Myths give us power

When we think of a myth, we tend to think of old stories.  Those stories may be real, or at least what we have come to think of as real.  Or those stories may be so far removed from how we understand life, we may really have little or no reason to believe in the truthfulness of those.  The important thing to realize though is, human beings are story-makers and story-tellers.  Everything we believe upon is actually a story.  Whether it is a myth, as we familiarly know it to be or not, is a different matter.  We need these stories, we search for them, and if we do not find what we are after we would even create them.  These might themselves become myths to those who listen to these after some time, filling in the gaps of what and how things might have been at some time in the past.  In this story-making, story-telling, and living those stories, we find the power that makes us uniquely human.

Following on from here, this site will present a detailed discussion and understanding based on the book by the same name, The Power of Myth.  As you might be aware, it is a conversation between Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell.  However, rather than making this site simply an extension upon that beautiful discussion, I will attempt to keep linking the conversation to the need of our time, our personal need as well: Yes, the need for a story we can accept as the one to live by, and possibly also the very understanding of what truth might be.  In such myths – for even truth is often myth with the enhancement of certitude – there is power to be found!

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