MYTHS MATTER.
“For thunder-bolt, aegis, trident, torches, snakes, thyrsus-lances—arms of the gods— are myths and so is the entire ancient theology….
—Strabo, Geography 1.2.8
Myths matter. Myths matter because our species relies on them. They matter because human order rests upon them. They matter because characters and stories teach us virtue and bridle vice. And yet, most people shy away from the term “myth”. We are reticent to claim our guiding stories as “myth” for fear of invalidating the truth they claim. However, those who came before us prized their cultural stories as fiction and valuable at the same time. We can reclaim myth as a moral and ethical foundation without suspending rational integrity. Both notions are possible. That is, we are rational beings who can derive important principles from stories. After all, story contributed greatly to our success as a species.
MYTH CARRIED US AS A SPECIES.
In truth, sapiens owe a great debt to mythmaking. Much of our ability to confront the abyss into which we are all born rests upon our shared stories. Myth has carried us as a species, and much of our evolutionary success rests upon story. Myths are unifying, grounding stories which underlay and hold together human effort and cooperation. When we believe that we are part of a larger story, that our community is grounded in a deeper narrative, or that we have been given meaningful goals to accomplish together, we are unique among all other species which has evolved on Earth. Humans are marvelous with respect to collaboration, altruism, and setting moral guidelines when we have a guiding story. Arguably more so when our guiding stories name God and ourselves and an ultimate purpose.
The deepest myths made us survivors. In an evolutionary competition where pretty much everything wants to kill us all the time, from virus to venomous snake, sapians’ ability to forge an identity around story led to social contracts and moral imperatives which made us successfully work together to beat the odds. Story gave groups of people a common heritage and destiny. Deep stories about love, belonging, and purpose resulted in… love, belonging, and purpose. Beliefs that God or the gods placed us in a story helped us map our struggle. Whether in congruence with or in the face of those divine agents, humans are capable of great things when we believe we have a role to play in our world— these beliefs have inspired greatness and order. And so myths matter.
Myths help us find our telos because as T.S. Eliot penned, our end is probably in our beginning. That is to say, if we have a loving Creator guiding a wild evolved creation then our purpose is found in that Being. If we are a cosmic accident then we just may rise and fall accidentally. And yet, look how far we have come and think how many of us intuitively know we are headed somewhere better. Why do we have this belief amidst the adversity? Is it grounded in deeper truths found in story? I think so.
SOCIAL ORDER RESTS ON MYTH.
In order for four cars to come to a halt at an intersection and, not only stop before colliding, but proceed to take turns in a mutually understood order, deep myths must be in place (I usually do the two finger Iowa wave as well…It’s how we roll in God’s country). Each driver must believe in a social contract that there is a proper way to act at a four way stop (it’s the person to your right in case you are from Michigan, home of the inexplicable Michigan U). And under the social contract of propriety is another myth. We know there will the enforced conviction of social consequence because we believe in laws and the state to enforce the law and the larger benefit of politic, or “life together”.
If I reject these myths there is a negative consequence. If I ignore the stop sign and plow into a driver crossing left or right in front of me, there will be financial, possibly legal penalty; not to mention physical danger. The controlled violence of a police force carries the stick that keeps us enacting a shared mythology. And this is a good thing— society depends upon it. The opposite of believing these myths about state, law, and social contract is chaos which places the whole human experiment at risk. Or even worse, the Michagan U-turns I mentioned.
Deep belief in the state produces order… even though there are always people who follow laws and people who do not follow laws. When enough people believe in a social myth that order is maintained by a trustworthy state, we act with civility and honor. We can trust that we will not collide at intersections, that we can go to the supermarket safely, and that we can invest in the economy. We can build streets with homes, have running water, indoor plumbing, work for reliable food, and trust that tomorrow will be something like today because of deeply held and mutual cultural mythology. Humankind acts with more virtue when people across sections of the population are woven together by a similar story. And so myths matter.
MYTHIC EXEMPLAR MAKES US BETTER.
