Prompt 14- Karen Armstrong's Conclusions

"The myth of the hero was not intended to provide us with icons to admire, but was designed to tap into the vein of heroism within ourselves. Myth must lead to imitation or participation, not passive contemplation... There is nothing new in the godless mythologies of contemporary novels, which grapple with many of the same intractable and elusive problems of the human condition as the ancient myths, and make us realize that - whatever the status of the gods - human being are more than their material circumstances and that all have sacred, numinous value." --Karen Armstrong

I believe that Karen Armstrong is correct when she says that we need mythologies to meet the crises of our current times. The functions that myths had way back when still apply today. We live in a world where we rely on technology and science instead of looking more towards the human psyche and how we used to view the world. We continue to see myths in current novels, where we see a hero that defies the odds and make the world a better place. However, we read these passively instead of becoming inspired to be a hero in the real world that we live in. Myths were never meant to be passive. They were meant to be learned from. If we created myths that tackled some of the toughest issues we face today, and actually acted on those myths, we could make our world a better place to be. Of course, the "lesson" or what we are supposed to get out of the myth would have to be positive, not negative, for this to work. For example, myths that saw everyone in the world as equals, as human beings, could strengthen the idea of a global community. We learned a lot from myths thousands of years ago, and that fact hasn't changed.