Why Does Man Create Myths?
Scientific American Mind
"Likely Story" by Klaus Manhart
Vol.16, Number 4, 2005
Man created myths to explain mysterious natural phenomena according to Manhart. He points out that scholars have traced the beginning of modern man about 40,000 years ago. He quotes Kate Wong from the June issue of Scientific American when she said that cave paintings and drawings showed that people believed that their paintings and drawings could influence natural forces.
Manhart also discusses Joseph Campbell , who said that different cultures vary in their approach but that they all contain:1. a myth about the nature of birth, the creation of the world and death. He also said that a myth tries to reconcile two opposing areas; like life and death or creation and destruction. What do you think about this theory? Does it go along with what you believed growing up?
5 comments:
I think that theory is correct...it is what I was taught in school and I believe it.
Do all cultures have myths?? Yes, I believe so??? I am not sure of what you mean about it going along with my beliefs...
Be well,
Dawn
I think it is stories and myths that make us what we are.
Marti
What's one man's myth is another man's religion? Certainly, myths were created by man to answer questions about what wasn't known or understood, to explain the great mysteries of life. I also think myths were spawned by dreams, the nocturnal kind, and the day-visionary kind. Where do dreams come from, then? I believe dreaming is a form of communication with/from our Creator. This is worthy of a journal entry some day! I said I "believed this," so I don't have many facts just yet beyond personal experiences from myself and others. Bea
as thinking beings we attempt to rationalise what we don't understand and what we don't know. there are some truths that we shall never know, no matter how we try.
shermeen xx
http://journals.aol.co.uk/shermeen0621/PublicThoughts/
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