The best stories make us better. The best stories takes us somewhere far away and when we get there, show us ourselves. And what do they show us? They show us who we want to be and who we do not want to be. We gain virtue through heroes and who face adversity and overcome. We learn humility from Moses or bravery from Hector. Conversely, we bridle vice through characters whose ill behaviors bring undesired consequences. We learn from Samson that blindly doing “what is right in our eyes” just might claim our sight. We learn from Achilles that unbridled rage brings ruin and misfortune. This is what the Greeks called exemplar. Literature instructs our moral fabric through the example of the characters in the stories. And so myths matter.
And many folks dwelling in the cities on one hand are lead towards imitation by the pleasurable myths, whenever they hear the poets describing mythical (deeds) of bravery, such as Hercule’s labors or of Theseus, or the honors being bestowed by the Gods, or by Zeus, or whenever they see paintings or carved images or anything molded suggesting any certain such reversal of fortune with respect to mythology—On the other hand in regard to prevention, whenever they admit punishments by the Gods, fearful things, and threats, either through stories or through certain unseen forms— or even whenever they think to have befallen certain things.
Strabo, Geography 1.2.8
I am arguing that if you grew up with the Bible, whether or not every detail or any of it is true, the literature is chock full of examples to measure your own life against. The author of Hebrews makes the same move in a lengthy list in chapter 11, arguing that heroes of the faith in the Hebrew Bible are exemplary for the early church:
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
Hebrews 11.8-9
The big idea is that if they did it you can do it! Think about it, this is why you love stories. Movies, books, poems, music— these are all art forms that ground you in story. The best art takes you somewhere else and shows you something true. Well, what if this is true of myth? What if this is true of the Bible? What if the literary and character gain of the Bible is not so much in that it recounts a discernable history, but debatable virtue and vice in characters and stories. And what if these stories help us map ourselves in ways that matter? What if naming God helps us name the best ideal of ourselves? I would argue there is so much that has been gained and is to be gained from stories that teach us who we are and how to be. And the veracity of the stories is correllated to validity, but not causually. Instead, sometimes the embellishment of literature tells the truth better.
WHY WE OPT OUT OF MYTH.
Why do so many of us opt out of myth? And I don’t mean all stories. This does not mean we don’t enjoy books or film or podcasts that tell a good story. It means we do not trust when fiction is presented as factually true. We do not like fictive worlds from pastors or politicians, and we exit quietly whenever we can. Especially during playoff season. Perhaps we have good reason to be skeptical. If we grew up being told that faith rested on the factual vericity of fantastic tales, we are prone to fear myth. We grew up and realized fat men in red suits could not come down chimneys and striking rocks with a stick could not produce water in the desert. And so on a deep level we feel let down by myths. Some of us feel betrayed and wounded by the very sacred text meant to help us navigate life. And so we are afraid to trust stories more than to entrust our virtue to fictional characters. The irony however, is that the very stories we reject have often contributed greatly to who we are and how we navigate the real world. Think about it. Who would you be without the moral grounding and character that developed in you through not only story, but a community which taught you how to live that story out?
MYTH IS NOT SCIENTIFIC ENOUGH.
Another reason we reject myth is that we learn to think as a critical adult and opt for scientific reason in the place of myth. The great gift of science is the ability to verify results through testing. Truth claims in scienctific fields are based upon testing and result, which in turn should cause us to adjust our beliefs. Whether or not this happens as it should is an open debate, at least on facebook. Ha! (The great facebook debates of 2020 ought to make us all lose faith in humanity…and yet…) Really though, science is a great gift and works so well for humanity and individuals in many cases. I love science. My work as a scholar of biblical literature has been to apply the hard science of archaeology and the soft sciences of sociology, anthropology, and literary criticism to the Bible. These sciences are the tools that help me get into the ancient perspective of the scribes which produced ancient literature as best I can.
