We are inherently social creatures. From our beginnings, we have shared stories, both imagined and observed. We pass on wisdom, embellish experiences, and search for new ways to understand the world around us. Forging narratives, ascribing meaning to the unexplained, inventing myths: this is how we form our world. As Joseph Campbell claimed, myth-making is the path to self-expansion and human expansion. Myths help us understand both who we are and reality itself.
We are seeing a new depth to the power of myths to shape truth. In this highly-charged contemporary moment where constructed narratives build new realities, we see that myths don’t just inform our understanding of the world: they can shift power dynamics, unite people, and cause divides, even alter our core understanding of truth and reality.
Our inherent belief in the power of the myth is exploited every day. Myths have become more than stories, they have cohered into a unified, formulaic approach to commercialism, politics, and social behavior at large. The brands we buy and wear, the political parties and sociopolitical systems we ascribe to, the social media platforms we live on, these are the modern forms of myth. They represent a complex and evolving set of stories that we tell and that are told to us, a web of aesthetics, symbolism, rituals, archetypes, and languages. Our identities are formed through our interpersonal interactions with the surrounding cultural web and the myths it holds.
We are seeing a new depth to the power of myths to shape truth. In this highly-charged contemporary moment where constructed narratives build new realities, we see that myths don’t just inform our understanding of the world: they can shift power dynamics, unite people, and cause divides, even alter our core understanding of truth and reality.
Our inherent belief in the power of the myth is exploited every day. Myths have become more than stories, they have cohered into a unified, formulaic approach to commercialism, politics, and social behavior at large. The brands we buy and wear, the political parties and sociopolitical systems we ascribe to, the social media platforms we live on, these are the modern forms of myth. They represent a complex and evolving set of stories that we tell and that are told to us, a web of aesthetics, symbolism, rituals, archetypes, and languages. Our identities are formed through our interpersonal interactions with the surrounding cultural web and the myths it holds.