NOTES ON MYTH
341
factly, just as we do. Primitive thought is in some ways
more
myth–
ical than civilized thought. But the psychoanalyst's analogy with the
development of the individual does not hold. We do not simply "re–
vert" to an outgrown stage of fantasy by trying to make our literature
more mythical. This is also a problem of maturity, of living better
in the present, and of going on to the future. All cultures are capable
of making myth. We study primitive culture because it clarifies cer–
tain psychological processes of concentration and revivification upon
which depends our proceeding into the future.
Vico tells us that he thought of myth as a clear, deep river which
in modem times flows into the ocean but retains its purity for a cer–
tain distance before being swallowed up. We should rather think
of myth as a river which flows eternally; sometimes it is clear and
deep but sometimes it becomes shallow and muddy by having to flow
over broad flatlands.
Myth and Religion.
If
we mean by "religion" the whole magico–
religious complex of primitive culture then myth is indeed closely
allied with religion.
If
on the other hand we mean moral theism or
dogmatic theology, or even a pantheon of gods, myth must be recog–
nized as the enemy of religion. The clear-cut, powerful god, the cele–
stial abstraction, the theological synthesis have always been subverted
by the humanizing leaven of myth. The gods of myth, as Herbert
Spencer observed, are always "running down from Olympus." The
grandiose South Seas and Greek myths about the sky and the earth
being separated by their divine sons are not religious philosophy–
they are tales of men tearing their parents apart.
Myth and Magic.
Myth is much more akin to the naive assump–
tions and techniques of magic, than to religion. Magio does not of it–
self imagine discreet spirits or deities, but only efficacious preternatural
forces residing in objects, animals and men, which can be mani–
pulated by human compulsion. Myth should be thought of as a dram–
atic picturization of magical forces as they clash, interact or harmon–
ize with each other.
Myth and Folktale.
The traditional idea that myths were prime–
val philosophies of nature and that the folktales of wonderful animals
and birds, magical objects, lost children, young heroes, enchanted
forests and so on were degenerate or misread popular versions of the
myths was accepted down to the last years of the nineteenth century.
