Myth as Construal, Part 4: Myth as Collective Method

Having explored myths, archetypes, and their evolution, we now see how myth functions as a method of collective construal. Myths are not merely stories or cultural artefacts; they are architectures that shape relational possibility at scale.

Myth as collective method

• Myths organise symbolic potential across communities, guiding perception, interpretation, and action.

• They embed relational patterns that allow collectives to align construals across time and space.

• By doing so, myths serve as tools for social coordination, making possible actions and futures more intelligible and actionable.

Linking back to theory and method

• Series 1: From Meaning to Matter showed the relational ontology that underlies all construal.

• Series 2: Ontologies in Action illustrated how this ontology plays out in ethics, science, and social formation.

• Series 3: Reflexivity of Method made explicit the methodological moves — cuts, potential/instance, and reflexivity — that allow us to navigate reality relationally.

• Series 4: Myth as Construal shows how symbolic systems are themselves methods instantiated at the collective level, extending the relational logic of ontology and method into culture and imagination.

Myths as living, evolving architectures

Myths are never fixed. They adapt, integrate new possibilities, and preserve relational alignment across generations. They are a handbook for collective action, a repository of potential actualised through social practice. In this sense, myths are both guides and participants in the evolution of possibility.

Implications for relational thinking

• Myth highlights how symbolic, social, and cultural dimensions of reality are inseparable from relational ontology.

• By seeing myths as methods, we can trace how knowledge, values, and meaning emerge and propagate in collective life.

• This completes the conceptual arc: from theory, to practice, to reflexive method, to symbolic architecture — showing how relational thinking operates from the micro to the macro, from individual construals to collective imagination.

With this, the Myth as Construal series concludes. Together with the previous three series, it provides a cohesive, scalable, and reflexive framework for understanding reality, method, and symbolic possibility through the lens of relational ontology.