Mythology and Religion: In The News

What needs do mythology and religion serve in today's world and in ancient times? Here we discuss the relationship between mythology, religion and science from mythological, religious and philosophical viewpoints.

Moderators: Clemsy, Martin_Weyers, Cindy B.

Locked
vanbengler
Associate
Posts: 54
Joined: Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:04 am
Location: free spirit in training
Contact:

Post by vanbengler »

And yet: as Jesus is purported to have said ( and I concede in advance that the Jesus fact/fantasy/myth is one of the greates myths going) "The truth shall set you free":

From what? As long as you like your "payoff" why change?

I think the whole thing is about :"neither a victim nor a victimizer be" but that takes personal responsibility vigilance, and conscious effort and courage . . . .

"free spirit in training"
aka: Brian Leslie Engler

CarmelaBear
Associate
Posts: 4087
Joined: Wed Nov 27, 2002 3:51 pm
Location: The Land of Enchantment

Post by CarmelaBear »

GP2

~

This "GP2" link is a Wikipedia article (complete with more, better links) about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It's a set of giant accumulations of garbage (mostly non-biodegradable, poisonous plastics) in the ocean. One is said to be twice the size of Texas (Time Magazine). One article says it's the size of Africa.

I know it's not mythology exactly, but when I learned that there was a plastic poison soup "state" in the middle of the ocean.....somewhere between Hawaii and Japan, I think.....it freaked me out.

:!:

CarmelaBear
Associate
Posts: 4087
Joined: Wed Nov 27, 2002 3:51 pm
Location: The Land of Enchantment

Post by CarmelaBear »

The State of New Mexico repealed the death penalty and the Roman Coliseum (also spelled "Colosseum") will be all lit up to honor the event.

Local Report
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

Neoplato
Associate
Posts: 3907
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:02 pm
Location: Virginia
Contact:

Post by Neoplato »

The Roman Coliseum, of course, was once a site of executions.
Maybe the games have just gotten a little more complex and take a lot longer? :?:
Infinite moment, grants freedom of winter death, allows life to dawn.

jonsjourney
Associate
Posts: 3191
Joined: Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:24 pm
Location: Earth

Post by jonsjourney »

the Roman Coliseum (also spelled "Colosseum") will be all lit up to honor the event.
Ah irony...one of my favorites!
"He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher... or, as his wife would have it, an idiot." -Douglas Adams

CarmelaBear
Associate
Posts: 4087
Joined: Wed Nov 27, 2002 3:51 pm
Location: The Land of Enchantment

Post by CarmelaBear »

Yes, the irony. Amazing, isn't it?

Enllghtening.

Fact is that collective or delegated forms of killing tend to exonerate the individual and by extension, the collective that actually performs the act. In contrast, individuals who kill are either given the authority to do so or they are far more likely to be singled out for retribution, shaming, ostracism and associative punishment (ie, others, like family and friends, are found "guilty" by association).
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

Clemsy
Working Associate
Posts: 10645
Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2002 6:00 am
Location: The forest... somewhere north of Albany
Contact:

Post by Clemsy »

Young Americans Losing Their Religion

"It's a huge change," says Harvard University professor Robert Putnam, who conducted the research.

Historically, the percentage of Americans who said they had no religious affiliation (pollsters refer to this group as the "nones") has been very small -- hovering between 5 percent and 10 percent. However, Putnam says the percentage of "nones" has now skyrocketed to between 30 percent and 40 percent among younger Americans...

..."Many of them are people who would otherwise be in church," Putnam said. "They have the same attitidues and values as people who are in church, but they grew up in a period in which being religious meant being politically conservative, especially on social issues."

Putnam says that in the past two decades, many young people began to view organized religion as a source of "intolerance and rigidity and doctrinaire political views," and therefore stopped going to church. ..

...Given that today's young "nones" probably would be in church if they didn't associate religion with far-right political views, he says, new faith groups may evolve to serve them.

"Jesus said, 'Be fishers of men,'" says Putnam, "and there's this pool with a lot of fish in it and no fishermen right now."

In the end, he says, this "stunning" trend of young people becoming less religious could lead to America's next great burst of religious innovation.
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

Neoplato
Associate
Posts: 3907
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:02 pm
Location: Virginia
Contact:

Post by Neoplato »

In the end, he says, this "stunning" trend of young people becoming less religious could lead to America's next great burst of religious innovation.
I'm hoping more for a mythological awakening. I'm tired of "religious innovations".
Infinite moment, grants freedom of winter death, allows life to dawn.

David_Kudler
Working Associate
Posts: 924
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2001 5:03 am
Location: Mill Valley, California
Contact:

Post by David_Kudler »

JCF Fellow Gerald McDermott shared this with us a few days ago; I thought it might strike folks as interesting:
Henri Loyrette, the Louvre's curator, said this week that his visitors cite three reasons for coming to the museum -- La Joconde (The Mona Lisa), the Venus de Milo and the pyramid. "The pyramid has become the only entrance, it marks a rite of passage, an initiation," said Loyrette. The only problem is that it needs to be expanded because it was designed for 4.5 million visitors a year and the museum is now receiving 8.5 million.

He also said that the art in the Louvre, which stops at 1850, is increasingly hard for people to understand -- compared with the impressionists at the Musée d'Orsay and other more modern work. "Visitors know less and less about mythology and history -- including those from wealthiest classes," he said.


~ "Loving the Louvre Pyramid," Charles Bremmer, Times of London
David Kudler<br>Publications<br>Joseph Campbell Foundation<br>publications at jcf dot org

noman
Associate
Posts: 670
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:26 am

Post by noman »

Hello David and all,

I always thought the glass pyramid at the Louvre was an eyesore amid those French Victorian buildings. But I read that the Eiffel tower, built for a world’s fair, was at one time an eyesore for some. It was intended to be temporary. When someone suggested it should be left standing there was fierce opposition for aesthetic reasons. I can understand why. Who wants a big ugly radio antenna scarring the Parisian sky? Now people are objecting to the Pompidou for the same reason. There’s no accounting for taste.

