The Importance of Mythology

by J. M., Fitchburg, MA

The late Joseph Campbell, one of the world's foremost experts on mythology, believed that people took the destructive criminal path because they lacked myths. Campbell believed myths spoke in a universal language, defining our spiritual centers. He believed past myths were incompatible with current generations, and that we needed new myths with which to identify.

Generations in the Twentieth Century have created myths from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings to George Lucas's Star Wars Trilogy. There has recently been a renewed interest in Native American cultures. For Native Americans, every element in nature provided fertile ground for religion and mythology. George Lucas, through his writing and film work, learned that every object tells a story. Joseph Campbell believed every story was a myth.

Many in our society discount such stories as worthless or as simple entertainment. They fail to recognize the spiritual significance in myths and fail to see the spiritual connection to their own lives. In missing the importance of myths, people deprive themselves of the spiritual guidance and direction myths offer. They find themselves either isolated from society, or in the criminal's case, working against it.