“I'm always interested in debunking myths if they are untrue. But it's also important to identify myths and how they function, what value they may have.” IfsMayImportantValuesFunctionMythMythologyUntrue Author:Neal Ascherson
“Myth, legend, and ritual ... function to maintain a status quo. That makes them singularly bad in coping with change, indeed counterproductive, for change is the enemy of myth.” ChangeEnemyFunctionMythRitualLegendsStatus QuoCopingCounterproductive Book:Powers of the weak Source: Powers of the weak
“Why ... do the myths of America the Hateful take such powerful hold? Because anti-Americanism provides a useful emotional function which goes beyond logic and reaches deep into the darker recesses of the European soul. In centuries past those on the Left who wished to personalise their hatred of capitalism, who sought to make it emotionally resonant by fastening an envious political passion on to a blameless scapegoat people, embraced anti-Semitism. It was the socialism of fools. Which is what anti-Americanism is now.” PeopleSoulAmericaPastPoliticalPassionLeftPowerfulCenturyEmotionalFoolCapitalismHatredLogicFunctionMythSocialismHatefulEnviousAnti SemitismScapegoatRecessAmericanismBlameless Author:Michael Gove
“Religion is not about accepting twenty impossible propositions before breakfast, but about doing things that change you. It is a moral aesthetic, an ethical alchemy. If you behave in a certain way, you will be transformed. The myths and laws of religion are not true because they they conform to some metaphysical, scientific or historical reality but because they are life enhancing. They tell you how human nature functions, but you will not discover their truth unless you apply these myths and doctrines to your own life and put them into practice.” IfsWayLifeHumansRealityTruthLawCertainReligionChangeAcceptingMoralPracticeImpossibleHuman NatureAcceptanceEthicsDiscoveryFunctionTwentiesTransformationHistoricalMythDoctrineBehaveBreakfastEthicalAestheticTransformedConformPropositionsMetaphysicalAestheticsAlchemyFamous WomenSelf TransformationSpiritual TransformationEnhancement Author:Karen Armstrong
“The surgeons are playing on the myth's double standard for the function of the body. A man's thigh is for walking, but a woman's is for walking and looking "beautiful." If women can walk but believe our limbs look wrong, we feel that our bodies cannot do what they are meant to do; we feel as genuinely deformed and disabled as the unwilling Victorian hypochondriac felt ill.” IfsMenFeelsBelieveLooksBodyBeautifulFeltWalksWalkingStandardsFunctionIllMythLimbsDisabledUnwillingSurgeonsThighsVictorianDouble StandardFashion IndustryHypochondriacLooking Beautiful Author:Naomi Wolf
“Myths and science fulfill a similar function: they both provide human beings with a representation of the world and of the forces that are supposed to govern it. They both fix the limits of what is considered as possible.” WorldHumansScienceForceHuman BeingsLimitsAccountsFunctionMythRepresentation Author:Francois Jacob
“Evolution is the creation-myth of our age. By telling us our origin it shapes our views of what we are. It influences not just our thought, but our feelings and actions too, in a way which goes far beyond its official function as a biological theory.” WayFeelingsAgeActionViewsInfluenceCreationTheoryEvolutionShapesFunctionMythOfficialsOur ThoughtsCreation Myths Book:The Essential Mary Midgley Source: The Essential Mary Midgley