•Proving Myth•

Myth is just as legitimate, if not as provable, as science. We can try to prove myth with real life things that match up with mythological tales.

Chinese fisherman caught a huge prehistoric fish that they had previously considered only a myth. It had been a story passed through the generations (much like our myths) that this huge fish had lived in their lake, and then one day, they found it. However, that is a merely accidental proof of a myth. I think that the kind of proof that we strive for is something more like a scientific proof. We want myth to be just as definite as science is made out to be. We want definite evidence for our hypothesis. We want to use our hypothesis, that the myth is true, and gather evidence, and prove our hypothesis. We can say that we know the sun passes through the sky every day, and that there is a myth that can find how that happens and why. We can say that because of that evidence the myth is true, but how can we know for sure?

Science is what we are taught to believe from a very early age. Myth is counted as not legitimate. Science is presented as the ultimate truth, something not to be questioned. But take for example how years ago science thought that a high carb diet was better for you, but now it is thought of as just the opposite. Even thought science itself never proved either of those views, the general theory made itself known as the truth. Myth is made out to be worth less then science. But is it? How can we know? Is science less legitimate then myth, or more?

Proving Myth

Both science and mythology attempt to prove the things that we, as humans, do not know the answer to. People tend to believe science over mythology because it has more facts and statistics and other such things. However, I think that mythology is much more deeply rooted in us than science. If a person sees a ghost, their first reaction is that the ghost is the spirit of a dead person. Their first response is not, "Oh, my brain created an illusion of silvery matter in the shape of a human form." And, no matter how hard science tries to hammer scientific explanations into our brains, mythology was there first and remains there at the core of it all. We can't really prove science any more than we can mythology. We usually look to science to tell us the answers, and accept those answers as true, simply because science tells us they are. But myth is true for most people, as well as science. Nobody wants to hear that you love someone because of a chemical reaction in the brain, especially since nobody can prove it is true. You love somebody because a higher power fates you two to each other, or because it was meant to be that way. In this way, myth is already proven, and is held to a higher standard than science. Nobody knows what the Truth, with a capital T, is, but often peoples' truth, without a capital t, is defined by myth.

Proof of myth

Proof of myth can be found everywhere; traces of myth can be found in books like the Odyssey. Science is not necessarily proven, they support their facts with more facts which lead to more facts, and so on and so forth. Myths have facts which lead to something very logical, but the facts are not that real. People want something very solid to believe in, and science does that. Myths are solid but not to our imaginations. But to other people myths are their science and science is their myths. So in conclusion nothing is proven, and so everything is real in our mind or in life.

Proof of Mythology

Traces of mythology can be found everywhere: in pottery, poetry, and the stars. The Greeks created the gods in their own image. Thus, the stories of these gods mirrored their own stories. Myths not only explained occurrences later proved by Science, but also explained human nature. Myths provided us with an understanding of the world and how we interact with it. The Greeks lacked proofs for how emotions came into existence and often questioned why we acknowledge and experience these emotions. Myths provided those proofs and answers. Love. Soul. Bliss. Anger. Jealousy. That is proof of mythology.

Mythical vs. Scientific Proof

When we hear about the word "myth", we think about fictional, entertaining stories from the past. What we do not think about is how they could possibly be factual or have some aspect of the truth in them. Our truth and our fact usually consist of modern science, current information that is widely accepted. I think the reason our concept of fact keeps changing is that people want to have evidence that is extremely detailed and does not leave room to manoeuvre. An example of this would be the many reasons people have come up with to explain why the sun moves across the sky. The Greek mythological explanation is that the sun-god, Helios, is driving a fiery chariot. Our modern explanation is that the earth is rotating throughout the course of a day, exposing it to the sun at different angles. Neither one of those explanations, when looked at from a neutral perspective is more viable than the other. The evidence for both of them is that the sun moves across the sky each day and this is always true. I think that we have come to value our modern reason more than the mythological one is that people like everything to fit into an easily defined and predictable pattern. If we admit that it is really a human-like god controlling the sun, then that throws our world into disarray, we can no longer be sure of our predictions and that brings humans entirely out of their comfort-zone.

Proving Myth

Nothing is truly "provable." to prove something is to say it always is entirely true. Nothing is entirely true with no exceptions. Even gravity is a theory. Science that is supposedly proven is based on non proven theories. therefor myth like everything else cannot be proven. For some people though there is proof of myths being true. Myths are often used to explain things in our world that we don't understand. For someone the fact that lightning exists would be proof that Zeus exists and that he created lightning. For others it would be proof of positively charged and negatively charged atoms sending electricity to each other. Myth is what makes up our world. myths are everywhere and sometimes they are common belief. Who is to say that zeus doesn't create lightning and that we don't go to the realm of Hades when we die. The only way myth or anything else can be proved to someone is if they believe. Proof doesn't exist in the world so we must find it in ourselves to prove it for us to be irrevocably true. We create proof. Proof exists inside each and everyone of us.

Can we prove the unknown?

A myth is an idea, widely accepted by a group of people, to answer a certain question. But just because it's the collective opinion, doesn't suggest that it's true. So, is it possible to prove belief? What I may believe, is different from what you believe. Perhaps myths could be proven with enough information and data, but that's not to say that you can convince everyone that it's true. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for everyone to agree on everything. Myth is a matter of opinion and beliefs, nothing more.