Why are we here? How did we get here? What is the point to life and existence? Since developing the ability to reason, man has supported a constant effort to address these questions. The result of this outpouring of effort is what we call myth. Myths are about our common experience. They are not old museum pieces with little relevance, but rather a diary of the collective souls of men. In a society vacant of myth one might be lost as to how to answer questions like these. Myths possess universal qualities to which everyone can relate. Myths are a reflection of human nature; human nature is reflected in myth.
Carl Jung makes an argument for the idea of a collective unconscious; a subconscious set of thoughts, feelings and ideas that all people share. Jung states that the personal unconscious consists of the repressed feelings and thoughts developed during an individual's life while the collective unconscious is represented by inherited feelings, thoughts, and memories shared by all humanity. The collective unconscious according to Jung is made up of what he called archetypes, or primordial images. These correspond to such experiences as confronting death or choosing a mate and manifest themselves symbolically in religions and myths.
Myths such as The Romance of Tristan and Iseult and The Mwindo Epic share common aspects of what is described as hero myths. Attributes both stories share allude also to the idea of a collective unconscious. Both myths have a hero of mysterious, or ignoble birth, who is raised not by their biological parents. Tristan is taken in by one of his fathers men, and raised as a noble. Mwindo, the son of a king, is shunned from birth by his father and so is raised by another mother figure. Both heroes embark on a journey to discover themselves; to become men and leaders. Both men also have at least one flaw; which leads them astray at some point in their journey. Mwindo is wrathful in his journey and destroys villages of innocent people.
