Surviving The Myths

Have you ever wondered how we all survived the myths that dictated us through the centuries and how we have lived because of them? People continue to ask, did these mythological fables really exist? Are we ever going to see them again? Did Atlantis really exist or were there ever really any dragons that could fly and breathe fire? Well, some myths do give a religious explanation. This would be a good way to explain some of the myths and how we survived them. But the world or a particular custom began was usually through folklore or through some type of religion. Timeless as they maybe, all of our past events are symbolic.

How many myths and folklores can you come up with and if so, how many of them have changed our lives and the way we are living today. If Christianity came to mind, you could be right. In the last few centuries, religion has become a big part of our lives. We all know a myth is something that isn’t true or not true to what it is. So does this mean that some of the religious stories that been told and shared in the past are myths themselves. I’m only using Christianity as an example to what I’m trying to explain. Let’s look at these: Dragons (myth?), Noah’s Ark (myth?), Robin Hood (myth?), Atlantis (myth?) . See what I mean. The stories that are told are only an expression because of the myth behind them. True or not true, these are the guide lines we have come to know and for most want to believe.

Sometimes religious beliefs are held in contempt, but as one small step up from myth. While myths are stories shared by a group that are a part of their cultural identity, there is no completely satisfactory definition of the term. People compare myth with science and religion. Usually, this comparison is unfavorable and myth is relegated to the area of lies. So, do we condemn myths as a lie, stories that are made up and handed down through the centuries or do we except the facts these myths shaped the human race in the way it is today. You be the judge.

There are dozens of sites that have different explanations on myths, but did anybody ever really sit down and think about our past. What about where the word myth came from. Lets take a look at the word myth.

Myth comes from the Greek word mythos.

In origin this is a Greek word. The word “Mythologia” (“logos” means word) was coined by the philosopher Plato about 400 BC, to describe an imaginative account of events. This was to distinguish such accounts from descriptions which were supposed to be factual (even if based on supernatural events; the difference was more in the approach than the subject matter.) Thus a myth is essentially an imaginative story; it came to suggest a story which, although not believed to be literally true, was recognized as embodying a greater truth. Thus the myth of Oedipus, for example, who in Greek myth kills his father and marries his mother, was eventually used in Freudian psychology to illustrate what Freud believed to be a universal truth about the passions and rivalries which are part of every child’s development. In modern times “myth” often has a rather derogatory meaning, as in “urban myth” which implies a rumor spread by credulous people.

While myths and legends may be transmitted orally or in writing, folk tales tend to be transmitted orally, and although they are transmitted from generation to generation and so their origin or author is unknown, they are more definitely felt to be stories, i.e., fiction.

A legend, on the other hand, is a story which is told as if it were a historical event, rather than as an explanation for something. The legend may or may not be an elaborated version of a historical event. Thus, examples of legends are the stories about Robin Hood mentioned above if it was a myth, was set in a definite period, the reign of Richard I of England (1189-99), or about King Arthur, which were perhaps originally based on the exploits of a Romano-Celtic prince who attempted to resist the expansion of the Anglo-Saxons in what was to become England. The stories about Robin Hood and King Arthur have been elaborated and expanded on down the years. But we want to be connect with the past so we can call them legends. We really don’t have solid proof or at least I haven’t uncovered any.

Briefly, we can say that a myth gives a religious explanation for something: how the world or a particular custom began and legends, although many may not be true in historical writing, has laid a path to create different life styles for a number of cultures. There is usually no attempt to fix the myth or legends into a coherent chronology relationship to the present day, but though myths or legends that do have their own cycle, they may have their own internal chronology. The story is timeless in that the events are symbolic rather than just the way it happened.

While myths and legends may be transmitted orally or in writing, folk tales tend to be transmitted orally, and although they are transmitted from generation to generation and so their origin or author is unknown, they are more definitely felt to be stories, i.e., fiction.