MORAL MYTHS: ORIGIN, CHARACTERISTICS AND EXAMPLES - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The moral myths are those in which the struggle of good against evil demons or gods against depicted. They seek to offer a moral teaching or lesson on aspects of people's daily lives. Like all myths, they are simple stories that are part of the tradition of the people and are transmitted between generations.

One of the main characteristics of moral myths is the Manichaeism or duality of their content. That is to say: good and bad, correct and incorrect, good and evil, sacred and profane, etc. Furthermore, they are dramatic accounts that appeal to the sacred, because they are based on literal or distorted religious teachings.

Plato's cave myth.

The moral myth uses magic and uses its symbols to explain the natural or supernatural events that it narrates. Myths in general are imaginary stories that are told orally or in writing about fantastic characters and incredible facts.

In these stories gods, demons or monsters and all kinds of supernatural characters usually intervene. However, modern myths also involve other common characters and deal with everyday events or themes.

Origin

Myths were born in ancient Greece as a narrative resource through which natural phenomena or aspects of everyday life for which there was no answer could be explained. In these supposed episodes that happened to the ancestors or the gods are evoked.

The origin of moral myths also took place in Greece, and throughout history they appear in all societies, cultures and religions.

This is precisely due to its educational or formative characteristics, as well as to its explanatory content about good and evil, which, by the way, varies from one society to another.

Moral myths are considered among the most important that exist. Currently they are seen more as creations of the human mind and cultural or social manifestations than as distorted historical accounts.

characteristics

The myth generally develops based on a real element or truth. Its difference with the legend is that in this there are certain historical aspects, which give it verisimilitude and make it credible; unfolds between reality and fiction. Instead, the myth is a magical and unreal story, although it provides "moral truths."

The following are some of its basic and common characteristics with the other myths:

- They have a universal character. Moral myths exist in all peoples and cultures, and are used as a means to explain life and the world.

- Usually it is a traditional narrative transmitted orally or in writing and is part of popular folklore.

- It is a story that tried or tries to be a true explanation of the natural world.

- Use symbolism and analogies to represent different phenomena and things, such as storms, winds, mountains, seas, fire or water, trees or stones.

- Often their characters are unreal (gods, monsters, supernatural beings) but not always, because invented real characters can also intervene.

- The plot can develop between two worlds (the previous or supernatural world and this world).

- The events that it describes unfold and break with natural laws, which reflects the connection of the fact that it narrates with the previous world.

- Almost always offers a metaphysical / cosmogonic explanation about the world and the universe.

- It is a practical or functional story; that is, it indicates and invites an action on how to live, what to do and what not to do. It transmits moral values, visions of the world and of life.

- There is a permanent evocation of the mystery and the sacred. It focuses on the unknown.

- It is a Manichean narrative (good-bad, sacred-profane, light-dark) that contains a reflection with a formative intention.

- It develops in a narrative-metaphorical plane of an ontological type (study of being). Through moral myths we try to explain our mission in the world and answer questions such as who we are, what is our purpose and why we are here.

- The moral myth is associated with the religious beliefs and practices of each society.

Lessons from moral myths

Here are some of the most common lessons that moral myths convey:

- Good always prevails over evil, regardless of the theme treated in the myth.

- Destiny cannot be changed, we are all born with a mission in life.

- Arrogance is a danger that can lead us astray.

- We must always sacrifice for our family and loved ones.

- Blood calls blood, violence begets violence.

- The homeland comes first. You have to sacrifice for it because God wants it that way.

- We must not succumb to temptation (Adam and Eve), because we can obtain catastrophic results (Pandora's Box).

- We must love the family and respect the elderly.

- Fate or nature should not be challenged (the anger of the gods).

Examples

Plato's cave

Plato's cave myth is an example of a moral myth. This is an analogy about the reality of human knowledge. It was created by the Greek philosopher Plato to depict in a figurative sense how life chains people looking towards the wall of a cave.

This occurs from the moment of birth until death. Through this simile, Plato teaches that the shadows that we see reflected on the wall are our life and the reality of the world.

He also uses this figure to explain how and for what he himself taught and transmitted his knowledge, in order to "free" people from the "bondage of the reality of the cave."

People are often comfortable in the midst of their ignorance and become violent towards those who try to make them see it. Thus, the task of teaching people to govern themselves becomes more difficult.

The 10 Commandments

Some non-Catholics consider the Tablets of Moses a myth. This narrative describes how God dictated to the prophet Moses his laws for human coexistence. The 10 commandments contained in these speak of not killing, not stealing, not lusting after another's wife, etc.

Christian and Jewish ethics are based on these tables, which delimit good from evil in order for humanity to live in harmony.

The heaven and the hell

The Christian religion, like all the others, is full of moral myths; one of the most important is heaven and hell.

Heaven is a space that represents good and where good people go when they die. Hell is the dimension of evil; there go the sinful people of the Earth.

Australian Biame Myth

Through this creation myth it is about explaining how all living beings on Earth were created. The three tribes created were made up of birds, fish and living beings from Earth, in addition to a supernatural creature called Platypus.

The story ends with a moral, which more or less tries to indicate that all beings are equally important, even with our differences.

References

1. What is Myth? Retrieved April 12, 2018 from faculty.gcsu.edu
2. Did Greek mythology teach moral lessons? Consulted from quora.com
3. What Are Myths? Consulted from study.com
4. Mythic Morals. Consulted from amnh.org
5. 10 Myths About Morality. Consulted of ethicalrealism.wordpress.com
6. Example of Myths. Consulted of examplede.com
7. Moral myths. Consulted of queesunmito.com