Doench on Mythology

 Doench on Mythology

Introduction

The terms “myth” and “folklore” have frequently been used to describe the religious and cultural beliefs of peoples who do not benefit from modern, “enlightened” knowledge. However, myths and folklore are continually evolving and are as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago. These stories are more than just attempts to explain natural phenomena; they are the recounting of the actions of great heroes.

Many 21^st century individuals know by heart the story cycle of the young farmer who trained under an alien warrior-monk and not only overthrew an evil emperor but, in so doing, brought about the redemption of his own father who had fallen under the emperor’s sway. An equally large number know stories about a plucky spaceship captain and his loyal crew, of an alien who had been rocketed to Earth from his dying world as a baby and became the most powerful hero in history, or of how a magic ring created by an evil wizard could only be destroyed by throwing it into the maw of the very volcano in which it had been forged.

In the future, fragments of these and other stories may themselves be rediscovered, confused, and combined. The “enlightened” armchair scholars of this future era may deride the people of the 21^st century as being primitive in their belief in Kirk the Sky-Walker, the alien Ape-Man and wielder of the magical Sword of Light, who boldly led his fellow Avengers where no man had gone before in order to rescue his father from the Evil Emperor, destroy the Emperor’s Ring of Ultimate Evil, and bring forth the Age of Excelsior.   

The Importance of Myth to Society in General

It is extremely easy to deride myth as a form as hero worship and even superstitious ignorance, particularly when considering a culture that is no longer extant. What such an attitude fails to consider is that the myth itself, even if it sounds fantastically implausible to the modern ear, contains valuable elements regarding various aspects of the culture that generated it. The myth gives a window into the historical, social, psychological, and cultural beliefs of a given culture and, in so doing, can provide an understanding into how modern culture has developed.   

The stories regarding the Trojan War and its aftermath were long considered to be merely myth by historians. However, they possessed many elements that, in retrospect, could not have all been fabricated. Even today, in an age of satellite navigation and precision charting, the Aegean Sea is recognized by civilian and military sailors alike as one of the most treacherous bodies of water on Earth. For the ancient Greeks, for whom small, open boats that put in to shore every night was the norm, to sail out of sight of land bordered on suicidal; the perils experienced by sailors such as Odysseus following the Trojan War were “scientifically accurate, representing the nature of the Aegean and the state of Greek science and technology at the time” (Thury 14).

Not all myths are going to be the literal truth, of course. Many stories become embellished over time as scientific knowledge evolves, cultural mores change, or they become conflated with other, similar myths. However, even the most fantastic of myths will likely contain at least a small kernel of wisdom from the culture that generated it, if for no other reason than to serve as a moral lesson.

Eerie Similarities in Disparate Creation Myths

It is a commonly accepted “truth” among anthropologists that extremely disparate cultures have had no pre-contact connection and that any similarities between them are therefore mere coincidence. The existence of indigenously built pyramids in both the Old and New Worlds would seem to bear this out; the pyramid requires little in the way of architectural ingenuity to design and is the easiest and most stable way of building a tall structure. However, many of these same disparate cultures have creation or origin myths that, despite understandable differences in details, are similar enough in basic structure that the assumption of “mere coincidence” becomes questionable.

The first among these similarities is the existence of multiple powerful beings who have created the people of the culture. In the Zuni creation myth, the progenitors were Elder Brother and Younger Brother, while in the Mayan Popol Vuh, the progenitors are “primordial gods who live in the sea” (Thury 163). Even the Bible, where God is generally assumed to be a singular entity, has the line “Let us create man in our own image” that would seem to indicate a group effort.

There are other examples of commonalities. In creation myths worldwide, the numbers four and seven appear with uncanny frequency. There are multiple similarities between the flood in the first part of the Navajo creation story and the Flood from Genesis. Most creation myths involve either humans being exiled from a paradisaical realm due to misbehavior or else being led by their progenitor figures to a new homeland. While a single set of these commonalities could indeed be coincidence, there are enough of them that the question becomes whether or not they are, in fact, distorted retellings of some otherwise long-forgotten series of events.

Destruction Myths -- “It’s the End of the World as We Know It … or Is It?”

The “End of the World” is generally viewed by modern humans as an apocalyptic event from which there is no return. This is not the case, however, in the destruction myths of past civilizations. Rather, the destruction of the world was seen as a method used by the gods to purge the world of sin and corruption and, to use a computer analogy, “reboot the system.”

The two most common ways of destroying the old world were through fire and flood. In both cases, these elements represent facets of nature of which mankind had partial control but could never be certain of having completely tamed. However, each of these elements possessed both destructive and restorative natures. A massive flood will certainly cause great loss of life, and will damage or even destroy property, but when it subsides it deposits silt that serves as fresh, nutrient-rich soil; the annual flooding of the Nile River was a key feature in Egyptian agriculture. Likewise, a fire will cause extensive destruction, but the ashes it leaves behind revitalize the soil and allow for fresh growth.

Humans are nothing if not resilient, as shown by the existence of small numbers of survivors who have been deemed “worthy” by the gods. An example can be found in Genesis, where these survivors are Noah and his family and had been told to, “Go into the ark, you and all of your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation” (Thury 200). It is this group of survivors that are then sent forth to repopulate the Earth and restart civilization… thus “rebooting the system.”

