The Power of Myth

Joseph Campbell
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Robert Johnson wrote a relevant primer to myths in the introduction to "She":

Myths are rich sources of psychological insight.

Great literature, like all great art, records and portrays

the human condition with indelible accuracy.

Myths are a special kind of literature not written or created

by a single individual, but produced by the imagination

and experience of an entire age and culture

and can be seen as the distillation of the dreams

and experiences of a whole culture.

They seem to develop gradually as certain motifs emerge,

are elaborated, and finally are rounded out as people tell

and retell stories that catch and hold their interest.

Thus themes that are accurate and universal are kept alive,

while those elements peculiar to single individuals

or a particular era drop away.

Myths, therefore, portray a collective image;

they tell us about things that are true for all people.
This belies our current rationalistic definition of myth

as something untrue or imaginary.

“Why, that is only a myth; its not true at all,” we hear.

The details of the story may be unverifiable

or even fantastic,

but actually a myth is profoundly and universally true.