The term myth has been wrongly used to mean folklore and legend. ADDIN ENRef Rosenberg (1997) differentiates among them in the following way. A myth is a sacred story from the past which is concerned with the powers who control the human world and the relationship between those powers and human beings. A folk tale is a story which is pure fiction and which does not have a particular time or space. It is usually a symbolic way of presenting the way human beings cope with the world where they live. A legend is a story from the past about a historical individual. These stories are concerned with people, places, and events in history.
Bierlein ( ADDIN ENRef 1994) describes myth as the earliest form of science. The purpose of mythology was to explain how the world was formed and how all came to be. However, myth also explains the essence of why all is, which is philosophy and religion. Both religion and science in partnership provide us with an explanation of the creation of the world. Religion and science promote a cosmic myth which allows an understanding of the universe as well as providing a method for finding meaning in life. Also, a myth is the first written record of the oral tradition based on prehistoric events. This places myth in the realm of history. Bierlein claims that it was and continues to be the basis of morality, governance, and identity. I, however, think this is not the case. My belief is supported by the apparently widely spread ignorance we have of such a rich human heritage of ancestral memories. I feel we have lost touch with their meanings. We have forgotten our human unconscious memory which once was universal in all cultures. Yet mythology is the basis of the understanding of our own existence. Bierlein makes some generalizations of what a myth is. He says that myths are universal among all human beings in all times; deal with events that happened before written history and foresee what is to come; describe realities that go beyond our senses and are what holds us together; are essential in all moral conduct and give meaning to life. As we can see, almost all realms are touched upon in this definition of myth.