A Country Without A Mythology? PART I
by Mike Perschon - Copyright © Mike Perschon 1997
"Myth must be taken seriously as a cultural force. . ."
-David Bidney, "Myth, Symbolism & Truth"
    Canadian poet Douglas LePan published the poem A Country Without a Mythology in 1948, but to many Canadians, it still speaks to the religious state of our nation. Both of Reginald Bibby's studies on the situation of religion in Canada from a sociological viewpoint have shown that there is a downward trend in traditional institutionalized religion. (Bibby, 1987 & 1993) Many people today feel as 'the stranger' in the lines of the poem, wandering through a foreign landscape where there is no God:
     In a presentation given to the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States, Robertson Davies assented with the opening lines regarding "no monuments or landmarks" when he asked "where is the Canadian stereotype?" In this question Davies was asking for more than just a Bob & Doug MacKenzie satire of what it means to be truly Canadian. He was asking where is the 'myth,' or the 'life supporting illusion' of Canadian culture? (Davies, 1977, pp. 272 & 275)
     This essay will attempt to identify the problem at hand, or the apparent lack of religious self-knowledge in Canada, then define the areas of myth and ritual within this paper. As Canada is a multicultural nation, case studies from various beliefs will be reviewed, with particular attention to the major faiths represented in Canada: Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism. The main points of ritual discussed will be those which modern man still evidences; birth, puberty, marriage and death. The concept of whether or not Canada has an existing mythology will be discussed, in relation to the Canadian literature. The question these approaches will attempt to answer is this; is Canada a country without a mythology as LePan suggests?
THE PROBLEM
 "If you want to find out what it means to have a society without any rituals, read the New York Times. . . destructive and violent acts by young people who don't know how to behave in a civilized society."
-Joseph Campbell, "The Power of Myth"
     Chinua Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart, tells the story of the disintegration of the traditional life of the African Ibo society of Umuofia following the introduction of Western culture. The Ibo society, as the title suggests, falls apart as long-held traditions of ritual and myth are abandoned to make room for Imperial England's substitute of Christianity, a faith with new rituals and myths. Society needs ritual and myth; more importantly, it needs rituals and myths which are relevant to that society. "To say that ritual is needed in the industrialized world is an understatement." (Some, 1993, p. 35) Modern Canadian society is primarily devoid of a sense of national ritual and myth. Modern Canadians have turning away from long-held faiths and traditions within existing institutions since 1940, with few exceptions. (Bibby, 1993, p. 3) In general, modern society seems to be off-base, with no guidelines or sign posts to guide people through the maze of choices which affront them. "Anything goes" is the slogan of the average Canadian growing up in the past twenty years; a pluralistic nation, dubbed "mosaic" by some, Canada has it's arms open to any and all beliefs and practices. This pluralism, however encompassing it may be, has so far been unable to rectify any of the problems the Canadian nation, and others are facing in the modern technological age.
  "Our world reflects many of the classic symptoms of the wasteland kingdom: famine, environmental damage to the natural world, economic uncertainty, rampant injustice, personal despair and alienation, and the threat of war and annihilation. . . There is a profound disrespect for human beings in modern life. Business encourages us to think of ourselves as human capital. Advertising appeals to our fears and insecurities to try to get us to buy products we do not need. Too many religious institutions teach people to be good but do not help them know who they are. Too many psychologists see their job as helping people to learn to accommodate what is, not to take journeys and find out what they could be. Too many educational institutions train people to be cogs in the economic machine, rather than educating them about how to be fully human." (Pearson, 1991, pp. 2-4)  
    How important is the concept of myth and ritual to modern society; in this technological age, what significance do the customs and practice of religion and spirituality have for society? A pastor in Ontario remarked that while conducting funerals, he has found that people no longer know the Lord's prayer by memory; (Mainse, 1992, p. 60) what was once part of the opening moments of this author's elementary school morning ritual has been abandoned amidst the pluralism of the nation. Since the opening of this last decade, the country has seen many upsets; the Oka crisis, Quebec's ongoing bid for separation, an increasingly worse economic situation. Even more recently, the mass suicide of the members of the Order of the Solar Temple in Quebec have caused Canadians to evaluate "the decline of organized religion." (Harvey, 1997, p. A3)
  "Canadians are resentful, anxious, and cynical about their way of life. . . they are on the cusp of an enormous social change, struggling to accept their reduced prospects, grasping for new certainties and new dreams. . . there is the realization that past values may no longer be achievable in the future. But there is no replacement ethos. What comes through is borderline despair." (Mainse, 1992, p.87)  
