In my quest to know why fairies have pointed ears and other mythical trivia, I grabbed a copy of A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong. I had found the title using Amazon's book suggestion feature. The first sentence of the book “Human beings have always been mythmakers.” fell in line with my assumption that the book would be about fairies and warlocks, griffins and werewolves. One sentence later, revealed an error in Amazon's “if you like X-book, then you'll like Y-book.” An error I'm glad Amazon made.
The brief book spans from 20,000 years ago, think Neanderthals and cavemen, to current day, think humans walking upright one hand clutching a cell phone. In 148 pages, Armstrong describes the myths or religions of the peoples of five historical eras. In the succinct text, I discovered the gaps in my Christian education.
Armstrong was once a nun; a fact that I was surprised to learn. She presents religious history in an objective, philosophical manner. No evangelism to be found. She describes the relationship that humans have had with gods and goddesses during historical eras and what those relationships have meant for society.
Until the last chapter, I thought that Armstrong dismissed myth or religion as psychological fault. Then, she changed course. In the final chapter titled the Great Western Transformation, she lays out a case for how logic has dampened mankind's intuitiveness and social fabric. Mankind she warns has leveraged rationality to our detriment. Extreme rationalization coupled with rejection of morality myths has created a vacancy that allows villainous “heroes” to emerge with their own faux-logical myths. The morality myths that society once held dear provided an ideal model of behavior and ethics for mankind to strive for. Without the ideal characters to emulate, malignant leaders have used logic and rationalization to stoke inhumane fires within societies with tragic consequences. The malignant leaders, like Hitler, incite hatred, cruelty, and mass-killings.
Armstrong advocates that society preserve religion and myths in order to preserve humanity. She argues that without morality myths people become alien to each other. Myth gives society hope and, even more importantly, a sacred or more moral model to follow. In expecting ourselves to be as good as the hero in a myth, mankind steps up to the challenge and makes civilization civilized.
While the book didn't teach me the origins of the full moon's affect on werewolves, it did show me the power of imagination. My mother-in-law often quotes the aphorism “we are what we think.” In respects to The History of Myth, we can either choose to think of ourselves as aspiring Buddhas, Jesuses, Sun gods, or tyrants. The choice is within us.
The brief book spans from 20,000 years ago, think Neanderthals and cavemen, to current day, think humans walking upright one hand clutching a cell phone. In 148 pages, Armstrong describes the myths or religions of the peoples of five historical eras. In the succinct text, I discovered the gaps in my Christian education.
Armstrong was once a nun; a fact that I was surprised to learn. She presents religious history in an objective, philosophical manner. No evangelism to be found. She describes the relationship that humans have had with gods and goddesses during historical eras and what those relationships have meant for society.
Until the last chapter, I thought that Armstrong dismissed myth or religion as psychological fault. Then, she changed course. In the final chapter titled the Great Western Transformation, she lays out a case for how logic has dampened mankind's intuitiveness and social fabric. Mankind she warns has leveraged rationality to our detriment. Extreme rationalization coupled with rejection of morality myths has created a vacancy that allows villainous “heroes” to emerge with their own faux-logical myths. The morality myths that society once held dear provided an ideal model of behavior and ethics for mankind to strive for. Without the ideal characters to emulate, malignant leaders have used logic and rationalization to stoke inhumane fires within societies with tragic consequences. The malignant leaders, like Hitler, incite hatred, cruelty, and mass-killings.
Armstrong advocates that society preserve religion and myths in order to preserve humanity. She argues that without morality myths people become alien to each other. Myth gives society hope and, even more importantly, a sacred or more moral model to follow. In expecting ourselves to be as good as the hero in a myth, mankind steps up to the challenge and makes civilization civilized.
While the book didn't teach me the origins of the full moon's affect on werewolves, it did show me the power of imagination. My mother-in-law often quotes the aphorism “we are what we think.” In respects to The History of Myth, we can either choose to think of ourselves as aspiring Buddhas, Jesuses, Sun gods, or tyrants. The choice is within us.
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