The Role of the Trickster

In every society, there are going to be “that guy,” the individual who chafes against the system and prefers instead to do things his own way. In mythology, this non-conformist is usually the Trickster. He may be a hero or a villain, and his motivations may range from the benefit of humanity to simply his own capricious nature, but there is one factor that remains the same: whenever the Trickster is involved, life certainly becomes interesting.

One of the best examples of the Trickster is Raven, a shapeshifter from Native American myth who does things primarily for his own purposes. These actions usually have the unintended side-effect of benefiting the people, but Raven “is not really accepted by society because he does not care to be a part of the standard social structure” (Thury 458). Other examples of the Trickster in mythology are the Greek character of Prometheus, who famously stole fire from the gods in order to give it to humans, and the Norse god Loki, who once wagered his head and, after losing, pointed out that the wager had not included his neck; the winner had to content himself with sewing Loki’s mouth shut.

An example of the Trickster in modern-day mythology would be the computer hacker hero of any number of books and movies from the 1980s through the 2010s. Although the character is usually a social misfit who do things for his own reasons, his actions generally serve to ultimately benefit society. Even the shape-shifting aspect comes into play, as the hacker will frequently adopt various alternate identities as a means to accomplish his end.

Urban Legends for Fun and Profit

The term “urban legend” can be something of a misnomer, as there have probably been “urban legends” being passed from person to person since before there were regions that qualified as “urban.” Among other things, these stories represent the visceral thrill we as humans get from being confronted by the unknown, particularly when we are in otherwise familiar surroundings. It is the desire to fulfill this thrill that causes us to watch horror movies, to flock to attractions such as Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion, and to read tabloid articles about cattle mutilations and ghostly sightings of Elvis.

Stories about the Vanishing Hitchhiker easily lends itself to becoming conflated with other local legends. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (also known as “Mormons”) who would otherwise be prone to discount “Vanishing Hitchhiker” sightings would be more likely to give credence to a story about a “Vanishing Nephite Hitchhiker,”in which the mysterious hitchhiker is one of the “Three Nephites” who, according to Mormon tradition, still roam the Earth in anticipation of Christ’s Second Coming.

During the early 1990s, so-called “Bloody Mary seances” were a popular activity among members of the Los Angeles “vampire” subculture. “Lord Rasputin,” a veteran of that subculture, recounts,

It was a wild time, and probably the best time to be a “vampyre” in Los Angeles,. You would get up about 9 or 10 PM, get dressed, and go dancing at an underground club such as Catacombs to rub elbows with the glitterati and maybe pick up a blood doll (a vampyre groupie).

The only real downside was it seemed like half of the guys you met were Lost Boys or Nick Knight wannabe’s. Most of the girls were pretty decent, although there were quite a few sex ghouls still around that had migrated to the vampyre subculture. (“Sex ghouls” were promiscuous nihilists, mainly female, featured in an article in the August 1985 issue of Penthouse magazine.)

My girlfriend Bloodshadow used to go to Bloody Mary seances once or twice a month at the height of their popularity, but she says she never saw anything out of the ordinary. In her opinion, the séance was simply set up incorrectly...but she was never willing to conduct one on her own, and I had no interest in it.

Television shows such as The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits frequently repackaged urban legends as storylines, and even today shows such as Ghosthunters and Paranormal Investigation have their regular viewers.

Naturally, if people want to experience the thrill of the unknown, there are other people who are perfectly willing to charge them for the privilege, as evidenced by the number of “Mystery Spot” and “Haunted Tour” enterprises that have sprung up over the years. No self-respecting wax museum can consider itself complete without an “authentic replica” of a Bigfoot, alien, or other cryptid. As long as people believe, or at least are willing to pretend to believe, then the Urban Legend industry will live on.

About the Author

Edward Doench is a US Coast Guard veteran, retired professional magician, published writer

(specifically, published in the Spring 2019 edition of Mirage, the annual literary magazine of Cochise

College), and armchair historian. His primary hobby, which he has enjoyed for more than 40

years, is playing, running, and writing adventures for tabletop roleplaying games. As a life-long lover

of history, he sees the study of it as being integral to his writing endeavors; many of the published RPG

adventures he has run are set in Earth's past, and he enjoys expanding upon these adventures and 

otherwise incorporating into his writings historical personalities and events that have otherwise been

generally relegated to "footnote" status.

Ed lives in what he calls the “Arizona outback” and what was historically referred to as “Tombstone

Territory” – the triangular area in the southern Arizona high desert formed by Tombstone, Bisbee, and

Fort Huachuca. He lives with his wife, a dog, and a clowder of three cats named after characters from A

Midsummer Night’s Dream. Rumors that the family also includes an invisible rabbit named Aloysius

have as yet remained unconfirmed.

References

• “Lord Rasputin”. Vampyres among the Glitterati. Personal Interview. 16 May 2020.  

• Thury, Eva M., and Margaret Klopfle Devinney. Introduction to Mythology: Contemporary Approaches to Classical and World Myths. Oxford University Press, 2017.