How Do Myths Explain Human Nature

Mythology serves to create an explanation for why the world is the way it is. All religions have mythology in them and myths help people understand history. Myth can mean so many different things to different people. Some myths are total fiction, while others may have a hint of truth in them. But most myths are more of a symbolic and metaphoric truth, rather than a literal truth, because most of the time myths cannot be proven and people are not trying to prove that they are true. Myths become true to the people who believe in them and they use them as a sort of lens through which they see the world. They use myths to create explanations for themselves as to why the world is the way it is and they use them to help cope with the difficulties of life. Myths are a natural outgrowth of our imagination and our passions.

A myth is a symbolic way of expressing truths and beliefs that are accepted by society. Myths, which are reading literature that is imaginative, teach truths that may not always have a basis for historical fact. Myths, which communicate ideas in story form, are creative stories that explain and teach religious truths of sin and consequence.

A simple definition of a myth is a story handed down through history, often through oral tradition, that explains or gives value to the unknown. Myths are composed of stories or explanations. Myths are not always false sometimes they have some truth to them. They come to being by people making an assumption about a person based on their race.

To start off, myths are stories that have been passed throughout many centuries, and are very popular in the world. A myth is a traditional story explaining some natural or social phenomenon usually involving supernatural beings or events. These legends can go from being almost identical to varying so much from each other. Although stories "Bladur" and "The Spirit Bride" seem awfully alike, there are many contrasting things.

A myth is a story explaining a natural event typically involving supernatural beings or events. One type of myth is a creation myth, a creation myth is a fanciful story explaining how the world began and how the first people came to live here. Two examples of creation myths include

Now you must be wondering what exactly is a myth? By definition “myths are ancient narratives that attempt to answer the enduring and fundamental human questions” (Leonard & McClure, 2004). We often hear people say “that’s a myth” when referring to information they don’t deem completely true. To me myths can have various meanings for example

You need myths to find your truth. You have elaborate myths to compare to everyday experiences and to other myths. “Myths give a meaning to life (Campbell, 5). Mythology is a collection of stories based on one’s knowledge and stories of experience. Myths are clues to life meaning. They are clues to “spiritual potentialities” or your potential to develop spiritually and finding your inner self. For example, marriage creates a transformation in us spiritually because it transforms our perspective of ourselves and our ability to sacrifice.

It is one of the oldest forms of storytelling the world. These stories are found in all cultures as well as literature which includes Greek myths, fairy tales, legends, and religion. Seger describes myth stories as “more than true because it is lived by all of us, at some level, a story that connects, and speaks to us all” (335). Have you ever wondered why people have a strong connection to a character, and plot of a story or film? This is because myths represent our lives as Americans such as ourselves, goals, relationships, ups and downs in life, and etc.

Myths are a valuable source of archetypes of human attitudes, themes and symbols. Myths not only deepen people’s knowledge about life and beliefs of the ancient Greeks, but also present the image of the contemporary worldview and system of values. They represent attitudes and patterns of timeless values, and raise the universal content. One of the most frequent themes of myths is the context of suffering. Suffering is not onlyt the domain of people, but suffering also affects gods and goddesses. Although Niobe and Demeter belonged to a fellowship of queens and goddesses, just like mortals they had to cope with adversity; they struggled with vices, and suffered pain. Moreover, they were subjected to fate as every human beings.

A myth is a sacred narrative about the origins of the world and the values and truths found in life. Before the revelations of scientific discoveries , myths were created to share natural phenomena present in the world . One similarity between science and mythology is that they aspire to be true but are constanty changinging because of the changes in the world. Myths were one way for ancient people to interpret the events that occurred around them . Although myths are commonly perceived as ficticious tales , they account for the various phenomena of life ; therefore it is an intergral part of shaping culture and religion.

“Myths are stories that express meaning, morality or motivation. Whether they are true or not is irrelevant.” This was quoted by writer Michael Shermer, and it still holds today. This quote displays that myths have the power to take the reader away from reality and launch them into a world of mystery and phenomena. Also, even if myths have different stories and different characters, they all in some way portray regular societal values. For example, “The Fisherman and The Jinnee”, “Sifrit”, and “Song of Roland” all tell divergent stories with very diverse characters. But by the end, they all portray the values of righteousness and how one man, or hero can rescue an entire society.

The word myth is derived from the greek word mythos which translate to a set of beliefs about something. Myths were created to help illustrate the values and beliefs of a society. One common usage of myths were to serve as a belief system. These myths were created to explain the proper relationship between gods and man. Some people need to believe in a power greater than themselves to help them understand things that are difficult to explain.

But there are many ways one could interpret myths, Bronislaw Malinowski, an anthropologist, believed that myths tell people about the origins of the early world and that it gives them a reality of how things are to repeat. Malinowski believed that myths weren’t kept alive because of interest, or because they are true tales, but because they give people are a reality of how mankind is to be determined. Malinowski even gives us an example of a grandmother and granddaughter that realize that although everyone still has that youth they once were, they have to come to the realization that everyone gets old and

Myths serve as a basis of authority on ethical and moral issues regarded as facts, for example, why people behave the way that they do, but include supernatural elements. Myths tell the origins of the world and humankind by relating them to human traditions and understanding a societies values and norms (pg. 31). Human psychology deals with mental processes and behavior of an individual, group, or activity. Ways that human psychology affects the nature of myths and the way we tell and perceive stories is by interpreting an analysis of myths as being symbolic and, in turn, this symbolism is rooted in the human mind, behavior and emotions. Psychologists, Freud, and Jung believed that myths (e.g. dreams) are said to be symbolically expressing

Mythos, the Greek word for myth means story, appertain to colorful tales that enlightens about the origins of humans and the universe. Myths, as amazing as it sounds, is also a cause for birth of new religions, where and how they originated. Many cultures have myths about how the gods and goddesses came to be, even elucidating the origin of humanity and its traditions. Even ideas about how this world of ours came to existence have many myths, creation myths behind it, disparate in every culture and society, which demonstrates a view on its role in the world. Mythology is simply the study of the myth. There are many psychological theories and meanings that explicate mythology. The most recurrent belief about the psychological value of myth is that myths emblematize contrasting elements of our own psyches or souls. The psychoanalytical frames of reference on myths have indisputably been ineluctable. Myths were and still are progressively seen as expressions of desideratum in the human psyche. But the big question is, what is the beneficence of mythology towards the amelioration of society? If there are myths to decipher or exhibit certain things, character or situations, there also are science and technology, which accommodate every explanation needed to understand each of those things. Many go to science for such interpretation, which conveys the impression of taking care of the signification behind all those natural phenomena,