Thursday, May 20, 2010
What Myths can teach us about ourselves
By studying and comparing different cultures creation myths I feel that we can learn a lot about how we as a society act, now individuals act and how our ancestors felt and thought. Cultures create creation myths to explain a world that seems so random and violent. From the beginning of time Man has been faced with many problems, the biggest of which probably being death and the universal question of what our purpose here on Earth is. Creation myths in a way answer these questions because many cultures such as the Greek feel that Man was created by Gods. I think beliefs such as this show that man has an instinctual need to feel that there is an order to our world and a reason for every act. I think because our ancestors faced such unique trials in terms of survival, they created Deities that they felt could control the life around them. I have heard of many that think that religions such as Christianity tie into and evolved in some way from stories such as the one of Zeus, being a son of a Titan and taking control. Many see a strong link between Zeus and his human like image as being very similar to the Christian portrayal of Jesus as human like. Whether or not you agree is really a moot point because I do not really take this to mean that God and Jesus are a fairy tale but I do feel that in ancient times people needed to feel that there was something they could look to for protection and meaning. In terms of how individuals acts I think that in the majority they feel a sense of security in their creation myths because they do imply that there is an order to the world and by extension an order and meaning to the world of Man. Regarding what creation myths can each us about ourselves today I think that they can really teach us a lot. I think the fact that so many of us are so interested in creation myths and myths in general show that as a culturally diverse world, we all still search for meaning and purpose in our lives. So many books have been written concerning such myths and much analysis has been done in regards to them and this shows a clear interest in them in not only what they can teach us about the world and its order but also what basic human need is. Which is to know everything, as a species we always want to know everything about every aspect of our lives, and I think this is directly influenced by the existence of the myths but I also think that this need to know is also why creation myths were created in the first place. I believe that creation myths taken alone are very interesting and creative. When you consider and take into account the people who create these myths, you can then achieve some small semblance of the connection we share with them, which is one made up of the desire to find meaning for our own fragile existence.
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Many of the myths created were created to soothe people and make them feel like they had a reason to life other than just living. People do not want to conform to Christianity because it involves taking away their addictions, and they let those things define them so they are not willing to change. Having myths gives a reason for evil and it gives them an out of conforming to religion because they think beleiving in such things i enough. We all know now that these are myths but in the olden days people wanted power,so making up such stories gave them this, and people didn't dare argue with those who held power. I do see how people can get these myths mixed with God and also beleive that God is a myth. Yet, there is so much more evidence of God than these myths, and people turn their backs because they need to see to believe. There needs to be faith,there need to be questions, if we knew everything about God and understood there would be no such thing as faith, and if we understood we wouldn't have to want to know more and learn more.
ReplyDeleteI did my blog on the same topic and we have the same exact opinion about creation and myths and what is says about ourselves. I too agree and truly do believe that we all need that sense of security in knowing that someone is in control of everything and has it finely planned out. You also did very well in supporting your ideas in mentioning how the Greeks believe in Zeus and that they are created in his image, same goes for Christianity we believe that we are created in the image of God and in his likeness. We look up to gods so much, it is what we turn to the most in our absolute times of needs. People need some sort of rescue some one bigger than themselves to get them out of what ever situation they may have put them selves through. That is why you see so many people looking into horoscopes, going to psychics, priest, and pastors. We all need someone bigger to help us find comfort in. Who created the earth and life holds a great importance to the majority of people on earth, which is why there is so many different stories about how it all began. Over all I liked very much how you expressed your opinion and I agree with you.
ReplyDeleteHow crazy is it that people all over the world have the same basic needs? I think that it is almost scary how closely related we all really are. Because you are right everyone wants to believe that there is a divine purpose in life and that we are here for a purpose and not just here to be here. Its like the Lion King kind of and the idea of the circle of life. Yes, there have been many generations before us and I am sure there will be many generations after us but that does not mean that each and every one of us was not put on this planet for a reason. I think that it takes the big things and the small things to make something work, to make something spectacular and each of us has a part to play. It is also crazy to me that so many people believe in some form of a higher power, the fact that something or someone out there created us and looks out for us. I personally choose to believe in God and Jesus Christ but there are so many forms of gods that people can worship, so many different forms of anything that people can worship. Some people worship the earth, some gods, some just worship life in general but all of these things come from somewhere and the people that wrote creative myths had to have some sort of insight into something greater than ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI really like the way you wrote this blog, and one of the points that stuck out to me was when you said that people in ancient times needed to feel that there was some kind of higher power to believe in that will be there to guide and protect them. I think people today feel the exact same way; the desire to have someone that will stand by and protect them through the hardships of life. But then again, recently it seems like people look for that kind of protection in the wrong places because they feel that there is no higher power. And if they do believe that there is a higher power, they think that they’re up to no good and are out to get them in a way, which causes them to find that kind of protection within each other. I also never really thought about the creators of these “myths” and how we can relate to them. We can always relate to the creation “myths” that we believe in, however, learning about the others that are out there can reveal a relationship between the believers and the creators of the various different “myths”.
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