[hsmyers]

Reasonable article. In support:

Joseph Campbell: "These bits of information from ancient times [myths], which have to do with the themes that have supported man's life, built civilizations, informed religions over the millennia, have to do with deep inner problems, inner mysteries, inner thresholds of passage. And if you don't know what the guide signs are along the way you have to work it out yourself. "

See http://www.pbs.org/moyers/faithandreason/perspectives1.html

[ada1981]

Came here to reference Campbell as well.. Campbell said the problem is that most people don't know what a metaphor is. Myth is metaphor -- so they don't understand it. Theists read the bible and say this is literally true. Atheists read it and say this is false, it's a lie. Agnostics read it and say, not sure.. But the transcendent perspective is to see that "God" is a Myth, not a lie. God is a myth that represents the unknowable ground of your being, and the religions are a mythology designed to aid your ego on it's journey of self discovery and guide society. Myth is a mirror for the ego with a schedule on it - it shows you where you are. The literalists will be hard pressed to have the spiritual salvation they seek without knowing what a metaphor is -- they will be stuck looking outside themselves when the God they seek is within -- the mythologies are designed to help find it.