But the fundamental payoff after applying these sciences is actually not scientific— it is mythic. It is hearing the story as purely as possible and gaining wisdom from the author across millenia. And what has surprised me again and again is that many times ancient wisdom has more to say than modern perspective based on scientific rigor. My relational health, livable mantras, and primary modes of navigating the world actually come from story. My character, intuition, and reaction to the breakneck pace of modernity has come from ancient beauty and art. Most of all, my trust that God is good and that people image the divine permeates my every relationship.
FICTION AND TRUTH GOT A DIVORCE.
For many moderns, myth is not scientific enough, and so it cannot give us the truth and stability we desire. The common conception seems to be that fiction and truth got a divorce. And now we have to pick a parent. One is cold and calculated, one is wild, prone to lie. One is Apollo, one is Dionysius. Most people are quick to side with science. Science can explain where we came from and where we are going. We can go backwards into the bang that started it all, we can board a rocket ship and go somewhere new, and just maybe, we can keep this planet running. Science gives us truth we can act upon, so the thinking goes.
But so does myth. Ancient story will not calculate the effects of global warming, but it will teach you the value of simplicity. Story will not launch a rocket, but it will teach you not to fly too close to the sun. Story will make you virtuous if everyone around you forgets their morality. Story will help you recognize and bridle your own vice while everyone else blames everyone else. You see fiction gives us the truth too. And the best kept secret that all readers, netflix bingers, and art afficionados already know: A lot of times fiction says the truth best.
THE NOISE OF TOO MANY STORIES.
The modern world is noisy and story saturated. There are too many stories telling us what to think, who to be, and most of all, what to buy. Everywhere you go online or in reality, stories are being pitched to you at an ever increasing rate. Whether you walk through the modern agora called a shopping center or get three clicks deep into the web, you are peppered with myths about what will bring you happiness and significance.
How is anybody supposed to pick a guiding story? Seriously, even selecting a movie for an evening is taxing— there are just too many choices to sort out and you intuitively know that not all stories are equal. That’s why you should just watch Indiana Jones or Star Wars on repeat. Because some stories fail to take us somewhere else that matters. Some stories takes us somewhere else but fail to show us something we can use to be a better person.
This is where boot strapping yourself to a time tested path or an ancient scripture can help. If some stories have helped people for thousands of years, you can trust they are reliable guides in some capacity. And if they appear of little interest or outdated, you can trust that the inability to perceive the value of the stories is your own shortcoming. Probably not what most moderns want to hear, but I find people are capable of reading and understanding great literature less and less every generation. This is especially true of the Bible in the modern West, since it is ancient and near Eastern.
I have worked with a few batches of students and their ability to engage the Bible has diminished from reading it literally and woodenly as if it is a play by play video of the ancient past to not really even being able to follow the storylines. It is a shame, but in a room full of a thirty students, five or six can usually follow the storyline well enought to draw conclusions, and their conslusions are generally missing the cultural context that gives the story meaning. Or even worse, they have a system of theology that ruins what the scribe is actually trying to do with the story.
I don’t blame them, our culture has drowned out their patience and mental capacity to read carefully. And so my meaningful work is not only showing them the great literature of the Bible, but taking them on a journey to a foreign land that always joyfully surprises them and helps them decide who to be. That is how much I believe the Bible can cut through all the noise with a reliable guide.
Engaging the tradition of torah is about foundations. It is a rejection of unthinking culture for a chosen remythology. It is about recovering a mythology you can love, use, and live out on the other side of skepticism of myths. And so you can understand yourself as an animal that deeply needs and lives out of story. No problem. Myths really do matter, and most of our world needs a much better one than comfort or consumption or nationalism or fame. If you will enter the Bible as literature that helps… than you may find yourself in the study house of Rabbi Hananiah who quipped:
He who takes the words of Torah to heart will be relieved of anxieties about war, anxieties about famine, anxieties about foolish preoccupations, anxieties about unchastity, anxieties about evil inclination, anxiety about about coveting another’s spouse, anxieties about foolishness, anxieties about the yoke of flesh and blood.
Zohar, Idra Zuta 15.