Myths... are they really real?

[Artemis]

What do you think? My question is...do you think animals such as sea serpents and unicorns (XP) were once real in our world perhaps?

A thought had came to my mind a few minutes ago and it got me thinking...what if animals such as sea turtles ro eagles become COMPLETELY extinct and then in the next 2 million years, people of that time will just think as the Eagle or Sea Turtle as a myth that was once made up...

So, do you think animals like sea serpents could have been real millions of years ago and then became completely extinct, and now we think of them as myths or legends?

*Note, I thought about artifacts being found like bones and such...but say for a sea serpent that lives in water, if it had become extinct and rotted away, the bones would be almost impossible to find in the deep ocean waters (if they even had bones)...

This is just a thought though, and I wanted to see what PC had to think of it...:)

 

[Thomas]

Well...the only thing I can say here...is...there are myths for a reason. xD

 

[Champion Victoria]

Well...the only thing I can say here...is...there are myths for a reason. xD

That doesn't really say anything, especially since etymologically, the Greek word μύθος simply means "word" or "narrative." You'll find, for instance, that certain lines of dialogue use its verbal form as a form of speaking, that is so-and-so said.

Anything that is spoken and/or written is consequently a myth.

Now, we can go even further into metaverbal issues and wonder whether the very act of speaking concretizes something that was previously just an idea. In order words, the action of speaking makes something real.

I think it's an important discussion, and so you've just opened up a pleasant can of worms.

 

[True Reign]

That is how it has always been. Tigers will be extinct in the next ten years or so, and your grandchildren will think it is a myth.

It is how the world works.

 

[Thomas]

That doesn't really say anything, especially since etymologically, the Greek word μύθος simply means "word" or "narrative." You'll find, for instance, that certain lines of dialogue use its verbal form as a form of speaking, that is so-and-so said.

Anything that is spoken and/or written is consequently a myth.

Now, we can go even further into metaverbal issues and wonder whether the very act of speaking concretizes something that was previously just an idea. In order words, the action of speaking makes something real.

I think it's an important discussion, and so you've just opened up a pleasant can of worms.

I'm just saying, these kinds of things have been passed down from generation to generation in stories and they could have been real or they could have just been made up by some drunk guy in the 17th century. Who knows.

Anyway, the fossil record only has like 1% of all the animals that have ever existed so it is completely possible for those creatures to have existed, but if we don't find any geological remains from them, we will never know and they will still reamin a myth...

 

[Artemis]

So then in the next hundreds of years if all Eagles have been extinct and no one can find their bones again...will it be then considered a myth to all?

and I'm glad to have brought open a pleasent can of worms...:)

 

[Champion Victoria]

Proof!: Trust me, I know what your point was. I'm just saying that you couldn't concisely sum it up the way you did, although it would have been neat if you could have just left it at that.

At any rate, my view is that stories simply get distorted and exaggerated over time. But they become a fascinating cultural narrative because they tie into our collective humanity on a very basic level, which is why they've been compelling over time. There's something about mythology that crosses cultural boundaries.

 

[Thomas]

Proof!: Trust me, I know what your point was. I'm just saying that you couldn't concisely sum it up the way you did, although it would have been neat if you could have just left it at that.

At any rate, my view is that stories simply get distorted and exaggerated over time. But they become a fascinating cultural narrative because they tie into our collective humanity on a very basic level, which is why they've been compelling over time. There's something about mythology that crosses cultural boundaries.

Ok, If we were in a classroom, I would probably be arguing out the door about this with you, but its PC so, whatever. And yeah I agree that things can get distorted over time, but all of these things get started somewhere, and it isn't always from fact. And of course things get distorted when you cross cultural boundries, espcially when you factor in the language barrier...

 

[Champion Victoria]

How much of a barrier is it, though? Especially since we're talking about tens of thousands of years in some cases. Prehistory has a way of quashing linguistic barriers. A lot of these stories have their roots in very, very old cultural spaces.

EDIT: And I'd submit that whether they were factual or not is ultimately immaterial, because their very nature (as compelling narratives) tends to reify them.

 

[DarkKnight541]

Thought Provoker!: Think about dragons. Nearly every culture has a dragon legend, even though most of these cultures couldn't have come in contact with each other, like japan and the aztecs. If this single legend, myth, or idea can be spread around the world even though theses cultures didn't come in contact with one another, is it real? I think so.

 

[Champion Victoria]

Or the seeds of dragon legends simply pre-date the human diaspora. The principle of parsimony suggests that it's far less of a stretch than simply assuming validity in the belief, as universalism is no guarentee of truth.

 

[Richard Wagner]

I think we live in an infinite universe, not only infinite in size but also in the possibility of what kind of entities inhabit it.

