Myth, a traditional story that typically doesn't have an author. Myths are everywhere in our lives, and we often live by them whether we realize it or not.

"Our myths stay with us for life and grow up with us, fulfilling psychological needs at every stage of our development" (page 34). This quote is literally telling us that we use myth throughout our entire lives, and that myth even fulfills our developmental needs. We often are first introduced to myth at a very young age. Many of the childhood stories told are actually myth, and theories such as good versus bad fall into this category of myth as well. I would agree with this idea especially in the sense of good and bad. Our parents teach us at a very young age what we are supposed to believe is good and bad, and that concept usually sticks with us throughout our entire lives. Some people do eventually recognize fault in what they were told was good and what was bad, and create their own versions. But for the most part we usually live and adapt with what we were taught as a child.

"Myths are not necessarily untrue. They are stories containing beliefs and character types that remain with us for life and drive many of our ideas, our hopes, and our dreams" (page 35). This quote while similar to the last, goes into more detail about how myths drive our lives. While myths might not be factual, I would believe the text when it says that they are not untrue. We take myths and interpret them in our own ways. Whichever way we do each choose to interpret them, is what we carry with us through our lives. This aspect sort of goes along with religion, which the text does speak on a little bit. Once we associate ourselves with a religion, we use those beliefs, or as the text calls them, myths, to shape our lives. We often do not call our religious beliefs myths but rather put our faith into believing that they are true and real, and then use them to create a framework for our lives. The people who choose not to believe in religion might buy into the idea of it being myth, but personally as a religious person, I do not care whether other people find my religion to be real or myth. That may just be the way I think personally but in my opinion if it's something you believe in, you're going to believe in it whether other people agree with it or not.

"All to often, however, we prefer to identify with the publicized deeds of celebrities and downplay the importance of our own achievements" (page 39). This quote is especially prevalent with the rise of social media in today's time. I do not think that it is always necessarily a bad thing, but that depends on each case. I think that it is good for people to have someone to look up to, as long as it is in a healthy manner. I personally grew up cheerleading, and a lot of the girls would look up to more famous athletes for the wrong reasons, for example body image. I do however think that if you are able to healthily look up to someone and still give yourself credit for your achievements then there is nothing wrong with that. So while I do find the quote generally true, I do not think that just because we idolize other people, such as celebrities, that we do not acknowledge the importance of our achievements. If anything achieving a goal you set for yourself led by celebrity example should be more of an accomplishment. Obviously again only if it was a healthy goal. 

One thing I do not necessarily agree with from this quote is the choice of wording, saying we identify with the deeds. I do not think that any of us want to identify with conforming to a societal norm, it is just sort of something we do. Sure there might be people that do go out of their way to do that, but I think that the world we live in now, most of us do it unconsciously. 

Janaro, R. P., & Altshuler, T. C. (2017). The Art of Being Human: The humanities as a technique for living (11th ed.). Pearson.