Myth Still Shapes Your Life

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]You may have a varied opinion on the psychologist Jordan Peterson, but if you like the ideas of Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, then a lot of what Peterson has to say is a value to you. Let me explain. I've seen criticism of Peterson from Jungians and non-Jungians alike.

[00:00:14]But what Peterson writes about myth, meaning, and imagination is important to consider in the modern day. He writes in Maps of Meaning that the natural, pre-experimental, or mythical mind is in fact primarily concerned with meaning, which is essentially implication for action and not to of objective nature.

[00:00:31]In other words, myth was never just a primitive science. It is a way of orientating human beings to action, morality, chaos, renewal, sacrifice, and meaning in general. Peterson argues that before the Enlightenment thinkers and the birth of modern science, people lived in a world saturated by meaning and moral purpose, a world that was revealed to us through stories. And he argues, like Jung, that we still act this out regardless of whether we acknowledge its existence or not. We still live mythic patterns whether we consciously understand them. And this is just like Jung points out. You may call the African tribe that performs its rituals primitive because when you ask them why they do it, they say it's just what we've always done. But if I showed up to your house on Christmas Day with a bottle of bubbly and some mince pies and ask you why you have the Christmas tree up, why you exchange gifts and followed certain traditions, you would say, "It's just what we've always done." What I'm saying is modern people have not escaped myth. It's more that we just failed to recognize the myths we are living inside. It is not that myth is irrelevant now, it's that myth and science are doing two different things.

[00:01:35]Science describes the world in terms of what can consensually be observed, but myth describes the world as it signifies for action. Because the mythic world is not primarily a place to perceive, it is a place to act. And this matters, and you know this matters, because human beings do not live by facts alone. We live through meaning, orientation, values, symbols, and story. When we lose the mythical imagination entirely, like many of us have, we may gain description, but we'd lose direction.

[00:02:06]Don't write Peterson off is what I'm saying. So, if you like the video, follow the page and subscribe on YouTube for more videos like this and podcasts with amazing guests every 2 weeks.