There is great power if belief. It doesn’t matter so much if something is true, but rather what matters is if people believe that it’s true. This power of belief has been understood and manipulated by most powerful leaders and governments throughout history. Whether it’s the modern media today, religious leaders of the medieval period, or ancient priests of prehistory. Not that all these things are bad but rather they understand the power of belief.
And of myth. What the people believe is often where the people end up. Now I’m not going to say belief is everything. A person who is 5’0 could believe all they wanted that they were going to be a professional basketball player and it probably won’t happen. Likewise everyone on earth could believe that gravity wasn’t going to be in effect for tomorrow but that wouldn’t change anything. However for most things in life belief is what makes them happen, or at least what allows them to happen.
Like the great Henry Ford once said “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” or as the Bible says “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” we need ideals, myths, legends, beliefs to keep us on the right path, to keep us moving forward, and keep us striving. To keep us going and functioning. Belief is to human achievement what gasoline is to a car. It’s what makes it run and gets it from point A to point B. This applies just as much in the modern world.
The Masters Of Belief
The past 500 years of the world have changed the world in likely irrevocable ways. We’ve very quickly gone from an agricultural society to an industrial one to a technological one, at least in the West, though the rest of the world is catching up fast. Never, to our knowledge, have we been more connected on earth. There are good parts to this and bad. But the bad is growing. One thing you see is the homogenization of cultures. All are subsumed or consumed by the “Western” capital/communist culture.
This is called diversity but its the exact opposite. Individuality and the individual myths of cultures and peoples are destroyed. And when their myths are destroyed the people are destroyed. Maybe not yet literally but that can follow. This destruction of organic beliefs is good for the people up top but not so much for the people who’s myths are being destroyed. Where once people looked up to heroes and took their lessons to heart now we have post-modernism where belief is laughed at or seen as something foolish.
And we suffer the consequences for it. Peoples, cultures, nations become tepid and stale, then start to stagnate and rot. Myths and stories serve as a sort of heart to a culture. The old myths we have had been subverted by “modern myths” modern belief systems that suck the life and soul out of people. And the world suffers because of it. These “myths” don’t inspire greatness or much of anything. They barely inspire conformity.
Creating Your Own Myth
You need myth to power your life and push you to greatness, to accomplishment, to fulfillment, and meaning. There are many sources out there and new myths are being written all the time. You can take inspiration from the myths of old whether Homer’s tales, the Norse Edda, or the Old Testament. Look back at tales that inspired you as a child, or if you didn’t read as a child, it’s never too late to start. You’re going to need the strength myth gives in the days ahead.
Stay away from the myth and belief system that the mainstream would give you, it poisonous and corrupted. Designed to destroy you, your heart, your mind, your body, and yes, even your soul. If you think that sounds dramatic I don’t know what to tell you. Look around is the advice being given going to make you healthy? Happy? Better off? Or will it destroy you? If you followed mainstream advice, what comes of it? Think about it and look, the answer might surprise you.
You need myth, your people need myths. Find them, support them, pass them on, or create them. And never underestimate their power.
