tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post8935407254495862037..comments2023-05-24T23:33:57.516+10:00Comments on My Unwelcome Stranger: Myth does it better: the Parade of AntsDenis Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-12765302757325338582012-11-18T10:48:25.142+11:002012-11-18T10:48:25.142+11:00Whether God lied or not has become a topic of Theo...Whether God lied or not has become a topic of Theological discussion, and of course, the Christian Theologians concluded that He did not, and that the death was spiritual or metaphorical rather than physical. Of course, the origin of physical death is also implied, blaming women, as usual.<br /><br />What's more interesting about this story is that, like the Flood myth, it has its roots in a far older, Sumerian myth. This one's about the goddess Ninhursaga and her husband, Enki. <br /><br />Ninhursaga has a garden in which she has 7 trees, which she prizes. One day, while she's away, Enki eats all her trees. When she returns and sees what he's done, she's furious.<br /><br />Enki, having eaten these fertile trees, begins to grow bigger with pregnancy. Because he does not have a vagina, he cannot give birth. Ninhursaga refuses to help him, cursing him with death.<br /><br />But a little fox runs to the Council of the Gods, telling them of Enki's plight. They order Ninhursaga to help Enki, so she obeys reluctantly. With her help, Enki gives birth to 7 goddesses out of 7 parts of his body. Out of his rib, he gives birth to the Goddess of Life. Eve in Hebrew means "living" or the "mother of all living", something like that.<br /><br />In the end, everyone is happy. Ninhursaga has her 7 goddesses, Enki lives and reconciles with his wife, and life in the garden goes on.<br /><br />Now what version would you choose for a foundation myth?Joanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04715081266571704126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-55471789409641132322012-11-17T13:44:41.603+11:002012-11-17T13:44:41.603+11:00Interesting problem with words once again.... God&...Interesting problem with words once again.... God's warning I took to mean that Adam and Eve would become mortal if they disobeyed God i.e., they would die, eventually. The serpent must have been persuasive if they swallowed the line that it meant they'd drop dead practically on the spot. Or does it mean that they weren't too clever at detecting deceit? After all their only conversations had been with God, who never lied. <br /><br />I do think the Adam/Eve myth, every bit as powerful as if taken literally, is intended to put women in their place – the one clearly expounded in all the Semitic literature from the Old Testament through to Christianity and Islam.<br />Denis Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-19877202129007995192012-11-17T10:37:57.851+11:002012-11-17T10:37:57.851+11:00The Hindu Myth of Marandeya greatly appeals to me....The Hindu Myth of Marandeya greatly appeals to me. I think I read it in one of O'Flaherty's books, but I can't find it now so my account will lose its poetic quality. Marandeya somehow slips out through the mouth of sleeping Vishnu and the world disappears. He then falls back into the mouth of sleeping Vishnu and the world reappears. He cannot figure out which experience was a dream.<br /><br />On the serpent. The serpent in the Biblical account is not entirely negative. God has told Adam and Eve that if they eat of the Tree of Knowledge, they will die. Eve has a little chat with the serpent at the foot of the tree, and he persuades her to try the fruit anyway, and that God is wrong. So she eats and doesn't die. The serpent tells her that God lied. <br /><br />The serpent seems to know more than the Semitic God, and this, I believe was a big problem for the early Biblical writers. Surrounded by snake cults delivering oracles (Pythia) and eternal life (Utnapishtam of the Gilgamesh story), the Hebrews wrested control by demonising the snake. Supernatural knowledge, often the perogative of women in the ancient world, became verboten, and punishable by symbolic death and banishment from God's garden. Only the male Semitic God had the truth, and certainly women's traditional connection to the spiritual world was to be discredited.<br /><br />That's my take on it, anyway. Take back the serpent along with the night.Joanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04715081266571704126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-41701119276214399762012-11-16T14:19:32.998+11:002012-11-16T14:19:32.998+11:00I'll take that as a compliment:) It's good...I'll take that as a compliment:) It's good when we have to refresh our thinking in some way -we have such accustomed responses to most situations/ideas that we forget to see life anew.