Storytellers are Good Liars

My experience creating my myth was interesting because of the steps that led up to its creation. First, we were assigned the development of a website in which I personally took the opportunity to choose my topic. I decided to pick something funny to explain something, which was meant to explore the etymology of the word “therapist”. Then we were assigned our myth presentation in which the research I conducted on my chapter (creation myths) gave me a much more thorough understanding of the fundamental basis of mythology and the sheer creativity involved in establishing myths. It was at this point that I realized that my topic would not be as fun or creative as I was hoping, so I scrapped the entire premise that I had originally planned for my myth.

At this point, I really felt lost as to how I would approach my myth topic. I’ve never been the creative type, but I noticed that when I am inspired enough, I can come up with some very unique and creative material. So I decided that I would take a backwards approach to coming up with my topic. Instead of googling “life’s unanswered questions” and then trying to answer that question, I decided to look at strange superstitions and work backwards to explain them.

After reading the guidelines for our myth website, I focused on trying to make my myth as pervasive as possible and the notion of “luck” came to mind. Most people believe in luck but no one really understands it. Everyone has their theories to acquiring luck, whether by playing the odds or by doing strange things like throwing salt over their shoulders or carrying bananas on their fishing boats.

It was by this epiphany that I really understood how myths have been around for so long and are so popular today. Everyone has questions that don’t have simple answers, but people love stories that teach them things even when the lesson isn’t based on fact.

As far as what I could teach based on what I learned from creating my own myth, if I end up teaching mythology, I will stress the fact that the best storytellers are the most interesting liars. Anyone can convince even the smartest or least gullible person anything as long as they are creative and interesting storytellers.