From Archaic to Modern (Political) Myth: The Causes, Functions and Consequences
From Archaic to Modern (Political) Myth: The Causes, Functions and Consequences

Summary/Abstract: Due to its comprehensive but also creative character, myth was the dominant form of man's spirituality from early cultures, from which later on at least three basic spiritual human activities were derived: religion, philosophy (science) and art. Mythology tries to discard inexplicable and unsolvable issues, but cannot be reduced to satisfying the curiosity of either archaic or modern man. Mythical thinking is adequate in any creative situation (Eliade), while its crucial social function is in harmonizing the community, which prevents the state of chaos, doubt and pessimism. According to its nature, myth is deeply social, which is in particular visible in the political myth whose primary role is to stabilize and spiritually unite a political community. Myth is indestructible, since every authority uses both myths and symbols as constitutive parts of the capacity of governing a society. Moreover, myth can serve to progressive or regressive politics, where the latter comes from its primarily irrational and practical character. Therefore, in facing its own mythologized past, any democratic system, including that of Serbia, has to make a certain selection among its myths by discarding the nationalist mythology, in addition to the affirmation of those myths that symbolically found the, still feeble, Serbian democracy.

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