From: Elizaphanian (elizaphanian@tiscali.co.uk)
Date: Wed Mar 26 2003 - 15:05:26 GMT
Hi Steve,
I agreed with this.
Sam
The actual outlook is very dark, and any serious thought should start from
that fact. (George Orwell)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Peterson" <peterson.steve@verizon.net>
To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 4:53 PM
Subject: Re: MD Pirsig the Postmodernist (Systematic about the
Sophists(Kingsley))
> Dear Sam, all
>
> The reason Cambpell came to mind is that if "ritual is the enactment of a
> myth" as he says, then the relationship between myth and ritual could help
> sort out the social/intellectual bridge associated with ritual.
>
> Wim articulated two point I was thinking of in the Systematic thread.
> Thinking mythically could be thought of as an intellectual pattern that
> predates thinking logically. Also, myths told people why they were doing
> things before other higher quality rationales became available.
>
> A ritual such as the Eucharist is clearly an enactment of a myth. (In
> modern terms, ritual is often defined as "lie," though Campbell suggests
the
> "metaphor" is a far better definition. Whether or not it is associated
with
> any historical event may be irrelevant.)
>
> Every participant in the ritual knows why they are doing it. Such an
> explanation is even part of the ritual: "On the night of his betrayal, he
> took the bread and gave it to his disciples saying..."
>
> So a myth can be a reason for doing something. It is not a logical
reason,
> but a reason nevertheless. Thus it fits Wim's description of the static
> latch of the intellectual level as a copied rationale.
>
> To the extent that carrying out a ritual is unconscious copying behavior,
it
> is social. But it may be a bridge to the intellectual when people begin
to
> think about the myth on which the ritual is based (i.e. why they are
> performing the ritual).
>
> Thanks,
> Steve
MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archives:
Aug '98 - Oct '02 - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
Nov '02 Onward - http://www.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/summary.html
MD Queries - horse@darkstar.uk.net
To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Mar 26 2003 - 18:12:33 GMT