Myths and Why we need them

1.) What I think the word “myth” means is that it is make believe or a made up story.

2.) To me the definition of religion is when you believe and worship the living God. A myth is when something is made up or fake. After reading Armstrong’s excerpt, the word myth is the origins of life and the meaning of it.

3.) Yes, people still use myths to make up stories about a supernatural event that has not happened in real life.

4.) I am only interested in myths because there are many different and interesting stories that are made up.  There isn’t really a type of myth that catches my attention, I generally go for myths that seem interesting.

5.) People study myths because they want to figure out if they are even real.  I have know idea of what the true meaning of myths are.

HUM 115: World Mythology

I do not really think much about myth or mythology. I have traveled around the world and have experienced many cultures and religions. I found that people have had to explain why the sky is blue in so many ways that they found what worked for them and their culture. Myth is a way for people to explain the what they do not understand. When I hear the word myth I think of Aesops fables and the wrong way to live. I do not see many differences of myth and religion. Religion has more rituals but is still used to explain to people how to act and accept others. Myth is still used today. I was reading the Sunday paper and ran across a “Hagar the Horrible” comic strip. The legend of the brave Norse warrior and his caring family still projects the brave warriors of old. I am not really interested in mythology since it seems to be PG from the original tale. Take Hercules for example. Disney has made it so uninteresting and boring from the original hero archetype. I have enjoyed the old tales from the Eastern European region, only when my friends Grandmother tells the tales in Russian to her grandchildren. The way she tells the tales they are pretty intense and scary.  Myths are used to explain the outside world. People still study it today because the verbal tale was the beginning of historical occurrences.

After reading and listening to the assignment I see how the study of mythology is a window into the minds and psyche of the people in the past. I did not think of mythos as a anything but a way to tell tales but now I can start to see how they are important. Logos is more of the way I think. If you cannot prove it then it did not happen. I am very black and white in my thought process. Ms. Armstrong is quick to point out how myth is used as a way to explain the world and how logos was used to disconnect people from stories. Myth is important and I look forward to seeing how this will happen.

Myths and Their Importance

Myths, to me, are stories that help people understand the history of different cultures.  They have been documented and shared for centuries.  I think a myth is usually believed to be a legend, without much thought given to how it might have helped mold the beliefs of a culture but religion is generally accepted as actual events.  Greek gods are always the first thought I have when anyone speaks of myths.  Myths are stories that we should continue to share with later generations because they truly offer an understanding of how cultures were formed that we may not otherwise understand.  Religion and mythology do seem to go hand in hand on a certain level, however most people believe that the stories shared through religion are truth to how the world was actually created.

I find mythology to be a fascinating subject because it seems to have helped shape the world in ways that we will never understand.  I remember being forced to study mythology in middle school and never wanting to read the material.  As I’ve grown older, mythology has become a subject that I find very interesting so I plan to absorb all I learn in this class.  I believe others study myths to help obtain a better understanding of history among different civilizations.  I can not say if the stories are true or not but, when you see all of the ancient writing and statues, you must question whether such events may hold some sort of truth or if it is truly a book of fiction.

After reading the excerpt from Karen Armstrong’s The Battle For God, I realize that the stories of the mythological and biblical world are not so different.  The correlation between the two is really quite obvious.  One could associate historical events with either, as they are often different variations of similar events.  The world is ever-changing and, with technology advancing daily, science is used to explain away why things happen in our world today.  Science, however, can not seem to justify every event in this world so I believe people will continue to look to the past mythological and biblical stories known so well.

Myths and why we still need them.

When I think of the word “myth” the first thing that comes to mind is an embellished story or a parable that has been adapted, as it has been passed from generation to generation, to help us understand our history. I am not extremely familiar with ancient mythology and what ideas it encompassed though it seems to me that myth and religion are different, but interdependent. While we may not widely associate the term “myth” with religion, most religions seem to be founded on myths whether they be encounters between God and man in the Bible or tales of triumph of man over monster. Myth could be defined as the doctrine and religion could be defined as the practice of the concepts that myth represents. Again, this is not an area that I am familiar with so maybe my understanding lacks depth or perspective. It’s for this very reason that I think this class will be beneficial to me.

