Marilyn Bridges Shares a Bird's-Eye View of Sacred Landscapes in Beautiful B+W Photography

 

Markings: Aerial Views of Sacred Landscapes – Marilyn Bridges (1986)

            What a gorgeous photography book!  The “Library Angels” were kind once again, guiding this amazing book into my hands.  Reader of the Book Journey will note my long-standing interest in ancient megaliths, earthworks, and the civilizations that created them.  Marilyn Bridges, an outstanding photographer, took it upon herself to take to the skies over Peru in the 1970’s to better experience the “Nazca Lines” her indigenous guides described.  The sense of awe engendered by what she saw led her to seek more opportunities to fly and photograph the ancient works of humanity.  Facing her fears, Marilyn Bridges learned to fly small airplanes, allowing her to dictate exactly how she would photograph the overwhelmingly complex lines, images, and ruins left behind by our ancestors.

            In the classic documentarian style of photography, Bridges utilizes stark black and white film, all shot from far above, to showcase the ruins and burial sites better seen from the sky.  This is the “view of the gods” as she describes it.  Her impeccable eye for detail, lighting, framing, and composition make each single image a work of art, regardless of the subject matter. 

            This book begins with an informative and poetic preface by one Haven O’More, detailing  Marilyn Bridge’s methods and the magic she creates.  O’More describes to us to the four sections of this book, each with an engrossing introduction.  The first section details Bridges’ photography of the famous Nazca lines and geoglyphs, some of the first images to draw the attention of the world at large to perhaps the most mysterious and massive earthworks and drawings ever created by our human species.  The stark images perfectly capture the inherent emptiness of the Nazca landscape, contrasted by the almost overwhelming amount of lines and drawings and shapes left behind by the creators, a people we call “Nazca” but of whom we know almost nothing, not even the name they chose to call themselves.   They communicate with us and for all time through their artworks.

            The second section of this book explores the remnants of the greatest non-European, non-Asian, non-African civilization in our human history, the Mayan Empire of Central America, which the book states encompasses “…what is now Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras, El Salvador, and the southern Mexican states of Yucatan, Campeche, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, and eastern Chiapas.”  Going back to 2,000 BCE, and existing until around 900 CE, the Maya culture flourished in the middle of some of the harshest tropical forest climates around.  In the 1840’s, a traveler and writer named John Lloyd Stephens explored the area and his two seminal books were integral in bringing the knowledge of the Maya empire to the wider world.  Marilyn Bridges’ photographs capture both excavated buildings and cities and completely overgrown pyramids and temples alike, lending the images an otherworldly quality, as if the jungle was erasing our human history, which it most certainly does cover up!  The Mayan language, the only complete written language ever created in the New World, is still nearly indecipherable.  Because of this, and because the fucking ignorant and psychopathic religious fervor of Spanish Roman Catholic priests “forced” them to burn every Maya text they found, much of Maya culture remains decipherable solely through their earthworks and architecture.  Such a pity.  I firmly believe the world would be a far better place today if every single Bible in existence had been burned up around 400 CE, but I digress.

            The third section details the many prehistoric geoglyphs and burial mounds found throughout North America.  From 500-year old figures carved out of the Mojave desert in California, to the ceremonial centers of the Mississippian people, to the effigy mounds of the Adena people who lived in what is now Ohio between 1000 BCE and 30 BCE, North America is littered with evidence of ancient culture and people, far removed from the lies told by white colonists of a barren, history-less landscape given to them by their white god.  What these ignorant assholes called “Indians” and “savages” were a people with culture, cities, agriculture, temples, burial sites, and an involved society.  Marilyn Bridges’ photographs help us remember this fact.

            The final section describes the truly ancient earthworks, henges, and artificial hills created by the ancient people of what is now England.  The most famous of these is Stonehenge, and rightfully so, but my favorite is the Cerne Abbas Giant, a figure created by removing the sod and topsoil above a chalk hill in Dorset.  A 180 foot tall figure, with a massive 30 foot long erect dong, represents either the Celtic god Helith, or his Roman counterpart Hercules.  Either way, the dude is an obvious ass-kicker with his massive war-club held high overhead.  Not discussed much is the fact that in England exists a human built earth pyramid rivaling the size of the pyramids in Egypt, but created maybe one thousand years before.  INSANE!  Silbury Hill , as it is called, was first constructed around 2500 BCE and remains the largest man-made hill in all of Europe.  Our ancestors were mighty, inventive, intelligent bad-asses of the highest caliber!

