FUNCTIONS OF MYTHS IN PREPARATION AND INTEGRATION
The reason why we undertake the journeys into ourselves, into our souls, different layers of our reality, into the unknown, is that we are in search of something that transcends us. We are in search of something bigger than us because, instinctively, we know that there is more than the everyday reality of our lives and also of ourSelves.
In this search, we look for meaning. The meaning of our existence, of the why and what for we are in this world. So we set off on a journey to find what is bigger than us and what connects us within with all living beings and a wider existence than just our own. Some call it god(s), goddess(es), love, unity, universe, energy, what have you. Call this what you like.
Myths are narratives of this journey. They tell universal stories that we can all relate to, even though we do not know why. Myths resonate with our souls and our souls resonate with myths. Joseph Campbell studied different myths of different cultures and gathered the common themes in his fundamental work, The Hero's Journey ().
Why do I think it is good to look at myths before or after your own (hero´s/heroine´s) journey into the unknown of the altered states of consciousness?
Learning about myths helps you to better understand your own experience. You can relate to some events described in them and you can understand the symbols and meanings of what you have encountered in your own individual journey, by reading about experiences of myths ́ protagonists. And you can learn from their winnings and losses.
Bill Plotkin (2010) summed up the functions of myths according to Joseph Campbell (Occidental Mythology, 1964) in his wonderful book called Soulcraft. The four functions of myths are:
1) to create and to strengthen the feelings of reverence and sacredness about the secrets of human existence - what it means to be a human on this planet (the mystical function)
2) to explain and interpret cosmology (the picture of universe) - how the world around us works and how we got into it (the cosmological function)
3) to support societal order and integrate organically an individual into a community - how to behave and how to treat others in our particular culture (the societal function)
4) to initiate and individual into the orders and secrets of one´s own soul and enable them to grow spiritually and into awareness - to find our own meaning in this world and our purpose in order to live a life worth of living (the pedagogical function)