A more serious issue is the loss of interest and appreciation for myth and classic art. This is the same phenomenon Joseph Campbell complained about when he said in the 80s that the humanities are ‘sinking’ in the universities ever since the Sixties. As American universities opened their doors to a larger percentage of the population, the ‘high brow’ became ‘medium brow’. I realize European universities didn’t match us with our mass higher education project. But when the Louvre increases attendance from 4.5 million visitors to 8.5 million it’s bound to include more sports fans – especially if they’re Americans. I can’t help but believe that America’s clout, combined with the internet, has helped to drag the interest in classical art down a bit, even for the wealthy.

People have told me they visited the Louvre – ‘and saw the Mona Lisa’. Then I feel like asking them if they saw anything else at the McLouvre. And I don’t know how the Venus de Milo became the most popular statue of Aphrodite. A goddess that served Western culture so well, for so long, deserves better. Just by Googling I found three statues of the fair goddess that are better in every respect. Judge for yourself.

Venus de Milo on display at the Louvre.

Venus de Capua Roman copy of Hellenistic Greek on display in Naples

Venus kallipygos Roman copy of Hellenistic Greek on display in Naples

Aphrodite, Eros, Pan Hellenistic Greek on display in Athens

- NoMan
Last edited by noman on Tue May 19, 2009 6:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

Clemsy
Working Associate
Posts: 10645
Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2002 6:00 am
Location: The forest... somewhere north of Albany
Contact:

Post by Clemsy »

I was awed by Venus at the Louvre, NoMan. She is an ambassador of antiquity as no reproduction or later interpretation could ever be. Every nick and scrape marks the centuries, and the missing arms lend an air of mystery which seem to say, "Here you see me and know that I am, but you will never know what I truly was."

Did her left hand hold Paris' apple while her right provocatively kept her drapery from slipping to the floor?

We walked the Louvre until our legs shook with fatigue. We filled our eyes until our heads were apt to burst and if I stopped and meditated I could recall much... but what I recall easily and in detail is the Venus de Milo. (Yes, La Joconde also, but the crowd diminished the viewing. It is, of course, smaller than one would wish and it's hard to appreciate in such a press of people.)

But then all things ancient Greek bring me to a state of aesthetic arrest. I lose track of time in the Greek exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC and forget to eat.

Sorry Noman... you other examples are fine, Venus de Capua particularly so, but Venus de Milo has no equal.
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

noman
Associate
Posts: 670
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:26 am

Post by noman »

I realize a little mystery is romantic. But statues speak with body language. And they lose a lot of body language without arms. The Hindus understood this. That’s why Lakshmi has four arms.

http://prafulkr.wordpress.com/spiritual/lakshmi-pooja/

But it isn’t like the artist of De Milo left the arms off intentionally to say something special about the goddess. If that’s so important just edit out the arms of the other goddesses and fantasize all you want.

The Aphrodite that has no equal resides in the Uffizi in Florence.
Venus de Medici [There are so many copies of her I can’t find a pic of the one in Florence]

Wiki says that Napoleon stole Venus de Medici. When it had to be returned the French felt it necessary to claim they had acquired a better Venus. De Milo had a great press agent way back in the 19th century - she built a fan base – like pop singer… I’m not saying she’s ugly. She’s world class to be sure. But there’s a French haughtiness about aesthetics, and especially painting and sculpture that makes her, in the minds of many the single best representation of one of our most enduring goddesses, when she would otherwise be lucky to be third or fourth runner-up. Just imagine if she resided in Athens or Naples and one of her clones was in the Louvre. If that were the case I think we’d sing a different tune.


But you're right. Every sculpture from antiquity is beautiful, in its own way.


- NoMan

Clemsy
Working Associate
Posts: 10645
Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2002 6:00 am
Location: The forest... somewhere north of Albany
Contact:

Post by Clemsy »

Noman, it will come as no surprise that I disagree with just about everything you wrote except for:
Every sculpture from antiquity is beautiful, in its own way.
It all comes down to a matter of personal taste and perception. Wasn't my intention to debate the issue, just balance it.
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

Neoplato
Associate
Posts: 3907
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:02 pm
Location: Virginia
Contact:

Post by Neoplato »

Here is something from CNN today I couldn't resist posting.
Abuse of child 'witches' on rise, aid group says

Christian Eshiett was a rambunctious pre-teen. He would skip school and run away from home for days, frustrating his grandfather, who oversaw the Nigerian boy's care. "I beat him severely with canes until they broke, yet he never shed a tear," said Eshiett Nelson Eshiett, 76. "One day, I took a broom to hit him and he started crying. Then I knew he was possessed by demons. ... Nigerian witches are terrified of brooms." From that day, Christian was branded a witch.
:shock:

To me, this is the same thought process involved in our SS marriage, and dogma discussions. This is the thought process that creates the 'Us" and "Them". Even though many people would dismiss this "witch" persecution as utter nonsense, many people probably couldn't relate it to anything that they "believe" in.

Nonsense is nonsense. Recognizing it as such, is the hard part. :wink:
Infinite moment, grants freedom of winter death, allows life to dawn.

Neoplato
Associate
Posts: 3907
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:02 pm
Location: Virginia
Contact:

Post by Neoplato »

I thought this would be fitting to post here relating to my previous post.
It is not possible to find peace in the soul without security and harmony between the people.- The Dalai Lama
Infinite moment, grants freedom of winter death, allows life to dawn.

Locked