RE: Food for thought
July 15, 2009 at 9:38 pm
(This post was last modified: July 15, 2009 at 9:49 pm by Oldandeasilyconfused.)
Quote:Myth is allegory by definition, and it isn't impossible to tell whatsoever.
First agree on a definition of myth. EG Try telling that to a Christian referrring to the gospels,which I consider myth,with little if any basis in fact.
Of course certainty is not possible. That's true of most historical study.However,it IS possible to work out what is likely. Many (not the majority) of myths probably have SOME basis fact.
Perhaps the most obvious examples are flood myths,which are found all over the world.There is little doubt they are stories of actual events. Major floods have always been among the most overwhelming and terrifying of natural catastrophes.It makes perfect sense,that seeing water to the horizon,observers assumed the entire world had been flooded.
My point about Egyptian religion is that it it's probable ( no one knows for sure) that MANY Egyptians believed their religion to be literal.Priests ,who were highly trained,literate and who had access to sacred books probably held some different views. A similar situation existed in Christendom until the printing press,translation of the bible into the vulgate,AND the emergence of universal literacy.
In Australian aborigine belief, the creator spirit,the rainbow serpent is indeed literal.
Most religions have what anthropologists call "the greater and lesser traditions" The idea is that there are different levels of knowledge and sophistication within most religions,ranging from the literalist ( here we call such people "fundies") to the middle of the road (say middle class Episcopalians) to the ascetic mystic.(various types of Yogi)
Quote:Long dead? This may come as a shock to you, but the barbarian Irish still exist, the native americans, north and south, still exist. Various African and Asian cultures still exist and still retain their polytheistic, allegorical belief systems.
LEDO Get over yourself. I was referring specifically to the ancient peoples which were being discussed.
Oh,my academic background is in Social Anthropology.Would you like a reading list of the cultures you've mentioned?
Addendum:"an allegorical belief system" also describes totemism. The word "allegorical" fits a European world view as we no longer have any equivalent, but is incomplete and misleading.