            Books like this fill me with awe, with a feeling of overwhelming unity and love for my fellow man, and for all our ancestors trying to make sense of a seemingly random and violent world.  Humans understand pattern better than almost any other creature on Earth.  Because of this, through careful, extended observation, our ancient forebears realized that the seeming permanence of the night sky, along with the solar and lunar cycles, allowed us to experience the passage of time without fear, for we could predict when the rains would come, when an eclipse happened, when the winter solstice came, etc. In all parts of our world, different humans looked at the same skies and came up with the same realizations, creating calendars, observatories, and other tools to measure our world and the passage of time.  To know that this was mostly done by people with no means of writing, no alphabets or glyphs to record information, humbles me greatly.  We stand on the shoulders of every single human that came before us, and every human after us will stand on our shoulders.  This is a responsibility that most of us ignore.  I am deeply thankful our ancestors did not, and that people like Marilyn Bridges, through her insight and emotion, saw the importance of capturing these images and sharing them with the world at large.  I am eternally grateful, as we all should be.

(This amazing book can be purchased used here: https://www.abebooks.com/9780893814236/Marilyn-Bridges-Markings-Sacred-Landscapes-0893814237/plp )

Mircea Eliade Guides Us Through Humanity's Use of Initiations' Rites and Symbols

 

Rites and Symbols of Initiation: The Mysteries of Birth and Rebirth – Mircea Eliade (1958)

 

            Sometimes the smallest books can be the most gratifying and educational.  This slim, 136-page volume (not counting the large Notes and Index sections) is loaded with extra jelly. Translated from the original French by one Willard R. Trask, Mircea Eliade’s writing shines as it explores and compiles our knowledge of Initiations, and the various rites and symbols used by all of humanity for this purpose.  It is an amazing piece of writing by the man who was Chairman of the Department of the History of Religion at the University of Chicago.

            As Eliade differentiates at the start of this book, there are essentially two types of initiations.  Both seek to “kill” the previous version of the initiate, in order to rebuild, teach, and create a new human being. The most primordial type is the “puberty” initiation.  In this type of initiation, whether for a male or a female child, the purpose is to end the period of childhood, with its lack of responsibility and participation in adult society, and to “create” a full adult, capable of participating and perpetuating the sociocultural knowledge of the tribe.

            Male and female children are removed from their families for an extended period of time, ranging from several days to over a year in some tribes.  The earliest, simplest initiation rituals for boys consist of the separation from the mothers, whose children are then led away from the tribe by the shaman and elders.  The children are symbolically “buried” under branches and blankets, where they must sit and wait.  This is the time of symbolic death.  All around them, their male elders dance, ritualistically, and through the songs and dances teach the children what is happening.  They are experiencing a death, the death of their carefree childhoods.  They learn that in this death they are taken up to the abode of the gods, and private, secret knowledge is given to them.  This knowledge is what makes them new men in the eyes of their tribe, giving them a cosmology and reason for existence.  After a period of time, they are released from their “grave” and return to the world of their people, assuming the full role of an adult male in the tribe. Their mothers mourn them as if they truly died, for they no longer reside with their moms and aunts and cousins and sisters.  Instead, they now belong to the men of the tribe, until such a time as they themselves marry.  Most simple initiations function in this manner, with the exact details of the instruction and lessons given changing depending on the tribe.

            The more complex puberty initiations of men take on far more danger and pain.  There is the addition of deprivation, such as long days spent in the wild without clothing, or without fire or food.  There is the use of pain, or ritualistic surgeries, such as circumcision and scarification, or even the risk of death against animals or the elements themselves.  Whereas the simpler initiations explain the cosmology of the respective tribe involved, the more complex ones seek to recreate the cosmology, with the initiates taking the place of the initial hero who, through either the will of the gods or his own human intelligence, attains wisdom and knowledge equal to the gods and shares it with his fellow men.  These initiations help the men inculcate the new generation with the history and ancient truths of their tribe.  The young men who return from initiation are reborn as full humans, ready to participate in the world around them.

