Analysis of Personal Mythology - Essay Example

 Analysis of Personal Mythology Introduction I have to admit with a little bit of embarrassment that my idea of mythology consisted of little more than Zeus and Thor when I was young. Both of which I had read about in comic books from my childhood. Although I was interested in mythology as the stories told had a lot of action and adventure but it was only when I grew a little older that I discovered the human element and the extreme emotions involved in the mythological stories of various cultures. There was a time when I considered the tales of monsters, ancient gods, demons and titans to be just far fetched explanations of creation or the works of an overactive imagination, never considering that they might actually be based on something more than that. There are two cultures which I associate with myth on a deeper level and they are the Native American culture and the Greco-Roman culture. The reason for this could be the images which we have received in the media and the popular stories which are common to our own culture about these civilizations. I am perfectly sure that the Hindu culture or the Russian culture could have their own mythology which is as colorful and complex as the stories contained in the Iliad or the Odyssey but since I am not fully aware of them the association with mythology remains with the Native American or Greco-Roman Culture. With age and study I realize that every culture around the world has had a myth structure of some sort to explain the world around them. Myths can be seen as the human desire to know, understand and give expression to observable phenomenon (Morford & Lenardon, 2003). I know now that there is a whole range of ideas and myth systems with certain ideas which seem to be common amongst many cultures and others which differ from area to area. It also know that mythology has a great connection with the land and the climate of the people since there may be snow giants for some cultures while others which have no connection with snow may not ever consider such a thing as imaginable. Native American Of course mythology is not limited to explaining scientific phenomenon but also events which effect human life, the birth of a child, death of a parent, wars between friends, reconciliation between enemies all have meaning for us as social animals and therefore they have connections to mythology. The Native American traditions mentioned by Willis (1993) often give all animals an equal status as they give to humans since all living things are created as children of the father represented by the sky and the mother represented by the earth. These parents themselves come from a Great Sprit which acts as the creator. Greek Culture The lives of the Greek heroes are full of drama, action, novelty and traditions which created the foundations of ancient Greek religion, philosophy and culture for many centuries (Powell, 2003). They performed extraordinary feats of bravery and showed intelligence in dealing with problems which could have vexed even the greatest minds alive today . Yet at the same time they were problematic and often transgressive since their actions and the retributive justice handed out by them far exceeded the crimes of their respective opponents (Morford & Lenardon, 2003). However, there are certain things which run common in many different mythologies and cultural structures such as the idea of a creator, high god or Supreme Being which created everything or has power over everything. He or she has been given many different names Mawu, Mwari, Great Spirit, etc. and takes on many shapes and forms. However, the important thing about this great being is that s/he has unlimited power and resources to help his/her believers and to hurt his/her enemies. The creation of the universe and the shape given to the universe by mythical narratives from Southern Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and North America all point towards a somewhat similar story (Willis, 1993). This is another theme which underlies various mythological thought patterns and helps us understand the ideas behind the myths. These similarities have led me to believe that unlike what the modern media would have us believe about people in other parts of the being very different from us and having nothing in common with us, there are significant similarities in the way people have thought about the world and the explanations which they have created in terms of mythology. It makes one wonder, if the differences we are faced with are not merely superficial, since the beliefs we hold dearest to our minds are not that different in the broader view. That has certainly changed my personal view in life since the commonalities between humans seem to be more than the differences in ideas. I did also reflect on some of the issues surrounding us today and how we come up with urban myths to find explanations for certain phenomenon. The internet of course is a vast resource for all sorts of modern urban mythology and it does lead me to question when we shall have enough research into the matter of understanding the truth of and explaining the urban myths which surround us in present times. Perhaps a few centuries from now, a future student of mythology could work on puzzling questions why we had villains like “The Boogeyman” or heroes like “Batman” in our cultural artifacts. I think that myth still serves an essential purpose of satisfying human curiosity for events and happenings for which there could be no other explanation given at the time. Works Cited Morford, M & Lenardon, R. 2003. Classical Mythology. Oxford University Press. Powell, B. 2003, Classical Myth, Prentice Hall. Willis, R. 1993, World Mythology, Henry Holt & Company. Read More