MYTHS WE CAN BELIEVE IN: OR A TRIP TO A LOCAL COMIC BOOK & GAME STORE
A number of years ago, Bill Moyers hosted a PBS television series with that great American teacher of mythology, Joseph Campbell.
The TV series resulted in a New York Times bestselling book entitled The Power of Myth. Moyers and Campbell covered a wide range of topics from ancient hunter-gatherer myths, to Greek legends, to the creation of the Frankenstein story, by Mary Shelley, in the early the 1800s.
During one of the television episodes, Moyers said to Campbell, “Joe, you said that myths are so important to the human psyche and society. Yet I don’t see us creating any new myths in the modern world.”
Campbell rolled his eyes and said, “Bill, there are many myths being created today.” Then Campbell pointed to Star Wars and George Lucas. He said that the journey and quest of Luke Skywalker followed the patterns of many of the legendary heroes of old.
“Of course, you are not going to put the hero’s quest in the eastern Mediterranean or Aegean Sea like Homer did. Nowadays you need to put it in a far distant galaxy in outer space,” Campbell noted.
The Moyers/Campbell series was recorded before J. K. Rowling’s HARRY POTTER books were published or films released. But this certainly would be another example of modern mythology in our contemporary society.
On top of this I think you could add Marvel comic books and movies, not to mention Buffy the vampire killer, X Files, a ton of dystopian novels, and fantasy and science fiction series. Meanwhile, there are more than a thousand and one board and card mythology games. Some of them require 10 sided dice. It is much more complicated than snake eyes.
On top of that is the world of mythological video games, some of which have crawled into the land of virtual reality. We are talking about an industry that generates revenues far larger than professional sports and the movies.
One can hurl many caustic comments out at our modern myth and legend complex. But saying that our society is not churning out myths and legends is not one of the epithets that will stick to this billion dollar industry.
As an illustration of the above, a few Saturdays ago, my daughters— Robin and Therese— asked if i would take them to a local comic book and game store. I must say I am at a loss as to determine when to call something a comic book, and when to call it a graphic novel. I do know the difference between a board game and a doughnut.
The local store we went to was large and very nice. As you entered it, you were greeted by many— large and small— models and replicas of a wide cavalcade of superheroes.
Next there were rows-upon-rows of tightly wrapped comic books. They were all in perfect alphabetical order. Following this were models and toys of the modern mythological heroes. Next were rows of board and electronic games beautifully displayed.
Next were a series of books based around various games such as Dungeons and Dragons. The illustrations, calligraphy, and quality of printing within these books was truly amazing.
Lastly, in the back and around the sides of the store were tables to play board games on. There were also computers which allowed one to play various video games.
The store appeared to be doing a brisk business on this Saturday, and it had many customers of varying ages, and other demographic markers. People were there to not only browse and buy products, but a good number of the customers were there to spend many hours playing board games or being on the computers.
I had a good conversation with one of the store clerks. She showed me a list of the groups that meet at the store in the course of a typical month. It almost reminded me of a bowling alley which helps create, and caters to, various bowling leagues.
To say the least, I was quite impressed by this emporium of modern mythology. I was also very impressed by the various industries which have come together to supply stores across the country like this one. The creation of modern myths is certainly going strong in our society!
But then something else struck me. From time immemorial myths were created to be believed in. Yes, at first this often was literal belief. It could mean a literal belief that there was a hero called Theseus, and he literally fought a Minotaur.
But gradually, this literal belief was superseded by metaphysical belief. There may never have been a Theseus and there may never have been an actual creature such as the Minotaur. But when you dig deeper into this myth, you see that there is a profound spiritual truth being expressed by this story.
A myth may have no literal truth, and yet it carries such profound metaphysical meaning. For example, the stories that Jesus told about the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan did not literally happened. However, the stories contain profound, spiritual truths.
Even in cases where there is literal truth to a story, it may be that there is far more profound truth on the metaphysical level. The “Promised Land” mentioned in the Bible does literally exist. However, on a higher metaphysical level, it may make more sense to think of “Promised Land” as being a spiritual state of consciousness.
I, of course, have no problems with the fact that the myths being sold in this local store are NOT literally true. However, I do feel sad, that the vast majority of the modern myths being sold by this local store seem to have no metaphysical truth to them. Let these modern myths roll around in your head for a year in a day, and you may not discover a single spiritual truth in them. This thought at first really made me sad.
But then this thought came to me: Perhaps it will not happen for most of the people in the store. But some, who have spent years feasting on modern myths that have no metaphysical meanings, will have a hunger to discover great myths that do have profound metaphysical substance to them.
This is not to say that all modern myths lack a metaphysical dimension. I certainly think that Star Wars and Harry Potter are chock-full of spiritual meaning. But I do believe that the modern mythology industry is creating many myths that are devoid of almost all vitamins and minerals.
But as the apostle Paul pointed out, “All things work together for good to those who know and love God” (Romans 8:28)
