A New Awakening, Part 7

In this series of posts I am re-exploring The Power of Myth, which is the title of the PBS TV series from the 1980s in which the scholar of myth Joseph Campbell was interviewed at length by Bill Moyers about why ancient sources of mythic wisdom ought to inform our spirituality today.

In this post I take a look at what the evolutionary history of the human brain tells us about the usefulness of myth.

Levels of the
cerebral cortex

The cerebral cortex of the human brain evolved over the span of evolutionary time with three main levels, and the human mind likewise has three levels. The two lower cortical levels were inherited from our reptilian ancestors (the lowest brain level) and from the earliest mammal species (the middle level). The topmost level is, among other things in the human, the seat of reason.

The top level is also the seat of the "I" — that is, the concept we each have of our unique individual self. Psychologists call it by the Latin pronoun for "I," "ego." The ego is not, in this way of speaking, the same thing as a swelled head. We all have egos, and we would not be human if we didn't.

Having three brain/mind levels opens us up, unfortunately, to conflicts among the three. Most of us let the topmost level take charge most of the time. The prerogatives of the "archicortex" (the oldest, "reptilian" brain) and the "paleocortex" (a.k.a. the "paleomammalian" brain) get trumped by those of the "neocortex" (the evolutionarily most recent, "neomammalian" addition which, among other things, makes us rational beings capable of civilized, moral behavior).

Yet if the neocortex is put entirely in charge, we become coldly analytical beings like the half-Vulcan Spock in "Star Trek" — except for those rare occasions when, at times of great stress, Spock's "human half" takes over.

The "Spock myth" tells us we are not fully human unless and until the older layers of the brain can be brought into harmony with the newest layer. Myths in general help with that. In fact, that may well be their prime function, as each of the four key functions of myth enumerated by Joseph Campbell are facets of the integration of the "self" that can take place if inner harmony is established:

• The metaphysical function, awakening a sense of awe before the mystery of being, triggers an awareness of our role in the unfolding tapestry of time, as it helps put the individual ego in its proper (i.e., less absolute, more contingent) place with respect to the overarching claims of the eternal.
• The cosmological function, explaining the shape of the universe, lets us come to see how the shape of our "inner universe" is echoed by the cosmos in its outward configuration.
• The sociological function, validating and supporting the existing social order, tells us that we are not alone on the stage. We depend in every way on other people and on the stability of the society which we together create and maintain.
• The pedagogical function, guiding the individual through the stages of life, takes us each along our personal "hero's journey" and lets us know what is and is not appropriate for us to be and do at each stage along the way.

Listening to myth in all four of those aspects, we can come to a sense of "the rapture of being alive," as Joseph Campbell described to Bill Moyers the ultimate spiritual destination we all seek. We put ourselves "in harmony with reality" precisely through our spirituality. "Myths," Campbell said, "are clues to the spiritual potentialities of the human life."

More later in this series ...