How Myths Are Used As A Control on Society
...nfluences their dreams. Campbell’s essay describes what he believes to be the four basic functions served by traditional mythology. He terms these functions the mystical or metaphysical, the cosmological, the sociological, and the psychological (202). Mystical, the first function refers to a person who is in the presocialized state, such as an infant. The mind has not yet been exposed to sociological situations. As children grow they begin to witness socialization and start to adapt. This loss of innocence occurs and the child is given the burden of humanity as they transform into an adult. Campbell explains, “In mythological terms: we have tasted the fruit of the wonder-tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and have lost our animal innocence” (201). Battelheim says in his essay, “Fairy Tales and the Existential Predicament,” parents should introduce their children to the true nature of human behavior at a young age. He says all people are not inherently good; there are bad people that children will encounter throughout their lifetime (215). Children, however, learn generally by experiencing direct confrontations with the brutal facts of life. Through vivid confrontations the child learns the hard lessons of life either by watching others or personally experiencing them. As children grow and mature, they also learn to make and interpret symbols. Campbell describes the attitudes taken by the mystery in the great mythological traditions (202). He uses Judaism, Christianity, and other messianic cults to show the well-known basic myth of how an originally good creation is corrupted by a fall. The restoration of the “pristine state” of the good creation can be attainted by living a life that abides by the basic principles of the religion (202). Each of these religions shows that, “…not in nature, but in the social order, and not in all societies, but in this, the one and only, is there health and truth and light, integrity and the prospect of perfection” (202). This “one” depends on the society and the individual’s beliefs. Campbell says these beliefs are “contingent therefore on the ultimate world victory of this order” (202). The importance of these religions to individuals varies depending on the culture and conditions of the society. A person of Christian faith sees the Islam faith as false, and only believes in their religion. In reality the differences between the two are not very great. Myths also play a factor in this aspect of a society. Fromm says that if myths are made respectable as part of our religion, they become part of a respected tradition. If they do not carry this authority, they are thrown aside as childish thoughts of man before he was enlightened by science (197). The cosmological function deals with the universe. This function attempts to formulate an image of the universe, to explain the unknowns of the universe, or as much as can be with modern science. Fromm says that myths were created long before man made these great discoveries about nature and learned the secrets of its mastery. The creativeness of our dreams relates to some of the earliest myths. The third traditional function is the sociological function which was designed to maintain social order. As a set of moral standards, it teaches people how to act and the difference between good and evil. Campbell states, through the use of the Bible and the Hindu religious beliefs, “Man is not free, according to either of these mythic views, to establish for himself the social aims of his life and to work […] but rather, the moral, like the natural order, is fixed for all time” (202). Even though these morals are meant to hold true for all time, Campbell goes on to say that over the changing time to believe and to live according to ancient faith have become equally impossible (202). Fromm explains that myths and dreams, to people of the past, were some of the most significant expressions of the mind, and failure to understand them amounted to illiteracy (198). These myths portrayed the many laws and codes of conduct to be followed. The final and most important function of the traditional mythology is psychological. This function serves to shape individuals to the aims and ideals of their various social groups, taking them through the course of human life (203). The psychological function has remained constant throughout the changing times and controls the structure of myths. The psychological aspect interconnects throughout all societies. Through the differences in the social groups, myths contain common structures. Although people from many different cultures grow up in different environments with varying morals and ethics, many myths teach the same basic principles. Campbell shows that all individuals, no matter how different the culture, have similar myths. Fromm states, “…many of our dreams are, in both style and content, similar to myths” (197). Dreams and myths share something very important: they are “written” in symbolic language. Symbolic language is the one universal language the human race has developed; it is the same for all cultures throughout history. Fromm says symbolic language “is a language which has a different logic from the conventional one we speak in the daytime” (198). Symbolic language is evident in both myths and dreams. Fromm draws from Freud’s studies that, “dreams were essentially no different from myths and fairy tales and that to understand the language of the one was to understand the lang...