34. Review Explain how myth is being used within the following statements (according to the six definitions). 1. Rags-to-riches myth 2. The myth of consumerism 3. Follow your bliss. Create your own myth! 4. 9/11 represents a patriotic myth. 5. The racial and sexual myths found in popular culture 6. The flood myth is a common tale around world.
Editor's Notes
Increasing differentiation and complexity; 1. oriented towards a single cosmos; maintenance of personal, social, and cosmic harmony with attaining specific goods; time out of time, an “everywhen”; identification, participation, acting out;church and society are one; 2. mythical beings more objectified; actively a controlling the world; gods; monistic worldview; men, subjects, gods, objects; communication between; hierarchically organized; divine king; individual-soceity merged in a natural-divine cosmos; rival groups, rival deities; 3. transcendental, world-rejection, strongly dualistic, above and below worlds, Heaven and Hell, God and Satan, good and evil, focus on life in another realm; goal of salvation, demythologization; monotheistic, universalistic; Buddhism: nature of man, greed, anger, must escape, Hebrew prophets: sin, heedlessness of God, obedience to Him; Islam: ungrateful man who is careless of divine compassion, submission to will of God; new religious elite claims direction relation to the divine; political and religious leadership; 4. collapse of hierarchical structuring, world-aceepting; Reformation; monks, sheiks, ascetics before; direct relation between individual and transcendent reality; antiritualist interpretation; faith! – an internal quality of person; Martin Luther; 5. personalization of the sacred, God; responsibility for the self;
The Axial Age, the period between 800 and 200 B.C.E., saw a remarkable burst of creativity almost simultaneously in four separate areas of the Eurasian continent. In East Asia, in the area we now call China, Confucius and his followers provided the religious, philosophical, and political foundations for more than 2,000 years of Chinese culture. At the same time, Daoist philosophers produced a compelling alternative to Confucianism. In South Asia, a countercultural movement of ascetics and mystics composed a collection of teachings called the Upanishads that gave nascent Hinduism its characteristic features. Near the same time and place, both the Buddha and Mahavira attained new insights that inaugurated Buddhism and Jainism. In West Asia, in Palestine, the prophets of Judah helped shape the emerging religion of Judaism. Also in West Asia, in Iran, Zarathustra had recently established Zoroastrianism, which served as the state religion of three powerful empires and contributed decisive new ideas to Judaism and Christianity. Finally, in the northern Mediterranean, in the land of ancient Greece, Thales, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle essentially invented the Western philosophical tradition. E. Just as fascinating as the density of genius in this era is the similarity of ideas and modes of thinking that these individuals developed. They all struggled with many of the same fundamental issues, such as the nature and destiny of the self, the basis and practices of morality, and the highest goods of human life. The 20th-century German philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883–1969) identified this extraordinary period as die Achsenzeit, or the Axial Age, signifying that this era was pivotal in human history. During the Axial Age, as Jaspers observed, “The spiritual foundations of humanity were laid simultaneously and independently... And these are the foundations upon which humanity still subsists today.” What was happening at this particular time and in these particular places that might account for the prodigious output of critical ideas and the appearance of some of the greatest individuals known to the world?
The Axial Age, the period between 800 and 200 B.C.E., saw a remarkable burst of creativity almost simultaneously in four separate areas of the Eurasian continent. In East Asia, in the area we now call China, Confucius and his followers provided the religious, philosophical, and political foundations for more than 2,000 years of Chinese culture. At the same time, Daoist philosophers produced a compelling alternative to Confucianism. In South Asia, a countercultural movement of ascetics and mystics composed a collection of teachings called the Upanishads that gave nascent Hinduism its characteristic features. Near the same time and place, both the Buddha and Mahavira attained new insights that inaugurated Buddhism and Jainism. In West Asia, in Palestine, the prophets of Judah helped shape the emerging religion of Judaism. Also in West Asia, in Iran, Zarathustra had recently established Zoroastrianism, which served as the state religion of three powerful empires and contributed decisive new ideas to Judaism and Christianity. Finally, in the northern Mediterranean, in the land of ancient Greece, Thales, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle essentially invented the Western philosophical tradition. E. Just as fascinating as the density of genius in this era is the similarity of ideas and modes of thinking that these individuals developed. They all struggled with many of the same fundamental issues, such as the nature and destiny of the self, the basis and practices of morality, and the highest goods of human life. The 20th-century German philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883–1969) identified this extraordinary period as die Achsenzeit, or the Axial Age, signifying that this era was pivotal in human history. During the Axial Age, as Jaspers observed, “The spiritual foundations of humanity were laid simultaneously and independently... And these are the foundations upon which humanity still subsists today.” What was happening at this particular time and in these particular places that might account for the prodigious output of critical ideas and the appearance of some of the greatest individuals known to the world?