            The initiations of females differ from the initiations of males, both in method and purpose.  Females have a special clock which dictates their maturity, unlike men.  This clock being the initial start of menstruation.  Female initiations are even more secretive and esoteric than the male ones, for it was the ability of the females of any species to perpetuate life that provided humanity with its first taste of the infinite.  Women and their bodies were the initial symbols used to explain the world around us.  The world of women required a separate initiation. 

            The initiations of young women do not revolve around death and rebirth, but instead focus on attainment.  The onset of maturity is a time for celebration, and the young women are gathered together within a space reserved solely for females.  One of the greatest taboos in the world of tribal humans is that of a man entering the sacred spaces of a woman.  The punishments are severe and swift.  In many tribes, if a man interferes with the initiations of the women, the women have the right to kill that man in order to protect their secrets. 

            The young women are taught about their cosmology and how the universe/earth is a womb, producing the life seen all around.  They are taught to understand that the process of life is universal, which is evident after studying the animals and plants around them.  The initiates learn of their cosmic role in the process of life, and how to care for each other.  These initiations also helped bond all of the tribe’s women together, helping foster mutual altruism.  Women likely held the secret of biological procreation for centuries before males found out.

            One of the critical ideas that Eliade brings is that the rituals and symbols used during these initiations were not just mimics of the initial creation process, but were intended to manifest the sacred and allow the initiate to recreate the very events that created the world around them.  Each initiation is a recreation, literally, of the initial birth of our universe.

            The other type of initiation is that of the shaman.  There are three ways to become a shaman.  The first is when the elders or elder shamans choose an individual child (usually male, and the offspring of a shaman) to be taught and trained.  Another is when a child actively seeks to learn the ways and wisdom of the shamans, as if born to do so.  The third method is when the child’s mental state, attitude, and behavior is so erratic and bizarre that they are then pushed to shamanism so that they may learn to control their minds.  This last method is tribal human’s way of dealing with the mentally ill or unstable among them, allowing that person to have a place in their society, even if it is one removed from the day-to-day world of the tribe, such as the shaman’s.

            Most cultures keep their shaman separate.  They live in privation, do not take part in hunts, and rarely interact with the rest of the tribe.  The shaman’s life is spent fine-tuning their connection to the divine, whether through prayer, fasting, drug use, chanting, or any other such method.  It is this rigor which allows them to commune with the spirit world, detect malicious entities causing harm or illness among the tribe, see the far past and the far future, and travel out of their bodies to what mystics refer to as the Astral Plane.  The shaman is feared as much as he is needed.  Their respective initiation ceremonies shed light on this.

            Whereas in puberty initiations the initiate spiritually “dies” and is “reborn,” the shamanistic initiate is instead fully recreated.  The shamans speak of how, during their initiation, their skin, muscle, and sinew are stripped away, leaving just a skeleton, which their god then re-creates, adding new material until the shaman is reconstituted as a new type of being, one capable of existing in the profane, material world (symbolized by his keeping his initial skeleton), and in the supernatural divine world (symbolized by the new organs, muscle, and skin grafted onto him by the gods).  Once recast as a shaman, they climb the World Tree, the Axis Mundi, and have access to the upper worlds of the gods and the lower worlds of demons and spirits.  Shamanistic initiation is mentally traumatic, and some initiates do not make it back from their foray into the divine.  Recreating the mythical death and rebirth of their god’s/universe’s creation has that effect on some people.

            I found this book fascinating, and resonant to my previous readings on the topic.  By focusing solely on initiations, Mircea Eliade avoids discussions of theology, allowing the reader to think about initiations as a continuing human endeavor.  Eliade describes how, even after the advent of revelatory religion, and monotheism, initiations for other organizations/groups continued to use the framework described above, that of a symbolic death, and a rebirth into a new state of being, a more truly “human” state.  Anyone with knowledge of the Masonic initiations into their 3^rd degree will see the correlations.  Books such as this provide us with knowledge that expands our minds, and helps us understand that human consciousness is an ongoing process, constantly drawing from the deep wells of our past shared humanity, and providing deeper and richer meaning for our lives.

