The Muse

The sheer variety of symbols and artefacts in use across the ages and geographies does not necessarily point to a multitude of assumptions and values from which they spring. The study of mythology and folklore then, is a reverse approach to anthropology. This blog is dedicated to my favourite symbols, tales and artefacts - both ancient and contemporary.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

All in good time


No matter who we are, where we are, the one thing that we are never seperated from, is our past. While some of us confine ourselves to cribbing or raving about our own little lifetimes, some others feel incomplete if they cannot make an attempt atleast to delve into the mysteries of genesis itself.

The fact is, people of the latter kind have always formed the majority of the human race. Which is what led to the most ingenious of our inventions - religion; and the most essential of our discoveries - the scientific method. Certain people, among which the Theosophists are the most prominent, believe also in the exixtence of another method - the occult method. But more on that later.

What I wish to say is, that in studying either theology, science or theosophy, we essentially study the same subject - our past - our History.

History as an independent subject also exists, and follows certain methods. It relies upon a body of evidences, i.e. records and the ingenuity of scholars to reconstruct the events past based on them.

Biology, for example, is natural history, and relies on fossil records as well as the DNA of living creatures.

The starry sky, is a picture of the universe that many years ago, whence the light that we see actually left the respective celestial bodies.

The same can be said of rock strata, which to a Geologist, speak volumes of the history of our planet.

In searching for Theories of Everything (TOE's) and Grand Unification Theories (GUT's), physicists try and unravel the mysteries of the big bang itself.

But not all records are tangible, and most are ambiguous. In my opinion however, there are two types of records.

One type of records is photographic. The other is holographic.

A photograph records the intensities of light falling on the film. It captures the scene instantly and can be accessed instantly - by the unaided eye.

A hologram records the phase difference between the two LASER sources that are made to fall on the scene to be captured, and can be accessed again only with the aid of a LASER source.

Most records used for formal purposes are photographic, like the fossil records. They are usually unambiguous, i.e. they do not require any interpretation.

The holographic records, which require decoding, constitute a body of knowledge called Mythology.

Being of a, let's say curious mindset, I sought to unravel the mysteries of creation since a very early age. Indeed, it is this thirst for knowledge which led me to pursue the pure sciences to a level as serious as graduation - I am a Physics major.

But I've had an equal measure of exposure to mythology as well. At an age when the elders of the family indoctrinate the young ones in their prevalent religion, I was taught to enjoy the stories without being compelled to believe them to be true.

This was how I became a mytho junkie and this is what I feel mythology means to mankind. As for more details, all I can say is that they'll come, all in good time.

No comments: