Before I explain my thoughts on religion, I must first explain the idea of a myth. The reason is that religion and myth have a deeply intertwined relationship.
Myths are stories that explain how various aspects of the world came to be the way they are. The power of myths comes from their ability to make life meaningful for those who believe them. Some of the most famous and studied mythology is that of the Ancient Greeks, who combine the magical, supernatural and divine with ideas about emotion, order, history, music and thought. Similarly, religion is defined by anthropologist John Bowen as “ideas and practices that postulate reality beyond that which is immediately available to the senses.” In simpler terms, myths are origin stories—especially stories involving gods or divine power—and religion is based upon mythology to make sense of the world and define societal structure. It is through the lens of these ideas that I understand and interpret various religions with increasing precision as I further explore the dimensions of their practices and ideas.
As intelligent beings, humans possess an inherent need to understand the unknown and seek knowledge. Growing up Catholic, I was taught to follow the teachings of the Bible and the words of Jesus Christ if I wanted to live a good life. The Bible and its stories delivered moral lessons from God which are essential to understanding the world and how to live in it. However, I always found that the main goal of biblical stories is not to establish a relationship with God, but to instill order and behavior determined as “good” within Christian believers. It seems apparent that religion and myth play an important social and psychological role as positive determinants on the ways of life that give meaning to human existence.
Myths provide a stable foundation upon which the framework for human societies can be built and sustained. Myths work as “charters” for the current social arrangements of a group by restricting one’s personal understanding of the world in favor of a group-adhered understanding of the world. These charters can come in various forms. For example, according to Bronislaw Malinowski, in Trobriand mythology, an ancestress-and-brother pair brought specific objects, knowledge, skills, magic and crafts from the depths of the earth and later claimed the land as their own upon reaching the surface. For the Trobriand people, this myth justifies the rights of people to a given piece of land and the learning of certain spells, skills and trades. One may even view the Declaration of Independence as a charter because of the mythic statements written in it. The American right to practice your own beliefs is guaranteed by statements in the Declaration of Independence that seem self-evident such as the creation of men as equal and the inalienable rights of life, liberty and happiness. However, the mechanism of “self-evident” works in the same manner that a myth does by adhering to a group-defined understanding of the rights of an individual. The significance of myths on human life is that, if believed without question, they tell people where they originated from, what they should do in life and how they should live their life.
In comparison, religion is a comprehensive worldview that combines myth with traditional values, rules and cultural norms. The role of religion in the lives of many people is similar to myths as religion also defines one’s origin, one’s path in life and how one should live but with more complexity. As proposed by the anthropologist A. F. C. Wallace, religion prescribes certain behavior including but not limited to prayer, physiological exercise, exhortation, mana, taboo, feasts and sacrifice. If taken to the extreme, these behaviors can negatively impact human health and productivity, yet it is such behavior that guides the many facets of human intelligence, culture, action, morality, kinship, work and so forth. Religion organizes society so that people can fulfill a collective effort to live. Whether that effort is good or bad depends on one’s cultural background and level of inquisitive thinking.
Despite the validity of myth and religion, they both impact human life by providing humans with a reason to live that answers question ranging from when life began to what should be done to live properly. In order to overcome logical contradictions that consistently appear in the world, religion and myth are fundamental for people to understand the world they can perceive and beyond that which can be humanly sensed. As a result of the comprehensive frameworks of religion and myth, the human species has developed beliefs, laws, practices and cultures that contribute toward the maintenance of social life and human existence.
