The Functions of a Mythological Universe
1. Reconciling consciousness with the fascination before the universe
The universe opens before our eyes as tremendously mysterious and fascinating. To perceive the universe in its true dimension is precisely what awakens consciousness. Mythology thus expresses this need to seek a primordial, reconciling balance in the face of the magnitude of that discovery.
2. Presenting images that interpret the universe
"to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature" Shakespeare
Mythologies aim to interpret the workings of the universe as it is perceived by contemporary consciousness. That is, there exists a parallel between mythological symbolic representation and the worldview of the culture that produced it at a given moment.
3. Imposing a moral order
This characteristic is by no means foreign to the mythological universe. The adaptation of an individual to the demands of his social group—conditioned socially and historically—marks, in some way, a rupture with what is "natural" (understood, even with certain reservations, as the opposite of cultural constructions). Circumcisions, subincisions, tattoos, etc., are socially ordained marks intended to bind the merely natural human body to a higher order: the cultural one. It is no longer nature, then, but society that begins to exercise control over the individual. It is within this moral-social sphere that morality and coercion operate. A clear example in this regard is the caste system in India, through the rites maintained by the mythology of sati.
A mythological canon is an organization of symbols of ineffable meaning, capable of awakening and concentrating the energies of aspiration toward a single objective. The message is transmitted from intuition to intuition, but when it ceases to hold meaning for the individual, the message loses its validity and comes to a halt. For those in whom mythology holds meaning, there is an experience of conformity with the social order to which they belong. But for those for whom the symbolism has lost its significance—whether by losing its value or by being modified—a profound dissociation from the external order is experienced.
4. Helping the individual to find his center and develop integrally
The individual needs to find his center and develop in relation to himself, to his culture, to the universe, and above all in the face of that ultimate mystery sensed within and beyond all things... in other words, the limit imposed upon us by our humanity, or the conception of the infinite.
Bibliography:
Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God: Creative Mythology (vol. III)