Myth and the Modern World

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Recommended: The role of religion in contemporary society

Since the beginning of time, people have been searching the universe looking for answers to the burning questions about what “it” all means. By looking to the past, we find parallels that help put our own modern lives into perspective. We mortals have an insatiable quest for knowledge about everything under the sun. Who are we? Where did we come from? Why are we here? What happens next? By analyzing the meaning of ancient Mythology and applying the lessons learned through the hero’s quests, we gain insight and perspective about our own place in the modern world we live in today. By visualizing and internalizing the lessons learned through the mythological hero’s journeys, we find relevance in the symbolism and metaphors that mirror our own struggles and inspire us to find the courage and determination to overcome them.
I am not a deeply religious person but I do believe in “something”. What that something is, I am not entirely sure. However, like the characters in the myths we have read about this semester, I know that I am also on a journey that hopefully one day will reveal the answers to the questions I’ve been looking for along with the ones I haven’t even thought of yet. Life is a quest that begins at birth and continues until the day we die. Our quests resemble the hero’s journeys because in attempting to achieve our goals; we stumble, fall, get a little help if we’re lucky, then get up and try again. Sometimes I pray for supernatural help as I struggle to overcome obstacles along the way, but so far no gods or goddesses have materialized to help me out in my times of need. I guess that’s why we have family - those people in our lives we sometimes can’t live with but could never live without. They are the ones...

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... process. Like the mythological characters we’ve been introduced to this semester, we travel through life and face obstacles that either make us stronger or shatter us into a million pieces. It’s up to us to choose how we put those pieces back together.

Works Cited

"Jason and the Golden Fleece." Ancient Greece Mythology. Copyright © 2003-2012 University Press Inc. . Web. 11 Oct 2013. .
Raffel, Burton . Beowulf. New York, NY: Signet Classic, 1963. print.
Gardner, John. Grendel. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1971. Print.
Fagles, Robert. The Odyssey. Deluxe. New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 1996. Print.
Encyclopedia Mythica. MCMXCV - MMXII Encyclopedia Mythica.. Web. 11 Oct 2013. .
The Epic of Gilgamesh. Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center, Web. .

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