What examples of mythological thinking are current today?

Mythological thinking has to do with the stories we tell about ourselves or tell to ourselves and others about how the world works. It is characterized by an emphasis on symbolism, narrative, and the perceived experience rather than what is necessarily quantifiable or testable. Myth itself is a form of narrative which involves supernatural beings and phenomena, often as an explanation for why things are the way they are.

Mythological thinking exists today in many...

Mythological thinking has to do with the stories we tell about ourselves or tell to ourselves and others about how the world works. It is characterized by an emphasis on symbolism, narrative, and the perceived experience rather than what is necessarily quantifiable or testable. Myth itself is a form of narrative which involves supernatural beings and phenomena, often as an explanation for why things are the way they are.

Mythological thinking exists today in many forms! I do not wish to step on any toes here, but religion is a great example of how people may engage with mythological thinking. Foundational myths are the great, big stories which tell us why the world is here, how it came to be, and how we came to be upon it. They may also describe the powers in the universe which help to order and control events. For example, the book of Genesis is a foundational creation myth which many people believe in or at least hold in regard. In the book of Genesis, God speaks all things into existence and puts in place the natural order of life. So, an example of mythological thinking may be the thoughts which occur when someone wonders about how the world came to be and feels that it is because God spoke.

One aspect of religion which also has a secular power is that of history. Thinking about the book of Genesis is, in a way, thinking about the history of the world and of the Abrahamic faiths. Secular history, too, has a mythological quality. To the discomfort of many, we are often taught "myths" as history in our primary schooling, only to go on to university to find that it wasn't really true! For example, I was taught as a young girl that Christopher Columbus sailed from Spain in 1492 and discovered the Americas for the first time—even though there happened to already be people there. From then on he became friends with the native people and Europeans began to colonize the Americas. That's the myth I was taught! In reality, the natives he encountered were descendants of the people who first "discovered" the Americas in multiple waves of migration from the Asian landmass. When it comes to visitors after that point, the Norse had visited the Americas long before Columbus was even born, and there is a theory that the Chinese may have visited even earlier!

We can tell myths about ourselves, too, though this kind of thinking typically blurs the line between supernatural and mundane thought. Sometimes we craft mythological narratives about ourselves in the sense that one might feel current ways of being are the result of an intensely dramatic or magical experience we had when we were young. While personality development and emotional and physical wellness are reliant upon the experiences of our childhood, such continuity would become mythological if I were to say that I never have allergy trouble because I ate a lot of dandelions as a child and absorbed their power. Can you think of any mythological narratives you or your family tell about yourselves?