What if there were no myth(s) and humans based their beliefs entirely on empirical evidence? Even though one may feel this would lead to us being orientated solely in science, would we be able to process at the rate we have scientifically at this point w/o radical theories and thought?
Myth is symbolic of a drive humans have to create.
Art and religion have represented two forms of the same phenomenon from prehistory up to this day the attitude of man towards the absolute and the meaning of existence. Art has expressed that attitude by more abstract means, indirectly, through symbols, whereas religion has worked on the formation of a system to experience these relations by taking a simple man through the experience and deeds of educated people and the rituals of direct communication with the absolute.
From: Art And Religion, Andrej Tisma By repressing mankinds drive to create one also inhibits creativity. You don't get a civilization that experiments, tells stories, makes art. (Scientific) progress relies on our ability to formulate a hypothesis, which directs our efforts. We must be creative to advance our knowledge base, even in non-formal experimentation.
To answer your question, humans wouldn't do well without myth.
- 9/12/2006 09:02:00 PM
! Fantastic!!!! I have this idea I've been kicking around in my low-priority pool (of which there are millions ideas waiting to be brought to light- fear the day I have nothing to do!!)...wow...starting over:
I have this idea that essentially says that at the heart of the human part of humanity is a need for spirituality of some sort. Obviously the nature of that spirituality and the mythos surrounding said spirituality can be very diverse, but the fact remains that since time immemorial we have found a way to communicate with the absolute, the Creator(s), the Reason(s), and then having solved that equation if you will, we have had the confidence to strive forward in our more menial tasks, such as forming civilizations, inventing tools, etc.
In fact, in some cases, it was the desire to pass down these concepts and religious beliefs that drove other 'progress' (ie. written languages, the banding together of the bedouin tribes under the flag of Islam, the spread of a common language throughout most of europe...etc)...phew..kinda ran out of steam but thats a loose bit of what I had stewing around.
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