Welcome to my research blog on Ancient Mystery Religions.
This is a place to explore and discuss my readings.
First reading
This author references the Greek Magical Papyri (GMP) in an attempt to identify reasons why the human brain might employ magic and mystery. GMP -'a collection of
papyrus texts that span the period between the last century BCE and
the fifth century CE and consist of ―a variety of magical spells
and formulae, hymns and rituals'.
The paper uses a cognitive science methodology.
also references empathy, mirror neurones, projection of emotions and ascribing essences towards them ( p 3). Hence objects such as statues have a projected psyche, and therefore alive, with a soul.
p 8.
This is a place to explore and discuss my readings.
First reading
Adria Haluszka, THE
SACRED DOMAIN: A SEMIOTIC AND COGNITIVE ANALYSIS OF RELIGION AND
MAGIC IN THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN WORLD The Ohio State University
2010 Proquest Ann Arbor, 2010
The paper uses a cognitive science methodology.
also references empathy, mirror neurones, projection of emotions and ascribing essences towards them ( p 3). Hence objects such as statues have a projected psyche, and therefore alive, with a soul.
p 8.
The GMP has recipes ,' included in this collection of rituals vary from the creation of love
rings and protective amulets, to various methods of divination and
communing with divinity, to spells that help cure dog bites, scorpion
stings, runny eyes or headaches. The spells of the PGM also reflect
influences from a multiplicity of ancient Mediterranean cultures,
including a syncretism of Egyptian, Greek, Jewish and Near Eastern
religious beliefs'. p 12 'This syncretism is more
than a mixture of diverse elements from Egyptian, Greek, Babylonian,
and Jewish religion, with a few sprinkles of Christianity. Despite
the diversity of texts, there is in the whole corpus a tendency
toward assimilation and uniformity'
The syncretism of ideas is interesting and raises questions of how the ideas were spread? traders, missionaries, tourists, travellers, raids and warfare? Is it like today's social media? Do new ideas stimulate interest more than familiar ones? Are they more interesting because they may offer solutions to (medical) problems? Are these related to female aspects of home care like most home grown remedies?
Is this a revolution of individual and social ideas against or complementing State religion? Or were individual religions always present and spread by word of mouth?
My theory on magic is based on the human capacity to predict the future. Animals must also have this. Most of it is unconscious. Eg when someone throws a ball towards me, I can predict with high precision where it will go and where in space and time to catch it. I can predict what will happen at tomorrows meeting, what is for breakfast next Sunday etc. Hence we ask sages for their predictions about the future, as they are more knowledgable. Can we control the outcomes? Mostly yes we can. Where do we draw the line as to what we can have control over and what not? This is the fuzzy area of 'magic'.
p 14 Definition of
magic versus religion The first is intention, since magic can be seen
to achieve immediate and individual goals, as opposed to religion
which can focus on intangibles, long term desires, and collective
issues of society. The second is attitude, since the magician is seen
as manipulative and coercive, in contrast to a submissive and
supplicant "religious" devotee. The third distinction is in
action, since in magic there is a strong focus on precise formulas
and techniques utilized by professional specialists. The fourth
common distinction involves social or moral evaluation, with an
emphasis on magic as immoral, anti-social and even deviant, in
opposition to what are considered the cohesive and socializing
functions of religious practices
"any distinction
between religion and magic is an illusion based on a variety of
fallacies, especially ethnocentric projection and historical
distortion.
Jonathan Z. Smith
posits one aspect of ancient Greek magic as the miniaturization or
domestication of mainstream religious practices, emphasizing the
practical and material side, in which ―smaller‖ objects are used,
such as small-scale temples, shrines, altars, and offerings, with
largely the same functions and intentions as religious practices.
P 15 Fritz Graf closely
examines certain prayers in the PGM and shows how their overall
structure conforms to Greek religious prayer. They are tripartite in
structure, with an invocation, a middle narrative part and the third
part consisting of the actual wish to divinity. The magical phrases
used
are thought to be
special names of gods, used not for coercion but thought to be
especially pleasing to the gods or to serve as credentials of
knowledge.
P 31 In addition to the
importance places on the act of writing, there are also words that
seem to take on an even higher status as special ―powerful‖
speech, words that were thought to be particularly efficient for
communicating with the gods.
So, prayer, inviting the universe to take control, is part of mindfulness, understanding that in the chaos of the universe there are fractals that lie beyond our ken. I see this as right sided brain function We know that the philosophers, Aristotle in particular, sought left brain function, logic and science as opposed to the earlier right brained thinking. Both parts of our brain still function today and are projected onto the world, although we have an unhealthy obsession with left brain analysis.
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