In contemporary society, many myths exist that serve the primary purpose of providing motivation and giving meaning to individuals' lives. In this article, we will consider one such myth: the allure of mystery.
Opium of the people?
When we say that in contemporary society there is a strong tendency to mythologize things, events, people, and social phenomena, we mean that many things, people, and social phenomena become the object of true idolatry on the part of contemporary men. In a nutshell, we can say that the process of mythologizing determines an exaggerated increase in everything that undergoes this process. It causes individuals to lose the ability to critically, objectively, and rationally evaluate the true value of everything that is mythologized. Mythologizing can be considered the opium of contemporary men.
To put it another way, contemporary society experiences a veritable "hunger for myths," often a direct consequence of the crisis of the great values that once gave meaning to individuals' lives and also provided the motivation to perform praiseworthy actions. Often, the process of mythologizing is a way to compensate for personal frustrations and failures, as individuals are dissatisfied with their achievements and feel a strong need to mythologize something or someone.
The allure of mystery in the contemporary world.
Although science and technology have reached unprecedented levels in human history, mystery holds a profound fascination for contemporary humanity. We can say that rationality and irrationality coexist without conflict in many modern individuals who disregard the principle of non-contradiction. Some sociologists believe that this interest in the world of mystery should be considered a sign of the crisis of rationality. We absolutely disagree with the idea that the return of the fascination with mystery is a sign of the crisis of science, which is the most perfect form of knowledge attainable by humanity on earth.
All those who criticize science should keep in mind that in the 1930s, the average lifespan was forty-nine years, while today it reaches eighty-five. Naturally, we shouldn't expect science to do impossible things, such as answering the questions: Does God exist? Is there life after death? Indeed, answering these questions presupposes metaphysical knowledge beyond human cognitive capacity. In our opinion, the mythologizing of the allure of mystery isn't a sign of a crisis in science, but rather a desire to explore the supernatural dimension using criteria and methods different from those proposed by the Catholic religion, which are based on faith.
Neopaganism
These criteria arose from the new Gnostic and neo-pagan religiosity typical of the New Age, Wicca, and new magical-religious movements. As everyone knows, today we are witnessing the grand return of a multifaceted neo-paganism that is making its influence felt in all areas of social life. In short, the allure of mystery stems at least in part from the fact that many individuals reject the methods proposed by the Catholic religion for engaging with the supernatural (faith, prayer, asceticism) and engage in ways of relating to the supernatural condemned by the Catholic religion.
For example, many individuals resort to magical practices, spiritualism, Satanism, the invocation of members of the "little people," as well as the worship of pagan deities such as Gaia and the Great Mother. No one now doubts that the Western world has seen a great resurgence of paganism, which has led to a profound crisis in the Catholic religion. Furthermore, there is a mythologizing of the allure of mystery, based on the belief that the human mind possesses divine powers that allow it to ignore the laws of nature and alter the events of individuals' lives (just think of the so-called "positive thinking" typical of the New Age worldview).
Study of Mysteries
Many people are strongly drawn to the study of the mysteries surrounding the divine motives of the human mind because, since the time of the Garden of Eden, man has dreamed of becoming like God and possessing divine powers (see Original Sin). Furthermore, all those mysteries connected to past civilizations hold a strong fascination for men, even though some of these civilizations are often subjected to processes of idealization, resulting in a veritable idolatry that ignores historical reality.
To give an example, we'll cite the idolatry that Aquarians and Wiccans display toward Celtic civilization and religion. Thus, there are countless mysteries that attract contemporary men. In this regard, Berlitz states that we are witnessing a flourishing of occult novels, essays on ancient civilizations, the continent of Atlantis, and space archaeology. Added to these are the mysteries surrounding initiatory religions, ancient sciences, and paranormal phenomena. Thus, there exists a diverse map of supernatural events that characterize contemporary society.
Without data
However, it must be said that the unsupported assertions and theories disseminated by individuals who publish books on these mysterious events contribute to the mythologizing of a certain number of mysteries. They pass off as facts and sensational discoveries what are nothing more than simple personal opinions, supported at most by mere clues. Another cause of the mythologizing of a certain number of mysteries lies in the fact that almost all the people who read the books of these authors lack the scientific and historical knowledge to express an objective assessment of the real value of these theories.
We cannot here explore sociological and psychosocial considerations on all the major mysteries that fascinate contemporary man, as this would require an entire book on the subject, not just a simple article. Therefore, we will limit ourselves to offering some sociological and psychosocial considerations on the mystery of Atlantis, the supposedly lost continent that sank into the Atlantic Ocean approximately ten thousand years ago.
Atlantis
In this article, we will examine the philosophical, sociological, and historical-religious significance of the mystery of Atlantis. The existence of Atlantis is supported by Plato , who describes the lost continent in two dialogues, but most scholars believe that the description of Atlantis is one of the many myths present in Plato's works and not a historical fact. We cannot make philosophical considerations here on the importance of myths in Platonic thought, but we can say that it is very likely that Plato used the story of Atlantis not to support the historical existence of the supposed continent, but for other purposes, as was the case with other Platonic myths.
That said, we will try to highlight the psychosocial consequences that would result from proving the existence of Atlantis. Indeed, such a demonstration would have a profound psychological and sociological impact on both the scientific community and the general public, as it would undermine the linear conception of history, one of the cornerstones of the Western world's social perception of reality. As all sociologists know, changing the social perception of reality means radically changing the social universe.
Nostalgia for the origins
The linear conception of time and history is based on the assumption that modern society is one in which the greatest degree of scientific and technological progress has been achieved in all of human history. If it were proven that Atlantis had achieved a remarkable level of scientific development before its destruction, the cornerstones of the worldview would be called into question , and we would experience what sociologists call culture shock.
From the perspective of the history of religions, the great interest in the mystery of Atlantis in the contemporary world can be considered a modern form of what historians of religion call "nostalgia for origins ." This nostalgia is present at both conscious and unconscious levels in human souls. It harks back to a distant past in which there existed what historians of religion call the "Golden Age," an age of peace, prosperity, and abundance. Indeed, Plato defined Atlantis as the "age of the gods," in which the continent's inhabitants lived in a kind of earthly paradise.
Finally ...
For many, Atlantis is the cradle of civilization and the human race, which is why they associate it with what religious historians call "origin myths" or "foundation myths," which refer to events that occurred at the dawn of human history. These events are said to have had an irreversible impact on humanity.
Giovanni Pellegrino and Mariangela Mangieri
Bibliography
R. Baschera, 2000 in the year of our Lord, Mondadori, Milan, 1989;
C. Berlitz, Atlantis, Mediterranean Editions, Rome, 1998;
M. Corvaia, The Prophecies of Nostradamus, De Vecchi Editore, Milan, 1982;
K.Lowith, The Meaning and End of History, Il Saggiatore, Milan, 1991;
G.Pellegrino, Neopaganism in modern society, Edisud, 2000;
G.Pellegrino, The Return of Astrology, New Grafic Service, Salerno, 2004;
G. Pellegrino, A sociological reading of contemporary reality, New Grafic Service, Salerno, 2003;
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