that greed may have been a hard and deserved one so who are we to rob him of his right to that journey.
This is a fine example of how "Grey Areas" can mask the injustice of the haves and have not, If you dont have then work for it.

I am curious about something youve said here, which on the surface certainly makes perfect sense. If one does not "have" one must work for. Where does ability, or more specifically, limited ability come into your belief? If for example someone does not have, but has no ability to work or improve themselves to a point where they can "have", what are they meant to then do?

If you cant afford to feed your children, then don't bring a life into the world. To steal is inexcusable, period.

Im not sure I understand how that relates to what I asked. Could you explain in more detail?

I believe in lots of things, but as a free thinker I have faith in nothing, things change, they progress and I am open to this, doesn't make me evil, in fact the opposite. When you put faith before anything else you cease to become a free thinker.

Adapt or perish, natures law

Ah. Ok.

So you believe if someone is born without the skill or ability to survive that they should simply be allowed to die? Natures law?

Thankfully we live in a world where people care but in Nature in you don't eat you don't live, this in natures law, not mine

But what about people who are not fortunate enough to be in a situation where someone cares?