Why Mythology Matters: Cultural, Human, and Moral Value

Introduction: The Importance of Mythology

Mythology is important for both individualistic and collective reasons. On an individual level, mythology can teach moral or human truths, whereas on a collective level it can be used to keep people in touch with their origins. Mythological stories can teach children values such as hard work, diligence, and obedience, and role models are created through mythological figures. The mythology of different cultures can also serve to teach students about the values of those cultures. This is particularly important in the world today, since advancing technology and phenomena such as globalization have brought foreign cultures into contact with each other far more frequently than was previously the case. It is therefore important to study mythology for the values it can teach both children and adults, and also for the understanding of the heritage inherent in these stories.

Defining Mythology

Mythology derives from the complexity of the human mind and experience, and the concept is therefore somewhat difficult to pin down. For the purposes of this paper, mythology as a whole is divided into two parts: the ancient and the modern.

Ancient mythology includes stories created during ancient times in order to establish the moral and psychological bases from which society today still operates. Modern mythology includes not only works of art deriving from ancient mythology, but also those works that serve the same purpose.

Many purposes can be served by mythology. One of these is to derive meaning from life and its occurrences. Mythology can also be used to teach the values and ethics inherent in a specific society and culture, as well as the values of a specific religion. Many of these purposes are served not only by ancient mythology, but also by modern stories and films. The reasons for studying mythology can therefore include the purpose of finding the underlying meanings and paradigms of human existence.

The Lessons of Mythology

Children can be taught morality through mythology, which serves as a positive reinforcement of values that parents wish to instill. The Three Little Pigs, for example, holds lessons of hard work and diligence, demonstrating that more is accomplished through effort than through frivolity and fun. Little Red Riding Hood disobeyed her mother's orders and caused trouble both for herself and her grandmother — a story that also carries the lesson of not talking to strangers. Sleeping Beauty, like many curious children, was unable to resist the temptation of a hidden spinning wheel despite warnings about the danger of pricking her finger. Her disobedience was a direct result of her curiosity.

An interesting element in these children's myths is that the outcome is always good. The little pigs all survive and the wolf dies. Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother are saved and the wolf is killed. Sleeping Beauty is woken by her prince. This element in itself is worth studying. Several reasons could be investigated for this optimism in children's mythological stories. The obvious reason is the idea that children need protection from harsh realities in a world where things do go wrong, and often. Other reasons could include reinforcement: by providing positive outcomes, these stories allow children to learn something, and the ideals of obedience, hard work, and caution are reinforced while the characters receive the opportunity to do better in the future. The reinforcement of the lesson involves the idea that disobedience leads to problems, while having learned the lesson leads to solutions.

Mythology as a Cultural Paradigm

Mythology can be studied to learn about cultures other than one's own. It is in mythological stories that the important values and morals of a particular culture are preserved. These myths are used to teach cultural values to children and to keep adults connected to their cultural heritage. They are therefore a useful tool for gaining knowledge about the heart of a culture.

Another important aspect of studying myth is to understand one's own culture. Ancient mythology, for example, contains the values from which modern culture has grown. This makes it a valuable study of the roots of the systems present in our culture today. Greek mythology, for example, has had a profound influence on the Western paradigm. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey influenced Greek cultural values relating to valor, love, and the struggle between good and evil, and some of the paradigms delineated in those works still influence the Western world today.

A study of mythology further enriches the reader with knowledge of these paradigms and the artistic influences that stem from them. The names of the planets are one example of such knowledge. Works of art such as "Leda and the Swan" can be enjoyed to a far greater degree with background knowledge of the myth that inspired the poem. Keats' "Endymion" is another example of mythological influence in literature. This myth addresses the human fear of death and the fantasy of eternal youth. The young shepherd pays the price of having to spend his life in eternal slumber, but he will never die. The more modern, darker myth of the vampire is a perpetuation of this idea: vampires live eternally, but they are not part of humanity, and they pay the price of avoiding sunlight and many other dangers.

Mythology is also created by modern writers. The concept of "myth-making" has been studied in depth in genres such as fantasy and horror literature, and it has been a prominent feature of recent films such as Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars. These modern "myths" serve not only to entertain but also to delineate values such as honor, justice, and loyalty that modern people hold in high regard. An interesting area of study could be a comparison between ancient and modern mythology, or a comparison between mythologies from different cultures.

Conclusion

The main reason for studying mythology is that it is very much embedded in human consciousness — to such an extent, in fact, that we are often hardly aware of it. Mythology holds the keys to what it means to be human. The values and ethics close to the human heart, as well as human hopes and dreams, are all explained in symbolic form by myths.

Mythology is also a very useful teaching tool. A child finds stories more interesting than lectures, and when a child hears a story with which he or she can identify and sympathize, it is much easier to absorb the particular values embedded in that story. This is what makes mythological stories such effective instructional tools.

Most importantly, perhaps, the process of globalization and the growth of technology have brought people of different cultures into much closer contact with each other. The mythology of these cultures can then be studied in order to appreciate the beauty inherent in each culture, as well as the values those cultures hold dear. In this way, misunderstandings can be minimized — and even eliminated — when different cultures meet.

The study of mythology is as vitally important as the study of science, language, psychology, or any other academic discipline. The intellectual usefulness of such study is balanced by the aesthetic value that can be derived from mythology. Each mythological story has its own beauty while also teaching its own lesson. A study of mythology brings people closer together in a spirit of understanding, and helps to create new myths through which the world and life can be understood from a variety of different viewpoints.

Bibliography

Oregon Mediation Center. "Dispute Resolution Mythology." 2004. http://www.to-agree.com/medres/pg23.cfm

Miller, Ken. "An Introduction to the Mythology of the Druids." Oct.–Nov. 2002. Bandarach Council of Druids. http://www.bandarach.org/Paper002.htm