Question: What Is Myth?
Obviously, a myth is a story no one really believes, although maybe some time long ago there were people naive enough to have
believed in it.
Once you start looking carefully at that so-called definition, it falls apart. Think about your own firmly held beliefs. How would you feel
if someone labeled them as myth? You'd probably argue -- and very defensively -- it wasn't a myth. You might admit it is un-provable,
but it couldn't possibly be as fantastic as a myth. Obviously, vehemence of denial doesn't prove one way or another that something is
not a myth, but you could be right.
The story of Pandora's Box is said to be a myth, but what makes that any different from the Biblical story of Noah's Ark for a religious
Jew or Christian or the parable of Atlantis for those who believe in Atlantis? How about the legend of Robin Hood? Even the disproved
legend about the axing of a cherry tree by the perennially truth-telling George Washington may count as a myth.
The word myth is used in many contexts, but it doesn't seem to have a single meaning. When people use the word, what do they have
in mind?
Unfortunately for those who want a simple answer to the question, "What is myth?", there is no completely satisfactory answer,
although a decent, serious, working definition is provided at the end.
Myth Could Be Part of a Religion You Don't Believe in
Here is one philosopher's definition of myth that ties it in with religion:
“A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes.” Source: James Kern Feibleman, philosopher and psychiatrist (1904-1987)
As alluded to above, what is myth for one group is truth and part of the cultural identity for another.
Myths are stories shared by a group that are a part of that group's cultural identity -- just like family traditions. Most families would be
offended to hear their stories described as myths (or lies and tall tales, which probably fit them better than myth because a family is
generally considered smaller than a cultural group). Myth can also be used as a synonym for a despised religious dogma or, as the
quotation above says, a religion in which no one any longer believes.
A Sample of Attempts to Define Myth
Negative and positive descriptions of the content of myth are not definitions and don't even explain very much. Many have tried to
define myth, with only limited success. Let's look at an array of definitions from leading philosophers, psychoanalysts, and other
thinkers to see how complicated the seemingly simple term myth actually is:
•Myths are Origins
Myths are often stories of origins, how the world and everything in it came to be in illo tempore. - Eliade.
•Myths are Dreams
Sometimes myths are public dreams which, like private dreams, emerge from the unconscious mind. - Freud.
•Myths are Archetypes
Indeed, myths often reveal the archetypes of the collective unconscious. - Jung.
•Myths are Metaphysical
Myths orient people to the metaphysical dimension, explain the origins and nature of the cosmos, validate social issues, and, on the
psychological plane, address themselves to the innermost depths of the psyche. - Campbell.
•Myths are Proto-Scientific
Some myths are explanatory, being pre-scientific attempts to interpret the natural world. - Frazer.
•Myths are Sacred histories
Religious myths are sacred histories. - Eliade.
•Myths are Stories
Myths are both individual and social in scope, but they are first and foremost stories. - Kirk.
A Useful Working Definition of Myth
From the above learned definitions, we can see that myths are important stories. Maybe people believe them. Maybe they don't. Their
truth value isn't at issue. Approaching, but not quite reaching an adequate, thorough definition of myth is the following:
"Myths are stories told by people about people: where they come from, how they handle major disasters, how they cope with what they
must and how everything will end. If that isn't everything what else is there?"
Thank you, Robert O'Connell, for this working definition of myth.
To help define myth, people often compare myth with science and religion. Usually myth is relegated to the area of lies.
Myth vs. Science: Myth as a way to explain the world around us and the creation of the universe
When you think of myth, you may think of stories about heroes who are sons of gods (making them demigods) with either incredible
strength or a god on hand to help the demigods in amazing adventures against the evils of the world. There is much more to myth than
the heroic legends. Myth serves as explanation accepted by the people who share the myth. Very basic aspects of the world around us
that myth explains are the course of the day and night or seasons, the mysteries of life and death, and the creation of everything. Here
we're looking at creation.
Creation Myth, Chaos, Big Bang: What's the Difference?
Do you know how the world was created? Were you there to see it? What proof do you have that what you believe happened actually
did happen? Today there are two main theories -- the big bang and a world that was god-generated. Perhaps surprisingly, the popular
ancient Greek version did not rely on a god and the people who wrote about it certainly didn't know about a big bang.
If we look at one of the ancient Greek creation myths, the world was originally Chaos. Like its namesake in daily life, this Chaos was an
un-ordered, un-anything, not quite imaginable, shapeless state. From Chaos, Order suddenly appeared, and from conflict between
Chaos and Order, everything else came into existence.
While we look at these capitalized words (Chaos and Order) representing personifications -- almost lesser gods -- and see "primitive
superstitiousness," that may be unfair. We have plenty of personifications -- like Government or Big Business, and many of us offer
worship at their proverbial altars, so it behooves us to reserve judgment on how "backwards" someone must be to explain reality in
terms of unseeable powers. Those who don't worship at the altars of the abstracts, still use the terms because they simplify matters.
