For what are myths if not the imposing of order on phenomena that do not possess order in themselves? And all myths, however they differ from philosophical systems and scientific theories, share this with them, that they negate the principle of randomness in the world.
Interpretation
Myths help create a sense of order in a chaotic world by providing explanations that counter randomness.
In this quote, Stanislaw Lem suggests that myths serve a vital role in human understanding by imposing a structure and meaning on the chaotic and unordered aspects of reality. Unlike scientific theories or philosophical frameworks, myths offer narratives that make sense of randomness, allowing people to find coherence and purpose amidst the complexities of existence.
In practice
In a lecture on the significance of storytelling, this quote can be used to highlight how narratives help us navigate uncertainty.
The only writers who have any peace are the ones who don't write. And there are some like that. They wallow in a sea of possibilities. To express a thought, you first have to limit it, and that means kill it. Every word I speak robs me of a thousand others, and every line I write means giving up another.
We didn't know each other well. I never had the time. Now I see that it doesn't make any difference. The ones who hurry and the ones who take their time all end up in the same place. Just don't have any regrets. No regrets.
Cripple God, who always desires more than he's able to have, and doesn't always realize this to begin with. Who has built clocks, but not the time that they measure. Has built systems or mechanisms that serve particular purposes, but they too have outgrown these purposes and betrayed them. And has created an infinity that, from being the measure of the power he was supposed to have, turned into the measure of his boundless failure.
We have no need of other worlds. We need mirrors. We don't know what to do with other worlds. A single world, our own, suffices us; but we can't accept it for what it is.
No one reads; if someone does read, he doesn't understand; if he understands, he immediately forgets.
A writer should not run around with a mirror for his countrymen; he should tell his society and his times things no one ever thought before.
Ten truths must you find during the day; otherwise will you seek truth during the night, and your soul will have been hungry.
I many no longer depend on pleasant impulses to bring me before the Lord. I must rather response to principles I know to be right, whether I feel them to be enjoyable or not.
States organized for war will make war as surely as hens will lay eggs.
It's always easier for people to face backward than to face forward.
Being, belief and reason are pure relations, which cannot be dealt with absolutely, and are not things but pure scholastic concepts, signs for understanding, not for worshipping, aids to awaken our attention, not to fetter it.
Others indeed may talk, and write, and fight about liberty, and make an outward pretence to it but the free-thinker alone is truly free.
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