Mythology: Why Myths Matter in the Modern World

 

From ancient campfires to modern screens, humanity has always told stories. Among the oldest and most enduring are myths—tales of gods and monsters, heroes and underworlds, creation and destruction. Often dismissed today as mere fiction or outdated relics of primitive belief, mythology still holds a crucial place in our collective consciousness. But why do these stories still resonate in a world of science, skyscrapers, and smartphones?

This article explores the timeless relevance of mythology: what it is, why it developed, and how its themes continue to shape identity, culture, and even politics in the modern age.

Mythology refers to a collection of traditional stories that explain the worldview of a people—often dealing with the origins of the world, the nature of the divine, and the values of society. While myths may not be literally true, they are symbolically powerful, rich with metaphors for understanding life, death, purpose, and morality.

There are countless mythologies across the world: Greek and Roman, Norse, Celtic, Hindu, Chinese, African, Polynesian, and Indigenous American, to name a few. Each carries the flavour of its native culture, but often with surprising thematic overlap: trickster gods, flood myths, heroic quests, and battles between good and evil.

In ancient societies, mythology wasn’t just storytelling—it was the lens through which people understood reality. Before science, myth explained the changing seasons, natural disasters, illness, and death. Thunder wasn't a weather pattern; it was Thor's hammer. A volcano wasn’t geology; it was Pele's fury.

But beyond explanation, myths served four major purposes—identified by mythologist Joseph Campbell:

1. Mystical Function: Awakening awe and reverence for the mystery of existence.
2. Cosmological Function: Explaining the shape and structure of the universe.
3. Sociological Function: Supporting and validating a social order.
4. Pedagogical Function: Teaching people how to live a human life.

Even today, stories that follow the "Hero's Journey"—from Star Wars to The Lion King—draw directly from these mythological structures.

Every mythology is filled with archetypal figures—universal symbols or characters that appear across cultures and epochs.

• The Hero: Beowulf, Hercules, King Arthur, Mulan.
• The Trickster: Loki, Anansi, Coyote, Raven.
• The Great Mother: Gaia, Isis, Demeter, Danu.
• The Shadow or Monster: Medusa, Typhon, Fenrir, the Wendigo.

These characters are psychological as well as cultural. The Hero represents courage and self-discovery. The Trickster represents chaos and transformation. The Monster represents fear, the unknown, and sometimes the evil within.

By engaging with myths, humans explore these inner landscapes. Carl Jung believed that myths speak to the collective unconscious—the deep well of shared human experience and instinct.

Contrary to popular belief, myth is not dead—it’s simply evolved.

Today’s superheroes, sci-fi sagas, and fantasy epics often play the same role as ancient myths. Consider:

• Superman as a modern Hercules—half-man, half-god, with a tragic origin and a moral mission.
• Star Wars as a galactic Hero’s Journey, complete with a wise mentor (Obi-Wan), a dark force (the Empire), and a redemption arc.
• The Marvel Cinematic Universe, which repurposes Norse mythology (Thor, Loki, Odin) for 21st-century audiences.

These aren’t just entertainment—they’re cultural scripture for a secular age, offering moral dilemmas, heroic examples, and communal experience.

Myths shape how we see ourselves—individually and collectively.

Nations often use myth to build identity:

• America is the "land of the free," born of rebellion and manifest destiny.
• Britain draws upon the Arthurian legends to evoke kingship and noble sacrifice.
• Japan venerates Amaterasu, the sun goddess, as an ancestor of its imperial line.

Cultural myths also help diasporic or marginalized communities reclaim pride in their roots. Celtic reconstructionists, Afro-Caribbean spiritual movements, and Indigenous storytellers all draw on mythology to restore ancestral voices drowned out by colonization or modernity.

On a personal level, mythology helps people navigate crises, find meaning, and write the stories of their own lives.

Many religious stories began as or overlap with myth. The Bible, Qur’an, and Bhagavad Gita all contain mythic elements: talking animals, supernatural births, world-ending floods, resurrected saviors.

To label something “myth” does not mean it’s false—but rather, that it operates in the symbolic realm. Myth speaks to eternal truths, not literal events. For example, whether or not a literal Eden existed, the myth of the Fall of Man reflects timeless human experiences: temptation, loss of innocence, moral awakening.

Many neopagan and spiritual movements today actively revive old mythologies—honoring deities like Brigid, Odin, or Hecate, not as relics of the past, but as living archetypes and sacred symbols.

Despite its beauty, myth has also been used for destructive ends.

Myths can justify nationalism, racism, or war. Nazi Germany twisted Norse and Germanic mythology to invent a myth of Aryan supremacy. Colonial powers often suppressed Indigenous myths, branding them as "pagan" or "savage."

It’s important to be critical of how myths are told and retold—who controls the narrative, and to what end. Myths can liberate, but they can also bind.

Modern psychology increasingly values mythology as a tool for understanding the human psyche.

• Carl Jung saw myths as projections of inner archetypes—windows into the self.
• Joseph Campbell argued that by following mythical patterns, we can live more meaningful lives.
• James Hillman encouraged viewing life mythopoetically—seeing dreams, passions, and relationships as part of an unfolding myth.

In this view, therapy becomes a kind of mythic quest, and personal healing becomes spiritual initiation.

In a world of rational science and global technology, why do we still need myth?

Because myth is how we make sense of:

• Death: What happens after?
• Suffering: Why do bad things happen?
• Purpose: What am I here to do?
• Belonging: Where do I fit in the story?

Even when we don’t believe in gods or monsters, we still seek stories that give life depth. Myths teach us to be courageous like the hero, clever like the trickster, reverent like the priest, and wise like the crone.

In a time of loneliness, disconnection, and cultural fragmentation, mythology offers not only stories, but a framework of meaning. It connects us to ancestors, to nature, and to the sacred.

Whether you’re lighting candles on an altar or binge-watching a fantasy series, you are engaging with myth. Myth is not a thing of the past—it is the water we swim in, the code beneath the culture, the dream behind our waking life.

To explore mythology is to know yourself more deeply, to honor the voices of the past, and to shape the stories of the future.

So read the old myths. Tell new ones. Become the hero, the bard, the seeker. Because in doing so, you take your place in the oldest tradition of all—the sacred art of storytelling.