Why Myth?
The task of finding symbols and stories through which we may discover the meaning of our lives seems to be a perennial one as old as human consciousness itself. What makes the asking and answering of Jung’s question particularly significant and urgent today is that, unlike past generations, we find ourselves living in a time when the collective culture offers little alternative to wrestling personally with this question and deriving answers from the core of our individual experience.
For the majority of people living in the modern, secular world, however, a more basic issue must be addressed before attempting to answer the question “What is my myth?” Bluntly stated, first we must ask “Why bother with myths at all?” For many of us, it would appear that we are living well enough without a mythological context and that, as a species, perhaps human beings have outgrown the need for mythic consciousness. What remains invisible to us is the inevitability of unconsciously living out a old, limiting, ill-fitting mythology if a conscious psychic process has not disclosed a larger, more valid and meaningful one to take its place.
Since collective mythologies no longer generate a sense of existential meaning for many people, our only alternative is to turn mythic consciousness inward and attempt to find the mythic dimension of each person’s life story. But just what is meant by this idea of having a “personal mythology?” “Personal mythologies,” writes depth psychologist Stanley Krippner, “give meaning to the past, understanding to the present, and direction to the future.” He goes on to observe that personal mythologies fulfill the same functions of “explaining, confirming, guiding, and sacralizing” our individual experience that shared cultural and religious myths once provided.
Whether collective or personal, mythologies are able to perform these critical functions because they are far more than collections of entertaining stories. Underlying the narrative dimension of any mythology lies a vast network of beliefs, expectations, and assumptions — many of them largely unconscious — about ourselves, about each other, about the world, and about life. Often derived as children from the equally unconscious mythologies lived out by our parents and our families, our initial personal myths produce patterns of behavior which limit our ability to adapt to life’s changing circumstances and to evolve both intellectually and emotionally. Through recognizing our unconscious patterns of behavior and consciously exploring and evolving the personal myths underlying them, we can develop more effective and creative relationships with ourselves, others, and the world around us.