(This book can be downloaded and read here: https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.6032/page/n9/mode/2up )

Hermann Kern Takes us Into, and Brings us Back Out of, the Labyrinth

 

Through the Labyrinth: Designs and Meanings Over 5,000 Years – Hermann Kern (1982)

A fascination with the story of Daedalus and his ill-fated son Icarus began early after reading a book on the Greek myths, likely found at the local library (Alief Public Libraries for the WIN!). The idea of a genius engineer forced to create a labyrinth in which to imprison King Minos’ step-son, and the story of what befell him and his son as they tried to escape, struck a nerve. As a youth, the simple lesson that a child must pay heed to his elders, especially his parents, when it comes to dangerous matters of life and death, was what drew attention. This was Icarus’ folly, that of a young man too carefree when he should be careful. It resulted in Daedalus’ tragic loss of his son, all because Icarus did not pay attention.

As an adult, reading more and more on the Greek myths, and about the idea of the labyrinth, the focus turned to the labyrinth itself. An understanding of it as allegory grew. My employment now affords the great pleasure of wandering through labyrinthine shelves (see what I did there?), each stocked with all manner of art books. Upon one of these meanderings this large book called out to me. It may be an innate skill, or perhaps the oft-rumored Library Angels really do exist, but sometimes an amazing tome will just fall in my lap. Such was the case with this book, Hermann Kern’s exhaustive, immersive, and deeply informational masterwork on labyrinths worldwide. It is packed with thousands of illustrations and photographs, and translated into English from the original German. Exceedingly awesome.

 As Hermann Kern carefully explains, over thousands of years the ancient symbol/idea of a labyrinth morphed and degraded into our currently accepted meaning, that of an intricate maze, with endless dead-ends, false passageways, and walls meant to disorient anyone inside. This idea is a disservice to the labyrinth, making it seem more of a trap, or a tool for torture and subjugation, which is evident by the time Plutarch wrote of his story of King Minos and the Minotaur. The original idea of a labyrinth was not a maze of dead ends, but a long, winding, singular path to a center. To exit a labyrinth, one must retrace their steps back through the entire thing. There are no shortcuts, and the journey in and out is where meaning is found. Labyrinths may be one of the oldest meditative tools created by humans.

Mr. Kern starts with, and reiterates throughout, the essential feature of a Labyrinth as opposed to a maze or spiral. As stated above, a labyrinth is a single path, convoluted and winding, leading to a central area within it. This is the center of the labyrinth. Once at the center, there is nothing to do but turn around and retrace your steps back through until you reach the initial entrance. This differs greatly from mazes, which may or may not have centers, and which feature countless wrong turns, dead-ends, and misleading paths. One can get lost in a maze. One cannot get lost in a labyrinth. It is this specific trait that makes the labyrinth so useful as a tool of introspection, initiation, and ritual.

The origins of the labyrinth are lost to time. What is known, and what Mr. Kern describes so well, is that the initial labyrinth was of a very specific form, what is now referred to as a Cretan Labyrinth. This very specific shape, carved in stone, has been found in many places, but is associated with Crete due to the Greek Myth discussed above. A critical aspect of the labyrinth, and its use, is called the “Thread of Ariadne.”  The Greek myth tells of how the hero Theseus entered the labyrinth, faced and killed the dreaded Minotaur, and escaped with his life. He did so by using a fine thread given to him by the Cretan princess Ariadne, which he unspooled as he entered the labyrinth and which he spooled back up as he found his way out of the labyrinth. The Greek myth tells of how Theseus then rescued Ariadne and took her away from Crete. This is a retcon of a sort, as the initial “thread” of Ariadne was simply the path taken by the labyrinth itself. Many of the oldest labyrinth images show a red line, the symbolic thread, coursing its way through the bends and twists until it arrives at the center. As a true labyrinth has no dead-ends, or meanders, there is no need for a literal thread, as told in the story of Theseus.