The Axial Age, the period between 800 and 200 B.C.E., saw a remarkable burst of creativity almost simultaneously in four separate areas of the Eurasian continent. In East Asia, in the area we now call China, Confucius and his followers provided the religious, philosophical, and political foundations for more than 2,000 years of Chinese culture. At the same time, Daoist philosophers produced a compelling alternative to Confucianism. In South Asia, a countercultural movement of ascetics and mystics composed a collection of teachings called the Upanishads that gave nascent Hinduism its characteristic features. Near the same time and place, both the Buddha and Mahavira attained new insights that inaugurated Buddhism and Jainism. In West Asia, in Palestine, the prophets of Judah helped shape the emerging religion of Judaism. Also in West Asia, in Iran, Zarathustra had recently established Zoroastrianism, which served as the state religion of three powerful empires and contributed decisive new ideas to Judaism and Christianity. Finally, in the northern Mediterranean, in the land of ancient Greece, Thales, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle essentially invented the Western philosophical tradition. E. Just as fascinating as the density of genius in this era is the similarity of ideas and modes of thinking that these individuals developed. They all struggled with many of the same fundamental issues, such as the nature and destiny of the self, the basis and practices of morality, and the highest goods of human life. The 20th-century German philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883–1969) identified this extraordinary period as die Achsenzeit, or the Axial Age, signifying that this era was pivotal in human history. During the Axial Age, as Jaspers observed, “The spiritual foundations of humanity were laid simultaneously and independently... And these are the foundations upon which humanity still subsists today.” What was happening at this particular time and in these particular places that might account for the prodigious output of critical ideas and the appearance of some of the greatest individuals known to the world?
The Axial Age, the period between 800 and 200 B.C.E., saw a remarkable burst of creativity almost simultaneously in four separate areas of the Eurasian continent. In East Asia, in the area we now call China, Confucius and his followers provided the religious, philosophical, and political foundations for more than 2,000 years of Chinese culture. At the same time, Daoist philosophers produced a compelling alternative to Confucianism. In South Asia, a countercultural movement of ascetics and mystics composed a collection of teachings called the Upanishads that gave nascent Hinduism its characteristic features. Near the same time and place, both the Buddha and Mahavira attained new insights that inaugurated Buddhism and Jainism. In West Asia, in Palestine, the prophets of Judah helped shape the emerging religion of Judaism. Also in West Asia, in Iran, Zarathustra had recently established Zoroastrianism, which served as the state religion of three powerful empires and contributed decisive new ideas to Judaism and Christianity. Finally, in the northern Mediterranean, in the land of ancient Greece, Thales, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle essentially invented the Western philosophical tradition. E. Just as fascinating as the density of genius in this era is the similarity of ideas and modes of thinking that these individuals developed. They all struggled with many of the same fundamental issues, such as the nature and destiny of the self, the basis and practices of morality, and the highest goods of human life. The 20th-century German philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883–1969) identified this extraordinary period as die Achsenzeit, or the Axial Age, signifying that this era was pivotal in human history. During the Axial Age, as Jaspers observed, “The spiritual foundations of humanity were laid simultaneously and independently... And these are the foundations upon which humanity still subsists today.” What was happening at this particular time and in these particular places that might account for the prodigious output of critical ideas and the appearance of some of the greatest individuals known to the world?
The Axial Age, the period between 800 and 200 B.C.E., saw a remarkable burst of creativity almost simultaneously in four separate areas of the Eurasian continent. In East Asia, in the area we now call China, Confucius and his followers provided the religious, philosophical, and political foundations for more than 2,000 years of Chinese culture. At the same time, Daoist philosophers produced a compelling alternative to Confucianism. In South Asia, a countercultural movement of ascetics and mystics composed a collection of teachings called the Upanishads that gave nascent Hinduism its characteristic features. Near the same time and place, both the Buddha and Mahavira attained new insights that inaugurated Buddhism and Jainism. In West Asia, in Palestine, the prophets of Judah helped shape the emerging religion of Judaism. Also in West Asia, in Iran, Zarathustra had recently established Zoroastrianism, which served as the state religion of three powerful empires and contributed decisive new ideas to Judaism and Christianity. Finally, in the northern Mediterranean, in the land of ancient Greece, Thales, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle essentially invented the Western philosophical tradition. E. Just as fascinating as the density of genius in this era is the similarity of ideas and modes of thinking that these individuals developed. They all struggled with many of the same fundamental issues, such as the nature and destiny of the self, the basis and practices of morality, and the highest goods of human life. The 20th-century German philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883–1969) identified this extraordinary period as die Achsenzeit, or the Axial Age, signifying that this era was pivotal in human history. During the Axial Age, as Jaspers observed, “The spiritual foundations of humanity were laid simultaneously and independently... And these are the foundations upon which humanity still subsists today.” What was happening at this particular time and in these particular places that might account for the prodigious output of critical ideas and the appearance of some of the greatest individuals known to the world?
