By Alexander Perepechko
Published on July 4, 2012
How does myth work?
Philosophical foundations for the analysis of myth have been outlined by Henri-Louis Bergson and developed in behavioral science.
According to this approach, there are two different selves: ourselves and outside ourselves (Bergson, 1950). We are very concerned about what others think of us. We speak rather than think, and we are acted on rather than act ourselves. “Living” outside of ourselves in this way involves a perception of time as a quantitative measure of information observed and stored in memory (Ornstein, 1969). This is about chronological (clock) time. The duration of chronological time is indirectly constructed from the quantity of information stored in the memory. Clock time is used to measure and spread out events, states and intervals (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Time Frames for Myths, Utopias and Issues (Source: Generated by the author based on Bergson, 1950, Sorel, 1967 & Klein, 2009).
As modern people, we live for the external world (outside ourselves) most of the time. This is one reason why we are seldom free. We do not have much time for the deep introspection that would lead us to grasp our inner states as constantly becoming (Now1, Now2 and Now3 on figure 2). Acting freely requires retaining control of ourselves and deals with “pure duration”, a product of our subjective inner life (Bergson, 1950: 231-232; see also Augustin, 2002: 214-239). Our consciousness creates its own time frame. While chronological time is constructed from the quantity of information, and stored in the memory, the time of consciousness is about the quality of information and is located in the soul. We can think about the time of consciousness as the pulse of our souls. Everything we see, think and feel is measured using this time frame (Klein, 2009: 8, 102, 132-133). The time of our consciousness is a reality filled with sense perception and feelings (Proust, 1992). Our consciousness sweeps across time like a time machine. We journey to the past and future so fast that we do not notice the leap from the present (Now1) to the past (Now2) and future (Now3) (see figure 2).
One of the founding fathers of the Machiavellian school, Georges Sorel (1967: 48-53, 124-127), argues that these time mechanisms and emotions are the basis of social myths. When we make crucial decisions, we take ourselves back in thought to unique events in our personal lives or in the history of our people. In doing so, we break away from chronological time and the surrounding world and attempt to create a new individuality in ourselves. At such moments we are dominated by overwhelming emotions and our consciousness becomes creative. This means that we “travel” beyond clock time and mundane routine; we create an imaginary world placed ahead of the present world and composed of movements which depend entirely on us. An American independence myth became possible because the masses had been deeply moved by the image of a sovereign American state and belief in the glory of this country. Since mythmaking entails repetition (Giussani, 2012: 23), the independence myth gives rise to the American political tradition. In other words, the myth was created when certain movements of our souls (such as an emotional belief in “the glory of America” and “the Chosen American People”) had been “quantified” and “moved” from the time of consciousness to chronological time. We created the independence myth by turning a part of ourselves outside ourselves.
Like religion, a social myth occupies the most profound region of the mental life of Americans (Sorel, 1967: 50-52, 124-127). Myth cannot be refuted. It cannot be analyzed into parts because these parts are only relevant to the extent that they reveal the main idea. Myth is unaffected by criticism because it defines the convictions of a group. Reliable scientific methods to predict the future have not been developed. Hence the independence myth is very efficient in framing the future in some indeterminate time. This myth encompasses hope for the American Dream, which recurs to the mind with the insistence of instinct. By presenting this hope as an achievable reality, the myth provokes a determination to act in pursuing the American Dream. According to Sorel (1967: 125), myth can be seen as an easy, straightforward and comprehensible method by which elites can restructure the desires, passions and mentality of people.
How do rulers achieve this?
Elites accomplish this – and thus manage, control and manipulate the desires, passions and mentality of people – by superimposing utopias and campaign issues on myths and mixing these utopias and issues with myths (Figure 2). Unlike a myth, a utopia is an intellectual construct. It seeks to establish an ideal model to which an existing society can be compared in order to estimate the amount of good and evil it contains (Sorel, 1967: 50-51). Unlike a myth, a utopia is much less abstract. The utopia’s imaginary norms and institutions have analogies in the existing society and can be analyzed into parts. The utopia directs people’s minds toward non-systemic changes and reforms. Some parts of the utopia can be shaped such that they can be used by legislators, civil officials and administrators. Politicians use utopia based themes – campaign issues – in electoral battles (Figure 2). For many decades American elites have exploited justice and equality utopias to modify the existing system. Time and again people fail to see that these utopias are based on abstract criteria and thus are impossible to apply: what might be just and represent equality for one person might be unjust and represent inequality for another (Giussani, 2012: 19). This is why utopias have caused so much violence in the modern history of America. But as long as the independence myth survives, the refutation of liberal and socialist utopias by elites can produce no results. Myths safeguard utopias with which they are mixed.
The independence myth, founded on legends of the struggle against the Crown, preserves its value as long as these legends remain unshaken. At present, does the American ruling class want to preserve the foundation myth?
Augustine, St. (2002) The Confessions of St. Augustine. New York: Dover Publications.
Bergson, H. (1950) Time and Free Will. An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness. London: George Allen & Unwin, LTD. Available at http://archive.org/details/timeandfreewilla00berguoft
Giussani, L. (2012) At the Origin of the Christian Claim. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Klein, S. (2009) The Secret Pulse of Time. Making Sense of Life’s Scarcest Commodity. Cambridge: Da Capo Press.
Ornstein, R. (1969) On the Experience of Time. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Proust, M. (1992) In Search of Lost Time, Volume 1: Swann’s Way. New York: Random House.
Proust, M. (1992) In Search of Lost Time, Volume II: Within a Budding Grove. New York: Random House.
Sorel, G. (1967) Reflections on Violence. New York: Collier Books. Available in French at http://archive.org/stream/rflexionssurla00soreuoft#page/n7/mode/2up