Thursday 27 April 2017

Mythology…

No mythology is superior or inferior. The ancients including our ancestors concocted various myths to make sense of the dangerous world they inhabited. Just imagine seeing lightning or hearing thunder for the first time! Imagine the horror of a mother seeing a wild animal devouring the baby she left to sleep in a cave! Imagine seeing a volcanic eruption for the first time! 
As humans, we tell stories to explain away the unknowns. Without these stories (myths), life would probably be unbearable.
Yoruba mythology makes more sense to me because I am a Yoruba man. I can relate to the myths even though some of them sound ridiculous. In the same vein, Igbo mythology makes more sense to an Igbo person, likewise Hausa, Efik, Nupe etc.
All mythologies are intertwined with local cultures. Hence the reason we have different creation stories. For example, it is very difficult to understand Jewish or Arab or Greek or Chinese etc mythologies if you are not a product those cultures unless you are just doing “follow follow”.
Arguably, without myths science would not have existed. Science came into being primarily to debunk myths and superstitions. Thanks to science, we now know better and we can explain things without reverting to superstitions.
Some myths are allegorical and must not be interpreted literally. Some are timeless truth. Some are just for entertainment. It is your responsibility to separate the nonsensical and the ridiculous from the logical and the rational.

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