My sister babysits her grandchildren, and she loves it. She also knows my kind of thinking very well, so she makes comments that are valuable to me.
One of those comments was, “They (her grandchildren) are at that age when they think grownups know EVERYTHING.”
Back in the caveman days, the idea that older people knew everything was the key to the older people’s survival. Older people could explain the whole universe.
The children they had raised by explaining how to get food still looked to them for wisdom after they had taught the young people everything they knew that was practical. After that the older person could have said, “You have learned everything I have to teach you.”
Or he could make up something to teach them. Young people wanted to know all about the universe and the stars and the gods and the spirits.
There were two possible choices:
1) After the older one had taught them every practical fact they knew they could say, “That’s all I have to teach.”
or:
2) The older guy could make up a complete cosmology and ways of dealing with the gods.
There is no record of anyone choosing 1)
Every society has a complete cosmology and complete set of gods and spirits which only the Elders understood.
Later a priesthood took over function 2)
Today the motto of white science should be “One experiment is worth a hundred Expert Opinions.” In our society, the Elders know nothing they cannot PROVE.
Other societies live in the days when Ancient Wisdom was everything.
For us, the days of the caveman are over.
When whites are at our best, if we don’t know something, we say so.
Nobody understands what a breakthrough that is.
#1 by Peter on 06/09/2005 - 1:40 am
May I expand on this?
Indo-European cosmology was based on “shamanic,” or empirical experience, which could be repeated by others. These experiences were empirical in the same way that Lewis’ and Clark’s expedition was. Lewis and Clark wrote their discoveries down on paper. The ancient cosmological explorer had various mnemonic techniques, such as meter and alliteration (for lists), which he wrote down or recited to others when he returned.
The ancient Eleusinian mysteries promised anyone a once in a lifetime cosmological experience. Anybody could do it. Thorhall the Hunter ran around with Thor somewhere up north when Karlsefni’s crew landed here in Vinland.
But cosmological exploration brings a host of new problems for the explorer. Think about the sixty’s drug abuse. People who tune in and drop out become too weak and lazy to resist evil in ordinary life. Abusers get addictions. Even explorers who use only meditative techniques become vulnerable to new kinds of psychic attack from the other side. Protection requires discipline and training. Discipline leads to rules. Training leads to the magi.
Somewhere along the way, the company of magi dwindles to a few priests. Over time, society is left only with the stories the explorers and magi brought home. The religion is reduced to myths. Even these become obscure, until “Every society has a complete cosmology and complete set of gods and spirits which only the Elders understood.”
Are we ready for the return of the magi?
#2 by Peter on 06/09/2005 - 12:41 pm
Here’s a thought: each Biblical mention of “the kingdom of heaven” is a nod to the Magi.
#3 by Tarzan on 06/10/2005 - 12:05 am
Re: For us, the days of the caveman are over.
Me Tarzan. Jane say, talk to Betty Friedan, radical feminist now. Jane do bad thing. Tarzan no like.
#4 by Elizabeth on 06/10/2005 - 1:33 pm
In the resurgence of orthodox Catholicism [Note the small “O.”], we are seeing the return of the Magi. In orthodox Catholicism, the wishy-washy, New Agey stuff is out: the more traditional, the disciplined modes, such as the praying of the Rosary [structured meditation on events in the life of Christ and His mother] and the [don’t-do-these-without-an-expert]Ignatian Spiritual Exercises are back. Both orthodox and Traditional Catholics understand that Evil is always present and _always_ needs to be fought. (btw, 8-balls and ouija boards are not _toys_: they are potential avenues for Evil to infiltrate: I heard about these long before I became Catholic.)