After reading and listening to Karen Armstrong explain her views, I think she makes some very interesting points about the human condition. Myth seems to have been abandoned by our society in general, and I think it shows. We tend to act based on reason and logic. If an idea is not presented with raw data or facts, we are hesitant to embrace it, even if it provides a solution to our very existence! It seems that myth was once the glue that held societies together. Armstrong states that “we are meaning-seeking creatures”. There was a time when humans seemed to be more unified in that we were all lost together. We weren’t fully aware of what our purpose was. Logos determined that we needed to communicate, sleep, hunt, eat, and survive, but only mythos could help us understand WHY to live. I think in our modern day society we have gone a little backwards. Armstrong argued that “mythical thinking has fallen into disrepute”. Mythical thinking is regarded as naïve and irrational. I think we are missing out on valuable insight and influence by disregarding mythos and strictly embracing logos. I think we absolutely still need myths. Studying myths can increase our ability to cope with our humanity. They can help us cope with suffering, fear, loss, death, disability, and will ultimately help us answer questions about our existence that logic simply can’t address.

We need myth?

I would define the work “myth” as a story that’s not proven or untrue.  When I think of a myth I think it can’t be true.  A myth is a story that people don’t believe.  Religion is a belief system based on stories, culture, upbringing and surroundings that people choose to believe or follow.  There are all sorts of myths still floating around in our world.  Many people set out to find the truth about myths and to solve the mystery or story.  I find myths to be fascinating but sometimes ridiculous.  Some are just too hard to believe.  Some of my favorite myths are it takes seven years for gum to digest, cracking your knuckles leads to arthritis, earthworms cut in half will grow two new worms, vampires and dragons.  I think people study myths for the adventures, the truths and the “in your face, I proved it wrong” bragging rights.  But other than that, discovering new information about myths could lead to many more discoveries about the world and people.

I like when she talked about bad myths and good myths.  I never thought a bad myth could make us cruel and prideful but that good myths make us face reality, push our limits and make us open our hearts.  When we compare it to religion, it could be similar.  Some people believe there is good religion and bad religion.  I think religion could do the same things to us.

I found the conversation about Gods to be interesting.  Our God did it once, your God must do it every year.  I never thought that some Gods might have to prove their “Godliness” every year in order for their people to believe in them.

She said we need Logos to survive but we can also need myth to help us with deal with hard times.  Logos and myth tend to work together to help us understand what is happening whether it be cancer or cure.  Logos helps us understand what’s happening to our bodies and myths help us understand emotionally the grief we might feel.

Uses of Myth

When I think of myth, the first word that comes to mind is folklore; culturally specific stories that attempt to make sense of concepts that could not be explained with logic and reason. Religion is a moral code shared by a group of people as opposed to a collection stories that explain natural phenomena. In today’s world, we would explain ( or attempt to explain) those same concepts using science. However, I believe there are instances in which we use myth today. We can see the use of myth in some holiday rituals and stories that have Pagan origins (i.e. Santa Claus.) I find myth interesting, because it shows how a particular culture views the world around them. People might study myth in order to see the differences or ,perhaps, similarities between cultures.

After ruminating on Armstrong’s words, I see that there is not a great deal of difference between religion and myth. Religions seemed to be rooted in myth. Armstrong states, ” religious stories are almost always mythological.” Myth is not just mere explanation of  natural phenomena through story, but rather a way to tackle the more difficult questions of human existence. Myth also demonstrates how we, as humans, should behave.  These things make myth very similar to religion with the main difference being the rift between the divine and the profane.

Myth; A Very Important Story

At first I considered myths to be a lot like fairytales, just without the magical elements. I thought of a myth as a fictional story, without realizing the importance behind the meaning of the story, which is what truly defines a myth. For example, Armstrong says, “myth looked back at the origins of life, to the foundations of culture, and to the deepest levels of the human mind. Myth was not concerned with practical matters, but with meaning.”

I also did not understand how much myth was actually associated to religion before reading the excerpt from “The Battle of God”. Myth and religion are similar in the way that they provided people with a context that made sense of their day to day lives, and they directed peoples attention to the eternal and universal (Armstrong). Although myth has its basis in religion, they are still different. From what I understand, mythology could be considered a dead religion; a belief that has lost its recognition as well as its credibility, while religions are regarded as active and valid beliefs. Myths, although they are not the same as religion, could also be considered an essential tool or foundation for many belief systems. For instance, a Christian may believe that the stories of the Bible are based on historical facts; that they are more like legends than myths, while a non-Christian might see those stories as myths that teach moral lessons based on the Christians belief and ethical system.

