Myths are Real, Reality is a Myth

 ‘Myths are Real, Reality is a Myth’ is a unique book that uncovers the power of myths, fictions and legends on human mind. We learn these myths at an early age from our parents and elders and these myths sink into our deepest consciousness. Gradually, these myths becomes our fundamental beliefs on which we add many more myths throughout our lives. 

 It is difficult to understand human beings as rational beings because even our rational mind is guided by our feelings and emotions, which are the product of our beliefs.

We don’t see the world as it is. We see the world as we are. Our perception of the world is a product of our belief and not our rational thinking.

Myths are Real, Reality is a Myth is an attempt to understand the impact of our beliefs—which are largely based on mythologies, scriptures, rituals and fictions—on our lives. In this book, we explore the mythologies of East and West and connect them to the realities of these worlds. We discover that our culture and traditions are the products of our oldest mythologies and ancient scriptures. There is no social reality which can’t be explained using the myths believed by the society. 

 If you wish to understand the subconscious mind of an individual or a society, you have to understand the core beliefs which are shaped by the popular myths and scriptures of the society. For example, alcoholism is so common among Christians that more than 95 per cent Christians around the world consume alcohol. However, the consumption of alcohol is a great sin in Islam and you would find more than 95 per cent Muslims not consuming alcohol. The billion-dollar campaign against alcohol is proving to be useless in Western world while billions of Muslims would never drink alcohol because it is proscribed in their religion.

We need myths and fictions to create beliefs and to develop emotional bonding with fellow human beings. Even in modern days, thousands of myths are created every day in the forms of movies, fictions and soap operas. These myths are so powerful that they are transforming the society in a very subtle way.

When we start believing in new myths, we create a new reality and discover a new world.

Constitution of the book

This book is divided into five sections.

The first section ‘The Power of Fiction’ deals with the power of myths and fiction. It explores how fictions change our beliefs and our beliefs change our reality. We often can’t differentiate reality from fiction as they are mixed with each other. For example, we often treat history, mythologies, scriptures, biographies to be true without knowing that most of these are fictions. We tend to believe our scriptures to be the word of God without realising that in another scripture, God is speaking just the opposite. The lack of knowledge of the other religion often becomes a source of conflict in the name of God.

The second section ‘The Mythological Programming of Humanity’ explains how our common habits are rooted in the mythologies we believed in. We can trace the habits of drinking alcohol, sense of dressing or our eating habits from our religion. If you wish to know why some races or cultures are violent while others are so peaceful that they can’t be provoked to fight, we have to understand their mythologies. It is interesting to see how the myths have kept the divorce rates in India less than one percent while majority of Western counties are facing more than 50 percent cases of divorces despite marrying each other after being sure that they are in love. If the family system still survives in India, we have to give its credit to the myths believed in Indian society.

In the third section ‘Shaping of Human Values’, we explore the roots of human values in different societies. We find that human beings are connected with each other due to common faiths and beliefs. Just like two people can’t converse with each other without knowing a common language, it is impossible to understand each other’s emotions without having common beliefs. We then find the positive roles of our faiths in creating social bonding between people. The concept of immortal souls, heaven and hell have played an important role in creation of an orderly society and kept a large section of population on the right track without any use of state power.

In the fourth section ‘Negatives of Being Positive’, we discover that myths are complementary to each other. For every myth, there is an equal and opposite myth which balances the society. A poor man needs a different myth to live his life than a rich person. We all get conditioned to the myths that we learn during our childhood and soon these myths go so deep in our subconscious mind that they become our instinct and conscience. What we call the voice of our conscience is nothing but the learned values of the myths absorbed by us during our early years of life. What is a truth for one person seems fallacy to another due to difference in their subconscious mind. We learn that for every good that we create through fiction or ideology, an equal amount of evil is also created. This gives rise to conflict between the two, each side believing to be on the side of good and the other to be on the side of evil.

In the final section ‘Lessons from Myths’, we discuss the importance of myths in the society. A society devoid of myths would be a soulless society. A man without emotion would be no better than a machine. He would have no joy or purpose to live. We change our world by changing our beliefs. We discover that there is no universal ethics or dharma that can cater to the need of all sections of the society. Once we understand the subjectivity of values, we understand the complementary relationships between different religions and different ideologies. Hence, instead of fighting over our cherished beliefs, we develop the ability to see the world through different beliefs that naturally bring peace and happiness in our lives. 

 The chapters of the book are as following:-Part I: The Power of Fiction

1. Myths and Truths
2. Fiction-Reality Dualism
3. The World of Fiction
4. The Promises of Gods
5. Your God Your Life

Part II: The Mythological Programming of Humanity

1. The Joy of Drinking
2. Nudity and Modesty
3. Meat-eaters and Killer Instinct
4. The Cult of Violence
5. Religion and Crime Rate
6. The Rise of Promiscuity
7. Decline of Family System

Part III: Shaping of Human Values

1. The Illusion of Fiction
2. The Language of Faith
3. Our Make-believe World
4. Mortal Body, Immortal Soul
5. Humanising Gods
6. Ideal Worship

Part IV: Negatives of Being Positive

1. The Difficulty in Being Good
2. The Conflicts of Values
3. The Voice of Conscience
4. Good is the Mother of Evil
5. Non-violence Breeds Violence
6. Idealism Makes People Corrupt

Part V: Lessons from Myths

1. You See What You Believe
2. The Illusion of Universal Dharma
3. Entertainment Led Frustration
4. Changing Face of Morality
5. The Multiplicity of Truth
6. From Myths to Enlightenment

Myths create faith and faith is important in life to develop values in life and connect with the fellow human beings. You develop better understanding of yourself and the world after understanding the importance of myths and fictions in the real world. Such a knowledge reduces hatred for the people whose beliefs are different than your own. Once you know the truth as it is, you become free from all prejudices, hatred and anger leading a life of love, compassion and peace.