Molly Puckett "Myth: the Facilitator of Reality"

  It is in our human nature to seek knowledge, to see truth. The studies of chemistry, physics, biology, or psychology would not be so widely accepted if humankind did not have an inherent thirst for understanding. This is why we are taught that the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian myths were explanations of a world we could not understand. As psychologists such as Sigmund Freud would claim, the lack of understanding the world around us can create a dissonance between ourselves and the world we live in.

    After reading “Myth Became Fact” by C.S. Lewis, I have become fascinated with the idea that myths are not fantasies to explain the way the world works, instead myths facilitate the purest form of truth: reality. Myths have outlived the past and they will outlive the present. Even thousands of years later, we are telling the same stories, the same myths. As C.S Lewis wrote: “The myth [...] has outlived the thoughts of all its defenders and all its adversaries. It is the myth that gives life” (4). Humans are fascinated by stories, by the oral and written histories of past societies. Myths are a kind of history. Maybe not of true fact, but they are not wholly fiction or fantasy. Myths tall the story of humankind. These ancient stories seek to capture human emotions that are not always “intellectually apprehensible” (4). The written language of myths creates a record for the sorrow, pain, happiness, pride, and pleasure of our ancient societies. Myths are told as stories because it is the only way for us to understand the meaning behind them. C.S. Lewis writes: “It is only while receiving the myth as a story that you experience the principle concretely” (5). Only through the facilitation of storytelling can we precisely understand that myths facilitate our understanding of reality.

    If writers and philosophers understand that myths have become the truth of our past and present societies, why is it that we are taught myths as though they are simple, inconsequential children’s stories? These stories can be dissected and applied to every part of our lives. Each myth facilitates the understanding of human emotion, liminality, and overcoming hardship. Does this not prove that myths are fractured pieces of truth, waiting to be pieced together by those who see the connecting edges?