From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Mar 23 2003 - 22:34:34 GMT
DMB:
> DMB said yesterday:
> In addition to the symbolic, intellectual interpretation of life after
> death as a reference to the mystical experience, there is death as a
> literal, biological event too. The earliest planting cultures could see
> that new life sprang from death. They could see new green shoots sticking
> up out of the fallen tree trunk and such. This basic motif evolves so that
> we soon get the seasonal regicide, as in Fraizer's Golden Bough, etc.. The
> sacrifice of God's only son is directly related to the ritual and literal
> human sacrifice that we see all over the world. The central American people
> took it to the extent that were almost constantly sacrificing people
> Death brings life, round and round, that's what the perennial philosophy
> seems to say. Life is a bloody and murderous affair.
>
> Today, DMB adds:
> Death brings life, round and round. Campbell's HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES
> contains a very nice description of the perennial philosophy's view on
> this. I thought I'd posted it a year or so ago, but can't find it. The book
> is home too, but a paraphrase from memory should express the idea well
> enough. All religions essentially say that we emerge out of the ground of
> being, are guided and supported by that ground during our period of
> manifestation and return to it upon death. One can see this in
> Christianity, we're created by God, this life is all about working out a
> personal relationship with God and, hopefully, you'll go to heaven and be
> with God after you die. Pirsig's ponderings, clearly, are more along the
> lines of re-incarnation, or transmigration of the soul. And just to throw a
> kink into the mix, I'm fascinated by so-called "near death experiences".
Me too. I've read a lot of biological-neurological explanations but I'm not
convinced it's just the machinations of a dying brain. What do you
suppose is going on?
Also, in a previous post you said, "The social level not only civilizes the
animal in us, it opens the human heart to transcendent realms." Two
questions: How would you describe the "human heart," and do the
"transcendent realms" you refer to have anything to do with what one
might encounter at death?
Thanks.
Platt
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