Why Myth Matters

History gives us facts: dates, names, and events, things that can be verified. It gives structure to the past. But history is limited. It focuses on what can be proven and documented, which means it often leaves out inner experience. History can tell us when a city fell, who led the army, and how long the siege lasted. What it cannot tell us is what it felt like to watch the walls burn, or to believe that the gods had turned away. History gives us the skeleton of the past, but not its heartbeat.

This is why mythology matters. Myth is not about what actually occurred; instead, it transcends the literal to reveal the deeper truths of human experience. Myths translate the inner world into symbolic form: fear becomes a monster, hope becomes a hero, and chaos becomes a god. These stories endure because the emotions they express are emotions we all feel at some point in our lives.

By giving symbolic form to inner experience, myths also reveal how societies understand themselves. They show what a culture values, fears, and aspires to be. In this way, mythology becomes a mirror, revealing both the individual psyche and the collective world of the people who create it.

Even in ancient times, scholars recognised the importance of myth. Aristotle, in the Poetics, said that poetry (which in ancient Greece often focused on myth) was more philosophical than history because it speaks of universal truths. Myth, like poetry, is not about what actually occurred; rather, it transcends the literal to reveal the deeper truths of human experience.

Modern psychology helps explain this. Carl Jung believed that myths emerge from shared patterns in the human psyche, which he called the collective unconscious. According to Jung, myths act as a bridge between the unconscious and the conscious mind, giving shape to feelings and conflicts that are otherwise difficult to articulate. In essence, mythology is psychology told in the language of storytelling. Mythologist Joseph Campbell echoed this idea when he wrote, 'Mythology is psychology misread as biography, history, and cosmology.'

Many myths may well originate from historical events, but, over time, become something far greater. Wars turn into epics. Leaders become legends. Hubris becomes omen. Over time, the details may blur, but the meaning remains. The Trojan War may have been fought over land and power (Archaeology suggests there was, in fact, a historical basis for the Trojan War), but the Iliad remembers rage, grief, pride, and loss. That is why it still speaks to us centuries later.

Myths carry meaning, and as humans, we all need meaning in our lives. Facts alone cannot tell us how to live, how to endure suffering, or how to understand loss.