Exploring religion as mythology

by Saad Imran. April 5th, 2018

Religion means many different things to various different people and the
answers to the question “what is a religion?” vary so significantly that it
might be impossible to find a consensus. I’ve found that in discussions
about religion, people are often operating using different definitions of
religion along with a differing understanding about its purpose. This adds a
lot of confusion and it makes having productive conversations difficult, even
among people who agree. So, for the sake of clearing up some confusion,
lets narrow down a coherent answer to the question “what is a religion?”
and identify how a religion functions. To do this, lets look at Joseph Cambell,
whose main focus was comparative mythology. His work in this field
remains very influential and his analysis of myths provides some great
insights into the inner workings of contemporary religion.
What is a religion? How does religion work?

Between us, we can view religion and mythology to be synonymous. They

are simply two words to describe the same phenomenon. While this claim
may be contentious to some, working off this presumption allows us to
contextualize religion in a way where it is no longer a mystery. Religions like
Christianity, Judaism and Islam overwhelmingly share characteristics with
other mythologies, to the point where it is easy to believe that these
characteristics are inherited by religion from a long mythological history. To
illustrate this point, lets explore the functioning of mythology further.

In his book, Masks of God: Creative Mythology (Chapter 9: “The death of

God”, Part VI: “Towards new mythologies”), Cambell defines the following
aspects of mythologies:

Metaphysical-mystical aspect

Mythology communicates ideas or experiences which cannot directly be

captured in words or images. Various symbols and mythic metaphors are
used to make this communication possible.

[1]
Chapter 9: “The death of God”, Part VI: “Towards new mythologies”.
 Cosmological aspect

Mythology has served as a protoscience or psuedoscience for ancient

societies where it was used to explain natural phenomenon like changing
seasons or the life cycles of various living things.

Social aspect

Mythologies validate and maintain an existing social order. Since ancient

societies developed under overwhelming pressure from necessities,
conforming to existing social orders was necessary for survival. Mythology
reinforces this social order by embedding it in stories, doctrines or rituals
and its existence is often ascribed to “divine intervention”.

Psychological aspect

Mythology can serve as a guide to the conventional or expected passage

through various stages of an individual’s life.

In “Primitive Mythology”, the first book in the “Masks of God” series,

Campbell asserts that the person wearing a mask in the “primitive festival”
or ancient religious ritual is viewed as a literal manifestation of the God the
mask represents. He also asserts that the people engaging in the ritual
have to suspend disbelief in order for the ritual to have its intended effect.
The reference to a deity has to be elevated to the status of literal
manifestation to evoke a particular response. The ritual works like a child
playing. Take for example, a child making a pizza out of play dough or
having a tea party with water and tiny plastic cups. To argue that the play
dough pizza isn’t food would mean you’ve failed to understand why the
activity is so engaging for the child. This same suspension of disbelief and
spontaneous shift from abstract idea to sensory experience is what defines
religious rituals. After all, the communion is quite analogous to our
examples. The crackers and wine aren’t literally the body or blood of Christ
but you have to pretend they are for the ritual to take effect.
Following through with this line of thinking, the utility and value provided by
the ritual isn’t dependent on the man behind the mask truly being a God.
This gives us an interesting insight into religious/mythological claims, they
don’t need to be “true” to work. The language of mythologies works in a
similar way because it is designed to influence thought or behavior and
evoke sentiments. The stories are designed to pull an abstract idea or an
idealized version of the world into your sensory experience and they simply
don’t need to be “literally true”, “logical” or even coherent to accomplish
this.

Moreover, Cambell suggests that engaging in myths along with their

associated rituals and doctrines may be an involuntary, subconscious
impulse which he calls “the innate response mechanism”. Just like every
animal which instinctively knows how to look after their off spring, Campbell
suggests that certain stimuli, like words, symbols or imagery, may
subconsciously trigger a religious response in people. This idea seems to
suggest that engaging with myths is such a fundamental part of being
human that it has embedded itself in our physiology. I certainly buy this
idea because even in the absence of God and a clergy, people will believe
in Xenu and Scientology.

Either way, I’m pretty sure most people reading this identified religion as
myth to begin with. I just wanted to explore how formalizing that notion can
help us understand religion a bit deeper. It certainly is interesting how even
a superficial exploration of Campbell’s analysis of mythology can provide
some neat insights about the functioning of religion. It leaves no doubt in
my mind that religion and myth are the same but I am humbled by the vast
history of myths and their ability to influence culture and society.

asd