Dear Moqers:
In an effort to perhaps begin the dusting off process, I'd like to offer an
insight as to the true nature of mythology. Here's a description of the
various schools of thought on the topic. Naturally, these are Campbell's
words....
"Mythology has been interpreted by the modern intellect as a primitive,
fumbling effort to explain the world of nature (Frazer); as a production of
poetical fantasy from prehistoric time, misunderstood by succeeding ages
(Muller); as a repository of allegorical instruction, designed to shape the
individual to his group (Durkheim); as a group dream, symptomatic of
archeytpal urges within the depths of the human psyche (Jung); as the
traditional vehicle of man's profoundest metaphysical insights
(Coomaraswamy); and as God's Revelation to His children (the Church).
Mythology is all of these. The various judgements are determined by the
viewpoints of the judges. For when scrutinized in terms not of what it is
but of how it functons, of how it has served mankind in the past, and of how
it may serve today, mythology shows itself to be as amenable as life itself
to the obsessions and requirements of the individual, the race, the age."
DMB
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