Now, I have nothing against mythology. Earlier this year I read Jean Shinoda Bolen's book Goddesses in Everywoman.
I saw myself in the stories she related about the Greek goddesses, particularly Artemis and Persephone. I recognized patterns of my behavior--some of them counterproductive--in these mythological goddesses and the insights I gained were life-changing, even though I know full well that these goddesses never literally existed. We need stories, as Joan Didion attests in the title of her collected non-fiction volume We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live.
Stories endow us with inner strength as this post from my friend Liz's blog illustrates.
I saw myself in the stories she related about the Greek goddesses, particularly Artemis and Persephone. I recognized patterns of my behavior--some of them counterproductive--in these mythological goddesses and the insights I gained were life-changing, even though I know full well that these goddesses never literally existed. We need stories, as Joan Didion attests in the title of her collected non-fiction volume We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live. Stories endow us with inner strength as this post from my friend Liz's blog illustrates.But, and this is very important, we need to know when to recognize that a myth is a myth. In his talk, Devdutt Pattanaik explains it this way: "Every culture is trying to understand itself...and every culture comes up with its own understanding of life, its own customized version of mythology." Where we get into trouble is when we start taking our myths too seriously and begin to say, "My stories are correct and yours aren't." Pattanaik says, "Both paradigms are human constructions. They're cultural creations, not natural phenomenon."
Stories are wonderful. I think every culture's stories have something of value to offer.
But we need to know when a story is just a story.
“We need to know when to recognize that a myth is a myth.” “Every culture is trying to understand itself…and every culture comes up with its own understanding of life, its own customized version of mythology.” “My stories are correct and yours aren’t” “We need to know when a story is just a story.”
ReplyDeleteWould you agree that Atheism is an established or emerging culture (A social group of people with certain behavior and beliefs)? I do. After all, this country is busting with a mix of cultures. Then, if atheism can be classified as a culture, what are the myths or stories that Atheists believe in? Because, as this article states, EVERY culture comes up with its own understanding of life, its own customized mythology. Or is atheism the exception? It would not be fair for atheists to claim to be an exception (the exception being that they don’t believe in myths or have their own established mythology) when they would argue against any other culture (or perhaps a more appropriate term would be religion) that believes that their myth/story is correct and that THEY are the exception. I believe Christianity is the truth. You believe it is a story. So, if I cannot claim that my story is the exception to the rule then you cannot claim that Atheism is the exception to the rule either. So, then, what IS the myth, or myths, associated with Atheism?
You tell me. So far as I know, atheism has no stories.
ReplyDeleteAnd while there are certain things that many atheists have in common, I would not call atheism a culture. The only thing that ties atheists together is the absence of belief in any deities.
I have to agree with Leah. I think the cultural stories would come from naturalism, humanism, or any other kind of secular culture.
ReplyDeleteSanta would be a good example of a myth in the western culture.
Stories are never just stories precisely because they reflect the culture, its values, scruples, etc. If they weren't in some sense guiding to the culture then they would serve no function.
ReplyDeleteAs far as atheism is concerned. It generally has no guiding narratives. I would say (based on experience) that the majority of atheists simply don't find value in the notion of a God and they are simply apathetic to the idea and those who disagree with them. This position is not going to produce a narrative that is going to join atheists together.
Another position is a reaction against religion. A bias against, hate, dislike of religion can seem like a unifying narrative but its not. It is a critique and a critique is not a narrative. It doesn't provide a goal toward which the people group is moving.
The last kind of atheist I bump into are a bit more developed and tend to get their narrative from the enlightenment. This would be some kind of idea of progress toward a utopia through education and technology. I think that this would be the only narrative that atheist would rally behind but I don't see many falling in line with the idea. I am not sure why this is but I am just going to assume that it is because of the relativistic milieu we are in. Nobody likes to be told their wrong and so even the "militant atheists" get the cold shoulder when when they start making claims to absolute truth.
I disagree with Ray, I don't think that Santa is a good example of Myth in western culture. I think our stories surrounding nationalism would be much closer to a notion of myth than Santa. You could even argue that naturalistic retellings of the beginning of the universe and life on this planet would constitute myth.
@Mike: That's interesting. I was going to suggest nationalism, but I figured that it's at least grounded in something real. I picked Santa, because it's something most of us believed in at one point, but later realized it was just pretend.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention that I still like to think about Santa and the fun things "he" represents, even though I know he's not real.
