Myths are religious narratives. They express a given culture’s literal or metaphorical understanding of reality and how the world functions.

Religion’s role is intertwined with mythology. Specifically, religion is a system that gives authority to a mythological framework. When authority is imbued into a mythological narrative, narratives are used to support as well as justify a particular system’s rituals, theology and ethics.

Religious mythologies are entirely different to the superstitious beliefs that abound in all societies. Mythic narratives are sacred; in that they are central to our cultural and personal identity. The rationale behind this deep bond that has never been severed is simple.

Mythologies–and religious mythologies, in particular–convey significant truths about the relationship between humanity and the divine. They tell us where we come from, why we are here and what will happen in the hereafter.

All myths invariably contain elements which seek to discern, decipher and describe the truth. There is a universal significance to religious mythologies that lead us to nurture a higher state of being and a heightened understanding of what is possible. This is not possible if we only stick to the facts.

The sacred stirrings of the human imagination express the truth that history–with all its pitfalls and holes–is unable to do sufficiently well enough to satisfy the rational human mind. In light of that, we have counted on our faith for millennia upon millennia. Although our religious mythologies defy reason, they inspire the soul, the heart and the boundless terrain of the human imagination.

We, as a species, have always pondered upon the nature of our existence. For some, that is to think deeply into the origin of ‘us’ as a species; for others, it is to discern what will be in the future. We are always aware that there is ‘a journey’ that is not only ‘mine’, but also encapsulates a far greater collective than what is fathomable by logic alone.

Myths, however, require a cultural context within which they are concretised. When our myths change, it seems that so do we. To say that myths are stories that do not express the truth would be false. Rather, they speak to the deepest and most vulnerable parts of the soul. By moving into a place of trust and truth, we finally begin to realise our truest and greatest power.