The Encyclopedia of World Religions

myth and mythology S 311

story they like to tell themselves that helps them understand who they are, what they are like, why they do the things they do, and what their role in the world is. Myths are powerful because at the profoundest level most of us respond better to see ing ourselves as actors in a story than as abstract ideas; the ideas and beliefs come alive when they are parts of a story, especially our own. Mythical thinking can also be dangerous, for it can tend to see everything as black and white, absolutely good like the hero or bad like the dragons against which he fights. It can stigmatize whole groups of people, and is not very good at working out all the nuances and degrees of good and bad that occur in the real world. But it also gives life to some of the profoundest of human insights, and can motivate new heroes for today. See also HEROES AND HERO MYTHS . Further reading: William G. Doty, Myth: A Handbook (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2004); Phil Cousineau, ed., The Hero’s Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work (Novato, Calif.: New World Library, 2003); Robert A. Segal, Myth: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004).

great religions have such a role as they show the way back to right relationships with God or the divine. These would be stories like that of the B UD DHA , who attained perfect consciousness through deep MEDITATION under the tree, or M OSES who received the divine law on Mount Sinai, or J ESUS who reestablished the possibility of a right rela tionship with God for humans through his death on the cross and his rising again to renewed life. In these stories, the prophet or savior is, like the heroes of myth, a pioneer, a leader, with superhu man powers that help set the world right. Finally, myths of the end may lead up to stories of the end of the world and the end of time, like those of the Last Judgment in Christianity, when it is said C HRIST will return to judge the living and the dead, or the coming of the future Buddha M AITREYA in Buddhism. Often the end in myth really repre sents a return to the paradise of the beginning. Myths like these and many others continue to have a tremendous power in the world. There are the myths of nations, of political movements, of particular sects and denominations of religions that tell in mythic terms of their origins and their world view. There are also personal myths. Prob ably deep inside, most people in the world have a