The Axial Age, the period between 800 and 200 B.C.E., saw a remarkable burst of creativity almost simultaneously in four separate areas of the Eurasian continent. In East Asia, in the area we now call China, Confucius and his followers provided the religious, philosophical, and political foundations for more than 2,000 years of Chinese culture. At the same time, Daoist philosophers produced a compelling alternative to Confucianism. In South Asia, a countercultural movement of ascetics and mystics composed a collection of teachings called the Upanishads that gave nascent Hinduism its characteristic features. Near the same time and place, both the Buddha and Mahavira attained new insights that inaugurated Buddhism and Jainism. In West Asia, in Palestine, the prophets of Judah helped shape the emerging religion of Judaism. Also in West Asia, in Iran, Zarathustra had recently established Zoroastrianism, which served as the state religion of three powerful empires and contributed decisive new ideas to Judaism and Christianity. Finally, in the northern Mediterranean, in the land of ancient Greece, Thales, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle essentially invented the Western philosophical tradition. E. Just as fascinating as the density of genius in this era is the similarity of ideas and modes of thinking that these individuals developed. They all struggled with many of the same fundamental issues, such as the nature and destiny of the self, the basis and practices of morality, and the highest goods of human life. The 20th-century German philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883–1969) identified this extraordinary period as die Achsenzeit, or the Axial Age, signifying that this era was pivotal in human history. During the Axial Age, as Jaspers observed, “The spiritual foundations of humanity were laid simultaneously and independently... And these are the foundations upon which humanity still subsists today.” What was happening at this particular time and in these particular places that might account for the prodigious output of critical ideas and the appearance of some of the greatest individuals known to the world?
The Axial Age, the period between 800 and 200 B.C.E., saw a remarkable burst of creativity almost simultaneously in four separate areas of the Eurasian continent. In East Asia, in the area we now call China, Confucius and his followers provided the religious, philosophical, and political foundations for more than 2,000 years of Chinese culture. At the same time, Daoist philosophers produced a compelling alternative to Confucianism. In South Asia, a countercultural movement of ascetics and mystics composed a collection of teachings called the Upanishads that gave nascent Hinduism its characteristic features. Near the same time and place, both the Buddha and Mahavira attained new insights that inaugurated Buddhism and Jainism. In West Asia, in Palestine, the prophets of Judah helped shape the emerging religion of Judaism. Also in West Asia, in Iran, Zarathustra had recently established Zoroastrianism, which served as the state religion of three powerful empires and contributed decisive new ideas to Judaism and Christianity. Finally, in the northern Mediterranean, in the land of ancient Greece, Thales, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle essentially invented the Western philosophical tradition. E. Just as fascinating as the density of genius in this era is the similarity of ideas and modes of thinking that these individuals developed. They all struggled with many of the same fundamental issues, such as the nature and destiny of the self, the basis and practices of morality, and the highest goods of human life. The 20th-century German philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883–1969) identified this extraordinary period as die Achsenzeit, or the Axial Age, signifying that this era was pivotal in human history. During the Axial Age, as Jaspers observed, “The spiritual foundations of humanity were laid simultaneously and independently... And these are the foundations upon which humanity still subsists today.” What was happening at this particular time and in these particular places that might account for the prodigious output of critical ideas and the appearance of some of the greatest individuals known to the world?
The Axial era occurred at a time and in places of increasing urbanization and mobility. This trend had significant effects on social structures and the human psyche. Urban life often disrupts one’s sense of identity and places traditional values and beliefs in doubt.
The Axial era occurred at a time and in places of increasing urbanization and mobility. This trend had significant effects on social structures and the human psyche. Urban life often disrupts one’s sense of identity and places traditional values and beliefs in doubt. Second, the Axial centers were generally characterized by political and legal upheaval. 1. The Chinese Axial Age, for example, overlapped a brutal epoch in Chinese history known as the Period of Warring States. India, Judah, and Iran underwent similar periods of turmoil and transformation.
