Religious Backgrounds

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.

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I'm not trying to push this idea as hard fact, but there is an understanding going on in certain circles that leads to understanding that science is coded into the earliest mythologies.

We have a conversation going on here about how scientists are the modern priests and so on. What if the ancient priests were scientists as well? What if science has been there in the evolution of world religion right from the dawn of civilization? Here's a summarizing statement from a book entitled "The Science of the Dogon: Decoding The African Mystery Tradition", by Laird Scranton:

“I now realized that the string theory diagrams constituted direct evidence of science in the Egyptian hieroglyphic language. The name of the mythological Egyptian Goddess, who was responsible for the creation of matter and the words for the method by which she created it, were expressed in the clearest of terms of what could only be described as string theory or some other closely ‘related theory’ (string theory is a wave based theory by the way). No well meaning critic could claim that anthropologist’s had misrepresented the resemblance, nor was there much basis for suggesting that it was a coincidence because the hieroglyphs matched not merely one but three separate scientific diagrams. Most important was the context in which the symbols were found – as part of an explicit mythological discussion of the creation of matter. This context had been firmly established by document after document from the beginning to the end of Egyptian culture. The astounding implications behind the meaning of these three ordinary hieroglyphic words were somewhat staggering. They meant that the resemblances between Dogon mythology and science were likely to be more than wishful thinking. They also implied that the mythologies of the world could actually be speaking truthfully when they state that the skills of civilization were ‘taught to humanity’.
As a consequence, I now believe that the flood gates have opened. It is distinctly possible that there is ‘new science’ to be found in the Egyptian hieroglyphs – those remarkable 5,000 year old drawings whose mysteries could well provide important clues to modern scientists. Moreover, the very existence of these astonishing symbols among the texts of ancient society’s calls for an adjustment in the way that we understand and interpret our own history. These symbols of science also confront us with a host of new and difficult questions, many of which must eventually be answered. The foremost of these questions might be to ask (this time in all seriousness) who took such great care to help us organize our earliest societies? Who was so concerned about our eventual development that he or she encoded these essential facts of science into the symbols and stories of our mythologies? We know that many of the most ancient sources considered these teachers to be Gods – and surely a person from 3400 BC would have perceived them as such. However, modern Dogon priests insist that they were not Gods and specifically say that they referred to themselves simply as “agents of God.” Whatever the case may be, there are a few simple observations that can be made about these teachers with some degree of certainty. They knew a lot about science – perhaps more than our scientists today. Whoever they were, they demonstrated an absolute commitment to helping us. In the end, they went to very great lengths to 'encode and preserve' their message in ways that were carefully 'calculated to survive' and that seemingly were meant to be ‘discovered and recognized’. I consider this book a call to the curious and the informed to keep looking for truthful answers to the difficult questions of the world and a challenge to those who are more than able to continue to reach out generously to those who are not yet able.” – Laird Scranton

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