It's likely the ancients did so, too.
Questions to Consider About Chaos and Order
•What do you think the Greeks meant by chaos?
•Have you heard of chaos theory?
•Do you think it would be easier to conceive of chaos by means of a picture?
•What would this primeval "order" be like?
Did the Greeks Believe Their Myths?
Was the Creation Myth Allegory or Truth?
Did the Greeks think of this creation story as literal truth? How would they know for sure when they weren't alive when creation
happened? We can't read their minds, but we can make speculative statements. Perhaps the ancient Greeks extrapolated from their
observations and powers of reasoning to construct an allegorical world view. In Did the Greeks Believe Their Myths? Paul Veyne
writes:
"Myth is truthful, but figuratively so. It is not historical truth mixed with lies; it is a high philosophical teaching that is entirely true, on
the condition that, instead of taking it literally, one sees in it an allegory."
The Big Bang vs. The Creation Myth
How Different Are They?
How different is this allegory of the emergence of the world from Chaos from the modern Big Bang Theory with its inexplicable
components? To me, the answer is, "not much, if anything." Chaos and Order may be just other words describing the same
phenomenon as the "Big Bang." Instead of an explosive force originating out of nowhere, but coming from within the cosmic soup, the
Greeks had a kind of primeval, disorganized and chaotic soup, with the principle of Order suddenly asserting itself. In addition, I
suspect that people in the ancient world were as varied as they are today, with some believing the literal, some the allegorical, some
something else entirely, and others never even considering the beginning of life.
What Is the Difference Between Myth and Science?
Shades of Gray: Explanations of What Seems Magical or Supernatural
Maybe we should say that myth is like scientific -- not exactly knowledge, but -- theory. That would work for some myth, like the
creation of the world out of Chaos. However, it won't work when we examine the supernatural stories, which appear to defy scientific
knowledge.
A Scientific Hercules?
The story of Hercules (Heracles) grappling with the Antaeus, a chthonic giant, is a case in point. Every time Hercules hurled Antaeus to
the ground, he became stronger. Clearly this is what we might politely call a tall story. But maybe there is scientific logic behind it.
What if Antaeus had some sort of magnet (if you don't like the idea of a magnet, you can invent your own scenario) that made him
stronger each time he hit the earth and weaker when held away from his power source? Hercules defeated another giant, Alcyoneus,
only by pulling him far from his origin. The magnetic force of the earth was overcome in these examples by pulling far enough in any
direction. [See Hercules the Giant-Killer.]
Could Mythical Creatures Have Been Real?
Or how about Cerberus, the 3-headed hell hound? There are two-headed people. We call them Siamese or Conjoined Twins. Why not
three-headed beasts?
Was the Underworld Real?
And, as far as the Underworld goes, some of the stories of the Underworld mention a cave at the western edge of the world that was
thought to lead downwards. While there could be some scientific basis for this, even if there isn't, is this story any more a "lie" to be
scoffed at than the novel/movie Journey to the Center of the Earth? Yet people dismiss such myths as lies created by primitive people
who lack scientific knowledge -- or as lies created by people who haven't found the true religion.
For some people, it is the absolute, incontrovertible truth that the world was created in 6 days by an omniscient, eternal creator god.
Some say the 6 days is figurative, but agree that God created the world. It is a basic tenet of their religion. Others call this story of
creation a myth.
What is 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.
What Is the Difference Between Myth and Religion?
Myth comes from the Greek word "mythos." The Greek Lexicon Liddell and Scott defines "mythos" as:
•word and
•speech.
A synonym from the lexicon is logos. "Logos" appears in the Greek for the Biblical passage "in the beginning was the word." So there
appears to be a connection between the world-changing, powerful word "word" (logos) and the often maligned word "myth"
(mythos).
The same lexicon search provides other predictable meanings for "mythos," including:
•tale or story
•rumor or saying and
•thing thought.
Like Bible stories, myths are often entertaining, morally instructive, and inspirational. On this site, when I use the word myth as distinct
from religion, it is to separate out descriptions of and stories about gods or legendary mortals from explicit tenets of belief, laws, or
human actions. This is an ambiguous area:
•If the Son of God, Jesus, turned water into wine, should he be counted a supernatural being and therefore listed in myth?
According to this treatment, yes.
•If the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter, Moses, understood the speech of a burning bush, is this not also a supernatural power?
•If Hercules, son of a mortal woman and the god Zeus, strangled snakes with his bare hands when he was newborn, doesn't that put
him in the same category?
It is also called a myth if it appears magical to non-believers. On this site, the effects of Moses on the belief system of Ancient Semites
are considered non-myth. So also are attempts to draw up a chronology of the events in the life of or acts of Jesus. Almost everything
else in this murky area -- like the stories told in the Bible -- is myth(os), but this doesn't mean it's either true or untrue, believable or
incredible.