World Mythology

Introduction

World mythology includes the different myths of a particular culture, study and different interpretations of those myths. The myths are typically present in every culture globally. They may be defined as a narrative or old stories that may have been created earlier before the invention of writing. Most of these myths were passed out orally from one generation to another. They dealt with diverse aspects of a certain culture. Some had a deeper meaning or hidden information while others were simply meant to create humor to the listeners. Thus, myths are literally and metaphorically true; however, some people take them to be factually and literally false.

Are myths true, literally or metaphorically?

Myths are literally and metaphorically true. However, they are factually false. It is believed that people may have certain religious beliefs when they appreciate that myths are literally true. They are not true because they are just narratives created to explain about things that happened long time before the writings. They are meant to educate children and mostly they come from philosophers. However, most people especially students interpret and analyze myths as the fictional stories. They look at them as symbolic stories and metaphoric truths about individual behaviors and their origins.

The myths are actually metaphorical because they claim to answer the great scientific, philosophical and spiritual questions. For instance, they try to explain the ways in which the earth was created and the origin of rocks. In addition, they try to explain about the gods and the creation of human beings. Myths take the spiritual dominions and cultural aspects for a certain society (Stookey, 2004). Some societies have their ways of understanding about different myths. Some of them take those myths as the true stories while others take them as stories with literally meaning. Most of these myths have literary meanings, which are sometimes hard to understand.

Can anyone claim absolute truth, and if so, how?

There is nobody who can claim about the absolute truth because this would seem ridiculous to some people when others say that the truth does not exist. This is because some people would simply assume that the reality and the truth exist. Others argue that there must be absolute reality. Those who hold on this view believe that everything is relative to different things thus comments that there is no actual reality. Hence, there is no authority on deciding whether the myths are right or wrong. These suggestions lead to the situational ethics, which explains on the beliefs that the environment is what determines the right and the wrong. In fact, it is logical when some people claims that there is no absolute truth. This is because many people in the society are embracing the cultural beliefs that deny any kind of absolute truth.

What is the relationship between myth and religion?

The relationship between myth and religion depends on the kind of myth definition one uses. Myth refers to the study of different religious beliefs or legends that are believed to be factual whereas religion refers to mythology and it includes rituals and customs too. In other words, myth stories are related with religion because all religions have their own mythology. According to Leeming (2005), he comments that all myths are religious but not all religious tales are myths. This is because there are some religious narratives that do not provide the stories of myths such as the famous saints. However, others have tales that are myths such as the creation stories of Adam and Eve. The ancient, modern myths and religions share common elements and they all contain traditional stories that are believed to convey the absolute truth.

Can one myth be truer than another?

One myth can be truer than another can because myths are not the same. They have various stories and others are meant to create humors or entertain children. Others are educative and have a symbolic meaning. They narrate about life and death whereas others talk about good and evil making them to be different from others. Most of the myths are not true and this exists in popular culture and within the academic society. Myth questions are not literally true and this makes them not to be truer like the way others can be true. Some of them provide illustration stories that represent human life issues whereas others give legendary stories. Some myths provide basic visions that enable individuals to understand the situations and transform themselves with their own world (Leeming and Leeming, 2010).

What happens if you treat the scientific account of the big bang theory as a creation myth?

The big bang theory is the central scientific theory that talks about the origin of the universe. According to this theory, the world was created long time ago from one cosmic explosion that tossed matter in all the directions. This theory is a scientific hypothesis and it addresses the creation of the universe, which has theoretical implications. First, if people treat the scientific account of the big bang theory as the creation myth, there will be differences and conflicts between the religious myths and this theory. Many religious people believe that the universe was created by God and they support this from the Genesis book, which talks about creation of the universe. They believe that the universe was created by God but not cosmic explosions.

Secondly, the big bang theory will create misunderstandings between religious beliefs and this theory. This is because religious believers will see this theory as the theory that tries to complicate the reality. They will see it as the theory that misleads their fellow religious believers thus will see it as a false theory than their own theory. The creation myth appears to be more poetic than the big bang scientific theory and both of this contradicts each other. Many people will take the big bang theory as metaphorical whereas others will take it as the true creation story. Moreover, the big bang theory will leave people with satisfaction because this theory has tremendous sense of humility and terror.

References

Leeming, D. A. (2005). The Oxford companion to world mythology. Oxford: OxfordUniversity

Press.

Leeming, D. A., & Leeming, D. A. (2010). Creation myths of the world: An encyclopedia. Santa

Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

Stookey, L. L. (2004). Thematic guide to world mythology. Westport, Conn: Greenood Press.