Myths are important for various reasons. One is because they play a significant role as a basis for many religions that are practiced today. Although myths are fictional, they still teach valuable life lesions about good and evil, and self discovery. Armstrong says that mythology can bring light to subconscious realm, which has a profound effect on our experience and behavior. However, the most significant purpose of myths for me is simple; storytelling. That is because my job as an artist is to tell a story through my pictures. Stories are passed down from generation to generation, all around the world, teaching us about various cultures knowledge, history, and ethics. There is more to storytelling than that though. Stories are meant to make you feel. They can give us pleasure, or they can give us hope. They can make us sad, or angry. They can make you feel connected; that in some place at some time, even if it was hundreds of years ago, somebody else understood the way you felt when you thought you were the only one. For that reason alone, myths are vital in our society, not only to read through, but to study and to understand.

Myths past and present.

When I hear the word myth I automatically think of the word fable. A story that has very little bearing of truth. I think of a cautionary tale that is told to us as children so that we listen to our parents when they tell us not to talk to strangers. When you get into the difference between myth and religion, here is where it can get decisive. What is one person’s myth is another persons religion. Many people follow Christianity as their religion and will read and follow the Bible due to it being their sacred text. However there are others that will say that these are merely tales to show us right from wrong and don’t necessarily mean that this is an account of what happened in the past. I grew up in a very Christian household and my parents still have these believes and hold on to them dearly. I don’t agree with their beliefs, however they are good people who think they are doing the right thing. I happen to think that one can still be a good person regardless of their religious beliefs. I do think that myths are important in our society now. We still have the good versus evil myth that we have grown up with and is any superhero movie that you have seen lately. I am interested in myths and how they have seeped into our day to day societies. I think it will be fascinating to see how myths can be shared inter-culturally without even knowing about it.People should study myths due to their longevity. There is a reason why they have been around in a certain fashion for so long. They probably hold a certain merit to them even if we don’t quite understand them yet.

I found Ms. Armstrong’s interview with NPR was very enjoyable. I found that the lines between myths and facts can tend to blur. You can see how People who have grown up with these myths can take them as fact and continue this for better or worse. The mythos and logos section of the piece was interesting how that they are both separated from different parts of the brain, yet they can work in tandem with each other. This is just like real life where it can be difficult to decipher which came first the chicken or the egg. I found from listening to Ms. Armstrong that one could debate the topic of myths for their entire lifetime and it is not simply reduced to good versus evil and you can call it a day.

What are Myths and How are They Important

I would define myth as a belief that is no longer widely accepted among groups in our world today and when I hear this word I think of legends and stories but not necessarily truth. The difference between myth and religion is that religion is a widely accepted form of belief whereas myth was once believed in and is no longer a prevalent belief. Myth is used today to teach lessons and also for people to study the literature that was during the time period of the myths. I have been interested in myths ever since I saw Hercules. I know its not a great representation but I am really into Greek and Egyptian myths. People might study myths to understand what a certain culture was like and the types of things they did because of their beliefs.

After listening to the interview and reading the excerpt, my ideas on myth have shifted from believing that they are more than beliefs and stories but that they are meant to teach people about the depths of their own mind and body. In the interview, Armstrong stated that “the hero is telling us what we most do to unlock the heroic potential within ourselves.” This is significant to me because it shows a strong example for the people of the time what types of trials one must face to become a better person and to help their own survive. Myths are important because they can help people see themselves in a different light and it helps to release them from the pain of mortality.

The Importance of Myth

For the people who are familiar with certain myths, it is obvious that our culture has been steeped in myth. Many of the same stories told by ancient civilizations to inspire courage and bravery have been adapted into movies and television shows, we make references to them in our music, contemporary authors tell the story using modern themes, but still with the same underlying story. By my definition, a myth is a story that was told to explain the inexplicable: forces of nature, where we came from, and the unbreakable human spirit.  According to Armstrong myth was used to assuage human pain and sorrow and makes sense of tragedy. The differences between myth and religion is that religion has a doctrine. Most religions have commandeered certain myths from different cultures in order to add to their teachings. Many of the same myths can be found in several different religions with only minor changes. I think myth is interesting because the stories can still affect our emotions, it makes me believe that we, as humans, are not all that different from those that lived thousands of years ago. I fell in love with Greek myths when i was in junior high, the stories captured me and before I knew it I had read everything I could get my hands on. I think people study myths to see how our species has evolved, by studying the myths of certain civilizations we are able to determine what they deemed important in life.