BUT, with that said, I think mythologically is ALWAYS metaphorical. Dragons in myth signify something that isn't literally a dragon. In European myths, they are always hoarding/protecting something that they can actually never use; is there a story where the dragon uses the gold to do something or makes out with the princess? Most of the time, no. The dragon is symbolic for psychological resistance/ egoic defense mechanisms that deny one the experience of something that deep down, they would really like to have (the "treasure").

Every mythology in every culture has something similar to this concept (it might not exactly be a dragon, but is most of the time something similar). I disagree with people who say that mythology is constant because of commerce (a long time ago, obviously); people from other places bringing their mythology with them when they travel. I think it's because it's an archetypal concept that's constant in the psyche. I think the real reason religion is so popular is that it puts you into contact with archetypal elements, which actually are symbolic and point to things that are one with your own consciousness.

But, with my other beliefs about the cosmos, I am obliged to believe that each story ever told on this planet is happening somewhere in the universe.

I think the best thing about mythology is actually different from the idea that myth is the life of the psyche in metaphor. I think it allows you to find a place for yourself in the universe; as a character in some story happening in the universe. It also usually gives you the feeling that there is more to experience in the universe than can be conceptualized, and that the ultimate ground of being goes beyond words, knowledge, and thought.

Alot of C.G. Jung/ Joseph Campbell influence here -- I'm sure anyone with a rational mind and some education in the natural sciences would enjoy ripping my post to shreds xD

 

[BHwolfgang]

Million of years from now, people would probably still has written proofs and photos to prove that these animal still exists.

I still think dragons are real... [/obsession]

 

[Tyrantrum]

I only believe in the Loch Ness Monster, and Dragons.
I'm supersticious and believe in some myths.

I saw a show on animal planet proving that dragons were real once a long time ago, at least some time in the dinosaur age. (And whoever is stupid enough to think this, I DO NOT mean Pterodactyls). Apparently, people around our time a couple years back found a dragon frozen to death? I kind of forgot.

 

[inhisxeyes]

I actually have a great many theories about "myths & legends", and I believe in many of the creatures because of these theories.

For example - the dragon. Your typical European dragon: big as a house, breathes fire, flies. The legend had to start somewhere. People get ideas for mythical creatures by seeing something remotely similar and going off of that. The unicorn I can see being purely myth. I say this because the original unicorn resembled a goat - small, cloven hooves, a wispy beard, thin tail. Hundreds, thousands of years ago even, there could have been an average farm goat with a genetic abnormality that caused a single horn to sprout from the center of its forehead. In fact, such cases have been reported and are not so horribly rare. Do you see how an abnormal goat can spawn such a beloved mythical creature? I'm assuming you follow. Let's continue.

But dragons? A massive, flying, fire-breathing lizard that hordes gold and kidnaps princesses? Where in the hell did that come from? There are no fire-breathing lizards, there are no lizards that fly. There is this, but it's only in India. [Asian dragons, like the Chinese dragon, are typically portrayed as wingless, serpentine beasts, not the aforementioned "winged" lizard.] What I'm aiming at, is I can't wrap my head around how someone could pull something like this or this out of their ass. If it is indeed a myth, then you're asking me to believe that someone just sat down one day and drew up a picture of a modern dragon and it just spread like wildfire? I, personally, don't buy that for a minute. Perhaps dragons do not exist in this world today. But I firmly believe that at one point in history [or one of our histories, if you believe that the world has gone through all this before] that dragons did exist. Maybe not exactly like the images we see today, but in some akin form. They are just too alien to have been made from nothing.

I could go on and on about the countless other "myths", like [more about] unicorns, bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, vampires [which I'm sure I'll get into someday], werewolves and other creatures of their ilk. And all that I've said still isn't an accurate representation of how I've come to the conclusion of believing in these creatures. It's so complex in my head, that I don't know if the English language has the words for it. If it does, if English has managed to pillage enough words from other languages, then I do not know them. Sorry if I lost you guys :3

 

[Gymnotide]

I could only wish that they were real.

Most of the creatures have no scientific explanation, though.
You can't turn to stone by looking at something.
You can't poison something from miles away.
You can't turn invisible.

 

[Shadow]

The giant squid.

Thought to be a myth for countless ages. They relatively recently found what they thought would fit as a giant squid beak inside a whale stomach. Then they found a giant squid itself.

Just five years ago, you were called a crock by some people if you believed in giant squids.

There isn't much hope for land-based cryptozoology (Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster, Unicorns, Wolpertingers), but sea creatures continue to amaze us at every turn.

 

[IDIE]

There where myths about dragons right? And they found a preserved Dragon (that flys, and breathes flames) in Antartica. I don't belive in Big Foot though...

 

[Penguin13]

By definition, a myth isn't real.

But no, I don't think any mythical creatures existed, because they often have supernatural myths attached to them.

 

[Legobricks]

That is how it has always been. Tigers will be extinct in the next ten years or so, and your grandchildren will think it is a myth.

It is how the world works.

Dinosaurs aren't mythical, animals from today won't be either.