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Myth-Making

© Linda Casselman

Before we set off on our mythical journey, let's have a brief look at what some of the important thinkers in our culture have had to say about myth-making.

Euhemerus, a Macedonian who lived circa 315 BC, wrote Sacred History. In this work, he writes that the gods had once been real men, exalted to their new status as deities for their great deeds on earth.

Famous Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) put forth the notion that the Christian Mythos no longer appealed to the moderns and that it was therefore necessary to assert the Over-Being or "Superman" - an independent, courageous, self-sustaining individual accepting life joyously, free from fear and superstition. Neitzsche turned to the classical ancient gods choosing Dionysus as the symbol of the Over-Being.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), founder of psychoanalysis, also turned to Classical Mythology. He suggested that myths were the expression and projection of the inner psyche. He reached back to Greek myths to explain domestic imbalances such as the Oedipus Complex.

Like Freud, Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) accepted the notion of the importance of the unconscious. But he went further suggesting that there is a collective unconscious that holds the archetypes of human experience, which manifest themselves in our dreams and in our myths. And it is here where individuals quest to find meaning through universal symbols.

Unlike Freud and Jung, anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss (b. 1908) believed that myths are neither psychological nor fanciful stories. Rather Levi-Strauss takes on the view that myths are a code. They are a way to codify knowledge based on our, or the ancients, understanding of reality trying to link fundamental cosmology with everyday experience.

As we can see, these important thinkers have attempted to reconcile ancient beliefs and understanding with modern scientific and rational thought. They have tried to understand and explain what exactly myths are and why humans have created them. But in doing so, they have only created their own myths. So like the ancients they have created myths to rationalize and find meaning in something unknown. Certainly this tells us how inescapable myth-making is in human culture. Myths give meaning to our world, to our experiences, and they reveal something about ourselves - our deep and enduring need to make myths.

The copyright of the article Myth-Making in Mythology is owned by Linda Casselman. Permission to republish Myth-Making in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.