- By Jean David Polo
- VII semester.
- Email: jdpolo@ bonga.uninorte.edu.co
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- Psychology is the science of man. As such, it is not its pretension, though in fact, it
is very frequent to find man conditioned or reflected in laboratory experiments, or
reduced to instinctive manifestations or that only has the opportunity to define his life
when he is already five years old. That is why when man becomes aware of his liberty, not
even the most powerful reasoning can explain its implications. The change of paradigm
stated by Elsy Bonilla et al shows that this science is a subject not limited to the
giving of explanations but to understand the phenomena presented from the point of view of
human reality.
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- Today’s psychologist is an individual in a society that is looking for solutions
and not only in a problem-solution pattern but to observe and understand the implications
of these given solutions in the surrounding world. We can find in Oedipus a clear
example of the ideal work the analyst has to do. When wise Thiresias asks the king- trying
to extract all the truth not taking into account how painful it could be for him- if he
wants to know what is happening because he knows that in that information there is a
tremendous suffering for the king as an individual. We only have to read the Greek
Classics to realize the different tendencies the mind labyrinths choose in tragedies
similar to Oedipus. Apart from that, Dostoiveski in his "Karamazov Brothers"
shows the destruction of certain individuals, that as stated by May, lose control of their
lives by the destruction of their myths.
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- In the following article, I will try to present the great importance myths have, not
only in a historical and theological context but also in a psychological one and the
implications these can have.
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- "Myths are a way of giving sense to a world that lacks of it" ,and it lacks of
it because it is broken down."
- Evil is, according to May, " all that force man has (...) and allows him to do
things. That is why when evil possesses the individual, he needs the control, because on
the contrary, evil can become diabolic, destructive"
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- In today’s world, the myth loss has become a problem, as expressed by Joseph
Campbell, in such way that the individual feels anguished because he has to face life
alone. The man of this world lives with the "object-subject dilemma" that does
not permit his integration with myths, in such a way, that his sense of life loses its
value and drops to very low levels. Evil becomes tehn stronger without a myth that
orientates it and is transformed into a force that slowly takes the individual to a
dangerous vacuum.
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- Milan Kundera, in his book "Immortality", shows a person without myths (Agnes)
that cannot find her sense of being. She takes the attitude that Kierkegaard called:
"Knight of faith" but she does not take from a constructive perspective (that is
to say, the act of taking responsibility of the problem and try to solve it), but, on the
contrary she becomes melancholic and lonely, situation that slowly ends with her
"liberty of being and doing"; she feels she does not fit in this world and that
this world is hostile to her. This is clearly a consequence of myth loss in which the
demoniac force becomes an isolation of man untill he becomes a puppet of destiny and loses
control of his life.
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- Nietszche, in his book Zaratustra, talks about God’s death and with it, the
destruction of a myth upon which human kind has been based since the beginning of times;
with this fact man becomes responsible of himself and realizes that the symbol scheme is
in decadence and about to collapse.
-
- At first, atheism was proposed as a solution but the result, as stated by Dostoiveski,
almost a century before, was the questioning: If God does not exist : Is everything
lost?"
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- Before, myths helped humankind to understand the world better, that is to say, allowed
men to feel identified with these stories and as Max Muller says " that was the
essence of the group". Renown gods, goddesses, heroes and heroines symbolized the
human necessity of feeling protected in a universe in which we feel alone. It is an
interesting fact, shown by May that when an angel falls down and is transformed into a
demon is when his life becomes significant. Only archangel Michael shows his strength to
fight against evil.
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- Faust finds a real sense of his life when he meets Mephistopheles who while making a bet
with Faust and giving him all kind of temptations, makes Faust realize that is in his evil
side where he finds a reconciliation with his power which has been broken into pieces.
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- It is interesting, as well, how the attraction for myths has become more general and it
is shown in literature that geniuses such as Freud, Camus, Sartre and some others, found
in mythology enough material to learn about the being.
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- Mythical writers transformed human kind through their writings representing clearly
human nature, thus, we can find in them answers to questions the world still ignores and
perhaps reach a comprehensive integration of the human being.
-
-
- MAY, Rollo. La Necesidad Del Mito
- MAY, Rollo. Amor y Voluntad
- MAY, Rollo. La Sicología Y Le Dilema Del Hombre
- KIERKEGAARD, Sôren. Temor y Temblor
- MAY, Rollo. Libertad Y Destino En Sicología
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