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Recommended: The theory of myth
From before the dawn of civilization as we know it, humanity has formed myths and legends to explain the natural world around them. Whether it is of Zeus and Hera or Izanami-no-Mikoto and Izanagi-no-mikoto, every civilization and culture upon this world has its own mythos. However, the age of myth is waning as it is overshadowed in this modern era by fundamental religion and empirical science. The word myth has come to connote blatant falsehood; however, it was not always so. Our myths have reflected both the society and values of the culture they are from. We have also reflected our inner psyche, conscious and unconscious, unto the fabric of our myths. This reflection allows us to understand ourselves and other cultures better. Throughout the eons of humanity’s existence, the myths explain natural phenomena and the cultural legends of the epic hero have reflected the foundations and the inner turmoil of the human psyche. Over the recent centuries, the definition of myth has decayed into a word synonymous with falsehoods and lies. This idea of myths being completely false and therefore useless is a fairly modern one. To combat the rise of empirical science in the 1900s, theologians brought the idea of wholly literal, fundamental religion into being to combat ideas that did not perfectly align with the tenants of the religion (May 24). This was the final death blow to the idea of the metaphysical myth that was already wounded from thousands of years of being denounced as pagan or barbaric. The rise of empirical science also lent to the decay of the meaning of myth. Science was able to explain the natural world far better than a myth ever could; however, it lacked the metaphysical aspect. Due to these rising ideologies, myths hav... ... middle of paper ... ...ng, Ph.D.. n.p. 2002. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. Drysdale, Jilian Miller. “Faces of the Goddess.” Synchronicity. Dec. 1999/Jan. 2000: 29-31. Sirs Renaissance. Web. 29 Mar. 2014. Freud, Sigmund. The Future of an Illusion. New York: Norton & Company Inc., 1961. Print. Henderson, Joseph. “Ancient Myths and Modern Men.” Man and his Symbols. Ed. Carl Jung. New York: Doubleday & Company Inc., 1964. 104-158. Print. Jung, Carl. “Approaching the Unconscious.” Man and his Symbols. Ed. Carl Jung. New York: Doubleday & Company Inc., 1964. 1-104. Kromholz, Susan Foster, and P. Kyle McCarter. “Why Myth Endures.” Johns Hopkins Magazine. Aug 1990: 32-37. Sirs Issues Researcher. Web, 07 Apr. 2104. May, Rollo. The Cry for Myth. New York: Norton & Company, 1991. Print. Sels, Nadia. Myth, Mind, and Metaphor: On the Relation of Mythology and Psychoanalysis. n.p. 2011. Web. 25 Mar 2014.
Jung, C. G., and Marie-Luise Von Franz. Man and His Symbols. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964.
Carl Gustav Jung, The archetypes and the collective unconscious, Translated by R.F.C. Hull. 9th ed. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981)
David, Adams Leening., ed. The World of Myths: An Anthology. New York: Oxford UP, 1990.
Carl Gustav Jung, “The Principle Archetypes” in The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, ed. David H. Richter (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989), 666.
Jung, C. G., and Herbert Read. The Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Vol. 9, Part 1: Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. London: Routledge, 1990. Print.
These theoretical concepts developed by Dr. Jung are what caused the hypothesis and negativity of my original consideration of him to be replaced by a deep respect and, in fact, an almost gleeful fascination with his work. I am discovering that quite a few people find that Jung has a great deal to say to them. This tends to include writers, artists, musicians, film makers, theologians, clergy of all denominations, students of mythology, and of course, and many psychologists
Eliade,. Myth and Reality. Trans. Willard Trask. NY: Harper & Row, 1963.
Rabstejnek, C. V. (2011). History and Evolution of the Unconscious before and after Sigmund Freud. Psychology, 22 (4), 524-543.
Freud, S., Strachey, J., Freud, A., Rothgeb, C., & Richards, A. (1953). The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (1st ed.). London: Hogarth Press.
Jung, C. G. Collected Works of C. G. Jung, Vol. 9, Part 1., 2nd ed., Princeton University Press, 1968. 451 p. (p. 54-72).
The Classical mythology contains tales and epics of the ancient Greek and roman literatures and myths. On the other hand, Homer’s two epic poems, the Iliad relates to the events of the Trojan War while the Odyssey details Odysseus expedition after the war. Homer’s epic poems, the Odyssey and the Iliad present a major part of ancient history as modern fictional heroic stories. In ancient Greek, heroes were humans who were depicted to possess superhuman abilities. A key example in the classical mythology is Akhilles who is later known in Homer’s Iliad as Achilles. Achilles is he greatest hero of the Iliad whereas Odysseus is the greatest hero of the Odyssey. The greatest heroes from classic mythology and the modern fictional hero’s stories are mortal, and subject to death. The Odyssey and the Iliad marks the beginning of modern fictional literature.
Humans have been creating myths ever since the time of simple spoken language. At first, the only way to spread these myths was by word of mouth – that is until written language was established. Even then, it took a while for people to be able to afford books, let alone become literate, so these myths also have many variations according to the storyteller’s likings. The first examples of real written writing were that of spiritual nature, religious writings that started out as spoken stories told by traveling storytellers.
Jung's analytical psychology can be divided into two parts: theory and practice. The focus of this prose will be on the former, which pertains to the structure of the psyche and the laws of psychic processes and phenomena and includes his theories of archetypes and the unconscious (Jacobi, 1942; Jung, von Franz, 1964). His practice involved the inclusion of his theory in therapy and consisted of four methods: association method, symptom analysis, anamnestic analysis, and analysis of the unconscious (Jacobi, 1942). The goal of all four of these methods was to reveal the patient's unconscious to themselves as well as the therapist. Jung found that one of the easiest and most effective ways of revealing a patient's unconscious was through the actions of archetypes in the patient's dreams (Jacobi, 1942). However, Carl Jung's idea of archetypes was not an entirely original one. Literature suggests Plato’s Forms, Kant’s Categories, Schopenhauer’s Prototypes, as well as Greek mythology and symbolism heavily influenced Jung.
Cal Jung, Man and his Symbols (NY: Doubleday, 1964) Part 4 by Aniele Jaffe, esp. p. 264
Somerville, John. The Strange Case of Modern Psychology. The Journal of Philosophy. Vol. 31. October 1934. pp. 571-577.