Personal Definition and Understanding of Mythology and its Influences Essay Example for Free

Personal Definition and Understanding of Mythology and its Influences Essay Heaven, hell, angels, devils, gods, goddesses, monsters, and immortal heroes— as I was growing up as a child, these were the things which have been said to me about places, supreme beings, and creatures the existence of which I was not able to prove up to this moment. Over the years of growing up, I have come across lots of stories which both seemed believable but unverifiable to me. Thus, I can only conclude that these things, stories, and people are what are known today as myths. These things should be told to me to make me believe that supreme powers exist. Supreme powers, aside from the ultimate God whom my religion has taught me, govern and guide people to do good acts and avoid evil. Eventually, these things roused my curiosity. As I try to discover these unverifiable creatures, places, and supreme beings, I was able to understand myth and mythology. Mythology, in the literal sense, pertains to a collection of revered stories about a person, a group of persons, a culture, or humankind as a whole (Emery, 2008). Thus, through this definition, my own conception of myth and mythology matches as I see these stories as tales and epics that are made to provide people sacred role models to urge them to do such good acts based on the actions and experiences of these mythological beings. In this sense, mythological places and powers were told to influence the belief and ideology of individuals that humankind can be punished and rewarded according to their acts of either righteousness or evil. Also, mythological stories are also studied to somehow give a specific group of people an idea and grasp of their identity, the origin of their world, the rites and rituals in their culture, the basic point of view about life, and the concepts of death and after death (Kohler, 2008). When myths and mythologies are mentioned, the society that first enters my mind is that of the Greeks. Greek mythology has been the everlasting source of mythical gods and goddesses, epic wars of mortal and immortal heroes, stories of salvation, immortalization, condemnation to the underworld, and even the sacred stories of love and romance. These stories have been exposed to most of us in our primary and secondary educations, but these stories have existed and have remained immortal as its characters. These stories have existed since the immemorial history of the Greek race and society. I also find Greek mythology as one of the greatest mythologies that tells the story of humankind, as it reflects real-life acts, consequences, and tendencies. The aspect of gods talking and communicating to people may seem unrealistic, but if this aspect would be deeply examined, it could be inferred that Greek mythology gives people that idea in illusive form that communicating with God is never a hard or impossible task. Its characters also go through what usual people experience. As a result, even modern people can easily relate to and reflect on its stories. Personally, I believe that mythology, Greek mythology specifically, has had significant impacts in my beliefs and how I view life. I may be practicing one specific religion, but the stories I was able to learn in Greek mythology have affected me in such a way that I believed that all the good things people do in their lifetime have an equivalent reward (or penalty). The mythology’s concept of a grand place for people who have been fair and righteous in their lives have been guiding my beliefs all these years—that there might indeed be a special place for people who chose to do good and fair acts in their lives. These stories and tales from the mythologies of not just the Greeks but all the other ancient and even current societies may not all seem verifiable or credible for us contemporary individuals to believe. However, there appears neither harm nor threat in allowing these myths, mythological characters, and mythological epics to guide us in how we view life and what it offers us. As how I understand mythology, it is but a collection of lifetime stories that are bound to show people how to deal with life in the most positive way possible.