In the shamanic/mystical sense, the thread of Ariadne is the same thread woven by the fates when a human is born. This thread tells the story of one’s life, which lasts just as long as the Fates allow, one of them tasked with cutting off the thread marking our point of death in this world. In a labyrinth, this thread of life symbolizes the return to the womb, to the primordial beginnings, and then the return trip back to our experiential world. To walk into a labyrinth is to retrace your steps back to your creation, and to leave the labyrinth is to be re-born. The human exiting the labyrinth is not the same human that entered it. This is a deep philosophical point made visible and interactive by means of the labyrinth, which is why many of the old sanctuaries and cathedrals of Europe contain labyrinths inside. They wanted the parishioners to reflect on the journey to Christ and the rebirth afterwards, as they walked the path of the labyrinth to the center (Jesus) and back.

Apart from their mystery, meaning, and use, labyrinths themselves are just beautiful. Many of the great cathedrals contain exquisite labyrinths, tiled as perfectly as any Roman mosaic. Hermann Kern’s exhaustive search also includes many proto-labyrinth carvings whose creators are lost to us. It also includes images related to labyrinths, such as the cup and ring marks, or the many spirals, found throughout paleolithic locations. Kern differentiates between these seemingly related symbols and those of a true labyrinth, providing details and historical context for everything. Because of his rigor in collecting the data, this book has become the seminal resource for those seeking to study the history and purpose of these designs. I am very thankful that it was translated into English, and would love to find a copy of this magnificent reference work for my own personal library. Thank Mario that my workplace affords me access to such wonderful books. I have been fortunate to visit a couple of labyrinths located in my home of Houston, Texas, USA.  More will be sought and I will walk the Thread of Ariadne again.

C.F. Volney Shared the Truth With Us Over Two Centuries Ago

 

The Ruins: Or, Meditation on the Revolution of Empires and the Law of Nature – C.F. Volney (1890)

SUN RA Reading List

            Every once in a while I come across a book that not only explores specific topics I am very interested in, but whose author has already processed the information available and reached conclusions that mirror my very own, even if it is an author writing almost a century before I was born.  I love the magic of literature!  Such is the case with Constantin-Francois Chassebeuf De Volney’s The Ruins, a dense and insightful work.

            Count Volney was a lifelong learner, seeking to find the truth.  He spent his youth learning classic languages, reading, and studying.  Once he entered adulthood, he learned Arabic and proceeded to travel to the parts of the world which, at the time, were forgotten and ignored.  He gazed upon the ancient marvels, mostly covered by desert sands, and thought hard about the cultures and people that created such wonders.  It led him to insights that are as valuable today as ever.

            Volney’s journey began in the Ottoman Empire, through areas that are now Syria and Egypt.  Everywhere he went he saw desolation, ruin, and human suffering.  He noted people living barely better than ancient tribal man did.  Upon exploring the ancient sepulchers of Egypt, a revelation occurred, and he asked himself questions that led to the creation of this work. 

“How has so much glory been eclipsed?” 

“How have so many labors been annihilated?”

            Volney asked himself how the works of man perish, empires vanish, and cultures and empires become lost into the mists of time.  Every ancient kingdom and culture he had studied was gone, with many of them forgotten by the world at large.  One large thought that occurred to him, living in the time of Christian nations, was that every one of these ancient and magnificent empires were peopled with what his contemporaries would describe as heretics, infidels, heathens of the worst type.  None of them followed the tenets of Christianity, yet their splendor outshone modern Christian nations.  It made little sense to him that, in the same lands that heathens created high culture and architecture, modern Muslims, Christians and Hebrews barely eked a subsistence. 

            Volney then spends time remembering his France, and Europe, which at the time considered themselves the heights of culture and sophistication.  He remembered the beauty of Parisian streets, and then thought about the far future, where the wonders of his age would be but dust-filled ruins, and all the beauty would be lost forever.  This is a sobering thought, and something that most people never consider.  Most people live their lives as if the present world will remain unchanging for all time, and are then shocked when the changes come.

