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                        %INTEGRATIVE PERSONAL MYTHS 860326

     Myths are  personal stories invented by  and  shared,
within  a coherent community to help integrate its members
sense of who they are,  where they came from,  where  they
are  going,  and what the meaning and value of their lives
are.

   Since   myths  are  personal  stories  they   are   not
essentially objective in nature,  although they may relate
to  objective events and processes.   The power  of  myths
does  not  flow  from how objectively true  they  may  be.
Addicts   and  members  of  other  collusive   communities
participate  in  myths  which are  powerful  for  them  in
deceptive  ways  by including in their stories  statements
which  are  objectively  false,  yet are  personally  very
powerful in disintegrative ways,  as they hold the addicts
together   in   their  collusive  games  of  mutual   self
deception.

     By telling each other myths  participants  legitimize
their  experiences and perception.   If their myths do not
fly  in  the  face of true facts their  stories  may  play
genuinely   integrative   roles  in  creating   a  genuine
community whose unity flows from myths which have and give
integrity  to those whose faith is rooted in  their belief
in and telling of their mythic stories.

     Even  objectively  compulsive people  participate  in
myths;  myths regarding the value of objectivity.    Their
myths  are  personal  stories which are  invented  by  and
shared within their objectively coherent community to help
confirm  its members'  sense of who they are,  where  they
came from,  where they are going, and what the meaning and
the  value of their lives is.   Their myths do not  answer
objective  scientific questions.   Their myths respond  to
their need  for answers to personal questions in the forms
of stories which  help  them make sense of their  personal
lives.    Their  myths may or may not deal  honestly  with
objective facts in the process of empowering the objective
community.
                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
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