Emily Tucker- "Myth- the link between the concrete and the abstract"

     In C.S. Lewis's "Myth Became Fact," he introduces the dilemma we all face of lacking one kind of knowledge because we are in an experience or lacking another kind of knowledge because we're outside of it. As we discussed in class, 2+2=4 is an abstract truth; we can't experience it, it's always the same, and it doesn't reveal Being. On the opposite end, when we are experiencing sensations such as pain, pleasure, or personality, we aren't intellectually comprehending them. Once we begin abstractly analyzing these sensations, we are no longer experiencing them and they become mere instances. "In the enjoyment of a great myth, we come nearest to experiencing as a concrete what can otherwise be understood only as an abstraction." Reading mythology as a story, provides a link between the concrete experiences of the stories and the abstract truths those stories portray. 

    My question would be, Does it truly matter whether a myth is also a fact (like Lewis claims Christianity is both) in order for it to have the same impact our life and spiritual worldview? Or is it the supernatural/ unique characteristics of a myth in itself that portrays the reality and truth in our life? C.S. Lewis claimed that a man who views Christianity as myth but rejects the fact, is more spiritually alive then the man who views it as solely fact. Nevertheless, he would also argue that "one is hardly more necessary than the other" (in regard to historical fact and myth).

    This relates to what we were discussing in class, when we explained how mythos isn't etiological. If it were simply an explanation, it would lack the sensation, experience, and Being that transcends mythos above a mere allegory. Myth is something bigger. According to C.S. Lewis, modern and living thought move away as time goes on, but myth abides. "The myth has outlived the thoughts of all its defenders and of all its adversaries. It is the myth that gives life." Although it may not be fully comprehensible (at least I can't fully explain it), myth gives us something more like the poor man Lewis describes to "be clinging (with a wisdom he himself by no means understands) to that which is his life." 

    Lewis relates all of this to Christianity, claiming that "To be Christian we must both assent to the historical fact and also receive the myth (fact though it has become) with the same imaginative embrace which we accord to all myths." Accepting Christianity as solely historical fact, is neglecting the fact that what became fact, was firstly myth and contains all the properties of a myth. 

    What I took away from this, is that myths hold so much more than we often think. They aren't just fairytales and fun stories for entertainment. They hold valuable truths, reality, and spiritual elements that transcend our simple human understanding, and we can gain valuable knowledge and perspective from them.