49 sats \ 2 replies \ @Nuttall 24 Feb \ on: Book Report: A History of Religious Ideas Vol. 1 by Mircea Eliade - Ch 10-12 BooksAndArticles
Here my take is that disasters will happen to all of us but because we are human we have earned the freedom of life of choice and in this choice respect of property is important. Property is defined by me as that which you CARE about. In this principal of CARE we have either to exchange by volunteer or we take without asking. By taking without asking we loose our humanity. This goes all the way back to the egg being available and the sperm out of all of the other sperm making the choice to swim to the location of fertility.
Rape is stealing. Killing is stealing. Deception is stealing. All crimes are stealing and the reward of stealing is degeneration.
So we can't escape disaster by appeasing the gods but we can minimize disaster by caring for each other voluntarily and in this action we are able to make the ark when the flood comes or the earthquake hits.
This is a thought-provoking comment, thanks for sharing more about your worldview. What do you think about the following:
- To my understanding, under many interpretations of the Demeter-Persephone myth, Persephone actually embraces her position at the end. Yes, she comes up to visit her mother with the seasons, but she also is willingly Queen of Hades and Bride of Pluto.
- Consider this quote near the end of the book, which is so intense I didn't choose to include it:
So we can recognize in the "crime of the Titans" an ancient initiatory scenario whose original meaning had been forgotten. For the Titans behave like Masters of Initiation, that is to say, they "kill" the novice in order to cause him to be "reborn" to a higher mode of existence (in our example, we could say that they confer divinity and immortality on the infant Dionysus). But in a religion that proclaimed the absolute supremacy of Zeus, the Titans could play only a demonic role..."
Also to your comment:
we can't escape disaster by appeasing the gods but we can minimize disaster by caring for each other voluntarily
I think your point here is the next iteration in the exploration of the Mystery of Sacrifice with Christ. What is higher than making the biggest sacrifice for the benefit of myself? Making it for others...
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- To my understanding, under many interpretations of the Demeter-Persephone myth, Persephone actually embraces her position at the end. Yes, she comes up to visit her mother with the seasons, but she also is willingly Queen of Hades and Bride of Pluto.
Maybe the brutality is part of the mnemonic to fix the myth and the significance of the agricultural / navigational seasons?
- Consider this quote near the end of the book, which is so intense I didn't choose to include it:
So we can recognize in the "crime of the Titans" an ancient initiatory scenario whose original meaning had been forgotten. For the Titans behave like Masters of Initiation, that is to say, they "kill" the novice in order to cause him to be "reborn" to a higher mode of existence (in our example, we could say that they confer divinity and immortality on the infant Dionysus). But in a religion that proclaimed the absolute supremacy of Zeus, the Titans could play only a demonic role..."
I think again this is an initiation and esoteric. Exoteric it is brutal but inside it might be a motivation.
I think your point here is the next iteration in the exploration of the Mystery of Sacrifice with Christ. What is higher than making the biggest sacrifice for the benefit of myself? Making it for others...
Here is another can of worms. Gnostic verses Exoteric. Esoteric verses what is being sold as religion. We can quote the story but where does the real story begin or end. Does it matter? Are we not sacrificing by being kind and also protecting our own happiness by not allowing others to steal which will harm them in the long run!
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