The Western as American Mythos Myths are stories through which people experience the mystery and awe of life. They teach us how to live life fully in the world, how to cope with tragedy. To know a myth as myth is to live it symbolically, as participants in ritual once enacted the myth's story in physical space. To participate in mythic space is to walk in the deep dark places of soul's truth, in an inner landscape where meaning is found and logic slips away.
Myths are narratives people use to remind themselves of what they hold to be True, and why.
According to Joseph Campbell, myth is similar to dream. They share the same space. The myth is the public dream and the dream is the private myth. When Joseph Campbell studies the legends and myths and religions of the world and says that no matter what your culture or language or actual society or race, these stories are almost identical in every one of these different cultures, I turn that around and say . . . We make these stories over and over again.