The Mythic Journey: The Meaning of Myth as a Guide for Life
By Liz Greene and Juliet Sharman-Burke
New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000, Paperback, 288 pages.
Myths are mirrors. They reflect the interests of the person who looks into them, so the same myth means different things to different people. Some ancient peoples thought of myths as accounts of the actual doings of gods and heroes. Others, more literal-and historical-minded, thought of myths as the exaggerated reports of famous human beings (a view called euhemerism after Euhemerus, the fellow who popularized it). Later, others thought that myths were stories allegorizing nature, storms, the agricultural cycle, and other aspects of our environment. Today the favorite interpretation is social-psychological---myths are about what goes on inside us and between one of us and another. This book is a collection of myths from many parts of the world, concisely retold, illustrated with handsome color reproductions of paintings, and interpreted as guidelines for human behavior--understanding ourselves and how we relate to others. There is yet another way of looking at myths, as symbols of the spiritual process that goes on inside us and all around us and connects us with everything. But that's a view for a different book.