The Mythic Mind

I’m often asked: what is a mythologist, and what exactly do you do?

Perhaps not surprising, as you will see if you read on, I often point to the fictional character, Robert Langdon, from Dan Brown’s books The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. A Harvard Professor, Langdon studies the also fictional field of symbology and religious iconography.
Mythologists are similar; however, our field is not fictional, though we do study fiction; indeed, we are all about story. We trace the historical meanings of symbols and images found within the stories of a culture. This includes ancient myths, religious texts, plays, films, literary and scholarly texts; and it also includes the stories that spring out of the culture’s political discourse, images used in advertising and throughout pop culture. Pretty much anything that speaks to and about the culture is our milieu.
To help broaden the often-misunderstood concept, Webster’s dictionary defines myth as a “story that appeals to the consciousness of a people by embodying its cultural ideals or by giving expression to deep, commonly felt emotions.”
Mythologist looks at the images present in the stories of a culture that reveal the culture’s morals, values and ethical concerns, and their emotions. Through time, these images and stories change, revealing a shift in the culture’s psyche. One need only look at the advertising of the 1950s compared to today to see what I am talking about. But not all images are so obvious. We often have to dig, like an archeologist, into the story to find what is hidden there. In fact, we are often unaware of how our stories reveal us. Think of your own life story. We are often unaware of how our deeply held beliefs inform how we react to the circumstances of our life. These motivations remain invisible to us. This is why the mythologist is so important. We help shed light to the shadowy parts of the culture’s and the individual’s psyche, revealing the hidden forces at play there.

Joseph Campbell is the father of the contemporary study of mythology. As is often the case with the magic that exists in the study of mythology, I found out recently that Dan Brown also said that Campbell was the inspiration of his character, Langdon – though I didn’t know this until recently. Brown says of Campbell:

His writings on semiotics, comparative religion and mythology in particular "The Power of Myth" and "The Hero With a Thousand Faces" helped inspire the framework on which I built my character Robert Langdon.... I remember admiring Campbell’s matter-of-fact responses and wanting my own character Langdon to project that same respectful understanding when faced with complex spiritual issues. —Dan Brown

So join me. Let’s look at how our stories reveal us. Let’s explore the invisibles, the hidden forces at work in the world inside and around us. Let’s look at some of the difficult challenges we face today through a deeper, more mythic lens and see what is revealed there…