It defined a myth as something that people know isn’t true, but choose to believe it is, and act as if it is, because it’s beneficial to them or society.
But then some people forget that they’re only meant to be pretending it’s true and start to really believe it, and very quickly you’ve got religion.
I have watched a talk by Yuval Noah Harari, and read a few blog posts about his idea of “fictions”. I have not read the book so I stand to be corrected.
comments below are related to “fiction”. This is a foundation of his thesis.
The concept of “fiction” as described in the Talk(and book?) appears to have a long history, but called by different names.
I have traced some of this thinking to early 1900’s, which itself appears to based on work from the 1700’s, and maybe even further back. It seems to be a common idea made palatable for mass consumption.
"You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."
REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
"So we can believe the big ones?"
YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.
"They're not the same at all!"
YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.
"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—"
MY POINT EXACTLY.
Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
She tried to assemble her thoughts.
THERE IS A PLACE WHERE TWO GALAXIES HAVE BEEN COLLIDING FOR A MILLION YEARS, said Death, apropos of nothing.
DON’T TRY TO TELL ME THAT’S RIGHT.
“Yes, but people don’t think about that,” said Susan. “Somewhere there was a bed…”
CORRECT. STARS EXPLODE, WORLDS COLLIDE, THERE’S HARDLY ANYWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE WHERE HUMANS CAN LIVE WITHOUT BEING FROZEN OR FRIED, AND YET YOU BELIEVE THAT A…A BED IS A NORMAL THING. IT IS THE MOST AMAZING TALENT.
“Talent?”
OH, YES. A VERY SPECIAL KIND OF STUPIDITY. YOU THINK THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IS INSIDE YOUR HEADS.
“You make us sound mad,” said Susan. A nice warm bed…
NO. YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN’T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME? said Death”
Creating and inventing anything (societies, art, science, technology, relationships, whatever) obviously do require belief that they will work or are possible before they can be created.
But believing the earth was created in 7 days by a magical being will not make it so no matter how many people believe it.
Or illusions of free will, rationality, etc
But life would be pretty hard to live if you didn't believe in it just a little bit.
Similarly, many hardcore atheists have deep faith in the rationality of their beliefs and perception of reality.