ReplyDelete@Ray We have nationalistic stories that have no grounding in reality, but speak to morals, integrity, values, etc (i.e. Washington cutting down the cherry tree).
ReplyDeleteDepending on the basis for your ethics the phrase "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." is completely made up. A work of fiction, completely man made, that affords us the ability to get along, but has no point of contact with anything "metaphysical."
I believe that the story of the midnight ride of Paul Revere was elaborated. There is plenty of myth in nationalistic foundational stories.
@Patrik,
ReplyDeleteAs many have said here, atheism is not a culture. There are no unifying beliefs or behaviors. Atheism (which should only be capitalized when it begins a sentence) is simply a word which describes a lack of beliefs in any gods. It usually describes a lack of belief in the supernatural entirely, also. By definition, then, there are no myths identified with atheism. It is unlikely that anyone who calls themselves an atheist would be able to accept any myths as true without some kind of proof or supporting evidence.
Which gets to the heart of what atheism is all about. Atheism is just a destination. What starts a person on the journey is really skepticism and critical thinking. When a person realizes they are an atheist is when they've reviewed and researched the myths thoroughly, and found that they make no sense, are not supported by any evidence. You call yourself a Christian, that you believe the stories in Christianity are the truth. But have you really inspected those stories for actual truth? Do they make sense? Are they likely to have happened? Is it likely that your religion's stories are the only true ones, and the stories of all the other religions around the world are false? Or is it more likely that ALL religions are wrong, and humanity hasn't even begun to scrape the surface on the mysteries of the universe?
Atheism is no more a "culture" than racism is a culture, or optimism is a culture. There is atheism IN our culture, in most cultures around the world I would imagine, but it only stems from a rational analysis of the real world around us. Once you have that, you have no need of myths, other than for entertainment.
@Patrik,
ReplyDeleteAs many have said here, atheism is not a culture. There are no unifying beliefs or behaviors. Atheism (which should only be capitalized when it begins a sentence) is simply a word which describes a lack of beliefs in any gods. It usually describes a lack of belief in the supernatural entirely, also. By definition, then, there are no myths identified with atheism. It is unlikely that anyone who calls themselves an atheist would be able to accept any myths as true without some kind of proof or supporting evidence.
Which gets to the heart of what atheism is all about. Atheism is just a destination. What starts a person on the journey is really skepticism and critical thinking. When a person realizes they are an atheist is when they've reviewed and researched the myths thoroughly, and found that they make no sense, are not supported by any evidence. You call yourself a Christian, that you believe the stories in Christianity are the truth. But have you really inspected those stories for actual truth? Do they make sense? Are they likely to have happened? Is it likely that your religion's stories are the only true ones, and the stories of all the other religions around the world are false? Or is it more likely that ALL religions are wrong, and humanity hasn't even begun to scrape the surface on the mysteries of the universe?
Atheism is no more a "culture" than racism is a culture, or optimism is a culture. There is atheism IN our culture, in most cultures around the world I would imagine, but it only stems from a rational analysis of the real world around us. Once you have that, you have no need of myths, other than for entertainment.
Stories are never just stories precisely because they reflect the culture, its values, scruples, etc. If they weren't in some sense guiding to the culture then they would serve no function.
ReplyDeleteAs far as atheism is concerned. It generally has no guiding narratives. I would say (based on experience) that the majority of atheists simply don't find value in the notion of a God and they are simply apathetic to the idea and those who disagree with them. This position is not going to produce a narrative that is going to join atheists together.
Another position is a reaction against religion. A bias against, hate, dislike of religion can seem like a unifying narrative but its not. It is a critique and a critique is not a narrative. It doesn't provide a goal toward which the people group is moving.
The last kind of atheist I bump into are a bit more developed and tend to get their narrative from the enlightenment. This would be some kind of idea of progress toward a utopia through education and technology. I think that this would be the only narrative that atheist would rally behind but I don't see many falling in line with the idea. I am not sure why this is but I am just going to assume that it is because of the relativistic milieu we are in. Nobody likes to be told their wrong and so even the "militant atheists" get the cold shoulder when when they start making claims to absolute truth.
I disagree with Ray, I don't think that Santa is a good example of Myth in western culture. I think our stories surrounding nationalism would be much closer to a notion of myth than Santa. You could even argue that naturalistic retellings of the beginning of the universe and life on this planet would constitute myth.
You tell me. So far as I know, atheism has no stories.
ReplyDeleteAnd while there are certain things that many atheists have in common, I would not call atheism a culture. The only thing that ties atheists together is the absence of belief in any deities.