mythical thought

is a form of thought setting one element against another in the tangible world: Sky and earth, earth and water, man and woman, light and darkness, raw and cooked, fresh and rotten..

But, while philosophic or scientific thought reasons by combining and opposing concepts, mythical thought proceeds by means of images drawn from the tangible world. Instead of formulating relationships in the abstract, it sets one element against another, sky and earth, earth and water, man and woman, light and darkness, raw and cooked, fresh and rotten. . . In this way mythical thought elaborates a logic of perceptible qualities which it chooses and combines in order to transmit a different message through each myth.

mythical thought, n.All

mythical thought