Title A Short History of Myth Series --- Author Karen Armstrong Cover Art Pentagram Publisher Alfred A. Knopf Canada - 2005 First Printing 2005 Category Non-Fiction Warnings None Main Characters N/A Main Elements Mythology

“Human beings have always been mythmakers.” So begins best-selling writer Karen Armstrong’s concise yet compelling investigation into myth: what it is, how it has evolved, and why we still so desperately need it. She takes us from the Paleolithic period and the myths of the hunters right up to the “Great Western Transformation” of the last five hundred years and the discrediting of myth by science. The history of myth is the history of humanity, our stories and beliefs, our curiosity and attempts to understand the world, which link us to our ancestors and each other. Heralding a major series of retellings of international myths by authors from around the world, Armstrong’s characteristically insightful and eloquent book serves as a brilliant and thought-provoking introduction to myth in the broadest sense—and explains why if we dismiss it, we do so at our peril.

I was looking forward to reading something more academic about myths, what they are, their origins and meanings, after having spent have a year now reading books about gods, angels and demons. However, turns out, I wasn't really interested in this aspect of mythology and found the book rather boring...and opinionated. As an intro to a series of myth based series I'd rather she stuck to the facts rather than decide in the end that the world is coming to an end because we are dismissing myths as silly. While the first few chapters actual does go over some history and evolution in the mythology, the last part disappointed me a lot.

She explained that people didn't believe their myths were literal...but she was a nun once, did she not believe that Jesus actually existed? She may not have, but many people do take it as fact, and I'm sure people in the long past did too. I can't believe only modern people make the "mistake" of taking myth as literal, people are people and always have been. She seems to come to the conclusion that all the ills of society are because we decided myths were "fake" and thus our spiritual lifes are stunted, hence why our societies are decaying...because, like the ancient Greeks whose mythology was so very rich were not violent or degenerate (*cough* The Iliad *cough*). And that religion/spiritualism/mythology is the cure because, well, religion never did us any harm, right? (*cough* Crusades, residential schools *cough*)

Thus as someone who loves to read the old myths, I think they play a major role in our lives. Just look at where they pop up, like the Rod of Asclepius for medicine, or many messenger services taking winged sandals or helmets from Hermes, it's everywhere and so it is important. I wouldn't discard or dismiss them just because they are historically inaccurate. Honestly, most of our history is lost and what does come down to us is dubious in its accuracy and half conjecture and fantasy anyway.

At the same time, I don't think my spirituality is dead because I don't believe the stories are real, and because I spend more time reading science text books than the religious texts. I find great awe and wonder thinking about the cosmos, or whether trees can communicate through the mycelium network, or seriously, even if we don't have a soul, the wonder that is our brain that gives us thought and emotions and personality. In fact I think it even more awe inspiring if such a lump of matter merely evolved over eons of sheer luck and some survival of the fittest, than if there was an all powerful being who could program such an advanced computer. And because of that, I don't feel I need a "purpose". It doesn't, at least for me, have to have deeper meaning than, wow, what's the chance that I came to exist? I think we have more ills in society because we have people telling us that we *should* have a purpose, rather than losing our myths that were supposedly making one up for us. Maybe we could all be happier if we just let go of the "why am I here" and just enjoy the fact that we are.