Mythology and Other Spiritual Beliefs

Mythology	Spiritual Ideas Home

idealism is superior to materialism in explaining the creation because whereas the mind is able to judge matter, matter is unable to judge the mind. P.R. Sarkar

A mythology is any body or cycle of myths – a narrative, oral tradition, or a popular belief or assumption, based on the legendary heroes of a culture.

Mythology sometimes involves supernatural events or characters to explain the nature of the universe and humanity. Mythology is also branch of knowledge dealing with the collection, study and interpretation of myths or fables.

A myth consists of irreducible plot elements identified as archetypes or mythemes and is not identical to any specific wording or retelling. C. S. Lewis identifies Mythopoeia as an art form distinct from literature or poetry.

Religion and Mythology Religion is commonly defined as belief concerning the supernatural, sacred, or divine, and the moral codes, practices, values, and institutions associated with such belief. It is a structure of beliefs that involves the existence of at least one of:	Wars of Hindu Mythology Hindu teachings prescribe war as the final option, to be employed only after all peaceful methods are exhausted. But when this time comes, war is taught to be a matter of great personal and religious importance, where every man must do his duty as a warrior
Myths as depictions of historical events	legendary magic carpet
Exorcism in Islam	Easter Island Moai Statues
Evil Eye Talismans and Cures	Aladdin and Myth
Notable Omissions of Jesus	Jesus as Myth
Ragnarok the battle at the end of the world	Norse mythology Legendary saga
Norse Paganism	Christianization of Scandinavia
Chinese Zodiac animal signs	Origins of the Chinese Zodiac
Thoth Egyptian God	Hindu Cosmology
Hindu Idealism	Yuga Hindu Philosophy
Hathor ancient goddess	Religion in Ancient Greece
Hades in Christianity	The Olympian Gods
Heracles the son of Zeus and Alcmene

Myths are narratives about divine or heroic beings, arranged in a coherent system, passed down traditionally, and linked to the spiritual or religious life of a community, endorsed by rulers or priests. Once this link to the spiritual leadership of society is broken, they lose their mythological qualities and become folktales or fairy tales.

In folkloristics, which is concerned with the study of both secular and sacred narratives, a myth also derives some of its power from being more than a simple "tale", by comprising an archetypical quality of "truth".

Myths are often intended to explain the universal and local beginnings ("creation myths" and "founding myths"), natural phenomena, inexplicable cultural conventions or rituals, and anything else for which no simple explanation presents itself. This broader truth runs deeper than the advent of critical history, and it may or may not exist as in an authoritative written form which becomes "the story" (preliterate oral traditions may vanish as the written word becomes "the story" and the literate class becomes "the authority"). However, as Lucien Lévy-Bruhl puts it, "The primitive mentality is a condition of the human mind, and not a stage in its historical development." Most often the term refers specifically to ancient tales of historical cultures, such as Greek mythology or Roman mythology. Some myths descended originally as part of an oral tradition and were only later written down, and many of them exist in multiple versions.

According to F. W. J. Schelling in the eighth chapter of Introduction to Philosophy and Mythology, "Mythological representations have been neither invented nor freely accepted. The products of a process independent of thought and will, they were, for the consciousness which underwent them, of an irrefutable and incontestable reality. Peoples and individuals are only the instruments of this process, which goes beyond their horizon and which they serve without understanding."