Mythology: Auspicious Virtue

In a world whereby diverse cultures and religions collide amongst the disparate and polarized people of our planet, there are few pervading threads that adhere the seams of human life and experience as vividly and profoundly as mythology. Emerging from the first primordial peoples of the earth, from the Occident to the Orient, mythology appears to be an almost innate and inbuilt feature of the human psyche; as religion fuels the contention of superhuman gods who perhaps once sowed the seeds of life, mythology yields the direction and

Mythology can be considered real, in the sense that the events that inspired their conception have actually occurred and affected the individuals who would go on to tell them to future generations. Whether the reason for retelling these stories was to entertain or to inform, they had to be both meaningful in their message, yet entertaining enough to be remembered by the listeners. The dissection of the metaphors contained throughout mythological stories provides a cultural awareness about the issues and joys that befell our ancestors. Myth is the collective artistic expression of the human subconscious' fears and aspirations.

Seekers, researchers, philosophers and simple average individuals share an excellent trait, and that is to seek the divine truth. Humans were born with an insatiable hunger to discover where we come from, who we are, what makes us unique and most importantly what is our sole purpose of existence on this earth. Greek mythology can best tame the hunger. Therefore, mythology is alive in the present day because within ourselves we find that the inspiration is reborn, of an imaginary yet real world. In which we see ourselves as the protagonists and antagonists of the Greek mythology stories. As a matter of fact, Greek myth's are one of the most fascinating of all time literature ever created by humankind. Consequently,

The Greek gods exhibit qualities of humans, such as envy and anger, and often engage in acts of retaliation. They are wiser but they continually try to instruct humans. In many cases, they act parental toward humans, instructing and reprimanding. Some say that unlike a Christian God who may represent goodness, the Greek gods were neither good nor evil but instead meant power. In the mythical stories, humans are competitive with their gods, trying to rival them in skill and intelligence. Humans use stories/metaphors/myths, through comparison, to help to explain things difficult to explain. They can be moral lessons and allegories that are used to find order in a confusing world. Myths are means of record keeping and holding the important

Myths exist in every part of the world and are an integral part of the culture and identity. Ancient societies relied heavily on mythology to entertain, to answer questions, to explain and to implement social expectations. But most importantly, it allowed these people to explain the creation of the universe, the birth of mankind, the forces of nature, human condition and the purpose of life. As a result, myths can be considered essential for certain groups of peoples to explain the powerful forces that shape and affect their lives. These are evident in the mythology of Rome, Greece, Christian myths, the Norse mythologies and the myths of Mesopotamia. Most ancient myths are often stories of origins, dreams, archetypes, metaphysical aspects,

Myth is a body of story that matters—the patterns present in mythology run deeply in the human psyche

Mythology is the study of the language used to express experiences with and understandings of the “absolute reality.” There are four main functions that make up and are the foundation of mythology: Each of these functions plays a major role in categorizing the ideas and characters in their respective groups or section. To name these four functions there is the Mystical function which is also known as the sacred or universal function. The next function is the cosmological function or metaphor (character) function. Then comes the social or profane (personal function) which is one of the main functions that is involved in the idea of mythology. The last of the four functions is the pedagogical function or the moral function of

One of the common things among cultures is myths. Myths are deeply ingrained within the cultures we grow up in. Whether it's Johnny Appleseed in the US or the Talking Foxes of Eritrea. Myths give birth to heroes. And heroes plant different seeds in people depending upon the moral of the story. Such messages are portrayed in Edith Hamilton’s book, “Mythology”, which depicts different heroes with different stories. Heroes are more inspirational when depicted as flawed due to their likability to human beings, thereby being more relatable to common people and spurring confidence that they're just as capable.

Myths serve an important purpose in today’s world and modern society due to the way they teach morals and life lessons. Myths have an impact on the way we live our lives and the actions we take. Myths have a significant sociological function, helping us to understand ourselves as part of a wider human story, and where we fit within it.

With this, Armstrong states that myths influence various cultures and societies, past and present. Myths gave emotional insight to many cultures, and allowed men and women to experience the insight firsthand. Though many people today view mythology as mere boring, uninteresting “fairytales” of unrealistic gods, Armstrong presents the underlying meanings lie in the pathetic fallacies within the myths, such as thunderstorm representing

"One decent thing, however, was there - Hope. It was the only respectable entity the chest had held among the many ills, and it remains to this day mankind's solitary ease in misfortune." by (Edith Hamilton). Mythology involves the sociological study of myths. Myths can consist of ordinary people or gods. A myth is often mistaken to fiction-something that really never happened or a momentous story. The origin of the universe has been explained by astronomers, historians but in the past mythology was the explanation to the society. Throughout the story, it becomes a struggle of our new gods of society trying to overtake the old gods that are living here in America.

Often times we hear the word Myth and don’t have a complete understanding of what the word means. Mythology can vary greatly but it is one thing that countries, cultures, and religions have in common. While beliefs, knowledge, mythology and religion may intersect they also can differ greatly from each other. Like other countries myths have come to help sculpt and shape American cultural values and behaviors.

consequently troubles in our lives. Therefore this powerful force Greek Mythology posses is unlike the others and is one of the main reasons why it will be forever remember and never to be forgotten.

Throughout this course, I have learned about what a myth is and all of the themes that fit into myths. The most common themes seen throughout the myths we have studied during this course are fate, pride and hubris, heroism, justice and vengeance, and beauty. I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about mythology throughout this course and I have always felt that the controlling question driving this course is, why is mythology so important to us, even today? It is important to know the answer to this question and to know about the different themes seen throughout the myths studied in this course.

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,