     What is the reason for this upset? Why are Canadians, despite a smorgasbord of religious practices to choose from still unable to find some sense of inner peace? "We are as a largely urban race dislocated from our origins, and alienated from our natural rhythms." (Angwin, 1994. pp. 3-4.) Angwin has a strong point; modern man, specifically North Americans, have no sense of rhythm. Business is the top order in life. Our societies our built on money, efficiency and power. That the balance of life is off kilter is evidenced by the catalyst for the Oka crisis in the early 90's; the question of "whether to expand a golf course." (Mainse, 1992, p. 21) The sense of values have certainly shifted in a nation where Mark Twain once remarked, "One cannot stand on a street in Montreal and throw a brick without breaking a church window." Presently church attendance in Montreal is at 15%; hardly a correlation to Twain's observation at all. (Bibby, 1993, p. 3)
     Malidoma Patrice Some, a medicine man of the Dadara culture, relates that "where ritual is absent, the young ones are restless or violent, there are no real elders, and the grown-ups are bewildered. The future is dim." (1993, p. 28) In Canada, teen violence is on the rise. Yet there is no shortage of elders; in the author's hometown of Medicine Hat, the same thing Twain said of churches in Montreal could be said of retirement homes. The retreat of many elderly into enclosed, walled communes shows a lack of desire to have any impact on the next generation. In the middle are the boomers. Having abandoned their parents' traditions, they are swimmers in the pluralist ocean, hoping desperately to find some means to improve themselves and their children. The members of the Order of the Solar Temple who committed mass suicide recently were primarily middle aged. (Harvey, 1997, p. A3) Some's words seem to describe Canada aptly.
     Modern man has sought to remove God from the equation of life while bowing down to the religion of science and what is deemed "fact." It is one of the things which sets the modern society apart from traditional.
  "It has often been said that one of the characteristics of the modern world is the disappearance of any meaningful rites of initiation. . . Modern man's originality, his newness in comparison with traditional societies, lies precisely in his determination to regard himself as a purely historical being, in his wish to live in a basically desacralized cosmos. . ." (Eliade, 958, p. ix.)  
     Despite modern man's attempts to "desacralize" his surroundings, the spiritual continues to be a major influence and motivation in modern society. In Canada, the religion, astrology and New Age sections of most bookstores have grown significantly in the past few years. There is a spiritual renewal going on in society; a Toronto Star poll taken in the early 90's indicated that 80% of Canadians "believed in a personal God" and further, that this personal God answered prayer. (Mainse, 1992, p. 22) Almost every possible religion and spiritual movement has something available in major book retailers such as Smithbooks and Coles. Everything from the three branches of Christianity to New Age, Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism, and the list goes on. Once esoteric practices, divination and astrology kits are available to the average consumer, as are self help books on holistic healing, praying to angels, wicca and animism. Modern man would like to rely solely on science for answers, but when it comes to issues regarding the supernatural, the existence of God, and life after death, science has no definite answers. To compensate, Canadians are looking to supernatural means once again. Canada's present population show themselves to be concerned about supernatural issues, as seen in these statistics gathered by Reginald Bibby.
(Bibby, 1993, pp. 127 & 132)
     These figures show the number of people who are certain that they have no belief in the supernatural are definitely in the minority. The statistics also help to explain the recent upsurge in material relating to this subject matter, as well as the popularity of shows such as Millenium, and the X-Files. Canadian society may wish to believe it has all the answers, but it is readily apparent that Canadians actually don't. People in Canada know they're missing something and they're seeking to have it filled. However, much to the dismay of religious institutions, they aren't finding it in churches.
     As was stated earlier, a downward trend in committed attendance of religious institutions in Canada has been seen since 1940. At the same time some 85 % Canadians are extremely interested in answers to life's deeper questions, such as: How did we get here? What is the purpose of life? How can I be really happy? "Only about 15% to 20% indicate they have been able to lay these three questions to rest." (Bibby, 1993, p. 145) People in Canada are unable to remove themselves from the need which religion is supposed to provide for, and yet they refuse to seek the fulfillment of the need through conventional religious means.
     Bertrand Ouellet of Montreal's Information Center on New Religions observes that Canadians no longer have what one could define as "religious roots." (Harvey, 1997, p. A3) While the major faiths continue to have steady congregations, this is due more to generational growth within families as opposed to actual proselytism. But Oullet is not concerned with this pattern. His concern, is that attention be paid to the wealth of mythologies which have gone before us: ". . . if we neglect the great spiritual teachings of all mankind, we may be going into an impasse. Most spiritual masters have always been teachers of hope and of involvement in society." (Harvey, 1997, p. A3) The need is apparent: Canada needs religious belief, traditional or not, and it needs a means to carry out that belief.
PART II