Why Are Fables and Legends so Fascinating to Us?
I know more than a few quite well-educated and intelligent people who are fully open to the possibility that such things as unicorns and faeries might actually exist.
Of course there's no real evidence that such things exist, but there's also no conclusive evidence that they don't exist... rather like it being equally futile both to prove and disprove the existence of God.
We just don't know.
As science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke famously said: "We surmise, but we do not know. That's why it's called a belief."
We live in a part of the world where "Sasquatch Lore" is alive and kicking, and more than a handful of fringe dwelling hermits are not only fully convinced that Bigfoot is a real thing, but also attest to having had encounters.
Unlike many, I don't have much investment in either outcome. I can't deny it would be sort of cool if we really did have giant Neolithic man-primates living in them thar woods!
My own interest has always been in trying to understand the reasons for these legends... what gave rise to them.
There are certain aspects to the way they are often dismissed that strike me as faulty logic. Like why (in the case of Bigfoot, for example) people across a very diverse geographic area have the same myths, even though they had zero communication, and no known travels to shared areas?
It wasn't like they could just write each other letters and spread rumors of similar beasts.
Mass collective psychosis?
When does it stop being psychosis? Let's consider that we don't go around calling people "psychotic" because they say they believe in God, even though tangible evidence of God is as scarce as tangible evidence of Unicorns.
As I said, I'm not invested in the outcome, just the nature and origins of the story.
Ultimately, perhaps we are best served by simply embracing the modifier "yet." As in, we do not yet have evidence for the existence of Bigfoot, Unicorns,Faeries... or God.
They exist as possibilities in the scientific sense, but as very real in our hearts and minds.
Regardless, we genuinely want our legends to be true. What we would actually do if confronted with the reality of those things we "believe" in I can only speculate on... often the mystery is more comforting than the tangible.
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Created at 2023-12-19 01:14 PST
1019/2274
Ah, to be a fly on the wall in that hangout!
You shared a great point! Even though we haven't found proof of things like unicorns and faeries, that doesn't mean they can't exist. These cool stories have been around forever, and they tell us something about what humans dream and wonder about. Thanks for sharing such a thoughtful idea, it was so nice to read it.
Yes, and that's part of what I find fascinating... how we have very similiar stories across vastly different areas of the planet. How did we come to think of the same things, without having any contact with each other?
Yeah, it intrigue me also but I believe it's just meant to be that way..
Even if they do not exist, there is a way they make us feel like they exist because of how we are being told….
Indeed. I bet there many aspects of Nigerian folklore that have been shared and handed down across so many ethnic groups for so many generations that they have become mythical, yes?
You are also in the prime habitat for the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. Treat them with all due respect should you find one. They are quite the endangered species.😀
I think there is some overlap between mythology and conspiracy theory in that both seek to explain the unexplained, but myths seem to be more about entertainment than fear. That said, a lot of fairy tales are a lot scarier than Disney versions might suggest.
I like stories about cryptids and hollow earth, but put little stock in them. I find myself irritated by flat earth proponents though, because they take their ideas way too seriously, and outright ignore or mock any evidence or counterarguments brought against their assettions instead of showing any intellectual rigor.
Ah yes! Definitely a distant relative of the Flying Spaghetti Monster! We actually live right in its natural habitat zone...
I personally like myths because they seem more about teaching points than anything else. When the conspiracy theorists take over, we end up with a strange FUD brew and suddenly there are aliens living inside Mt. Shasta.
I expect much has roots in attempts to explain the unexplainable. To a Neolithic person, thunder and lightning didn't make sense and could not be explained... but "the Gods are angry!" puts a somewhat "known" face on something as of yet unknowable.
Flat Earthers do seem to be a species all of their own... elements of QAnon there, which in turn has often struck me as a sort of LARP gone mad...
All interesting stuff, though!
Why would they lie?... I'm not saying they're telling the truth, but.... I wouldn't say otherwise either.
But I'm a little more open-minded.
Also, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. There are many things that we cannot ordinarily explain, yet they exist.
That's a fact. I tend to think there's a lot of stuff in the Universe that we simply don't have the capacity to measure/see in our current state of development.
Let's face it: Microwaves (for example) existed for millions of years before we decided we could detect them!