            The bulk of The Ruins proceeds like a conversation between Volney himself, and an apparition that speaks to him, which Volney calls the Genius, as he gazes on the destroyed temples and buildings of ancient cultures.  This Genius hears Volney’s anguish about humanity’s past and proceeds to explain exactly how man has fallen low and the reasons why.   The Genius patiently explains the ancient history of humanity, the rise from base animal nature to consciousness.   He talks about how humanity first understood the world, Nature, as a thing external to himself.  He then proceeds to detail how this leads to every single theological idea we are all still fighting and killing each other over.

            Each chapter title describes the contents therein, such as The Primitive State of Man, The Sources of Evil in Society, The Origin of Government and Laws, The General Causes of the Revolutions and Ruins of Ancient States, to The Lessons of Times Past Repeated on The Present.  These topics are explored as the Genius describes the development of humanity.

            The second half of The Ruins is even more mind-blowing, as the Genius lifts Volney up and away, to heights where he can see the whole Earth both past and future.  He describes the various religious groups and sects gathering from all the world to listen to the Genius.  The Genius proceeds to question each group as to their beliefs.  It points out the many ways that the core beliefs of each religion get quickly buried under dogma, priesthoods, and the endless bickering of mortal man.  Each religion ends up in actuality directly opposite of the tenets they claim to preach.  One example, which applies to most religions, is this – God is unknowable, and all encompassing.  Instead of acting upon this Truth, every single Religion constantly seeks to tell their followers exactly what “god” is thinking, what “god” likes, what “god” does not like, etc., all in an effort to control the people.  They seek to diminish their “all-knowing” god with every proclamation and decree of dogma their followers must subscribe to, or else the “god” will send them to hell for eternal punishment.

            After doing so, the Genius then starts to get to basics, asking how the humans determine truth, and how, most of their religious beliefs are not based on truth but on human extrapolation and assumptions, all leading down a path away from the actual truth.  The way that religions warp their initial truths is near universal, especially once a governing power sees how easily religion can be used to control the actions of the populace.  The initial, ancient human “religions” were nothing more than the then-current descriptions of the natural world around them, especially the heavens which were cyclical, and whose close study allowed early humans to understand the coming of the seasons, the path of our Sun through the sky, and the cycles that are created.  These ancient humans did not have telescopes or scientific instruments as we possess today, but their observations alone were invaluable.  These observations, written in the poetic language of their time, were then misinterpreted by later generations who read their symbolism and, like simple-mined folk everywhere, took them literally.  This section of The Ruins is perfect for a student of comparative religion like myself.

            One of the coolest anecdotes about The Ruins is that, as the original is in French, the English translation came from the hand of Thomas Jefferson, that eminent Freethinker and U.S.A. “Founding Father.”  He managed to translate around 4/5 of it, and it must have been truly a dangerous proposition to do so.  In the late 1700’s the Roman Catholic Church still controlled much of the western world’s religious ideas, and to have this book available in English must have been a threat.  Parts of it were left untranslated for this very reason.  For every truth any religion claims, they force upon their followers a thousand lies.  These lies take over, and force the various Christian factions to war against each other, or the various Muslim factions to war against each other.  They especially force one Religion to fight against the others, as all of them claim they are the One True Faith, instead of recognizing that the core tenets and foundations of all religious belief are simple, common to all, and universal in every sense.  I highly recommend this book.

(This book can be read or downloaded for free here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1397/1397-h/1397-h.htm )

Humanity's myths can help us all understand each other

Masks of God: Primitive Mythology – Joseph Campbell (1968)

            Oh, Mr. Joseph Campbell.  I have sung your praises before on my intellectual journey and now I get to do so again.  There is a type of person who is an expert on a very small sub-section of human knowledge, whether it be the frogs of the Amazon forest, or the applications and uses for phosphorus.  Mr. Campbell was not this kind of expert.  He was of the kind whose knowledge runs deep in so many seemingly different fields, that he is capable of crafting original thought and analysis that no one has attempted before.  Mr. Campbell was indeed a polymath of the highest caliber.  He combined his research and work in ethnography, religious studies, myth, history, and tribal culture into a new field of study, comparative religion.  In this book, Mr. Campbell explores the development of myth from prehistoric times to the age of the early Egyptian Kingdoms.

