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Why Study Mythology?


Topics covered in this document:


Introduction

I approach mythology from a different viewpoint than many people. Today scientists sit around in their lab coats and explain anything and everything with absolute, scientific, and mathematical precision. And, all the while, they're looking down their 21st Century noses at what they consider the near-beastial ignorance of the people of the past. Excuse me, but I don't see it that way.

Today we explain the universe around us in real-world, absolute terms. Smugly, we assume that mythology must be some kind of feeble attempt by our primitive and unsophisticated ancestors to explain the incomprehensible world in which they found themselves.

Well now, I have just one thing to say about this viewpoint. I completely disagree with it!

But then, I might be wrong. After all, I don't have a string of college degrees to append to my name. So I can't stand around at parties and quote from erudite texts. However, I can ask myself this: What if the purpose of mythology was not simply to "explain" the universe? What if it had an entirely different reason for existing? Could it be that ancient people weren't stupid after all?

Memory and Mythology

Let me tell you why mythology has always fascinated me. And maybe you'll understand why I take exception with the common attitude toward its study.

Memory Research

Read some of the books about improving your memory. How do they recommend that you remember people's names, for example? Well, they say that if you want to remember someone's name whom you've just met, you should exaggerate something about them.

You take some feature of their name or their physical appearance, and embellish the daylights out of it ... until it's so silly or outrageous that you immediately think of that picture whenever you see the person again. And that exaggerated picture will enable you to make the connection in your brain to the person's name.

Memory research has shown that people who possess a phenomenal memory use a similar technique to remember everything, not just names. They often make up rather intricate and bizarre stories to help jog their memory about events from the past. Most of these people with exceptional memories, after years of practice, do this unconsciously.

Now let's apply this train of thought to our distant ancestors.

Ancient Memory Aid

As you probably know, or could easily guess, ancient people had to rely on an excellent memory more than we do today. The average citizen, remember, often couldn't read. Yet some of these illiterate citizens were employed as messengers. Sometimes the messages were never written down, but were conveyed verbally. This was before email or even the postal service. So how were verbal messages delivered from one city to another?

As just one example, how did the military forces of old send messages from one battlefield to another? Write it down and hope someone on the other end could read? Remember, we're talking about the very ancient people here ... not the people who lived after the invention of paper and quill. Did they take the time to manufacture and chisel out a message on a clay tablet ... and hire only muscular runners who could carry a dozen or so clay tablets? No, they used runners who could memorize complex dispatches quickly and accurately -- word for word -- and repeat it back to the recipient verbatim, all without a single mistake.

Memory Laziness

Today we're somewhat more lazy. We don't memorize as much as we used to. After all, if we forget something, we can always look it up. Phone numbers, math formulas, prices, astronomical data, everything. But what if you couldn't read? Well, you'd have to rely on your memory. As a preteen might say, "Duh!"

Aunt Jane and the Rhino

Suppose for a moment that mythology was originally meant to be a memory jogger ... not an attempt by illiterate people to offer a "scientific" explanation for something that was clearly beyond their simple-minded comprehension. But we, centuries or millennia later, don't have the message that was to be delivered. Instead, all we're left with is the fanciful and embellished story that helped someone remember the message. Yes, I realize this is a bit far-fetched, but all I ask is that you think about it briefly, before you respond with the "scientifically accepted" answer.

For example, let's consider a hypothetical situation. Suppose that after I die, you discover among my papers, a story I wrote about a female rhinocerous happily swinging through the trees with Tarzan. You'd probably wonder what on earth I was talking about. (If you didn't, I'd surely wonder about your sanity.) At first, you might think it's some kind of animal myth I had written down. I mean, after all, everyone knows rhinos don't swing through the trees like a monkey.

You might be led to believe it's a myth because you probably wouldn't realize that the story was originally written to help me remember my somewhat hefty Aunt Jane, whom I had just met. But now, every time I see Aunt Jane, this vision of a huge, female rhino, swinging through the treetops, shouting at the top of her lungs "You Tarzan, me Jane" pops into my head ... and I can guarantee, I'll never forget Aunt Jane's name.

Well, except for one slight problem, that is ... I don't have an Aunt Jane. Too bad, though, because it was a cute analogy.

Intuitive Inspiration

And that brings me to the second reason I enjoy mythology. Imagine that you're sitting there quietly reading a book. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, you get a flash of inspiration. Out of nowhere, you make an intuitive leap, realizing connections between events, where you've never noticed them before. Sometimes these moments of inspiration are completely unrelated to what you're reading at the moment.

I often hear people describe these sudden insights while reading poetry ... or the Bible ... or even something mundane like the newspaper. Well, I too get these flashes every so often while pondering the contents of some myth. Not surprisingly, it usually seems to occur when I'm able to sidetrack my brain ... away from insisting that myths are just some ancient people's attempts to explain the cosmos.

Suspend Prejudices

So suspend your 21st Century prejudices for just a moment and journey with me into a different view of mythology. Think not about the story itself (the rhino) and try to deduce the idea behind the story (hefty Aunt Jane).

Are all myths simply remnants of the memory technique I've talked about in this document? Of course not! On the other hand, will you allow yourself to consider that maybe -- just perhaps -- some myths fall into this category?

By the way, not all myth is just a fanciful story. Some myths have more than their share of fact. Remember, it was a belief in the factual, historic truth of the myth of Troy that led modern archaeologists to uncover the remains of the city of Troy.

That's the exciting thing about mythology. It's up to you to discover what is fact and what is fiction. In my opinion, that makes it exciting. When you read about mythology, let your mind wander ... expect to find a hidden truth, and you just might succeed.


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