EXERCISE

1. We usually tend to think of the term “myth” as a literary genre, referring to something like a fairy tale or other work of fiction, “myth” may be defined theologically as “a complex of stories – some fact, some fancy – which have been regarded as demonstrations of the inner meaning of the universe and of human life.” Based on your study thus far, as well as on your own experience (religious or otherwise), assess the validity of this definition in relation to understanding world religions choice

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Validity of Definition of Myth

The founding of a given, all-inclusive description of myth has attested incredible to achieve. There is no single explanation that adequately encompasses all the diverse narratives that can validly be categorized as myths grounded on one benchmark or another. Camus (2) argues that the trial to describe myth is an obstinate suggestion, serving to focus on the very merits of the tales that formulate the discrete from each other. This essay is an assessment of description of a myth as “a complex of stories-some fact, some fancy-which have been regarded as demonstrations of the inner meaning of the universe and human life”.

The definition is not complete for all tales but only those fundamentally apprehended with the universe and its connection to mortals. Despite its insufficiency to embrace all stories, it has a provision for satisfying human encounter as it gives room for fact and fabricated understanding (some fact, some fancy) compared to historical authenticities. Use of words like ‘inner meaning’ demonstrates the spiritual connection of the myths in explaining the origin, and continued existence of the earth and human beings. Extensively, the definition gives a glimpse of life after death, as myths functions in understanding and explaining human life (Camus 13).

According to Camus (20), it is impossible to segregate myths from religious practices. In as much as the definition does not showcase a religious glance, the author employed the use of the word ‘complex’ to demonstrate the multifaceted structure of mythical stories. Religious aspects form part of the faces as humans believe they have a God-initiated origin, whether in the traditional or modern worship systems.