            It is impossible to summarize the massive amount of information and story that this book contains.  I can only say that it is a masterful exploration of the ways that myth serves man and the ways that myths are changed by man to suit new environments and experiences.  One thing I found interesting is that, at the time of this books writing, Mr. Campbell was using ethnographic anthropology to show how early humans migrated through the world.  One can follow the various details of myths and legends and see how they progress over time and through the vast distances traveled by early humans.  It shows how different waves of humans, from areas that are currently China, southeast Asia and Polynesia, all reached and settled South America, tens of thousands of years before the European cultures did so. 

The God of Bald Eagles thinks all humans are weak and pathetic.  Eagle legends describe us humans only in profanities and derogatory blasphemies.

            Joseph Campbell did so much research into the many groundbreaking ethnographic studies done in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  His exhaustive knowledge is awe inspiring, and also the effect this knowledge had on him.  He speaks as a person who does not place value judgments on beliefs, only studying them and appreciating what the beliefs and myths provided to the people who held them dear, and what they say about human nature and thought.  There are 3 more books in this "Masks of God" series.  I will read them all!

(This book can be read as a .pdf here http://www.truthseekertimes.ca/database/text/Zeitgeist/TheMasksofGodPrimitiveMythologyCampbell.pdf )

I give thanks to all the Myths for Joseph Campbell

The Mythic Image – Joseph Campbell (1974)

            Joseph Campbell is one of the seminal figures in comparative mythology and the study of human belief systems.  He helped create the field and wrote some of the most engaging and readable books about these topics.  In The Mythic Image, Joseph Campbell draws upon his life of learning to explore the commonalities and sources of over 5,000 years of mythology.

            This book is so dense, so full of ideas and thought-provoking insights, that it is impossible to summarize.  Mr. Campbell tackles all the major themes of human myth and explores the relationships which organized religion’s theologians carefully avoid mentioning.  Myth is a human construct created to help us make sense of the world around us, because so much of it is mysterious and seemingly far from the scope of our daily human lives.

            The great thing about this book is that it focuses on images and their meanings.  The book is full of great illustrations which help the reader to understand the themes explored.  Amazing stuff.  The visual image as a guide to myth is far older than the written word.  Symbols of all types are explained with great care, and this information allowed me to tie up many loose ends that float around in my brain.

So many things floating in my brain...

            Mythology arises through shared experience.  We are all born, live, and then we die.  Out myths and symbols help guide us through life to our resting place in death.  These can be very important things, but they tend to be overlooked in our current consumerist society.  Joseph Campbell is a great teacher and never hesitates to include seeming opposites, for they all come from the human experience.  This is a great book!

Violence and it's origins have never seemed more dull

Violent Origins: Ritual Killing and Cultural Formation – Walter Burket, Rene Girard, Jonathan Z. Smith (1988)

            Human history and pre-history are both littered with violent, ritual killing.  Everything from the sacrifice of humans and animals, to the “killing of the King” has taken place in our humanity.  Many people have debated whether this is a result of human consciousness, or because of human society, but no one is close to a definitive idea about this, or even which came first.  The three authors of this book have three separate ideas about ritual violence, and this book is a collection of their work and their interactions in discussing their ideas.

            While the ideas are compelling, and the way they argue is interesting in a clinical way, this book is deeply dull.  It does not hold interest and it constantly bores the mind with endless re-statements of the same ideas.  I need to find a book that will go into these theories a bit more.

Do you see the excessively violent bird?

            Humans are capable of insane levels of violence and cruelty in their rituals.  I once read that the stories of sacrifice in the Bible are analogies describing man’s ascent in morality, from the sacrifice of animals to appease god (think Cain and Abel, and Abel’s accepted sacrifice of a living animal as opposed to Cain’s rejected sacrifice of produce and veggies), to the intensification to human sacrifice, (think of the story where Abraham is going to sacrifice his son Isaac at the command of god, but he is then stopped by god from finishing the sacrifice.) , to the eradication of sacrifice of any kind, (Jesus, god incarnate, offering himself up as the ultimate sacrifice to end all sacrifices).  I would like to read a study of this.  Oh well.  Maybe I should just write one myself.