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Velikovsky ... assumed that
mankind's myths, symbols and other purported forms of mimesis of
an original might not be sheer creations of man's imagination reworked
and finally recorded by the generations, but experiences overlaid
first by authentic images of their originals, then by images of images.
He assumed that by stripping away the overlay, the primary image could be
brought to light, and a strong curiosity led him to do this regarding the Hebrew
scriptural image of the sun and moon standing still. - Horace M. Kallen,
Creativity, Imagination, Logic: Meditations for the Eleventh Hour
(Gordon and Breach, New York, 1973), pp. 115-116.
A Perspective on Myth
Updated:
05/28/2021
One point of the collection of articles on this site is to show that
the
disunity and confusing diversity of myth and religious
belief around the world is dismaying and daunting. On the other hand it has
been firmly shown that the comparative approach applied to the earliest myth
winnows out a valid account of what the ancients were telling us about what
they saw and experienced in the world of that time.
At some point, when science or cosmological theory comes up against the
ancients telling us, it is this scientism that must give way and accede. In
other words, when the ancients are describing what really happened in their
time, science theory can't come along and say it didn't. As in any
reality-check scientific experiment, what is observed must take precedence
over what was expected.
However, neither globally traumatized ancient Man nor still traumatized
modern Man has been intellectually responsible in looking at the
comprehensive picture from sound philosophical principles applied to the
ultimate issues. Thus ancient Man presents us with a welter of confusing and
incompatible myth-based religions, and it seemingly is just getting worse.
Myth from Around the World
Every inhabited continent of the globe has presented us with huge amounts
of ancient myth from different cultures and eras. The myth from each
continent would fill libraries, and more is being added from a reservoir
that is actually greater than what has already been assayed. To a great extent,
cultures around the world have settled down into the countries that we have
today but there are plenty of exceptions, where some countries have more
than one culture, and some cultures transcend the borders of countries.
African Myth
Dogon myth
Egyptian myth
Ethiopian myth
Bahá'í Faith
Nubian myth
Asian Myth
Chinese dynasties–Tang,
A wide variety of Japanese myth.
Indian major religions are:
Hinduism, Islam, with small contingents of Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism,
and Sikhism. Hindus worship a single god with different forms.
Indus Valley Harappan civilization worshiped the Mother Goddess
Australian Myth
The Aboriginal people of Western Australia had their mythology and
religions centered around the "Dream Time" practices, and now most
Aborigines identify with Christianity.
The Bora culture of Eastern Australia
The Maori people of New Zealand had an elaborate system of cosmogonic
mythology
European Myth
Minoan civlization with unique religion and myth
Etruscan polytheism
Roman mythology
Greek and Hellenistic mythology
Germanic
Norse mythology,
Anglo-Saxon mythology,
Continental Germanic mythology
Mesoamerican & Central American Myth
The Aztec empire and culture had a unique myth and religion that had a
focus on human sacrifice.
The Mayan kingdom and culture had about 3 dozen languages and a religions
that was heavily infused with supernatural. Their Mythology was transcribed
into Latin in the famous Popul Vuh
The Olmec mythology is unknown
The Toltec kingdom and culture had at least 8 languages and a unique religion
The Zapotec people had a polytheistic religion and myth
North American Myth
Inuit myths and religions with various deities, creatures and spirits,
often associated with aspects and animals of their environment.
About 540 original tribes in the United State. Current major
religions are: Christianity, Earth Lodge, Ghost Dance, Indian Shakar,
Longhouse, Mexicayotl, Native American Church, Waashat.
South American Myth
The Incan empire was probably the largest in the world at the time, and
had a unique religion, one that believed in reincarnation.
This Empire was the last chapter of thousands of years of Andean
civilizations. This civilization was one of five in the
world deemed by scholars to be "pristine", that is indigenous and not
derivative from other civilizations.
The Inca Empire was preceded by two large-scale empires in the Andes: the Tiwanaku (c. 300–1100 AD), based around Lake Titicaca and the Wari or Huari
(c. 600–1100 AD)
Christendom essentially dismisses this extensive corpus of religio-myth
as a false narrative, and doesn't pay much attention to it. The Old
Testament is only a part of the Judeo-Hebrew culture's ancient writings that
stand right alongside all of the other mythologies of the world.
Protestantism accepts this material as the word of God purely because the
perception is that Yeshua put his stamp of approval upon it. Yet this
conclusion can be challenged and found to be unsustainable.
Just because the Father entity chose the Israeli culture within which to
give the great demonstration doesn't mean that God put his stamp of approval
on their mythology as being the truth. In most ways, it is as bizarre as the
balance of the others.
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