Are Myths Valuable?

[Acrobat]

Most of us know that spiders did not originate from a bitter Athena after she lost a weaving contest. We know that the sun is a massive ball of fusing hydrogen, not the flaming wheel of a celestial chariot. Myths are (by definition) false. But do myths have truth value?

Of course, there are tons of stories, yarns, and fables out there. Many of them say something true or valuable. I'm not asking the question "at that level"... I mean something more like C.G. Jung meant. Jung thought that by examining ancient myths, one may find profound truths concerning the "inner reality" of the human psyche. Do you agree with Jung here?

If you do, I think a good followup question is: is it to modern humanity's detriment that it no longer creates mythologies?

I'm not being overly serious here. This is just a "food for thought" thread. I'd like to hear people's takes on the issue (or "non-issue" as I suspect some will take it to be). Science has wisened us so much that we have outgrown the ancient custom of inventing gods. But, though it's a piss poor way to explain natural phenomena, a little part of me thinks that inventing gods might be a worthwhile activity-- if anything just as a creative exercise, that we might through these created gods speak the ineffable.

I'd say myths are not valuable in the way scientific accounts are valuable. But they are valuable in the way that the genre they most resemble, like novels, stories, poetry, art are valuable. 

They are not as concerned with the way things are, as they are with the way things out to be. They're less concerned with objective facts of reality, and more concerned with being, how we live in this world of ours. Less interested in questions of finding ways to survive, and more interested in finding something to live for. 

They're more interested in what I pass on to my daughters, what values and meaning I instill in them, than whatever sort of scientific facts they acquire from school and elsewhere. 

If science is about means, myths, religions are about ends.

I think the fact that myths are so prevalent in human history, is suggestive of how indispensable they are. They won't disappear or diminish as time goes on, they'll just take on different forms.

I think there's a variety of beliefs some atheists operate on, that resemble myths, regardless if they are true or not, such as the view atheism is a matter of honesty and truth, and religion as delusions, and untruths. The view of disbelief as something worthy of being spread, encouraged endorsed, to rid ourselves of the stains of religion. The God Delusion, that End of Faith, the underlying motivations that are being peddled, the sort of heroic scientist, the idea of objective man, the removed observer, observing reality for what it truly is, are all parts of this mythology. It's not all the mere expressions of facts, but the selling of a story, a narrative however loosely formed it may be.