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THE CREATION OF MYTH
On the Practical Survival Value of Myth
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On the Practical Survival Value of Myth
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The function of the ritual and the narrative form of the mythos also went together hand in hand in the sense that: The utmost seriousness with which entire societies sought to ‘stave off’ or ‘delay’ the return of the catastrophic and chaotic forces that had overwhelmed their ancestors — not only had the function of justifying the social order of the culture and its customs and institutions, it also contributed directly to preserving and maintaining the very people who made up this social system itself. — The basic positivist expectations of the ritual as such had practical, life-saving, utility. It was practical utilitarian values such as these, grounded in basic human needs — above all, the need to survive — that initially served as the original impetus behind the making of myths and the performance of the rituals which pantomimed them.
The past accompanied them because it belonged to them and because there was a living need to keep it alive. The past was remembered, handed down, taught, interpreted, and practiced, because it was needed — because it was deeply necessary for the viability of their culture’s survival. Shared truths that provided a sanction for common efforts sustained the people, and for that reason had to be sustained and perpetuated by them indefinitely. For these shared truths explained not only what happened in the past, and what must now be done in response in the present — but also what was expected to unfold in the future as well. Myth and ritual making seems to have provided competitive advantages for certain cultural groups to continue their existence in distinction to others — both the advantage of genuine information on the risks of natural disasters being contained in the myths, as well as the advantage of the abiding social cohesion fostered by mythic thought. And although their historical reality was meaningful only within the mythic narratives that made up a given culture’s ritual traditions, the importance of the real-life survival value of these visions of the human condition should not be underestimated. For just as knowledge of the laws of nature offers humankind the only chance of survival in a changing environment, so too does the search for knowledge give expression to the basic curiosity which appears to be the salient defining characteristic of human beings. In fact, we might assert that man’s intellectual curiosity and, thus, his propensity for myth-making, is itself a trait that specifically evolved due to the advantages such curiosity confers for survival. |