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1 Reference: Robert W. Brockway, Myth from the Ice Age to Mickey Mouse
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2
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3 A collective definition of myth composed of many theories might be
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4 framed by the following paraphrase:
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5
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6 Myths are stories, usually, about gods and other supernatural
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7 beings. They are often stories of origins, how the world and
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8 everything in it came to be in illo tempore. They are usually
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9 strongly structured and their meaning is only discerned by
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10 linguistic analysis. Sometimes they are public dreams which, like
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11 private dreams, emerge from the unconscious mind. Indeed, they
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12 often reveal the archetypes of the collective unconscious. They
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13 are symbolic and metaphorical. They orient people to the
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14 metaphysical dimension, explain the origins and nature of the
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15 cosmos, validate social issues, and, on the psychological plane,
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16 address themselves to the innermost depths of the psyche. Some of
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17 them are explanatory, being prescientific attempts to interpret
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18 the natural world. As such, they are usually functional and are
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19 the science of primitive peoples. Often, they are enacted in
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20 rituals. Religious myths are sacred histories, and distinguished
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21 from the profane. But, being semiotic expressions, they are a
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22 "disease of language." They are both individual and social in
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23 scope, but they are first and foremost stories.
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