Myths and Religious Tradition

This is a comment on how we use and view mythology within two different faith groups I belong to.

Jordan Peterson and Joseph Campbell both state that myths give us the ability to cope when we need to rebuild our world view in a psychological crisis. They say that our society is sick due to a lack of myths. When you live within the structure of a myth, that myth will be absorbed by your psyche. The myth sinks into your bones.  

The advantage of this is that a psyche that obtains a myth’s architecture has the strength and resilience that is required to not just deal with but also benefit from the lessons given when the chaos of disaster enters a life. This is one of the great advantages of the Christian Church. But, it will only become a strength if the story is recognized as myth and not taken as historical fact.

Taking a myth as a literal truth robs it of the very truth it contains. There are many people who think that myths are simple, enjoyable and entertaining tales that have no truth in them. After all, modern science has disproven many things told in myths. This thing that supposedly happened according to the myth could not have happened therefore there is no truth to the myth.

So these people deny the validity or simply will not search for the mythological truths because they cannot measure them, nor can they feel their value. Joseph Campbell said in an interview that all cultures have the same myths: resurrection stories for example. The question he tried to answer was why this is so. Both Joseph Campbell and Jordan Peterson state that mythological architectures aid us in reconstructing our world view when it is destroyed.

Yet people who deny the truth in a myth will tell Aesop’s fables and other stories of like kind and point to the conclusion and say that the story has real merit because the lesson it gives is important. The fact that animals cannot talk, but do so in these stories, doesn't matter; after all it isn't meant to be taken literally.

But that is my point; myths are not to be taken literally. 

The various archetypal heroes of the myths are mangled, tortured, abused or killed, and yet they come out victorious, despite everything that happens to them. This resurrection is the very architecture taken into our subconscious that helps keep us sane when disaster strikes. Myths sink into our being and give us strength when we most need it. It also helps us learn from the painful experiences we have. We can step back and build a new world view and learn from the experience in such a way that the myth becomes richer and stronger within us.

I belong to two different faith groups. The first group is the Anglican Church as it lives within St. Simon-the-Apostle church on Bloor Street in Toronto Ontario Canada. The second faith group is on Hiawatha Street also in Toronto and is Neighbourhood Unitarian Universalist Congregation.  In St. Simon’s we have been lucky to have had some Priests who view the Bible as Mythos.

Few Priests, who served there, thought of the stories of the Bible as historical fact. The trap of “here is the myth and it is like all the other myths, but ours really happened” is fortunately avoided in St. Simons. You are expected to say the creed, and weekly imbibe the mythos. There is however nothing that says you are required to believe the dogma as historical fact. 

The dogma of the Church supports and comes from the myth and is supposed to be taken as Truth. It is the dogmatic approach that causes trouble when science collides with Myth. Fortunately St. Simon’s does not take this approach.

Neighbourhood Unitarian Universalist Congregation (Neighbourhood) however is completely dogma free. This means the belief system does not collide with science in the same way as in the Anglican Church. You are not required to believe in anything specific. You are told that your spiritual growth is your own responsibility. To be a Unitarian Universalist you are required to follow the seven principles which are:

“We the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association covenant too affirm and promote:

        The inherent worth and dignity of every person;

        Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

       Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual
        growth in our congregations;

       A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;

       The right of conscience and the use of the democratic 
       process within our congregations and in society at large;

       The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and
       justice for all;
       Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which
       we are a part.”

If you do not follow the seven principles you are not a Unitarian Universalist. Unitarian Universal-ism (UU) draws from many mythological sources. No valid myth is deemed more or less important than another. The strength of this approach is that all valid teachings, myths, poetry, stories and writings of great teachers and an incredible diversity of music and thought are used in UU communities.

The weakness is that while Neighbourhood is one of the most spiritual places I have ever been, there is no mythological architecture that I can imbibe to guide my living and strengthen me when chaos overtakes my life. In fact if the Minister is not very spiritual a UU community it is not likely to be very spiritual either. I have worked in some UU communities where the services resembled university lectures with music thrown in to alleviate the talk. These communities were spiritually dry. I also work in a UU community so spiritual that I am strengthened and often deeply moved every time I go to a service.  

Now the fact that the mythological structure within the Anglican Church is common does not mean that these churches are all the same in their spiritual feeling. The story is the same, but the way the myth is told and interpreted varies greatly within Anglican Churches. Better understanding of the language in the ancient texts has actually given the Anglican Church a problem.

Early interpretation of what God wants was not universal. The early Church and the Jews before them followed what Joseph Campbell calls a bounded myth. This Truth is for us. It is not for them, they are not us, so therefore we are better. Because of the bounded nature of the myth we have scripture that is extremely contradictory. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” as sung by angels in Luke 2:14, is more accurately translated as “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” So now we have to decide who God is pleased with. The bounded Myth makes us against them. After all He must be pleased with us, we’re the good guys.

The UU attitude that mythology should be for everyone equally with no one myth being more important than another is a very good idea. The strength here becomes a weakness though because there is not one underlying story that everyone can enact throughout the year and get into their bones. The Anglicans, Catholics, Orthodox, and other Christian denominations would be better served if the Bible were first translated literally, then the text handed to good poets. These poets would tell the story with all the power of beautiful language. Have the theological experts check the result ensuring the bounded nature of the original is removed. After much handing back and forth we would have a Bible that has the power of poetic language and the Truth of the mythical, mystical tales it tells. I think that by unbinding the mythos of the Church, it would be more acceptable to everyone.

UUs use multiple mythologies. We can learn from them all and that is a great. But we as UUs choose for a service one mythology, and the teaching surrounding it, then move to another myth and then the week after that another. The under lying power of the myths presented are not lived. It would be better for the community to live the mythology for a time before moving to the next great teaching. Give the Truth of the myth a chance to sink into the bones of the congregation and be actually understood by trying to live it for a time. Have the community learn and feel how that chosen myth directs the seven principles and supports the actions of those faith statements. It might even make it easier for the UU community to live by the seven principles day to day.

There is a balance in the strength and weaknesses found in both traditions. The weakness of the UU approach is that there is no one underlying myth to learn and absorb. The strength is the exposure of the community to many myths and the commonality they share. The weakness of the Anglican Church is the Church’s history that makes myth into dogma that must be followed. This makes people, and some Priests, act as if the story of the Bible were history and not Myth. Doing that defeats the Myth and hides its Truth.