The word “myth” is used in the vernacular in various ways, but usually people take it to mean something that is commonly believed, but not true. This is the intended meaning of the word when people speak of urban myths. The word also is taken to mean religious stories that have little or no basis in fact. For those who take a keener look into the religious stories of the world, the word “myth” takes on a deeper and broader meaning. For those of us who possess a deeper understanding of religion, a myth is a story with hidden meaning. It is an allegorical story that uses symbolism and metaphor to describe something that cannot be adequately described any other way.

The myths of the various religions were never meant to be taken literally. The scribes and redactors who collected various myths and created the Old Testament were most certainly not expecting readers to interpret these stories as literally true historical events. The fact that the bible contains two creation myths that contradict each other down to the last little detail should be proof enough that those bible scribes were not intending to put together a book that is supposed to be a factual account of anything. In the myth of Genesis, chapter one, originally of Babylonian origin, God creates the world in six days and rests on the seventh day. He creates plants first, then animals, then man and woman. The second creation myth, which is far older than the first one,  is of Sumerian origin and begins in the second paragraph of chapter two of the Book of Genesis. In this myth God creates the world in one day, and creates plants first, then a man, then animals, and then a woman. 

Most people don’t even know that the bible contains two creation myths because they don’t bother to read it. In fact many people believe a conflation of these two myths, taking the six stages of creation from the first myth, and the story of the fall from the second one. These stories are meant, like all myths, to be read symbolically. To interpret either one of  them as literal truth is shear folly.

Societies have always utilized two ways of understanding the world, myth on the one hand, and logic or reason on the other. Logical thought is what is used to set up governments, to build buildings, to farm the land, in short, to control the world we live in. Reason and logic are the basis of science. Myth serves a different function. It gives purpose and meaning to our lives and serves as a guide in our dealings with our fellow man. It gives us moral guidance.

I cannot stress enough that myth is not meant to be interpreted literally. Myth is symbolic. It uses archetypes and symbols as a means of expressing ineffable truths.  In the words of the great Joseph Campbell, “Wherever the poetry of myth is interpreted as biography, history, or science, it is killed. The living images become only remote facts of a distant time or sky. Furthermore, it is never difficult to demonstrate that as science and history mythology is absurd. When a civilization begins to interpret its mythology in this way, the life goes out of it, temples become museums, and the link between the two perspectives dissolves. Such a blight has certainly descended on the Bible and on a great part of the Christian cult.”

In the late nineteenth century, there was a strong religious reaction against the age of reason and the scientific revolution. In the midst of the religious furor of the time, a new idea was born. It was an idea that had never been uttered before. This was the concept of biblical inerrancy, the idea that the bible was the word of God, and therefore infallible. The only problem with this new concept is that the bible not only contradicts itself numerous times, but contradicts known facts of science and history. This radical idea of the bible being the word of God, is ultimately, the enemy of true religion, and in the long run, can only do great damage to the Judeo/Christian/Muslim tradition.

I implore all people of the world to read the religious scriptures of religions other than your own. I implore you to read them with an open mind, to read them as allegory. I implore you to read the scriptures of your own religion with an open mind and with the insight that they are not meant to be taken literally. Myth is meant to turn you inward, to find the God within, and outward, to find the all-encompassing and all-compassionate God who is all things. Turn inward, look outward, see that all religions speak of the same truths. God is indescribable. The ultimate reality is ineffable. That is why we have myths.