Psychology - Personality
MYTH, EXISTENTIALISM, CONSTRUCTS, and ALTERNATIVISM
The Power of Myth:
The power of myth lies in the mechanism of its transmission from parents and society elders to children at an impressionable age where they accept any belief without question. The combination of parental instruction and cultural reinforcement from society is virtually unlimited its power to elevate arbitrary and completely nonsensical beliefs to fundamentally accepted "truths" about reality.
Typical myths range from beliefs about appeasing the deceased, "curses" and "blessings" of spiritualists or tribal shaman to contemporary Western beliefs about the perpetual continuation of a human "soul" in afterlives of reward or punishment at the hands of a supposedly judgmental Creator. Many philosophers like Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein and Carl Sagan pointed out the obvious irony that contemporary historians refer to the genuine religious beliefs of ancient societies as "Mythology" while subscribing to personal and religious beliefs that are equally grounded in speculation, wishful thinking, and myths perpetuated by the socialization process.
Existentialism:
Existentialism refers to the philosophical perspective that human life is no different in kind from those of any other biological life form and not inherently meaningful in general. More specifically, existentialism rejects any belief that a Supreme Being, Creator, or "God" provides particular meaning to human life; instead, existentialism suggests that human beings are solely responsible for creating whatever "meaning" or "purpose" human life can be described as having.
Existentialism is often mischaracterized as implying that human life is utterly devoid of any purpose or meeting, but existentialism merely rejects the a-priori assumptions that provide baseless and false foundations for purpose and meaning in life. By eliminating supposed purpose and meaning that derives from delusional cultural beliefs in Creators and supposed "Gods," existentialism actually allows individuals to create genuine meaning by defining its purpose realistically rather than supernaturally.
Personal Constructs:
Personal constructs comprise individual beliefs, responses, and expectations of the behavior of others based on the individual's cumulative personal interpretation of interpersonal relationships and experiences with other people. Personal constructs may differ substantially from person to person even though exposed to many similar experiences because of the influence of hereditary factors, family dynamics, and subtle natural idiosyncratic intellectual and psychological differences.
Constructive Alternativism:
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