Quote:
|
Originally Posted by TJDave
The only thing we know for certain is that Jews have been telling the same story for app. 2,300 years. There is no proof whatsoever of the Patriarchs, of Genesis. None that Jews were enslaved in Egypt or of Moses or the Exodus.
|
In my opinion, historical accounts are not the point, but rather often attempts to illustrate important timeless truths allegorically.
Quote:
|
The mythologist Joseph Campbell sees myth as metaphors or symbols of the unknown. This "unknown" is located in two places: in the spiritual realm and in the depths of the human psyche. Campbell reasons that even though the divine, or "God," or whatever you call it (him/her?) is ultimately unknowable by human thought, men still try to create images of the Godhead. These images and stories may vary from culture to culture, but they remain valid as metaphors which express our experience of something beyond the human. Remarkably, many of themes and motifs in myths reappear in stories told by widely scattered peoples, which for Campbell means that many of them must be inherent in the human psyche. Thus, myths can also tell us truths about our own psychology.
|
Transformation IMHO is most notably the most important concept. However due to the vast historical "game" of telephone, the original allegorical meanings get swept away
confusing the so-called literal historical truth, that eventually reaches the final players (players today) of the game, with the much more significant
ALLEGORICAL TRUTH.
For instance exodus signifies the spiritual travels of a people, and
more importantly an individual, from the state of Egypt (in Hebrew "Mitzrayim", meaning "Limitations") to the promised land. I know some Hasidim, and in Kabbalah and for Hasidism, leaving Egypt becomes a daily spiritual exodus, however the essence of this
philosophical allegory applies to all major religious teachings.
Are religions
only fables or myths which were simply devised to allow primitive tribal man an "easy way out" regarding life and death and societal rules? I don't think so. Yes not all of religious teachings are rational, much is nonsense, but some can be understood across differing traditions. Common
transcendent concepts frequently repeat and are strong and very similar. The problem of course is discriminating what are these larger transcendent concepts are, and separating them from the hypocritical minutia and silly details.
Quote:
Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble.
Joseph Campbell
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/au...u7gsDlbMlT7.99
|
