Myth and Religion and The Bell Curve
by
Matt Giwer (c) 1995 <2/4>

      The school prayer issue is one that is not taken as more than a passing matter of partisan political debate. The issue does go much deeper. As recommended by the authors of The Bell Curve society needs simple laws that everyone can grasp. Religion as myth is one of those simple things that are needed to deal with all levels of intellectual ability.
      The structure of myth is what we all share as part of our nature as humans. If we could speak in myth we could probably speak with our nearest biological neighbors. Myth is the grand scheme by which we incorporate the chaos of reality into personal perception and organization. Religion is a quasi-intellectual codification of myth. Although religion institutes rules for specific myths it still relies totally upon the schematic of myth.
      Myth is what is it necessary for people to learn in terms of the society in which they live. Consider that every hero [us, you and me] must be removed from their comfortable lives. That means us heroes must (and will) be faced with the unexpected, the unpredictable, the unexplainable, i.e. chaos, in our lives.
      Myth has it that the hero will struggle to come to grips with this new reality. We know we must deal with the death of a loved one or anything else that comes along and we must continue to live despite it.
      Myth has it that after this struggle with chaos we will be transformed into a new person who never again faces a struggle with a recurrence of this same mythic evil which is chaos. And once we have first dealt with chaos we are expected to become stronger and deal with the same again. And if we do not deal with it, if we do not triumph we feel we have failed. And the failed hero tries again.
      And once the hero has triumphed chaos never strikes him again in the same manner. It comes at him with completely new challenges that are rarely as great as the first. This not only explains the failure of movie sequels it also addresses there being a defining point in everyone's life where this metaphor with chaos permits one to consider everything after less of a struggle, less of a challenge, less of an intrusion upon the perception we deal with daily.
      These are the simplest points of myth. Myth is the framework within which we structure the chaotic nature of reality. Intellectually the structure of myth is what religion specializes in doing. Any myth, as long as it is good, is not sufficient, rather it has to be a particular form of the myth.
      But the value of the myth it that it communicates with all levels of intelligence. Even the simplest mind, the lowest on the Bell Curve can understand right from wrong in terms of myth. There are pathologic personalities that can not but they are distinct from the simple minded although at times they overlap.
      Which brings us around to religion in school. The authors of The Bell Curve point out the necessity of teaching everyone the basics of justice and law in terms they can understand. The method must be simple so they can understand it. It can not be "to hard" for them. It can not be the message "we have to send your DNA to the lab to convict you." It has to be a message of, "if you harm others you are punished."
      Myth is the ordering structure we use to deal with the chaos of reality. It even includes the hero meeting a wise man or a god or some such which tells us that asking advice and following it is a good thing to do. Myth even has what the hero does in old age, he retreats from power and becomes the wise man to be consulted.
      That myth is the structure of the mind is also the reason we have such a problem with science. Science is an intellectual exercise that uses tools of reason that are not myth. But as is science, so is law and again The Bell Curve points out that teaching law is a much a failure as teaching science to make people think scientifically or to follow the letter of the law.
      Myth must be taught. The myth makers of our society generally appear to understand their responsibility. Evil never triumphs save to never triumph again in a sequel. The forms of legend are not used to implant that which is bad into the mind of the movie viewer. We have dystopic heroes but they are heroes. And the interesting part is that if the "Blofeld" in the book kills the "James Bond" the book does not sell. Why?
      Evil, the bad guy, is chaos and the triumph of chaos is a failure of the hero and therefore a personal failure of the myth. We can not identify with the success of chaos or failure of the hero. That we can not identify begs the question of why and how we identify. That identification is from myth and myth being the structure with which we deal with reality. We must be taught to fill in the structure of myth with what is of value to our society.
      And there is one further point. Anyone one bright enough not to need the structure being filled in will create their own structure. Those who are not bright enough to get beyond the simple structure need it desperately. Without the structure being filled in they will fill it in with the local con man or drug dealer.
      You can see this in the structure of myth rather more commonly in story telling which is myth as a story is not memorable unless it complies with the structure of myth. (This is even down to the little Mexican dog was really a rat as that is chaos upon reality, joining a strange, new world and overcoming that new reality.) And thus the structure of religion in some form being taught in schools is beneficial to all society as religion is the best approximation we have to myth we have and it is the only one that can be taught. Myth has to be experienced and enjoyed which is not the classroom setting.
      The only risk of teaching religion is that it will be imposed in a three centuries old sense which is rather a primitive idea. Of course there are still running problems with religion in society such as all the dominant ones being against abortion ... but that is not really a problem.
      Myth teaches us that hard decisions have to be made and abortion is a hard decision. Teaching it is wrong is fine as long as it also teaches that facing the crisis of "wrong" is something to be overcome and to grow from the decision. Unfortunately today were are teaching science, a cost/benefit analysis to those who will never have the ability to think in those terms much less ever perform one. We are teaching reason to the uninitiated.
      Reason is a digression upon our natural way of dealing with reality. Reason has no archetypes, no heroes, no simularities with what we know from life. It is inappropriate to apply rational methods to myth. Reason is independent of mythos. It is a very recent divergence in one small area of human behavior.
      Most human behavior is cast in terms of myth. Most reporting of events is cast in terms of myth. The very thought by editors and the like of "what is the human angle?" is the very embodiment of fitting fact into mythos. "If it bleeds, it leads"? If chaos strikes it is a story.
      Chaos? Is not a cultural icon suddenly changing into something else of interest? Tune into the all OJ networks. Is not the attempt to cast every "news" story into myth what we perceive in our apprehension of daily life? Perhaps not yours but mine. News is not only what is common, it is what tells a story even if the story be only that Chaos Happens.
      A child can not understand the news without the myth making structure for dealing with chaos being filled in. Thus we have to teach something in our schools. Perhaps of course we can rely upon parents but more rationally, those who do not need to be taught will outgrow it. Those who can not outgrow it need to be taught.
      And if you are bright enough to have gone through the routine to have read this message certainly I am not talking about you as needing religion. Nor am I talking about your children given the genetic component of intelligence and I certainly presume you are providing the environment for them to learn as you have learned. I am talking about "them." That is the "them" we have all met in our lives and only a fool would claim do not exist.
      The fact that we are not teaching any form of mythos to our children, the fact that those most in need of it are not getting it, the fact that religion is the only form of mythos we have available is not in question. That it is needed is not in question. That we can survive as a society without mythos is in question.
      Science is a discipline as are its rules. Teaching according to its rules does not give the sense of mythos to reality. When we teach "safe sex" we are teaching science not mythos. Mythos is "DON'T." Science says IF you do THEN... One must start with mythos to learn and even the least can learn. The science come much later for those so inclined.