Myth, Fiction and Truth

Myth is a dirty word.  It portends of specious argument; maybe flat out lies. Myth, at best, speaks of children’s bedtime stories; at worst, it is misleading and insults and degrades real historical events.

On the other hand, I believe that myth make us truly human.  It defines our psyche.  Myth makes sense of a senseless world.  Carl Jung taught that myth is often more true than what we perceive and have learned.

Years back I heard a sage remark, “God is more real than you” (addressing an audience).  The listeners were shocked.  Did he mean to intimate that he sees God more clearly than he sees his wife?  Did he mean to say that God speaks to him with greater clarity than people?  I do not think so.  What this scholar meant was that he understood “truth” as only coming from the Holy One. 

People are deceptive.  They misconstrue and misuse words and ideas.  They have skewed moral values.  Only God is the pure essence of truth.

I do not critically analyze King Arthur and the legends that surround him.  Did he really have a ”round table?”  What does it matter?  The important thing is that King Arthur held court with a round table indicating that he had a nascent understanding of democracy and sharing.

A lot of Americans seem to be obsessed with angels.  Books appear on shelves in libraries, on line and in stores detailing the names and various assignments of these otherworldly ethereal beings.  I have even seen parlor meetings to address the meanings and existential implications of angels.  Has America gone mad?

I have yet to meet someone who has empirical proof of their existence.  What about UFO sightings?  Are they linked?  I have yet to read in any scientific journal about them.  Yet good, learned folks are swarming to purchase tomes about their favorite angel.

What all seems to mean is that myth provides some semblance of order to an otherwise random universe.  Myth makes sense from deep personal pain as well as questions of existential nature.

So what do we make of miracles and myth?  They may be more real than any hard fact that we know.  For example, I do not believe in God, I know God.  That to me is more meaningful and true than bland facts.  That is my myth.  One of them, anyway.