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A New Mythology

The Nature of Mythology according to Joseph Campbell

A Myth, as Joseph Campbell understood it, is a symbolic communicator, that attempts to translate the universal mystery of existence, that cannot be consciously understood . A Mythology is like a series of sign posts, that direct us through this cosmic mystery, which is also the mystery of our own existence. Mythology is a product of the sub-conscious, which in turn, is the product of the underlying cause of all things, and so creation myths and end of the world myths, are directly linked with our own existence and mortality.

Life Death and Transformation

In between we have Transformation Myths, the shaping of the world (such as Australian myths of the Rainbow Serpent), social order (Such as the revelation of God’s eternal Law from Mount. Sinai), the death and rebirth of a god (Such as the Christian Myth), seasonal rites of passage (like the Winter and Summer Solstice), and so on.

This is also the basis of Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, influenced by Arnold Van Gennep’s three ritual stages:

1. Separation from Community
2. Liminal-Transitional Stage
3. Reincorporation into Community

The problem with ‘Historical’ Myths

The inevitable problem arises when we translate our internal myths into cosmic and cultural (ethical) myths: They become historical ‘facts’, even more so when enshrined in religious texts. Joseph Campbell believed (and I agree), that we need to let go of our outdated ‘historical’ mythologies, as they no longer fit our modern understanding of humanity, planet earth, and outer space, yet, at the same time, we still need to realize that both our internal and external realities are foundationally one reality, without any fixed boundaries (or at least none that we can fully grasp).

The Modern Need for a Boundless Mythology

We no longer have definitive answers to life’s big questions, and we need a mythology that accepts that. For many of us who grew up without any rigid religious structure that is designed to guide us safely through life’s dilemmas, we have been thrown in at the deep end, without being taught how to swim. And this is why so many people are so screwed up. They haven’t been properly integrated into the limitless possibilities of modern society. Instead, life is not limitless, just meaningless.

Innovation within Religious Tradition

Campbell acknowledged that it is unlikely that we would ever achieve a unified global mythology, but I see no reason why we need to. And why must we entirely scrap our traditional mythologies? We have a rich variety of validated religious expressions, built upon thousands of years individual and collective experience, which surely must count for something! We just need to bring our mythologies up to date, and allow our spiritual expressions to retain a certain fluidity, so that we can retain a ‘New Mythology’ through a natural process of continual innovation.

And this is exactly what many religious practitioners are doing, although some religions, such as Wicca and Neo-Paganism (I’ve recently been discovering), are more adaptive to new ideas, then say for example Christianity, which has to somehow transcend the historical myths of the Old and New Testaments, without losing its power to transform lives.

Modern Myth Makers and Creative Mediums

We are all potential Myth Makers (spiritual innovators), I think. We all have to live out our own personal myths, even if we are not part of a religious community, and we can share our experiences with others through different creative mediums, such as Film.

All storytelling is a way to transmit mythic (life-death-transformative) experiences. And it may well be that the power of the myth lies in its ability to temporarily transport us (using Arnold Van Gennep’s model) out of ourselves and our community into a state of mythical identification with the Heroes of myth (who themselves venture into the realms of the unknown that is identifiable with our modern conception of reality), to be transformed into the person he or she is meant to be along the boundless paths of their journey, and from each adventure, returning back to the community from which he or she came with another fresh expression of transforming power.

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