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Myth: an invented story, idea or concept - an imaginary or fictitious thing or person. (Oxford dictionary)
Mind is the mother imagination – imagination is the mother of myths.
Myths are sustained by belief.
The lifespan of myths depends on the faith of their beholders.
In order to survive, myths devise supporting myths, or update their terminologies. Thus genesis turns into genetics, god into big bang and Homo into Sapiens, who covers the manipulations with evolution myths.
(Apropos: survival concepts are myths too.)
Most religious- moral- social- political- economical and historical myths are to bind collectives -
yet, there are also plenty of myths concerning mind and body, and probably more about Life & Death.
“We are living in a world of make-believe, trying not to let it show…” (Moody Blues)
And then there are, what may be called, the EGO myths which are to embellish and to elevate somebody - as for example Sapiens who, being borne into the Homo family in Sweden, became – with the support of the enlightenment movement and its scientific followers – in less than a century the crown of creation, supreme of mankind, ruler of the earth, and in order to back this myth, backdated his origin 250 000 years into an East African Savannah.
By the way, we could confront some (and that includes non-religion folks) with hard, cold facts that nearly everyone understands, and these people will still believe the opposite, and believe myths. Anyone among us has the potential to believe in myths. Let's not kid ourselves.
The world is a scary place when you are an individual human surrounded by fauna, including other humans and flora that is out to get you.
Humans desire explanations like "when A happens then B happens (or doesn't happen)." It helps them sleep at night (and the dark can be especially scary). So storytelling and myths begin, first they teach the next generation things that they should and should not do and then the reason for the story is lost and the passing of specific information gets garbled or embellished or completely changed. A multi-generational game of "Gossip" where each person whispers a sentence to the person on their right and when the circle is complete the message is unrecognizable.
Myth can be true in some cases. I wonder how long it takes for a myth that was true to pass into unrecognizability and no longer helpful.
Most civilizations condemn incest, perhaps because it weakens a society on a genetic level, allowing linking of bad recessive genes. Is it true today or is it a myth that we have come to accept. Most civilizations have a creation story but not all have one single God who requires recognition and obedience.
Humans are different and myths from their tribal groups and civilizations are different.
Don't be mad if I don't accept your myths.
I don't believe the world is make-believe at all (but do love the Moody Blues, geniuses).
I believe in science, that helps me sleep at night.
This is not to question myths per se, but their actual application, as many of them are not only taken for granted (or some may say “real”) but do determine the existence of millions of humankind and do often get them into serious troubles.
Especially the myth: there is nothing we can do about it.
If you are interested in myths as a cultural device, you should read Sapiens by Yuval Harari. He is an Israeli historian but writes a lot about cultural issues and especially where we are headed. Part of his writing explores the role that myths play in our development. He believes that all of our beliefs - from morality to ethics and religion - are just myths. I tend to agree. It is a dramatic finding because it points out that there is no objective foundation to anything that we hold near and dear; it is all arbitrary and made up in our heads. Needless to say, Harari is an atheist.
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