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Myths and their importance

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How can myth help human beings cope with suffering, loss, and death?

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Solution Summary

The solution is an extensive discussion and guide on the question of the relevance of myths in relation to helping human beings cope with suffering, loss, and death. Myths - their humanistic, emotional and healing attributes are explored in relation to how they are utilized or attributed importance in the varied cultures that sought them either as the basis of their faith and world-view or as a source of inspiring stories from tradition. Additional resources online and in print are listed. A word version is attached for easy printing.

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Dear Student,

In this instance, instead of a short essay, I would like to make this solution into a sort of discussion between you and me as I believe while you will be reading this; you are reacting to the points raised. This is called reflexive thinking, a skill that you must master in higher studies. Now, your question:

How can myth help human beings cope with suffering, loss, and death?

The answer to this lies in the role of Myths and mythology, of legends and folklore. Why and how do myths arise? For example, the in the previous solutions I have written for you, I have relayed the creation stories of the Japanese and the Celts, the love story of Cupid and Psyche. Why and how did the story of the Celts' Great Goddess Dana come about? Researchers say the story of Dana is a carryover of the beliefs of the earliest Celts who worshipped their dead ancestors and attributed the reality before them to the elders who passed. For them the world was two - that of the spirits and that of the living. Perhaps modern science has an explanation for the hallucinations of the Druids or the visions of the Druid High Priests but back then, Nature was 'The Realm of the Divine' - when Celts looked around them they are surrounded by the earth, the forests, the lakes, the sun, the moon, the stars. When they ...

Solution provided by:
Xenia Rochelle Jones, MA, PhD (IP)
Education
  • MPhil/PhD (IP), Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
  • MA, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
  • Certificate, Geva Ulpan (via Universita Tel Aviv)
  • BA, University of the Philippines
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