The Axial era occurred at a time and in places of increasing urbanization and mobility. This trend had significant effects on social structures and the human psyche. Urban life often disrupts one’s sense of identity and places traditional values and beliefs in doubt. Second, the Axial centers were generally characterized by political and legal upheaval. 1. The Chinese Axial Age, for example, overlapped a brutal epoch in Chinese history known as the Period of Warring States. India, Judah, and Iran underwent similar periods of turmoil and transformation. Rapid political and social change, of course, generates uncertainty and insecurity, but interestingly, such times are often the most creative and innovative for religious and philosophical thought. Sages in all the Axial centers became increasingly anxious about death and preoccupied with what, if anything, lay beyond death. 1. Pre-Axial humans, of course, were not unconcerned with death, but their sense of identity was more firmly rooted in their participation in the family, clan, or tribe. Accordingly, death could be accepted, knowing that the family would survive one’s personal demise. 2. By the Axial Age, attitudes toward death began to reflect a greater concern about the experience of dying and the afterlife. Increasingly, death was regarded with dread, and speculation about what might lie beyond was filled with both hope and terror. 3. Reflected in this shift in attitudes about death is the rise of a sense of individuality and a greater consciousness of the human being as a moral agent, accountable for his or her own actions. 4. As humans began to think of themselves as separate, autonomous individuals, death became a more dreadful reality. Selfhood promotes a feeling of isolation or, at least, differentiation from the rest of the human community and the rest of reality, making it more difficult to accept dying as part of the natural process of living.
The Axial era occurred at a time and in places of increasing urbanization and mobility. This trend had significant effects on social structures and the human psyche. Urban life often disrupts one’s sense of identity and places traditional values and beliefs in doubt. Second, the Axial centers were generally characterized by political and legal upheaval. 1. The Chinese Axial Age, for example, overlapped a brutal epoch in Chinese history known as the Period of Warring States. India, Judah, and Iran underwent similar periods of turmoil and transformation. Rapid political and social change, of course, generates uncertainty and insecurity, but interestingly, such times are often the most creative and innovative for religious and philosophical thought. Sages in all the Axial centers became increasingly anxious about death and preoccupied with what, if anything, lay beyond death. 1. Pre-Axial humans, of course, were not unconcerned with death, but their sense of identity was more firmly rooted in their participation in the family, clan, or tribe. Accordingly, death could be accepted, knowing that the family would survive one’s personal demise. 2. By the Axial Age, attitudes toward death began to reflect a greater concern about the experience of dying and the afterlife. Increasingly, death was regarded with dread, and speculation about what might lie beyond was filled with both hope and terror. 3. Reflected in this shift in attitudes about death is the rise of a sense of individuality and a greater consciousness of the human being as a moral agent, accountable for his or her own actions. 4. As humans began to think of themselves as separate, autonomous individuals, death became a more dreadful reality. Selfhood promotes a feeling of isolation or, at least, differentiation from the rest of the human community and the rest of reality, making it more difficult to accept dying as part of the natural process of living. The growing sense of selfhood and anxiety about life’s transience also stimulated conjectures about the nature of the person and spurred the search to discover something within the human individual that might endure the dissolution of the body, something eternal or immortal. 1. As part of this quest, Axial sages developed a new way of thinking about the world and the place of humanity in it. S. N. Eisenstadt, one of the first scholars to study the sociological dimensions of the Axial Age, calls this way of looking at life transcendental consciousness, that is, the ability to stand back and see the world more comprehensively and critically. 2. Transcendental consciousness produced novel conceptions of the world’s ultimate reality. In some cases, the Axial sages were not content to accept the old anthropomorphic gods and goddesses as the highest realities or powers governing the universe. They imagined sublime conceptions of ultimate reality, such as the Hindu Brahman and the Chinese Dao. 3. Thinking about the highest realities also led these individuals to a greater interest in epistemology, that is, how we know what we know and what the limitations of our knowledge are. Attention to epistemology, accordingly, promoted a greater sense of self-consciousness and awareness of humanity’s place in the universe.