<br /><br />see you soon I hope<br />Julie xxAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-74765640285310985572012-11-16T13:46:03.303+11:002012-11-16T13:46:03.303+11:00You're messin' with ma mind, Julie!You're messin' with ma mind, Julie!Denis Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-26562510316286167452012-11-16T13:36:46.322+11:002012-11-16T13:36:46.322+11:00The snake in South and SE Asian myth and culture i...The snake in South and SE Asian myth and culture is not sinister in the way it is in the Abrahamic religions. The <i>naga</i> [snake deity] features throughout. It is also the mount of Vishnu [appropriated from those earlier Aryan stories].<br /><br />Just going on from my brief comment to Anne: cobras are magnificent, and it's no surprise to see the 7+-headed one guarding Vishnu, or his resting on the coils of the serpent Shesha [I'd imagine that to be quite soft and comfortable!] – even Vishnu arranging for the Buddha to be protected by the serpent [a nice attempt to pull Buddhism back under Hinduism's mantle].<br /><br />They also don't cremate those few regarded as specially holy or wise. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitya_Chaitanya_Yati" rel="nofollow"> Nitya</a> told me that non-cremation was to be his fate when he died. He wasn't enthusiastic about that.<br /><br />Nitya was one of the most remarkable people I ever met in my life. "Science is to help us avoid the folly of putting our trust in nonsense" was but one of his aphorisms. <br /><br />I stray from the point.Denis Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-47271087104331963142012-11-16T12:37:29.537+11:002012-11-16T12:37:29.537+11:00The snake in South and SE Asian myth is not so sin...The snake in South and SE Asian myth is not so sinister as the one in the Abrahamic religions. The <i>naga</i> features throughout the region, often positively. It is also the mount of Vishnu [appropriated from those earlier Aryan stories].Denis Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-40454041334258823452012-11-15T08:53:06.534+11:002012-11-15T08:53:06.534+11:00Since my mother's recent death and the sorting...Since my mother's recent death and the sorting out of her house/her life, I've been feeling much as Indra did when he realised that building a fancy palace is pointless, and is not what matters. Life is so short (but we are still obliged to make money and behave 'normally' in society:)) That can be such a pleasure and such a great learning, too,but it's so easy to think it is all there is.<br /><br />The boy's being Shiva in disguise is another great lesson. Someone said to me once, imagine if anyone you see, on a train or at your workplace, is actually Jesus, but you don't realise it. It makes for a really confronting and fascinating exercise!!<br /><br />Julie MAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-37380277458857107282012-11-15T08:33:24.200+11:002012-11-15T08:33:24.200+11:00Good point Anne. Has made me think about the symbo...Good point Anne. Has made me think about the symbolism of serpents - but also reminds me of seeing a fully grown black cobra in a South Indian zoo.It certainly had grandeur in a very mysterious and terrifying sense!! And I quite like snakes.Perhaps the mysterious quality is what makes them so prominent in mythology, and their silence. You'd know if a lion was under your bed or in your ceiling:)They can go everywhere, and they shed their skin, renewing (reincarnating?) themselves, part of the great cycle of the cosmos. Then of course they are associated with sexuality, potency, the origins of things. In India they are considered sacred, so that anyone who dies of cobra poison is said to have overcome all their karma. They are one category of the dead who are 'purified' enough to be given to the Ganga (river,or any waters, where all bodies are sent) without even having to be cremated. <br /><br />Now let's think about the rest of this wonderful story!<br /><br />Julie MAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-17567786495558161662012-11-14T12:00:10.745+11:002012-11-14T12:00:10.745+11:00I am not commenting on this myth as such. It seem...I am not commenting on this myth as such. It seems very complex and I must read it again. But I am very interested that it, like so many others, seems to begin with a serpent. The biblical one comes to mind and that wonderful aboriginal rainbow serpent. (I certainly I don't wish to go all Lacanian about it.) There must be something that creates a common thread. I find snakes quite interesting but unlike dragons, lions or crocodiles they seem somewhat lacking in grandeur for such a big role in mythology. <br />But then ants are very non grand except in large masses! Anne P.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com