Quote: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.
Sorry that's wrong. I'm sure Ledo would back me up here.
The firmament of the heavens are composed of ice, diametrically opposed to the hellish fires below.
Fire below, ice above. Impulse & inhibiter, instinct & forethought, irrational & rational.
The Flood happens at the end of a cycle of creation, where the fire melts the ice. When Spring succeeds Winter and the dew melts. The resurgence of life after the lifeless dark age.
The flood is an important component of the cosmic myth. The Flood signals the end of one age of creation and the beginning of the new.
Quote: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.
That doesn't matter, the creators of the myths intended them to be read as allegories. And there are many myth-makers still alive today that will agree.
Quote:Priests ,who were highly trained,literate and who had access to sacred books probably held some different views.
There were no sacred books, the myths were never written down, they were orally transmitted from teacher to student. Priests originally only carried out adminstrative roles at temples, they had no instruction in myth.
The Pyramid texts were just that, initiatic instruction manuals written into the walls of the pyramids/sarcophagus. No priests would have even been allowed to enter the structure let alone study it's secrets.
Quote:In Australian aborigine belief, the creator spirit,the rainbow serpent is indeed literal.
What's you're evidence.
Quote: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)
Well, it would be the ascetics that create the myths, with an allegorical code, the middle of the road folks, priests, carry out adminstrative roles at temples, such as observance of rituals, social work etc., and the "fundies" as you call them, are people with too much work on their hands living in an age with little to no education system whatsoever.
We don't care about the fundies, it's like asking a member of the public to describe Mozart. They may have listened to his work, but have no understanding whatsoever of his art.
Priests only have second hand knowledge, it's the "mystics" that have access to the original sources, their minds.
Quote:LEDO Get over yourself. I was referring specifically to the ancient peoples which were being discussed.
That was me, Anto. Those "ancient peoples" still exist. And the initiatic knowldge has been passed down from generation to generation. Myth never changes because it is formed under the same circumstances using the same principal absolutes i.e. Earth, Water, Sky, Fire.
Indeed the reason why various cultures have a flood myth, and a sky god, and an earth god, and a fire god, and a certain character who first brought civilization to the culture; is because, "they're all singing from the same hymn sheet".
Quote:Addendum:"an allegorical belief system" also describes totemism.
So it would, your point being?
