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date Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:04:06 +0200
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1 Reference: Robert W. Brockway, Myth from the Ice Age to Mickey Mouse
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3 A collective definition of myth composed of many theories might be
4 framed by the following paraphrase:
5
6 Myths are stories, usually, about gods and other supernatural
7 beings. They are often stories of origins, how the world and
8 everything in it came to be in illo tempore. They are usually
9 strongly structured and their meaning is only discerned by
10 linguistic analysis. Sometimes they are public dreams which, like
11 private dreams, emerge from the unconscious mind. Indeed, they
12 often reveal the archetypes of the collective unconscious. They
13 are symbolic and metaphorical. They orient people to the
14 metaphysical dimension, explain the origins and nature of the
15 cosmos, validate social issues, and, on the psychological plane,
16 address themselves to the innermost depths of the psyche. Some of
17 them are explanatory, being prescientific attempts to interpret
18 the natural world. As such, they are usually functional and are
19 the science of primitive peoples. Often, they are enacted in
20 rituals. Religious myths are sacred histories, and distinguished
21 from the profane. But, being semiotic expressions, they are a
22 "disease of language." They are both individual and social in
23 scope, but they are first and foremost stories.
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