WHAT ARE MYTHS?
Myths are defined as tales believed as true, usually sacred, set in the distant past or other worlds or parts of the world, and with extra-human, inhuman, or heroic characters. William Bascom
Types of Myths:
•Origin Myths
•Hero Myths
•Myth of Fall
•Myth of “Eternal Return”
Joseph Campbell: Four Functions of myths
1.Myths elicit and support “a sense of awe before the mystery of being.” (Eliade: they mediate a religious experience).
2.They render a cosmology, an image of the universe that will support and be supported by this sense of awe ; it is different from scientific explanations.
3.Myths support the current social order, to integrate the individual organically with his group. (Eliade: myths demand a certain behaviour – Hero myths).
4.Myths initiate the individual into the order of realities of his own psyche, guiding him toward his own spiritual enrichment and realization.
Campbell, J. (1991). Occidental Mythology, pp. 519-21.
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