The Axial era occurred at a time and in places of increasing urbanization and mobility. This trend had significant effects on social structures and the human psyche. Urban life often disrupts one’s sense of identity and places traditional values and beliefs in doubt. Second, the Axial centers were generally characterized by political and legal upheaval. 1. The Chinese Axial Age, for example, overlapped a brutal epoch in Chinese history known as the Period of Warring States. India, Judah, and Iran underwent similar periods of turmoil and transformation. Rapid political and social change, of course, generates uncertainty and insecurity, but interestingly, such times are often the most creative and innovative for religious and philosophical thought. Sages in all the Axial centers became increasingly anxious about death and preoccupied with what, if anything, lay beyond death. 1. Pre-Axial humans, of course, were not unconcerned with death, but their sense of identity was more firmly rooted in their participation in the family, clan, or tribe. Accordingly, death could be accepted, knowing that the family would survive one’s personal demise. 2. By the Axial Age, attitudes toward death began to reflect a greater concern about the experience of dying and the afterlife. Increasingly, death was regarded with dread, and speculation about what might lie beyond was filled with both hope and terror. 3. Reflected in this shift in attitudes about death is the rise of a sense of individuality and a greater consciousness of the human being as a moral agent, accountable for his or her own actions. 4. As humans began to think of themselves as separate, autonomous individuals, death became a more dreadful reality. Selfhood promotes a feeling of isolation or, at least, differentiation from the rest of the human community and the rest of reality, making it more difficult to accept dying as part of the natural process of living. The growing sense of selfhood and anxiety about life’s transience also stimulated conjectures about the nature of the person and spurred the search to discover something within the human individual that might endure the dissolution of the body, something eternal or immortal. 1. As part of this quest, Axial sages developed a new way of thinking about the world and the place of humanity in it. S. N. Eisenstadt, one of the first scholars to study the sociological dimensions of the Axial Age, calls this way of looking at life transcendental consciousness, that is, the ability to stand back and see the world more comprehensively and critically. 2. Transcendental consciousness produced novel conceptions of the world’s ultimate reality. In some cases, the Axial sages were not content to accept the old anthropomorphic gods and goddesses as the highest realities or powers governing the universe. They imagined sublime conceptions of ultimate reality, such as the Hindu Brahman and the Chinese Dao. 3. Thinking about the highest realities also led these individuals to a greater interest in epistemology, that is, how we know what we know and what the limitations of our knowledge are. Attention to epistemology, accordingly, promoted a greater sense of self-consciousness and awareness of humanity’s place in the universe.
The growing sense of selfhood and anxiety about life’s transience also stimulated conjectures about the nature of the person and spurred the search to discover something within the human individual that might endure the dissolution of the body, something eternal or immortal. 1. As part of this quest, Axial sages developed a new way of thinking about the world and the place of humanity in it. S. N. Eisenstadt, one of the first scholars to study the sociological dimensions of the Axial Age, calls this way of looking at life transcendental consciousness, that is, the ability to stand back and see the world more comprehensively and critically. 2. Transcendental consciousness produced novel conceptions of the world’s ultimate reality. In some cases, the Axial sages were not content to accept the old anthropomorphic gods and goddesses as the highest realities or powers governing the universe. They imagined sublime conceptions of ultimate reality, such as the Hindu Brahman and the Chinese Dao. 3. Thinking about the highest realities also led these individuals to a greater interest in epistemology, that is, how we know what we know and what the limitations of our knowledge are. Attention to epistemology, accordingly, promoted a greater sense of self-consciousness and awareness of humanity’s place in the universe. Finally, the Axial Age marks a dramatic change in the very function of religion in human life. During this era, the purpose of religion shifted from what theologian John Hick calls cosmic maintenance to personal transformation. 1. By cosmic maintenance, we mean that religion functions chiefly as a ritual means for human beings to collaborate with the divine powers to assist in keeping the world in good working order. 2. During the Axial Age, however, religion takes on an unprecedented new role in human life: providing the means for the individual to undergo change in order to achieve immortality or happiness. 3. Selfhood and the heightened awareness of suffering and death prompted some religions to imagine wonderful afterlife experiences as ways to overcome the painful realities of this life. Reaching these goals might mean accepting a new vision of the way the world works or accepting the demands of a particular god with the power to bestow immortality or paradise.
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God above, animals below: The Great Chain of Being; How We Perceive the Cosmos
MAGE: The Churning of the Ocean of Milk (from a Gita Govinda). Opaque watercolor and gold on paper, ca. 1785. Pahari school, Kangra. (18.02 cm x 26.67 cm) Edwin Binney 3rd Collection.
What “we” center our lives around, or aspire to: sex, beauty, money, fame, health
Jerusalem: Churches, Crosses, Synagogues, Mosques, Crescents, Walls, etc.
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