MYTHS ARE HISTORY
On Historical Catastrophism as an Explanation for Myths of Cosmogony
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On Historical Catastrophism as an Explanation for Mythic Cosmogonies
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Accepting certain cosmogonic myths as representative of true history along these lines, what other unresolved issues in the study of comparative mythology might such an approach resolve?
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1) If the objects of creation myths were indeed real natural phenomena and events, they must have been visibly observed by subjective eyewitnesses worldwide, from multiple fields of view. Every peoples’ mythos would thus have consisted of inherited cultural accounts of actual historical events that their ancestors had objectively seen, heard, witnessed, and lived through during earlier epochs, when the world was different to today.
Moreover, these cultures were no less gifted observers of their natural world than we are now. The difference was that theirs was a dangerous and chaotic world, populated by animated spirits and supernatural powers, filled with competing beneficent and malevolent forces. Earth and sky were viewed as being occupied by real sentient beings; and catastrophic natural events were viewed as divine or supernatural behaviors expected to recur in the future. — It was the loss of this basic explanatory principle that later relegated nearly every aspect of mythopoeic thinking to the status of an inscrutable mystery. |
2) Accepting the premise that myths were true accounts of actual historical events, and that the major gods had an astronomical origin, we would likewise expect the planetary “star-gods” were demonstrably apparent to our ancestors as physical, objectively visible entities. This would rather easily explain why the ancients took the astral gods seriously as religious beings; why they built temples for them, sang liturgies, slaughtered sacrifices, narrated legends, and dedicated to them the domains of science, war, agriculture and the arts. — This would also account for how and why the planetary gods had such precise identities worldwide — with quite specific anthropomorphic features and qualities consistently ascribed (such as “eyes,” “headdresses,” mantles, etc., precisely because they were visual, self-evident, physical presences that appeared to be conscious, volitionally active and supremely alive.
It was not because everyday events were highly mysterious and potentially threatening to our ancestors; but rather on account of how mythopoeic man saw just about everything that lived and moved as being animated by a spirit of conscious willful volition, just as he saw himself to be. The planets, the Sun and Moon and other prominent heavenly bodies were seen in this way, as so many other things were, such as the very earth, the sea and sky, mountains, water, fire, rocks, plants, animals, etc. All were seen as conscious beings filled with life. The behavior of “wandering stars” Jupiter and Saturn, Mercury, Venus and Mars, as such, was no different. Their courses through the sky did not always appear to be stably regular and reliable to myth-making peoples in the past. They were not described as faultlessly circling celestial bodies, nor were they depicted as harmless points of light drifting slowly through the sky. — Instead the planets were perceived as astral deities with distinct personalities, who were widely feared and worshiped on account of being actively involved in a series of dangerous interactions in the skies. Creation myths concerning the actions of gods and other supernatural beings would have originated as observations of actual major events, in particular celestial events, witnessed by the members of that culture. Such gods would’ve been wholly immanent in the natural order of things, and simultaneously transcendent on account of their sheer size and the magnitude of their personal power. The dominant mythos of any society would thus have had its unassailable authority, not by any methods of ‘logical proof,’ but rather by being directly presentable on a regular basis in the very same sky all shared overhead. The ancients only needed to look up into the heavenly vault to behold the true objective reality of their religious convictions for themselves. The myths themselves were distinctly clear about this. The ever-present inhabitants of the heavens were popularly perceived as fellow beings towering over everything from above, — just as much a part of the natural order as the land and the sea below — and just as physically evident and concretely real. “In the age of gold, the poets assure us faithfully, the gods consorted on earth with the heroes. ... The first men ... actually believed that they saw the gods on earth” (Vico, New Science 3). The logic behind such outlandish beliefs may prove to be astoundingly scientific after all -- if their preliterate cosmologies were actually based upon observable physical events occurring among the wandering god-stars overhead! — Thus it was that the great myths of the world, so similar in content, could’ve had the same common origin. The celestial sphere was the active wellspring of myth above, where cosmogonic events were seen (and sometimes suffered through) from multiple vantage points on Earth below. |
3) Even a brief cursory glance at the major myths of every traditional culture demonstrates that celestial, geological and other natural phenomena and events make up a large portion of myth storylines. We may therefore hypothesize that ‘great’ or ‘worldwide’ catastrophic events recalled in dozens of mythologies were based on actual large-scale natural events identifiable in the geological and archaeological record. — There are certainly enough references to a great catastrophe, or several catastrophes, within mythology to suggest that such things may actually have occurred; — and furthermore, there is ample evidence within the physical earth sciences for such earth-shaking disasters as those described in myth.
Particularly noteworthy are myths describing catastrophic devastation caused by flood and firestorm, some of which may be attributable to meteorite impacts, the airbursts of meteoroids, or the Earth passing through the debris of disintegrated comets. Gigantic fires, ash rains, mega-tsunamis, rock-slides, volcanic eruptions and climatic downturns would be the presumed environmental effects of such catastrophes. [...] — And furthermore, it is highly unlikely that floods or firestorms which impacted settlements in the Mediterranean or the Near East, would not also have impacted their geographical neighbors the same. This approach suggests that we might regard traditional mythologies as a chronological sequence of historical upheavals rooted in the actual observation of specific real natural phenomena that can be linked to various types of physical evidence. Because some of the proposed catastrophic impacts and after-effects likely occurred during the last several thousand years, roughly coincident to the major developments of human civilization, we may further hypothesize that some of these events also gave rise to otherwise unexplained movements of human populations and the periodic collapses of Bronze Age settlements. Not only could we then account for the geological boundary markers of earthquakes, floods and fires that indicate significant disruptions in the biosphere, we could also begin to explain the cyclic-like series of cultural advancements and retreats in human history uncovered by archeology. |
4) Seeing as so many of these early communities’ rituals were, in effect, elaborate dramatizations of creation myths that described catastrophic devastation caused by geological upheavals, floods and firestorms, we might also hypothesize that catastrophic events were far more likely to have instigated the making of myths than everyday (or even seasonally or annually recurring) events. — If we choose to include the intensity of human experiences that produced the vivid memories of these events, the ancient myth-making traditions take on a greater significance as historical memories that can guide us to additional insights about the past.
Memories of the most damaging catastrophes were probably recorded in myths, for two major reasons: 1) first, because they were very unusual and mysterious phenomena; and, 2) second, because the considerable loss of life and the overwhelming severity of their impact on local societies made them highly important events to be remembered. — This alone seems to account for the grave importance and otherwise inscrutable driving forces, interests, and needs that motivated the incessant labor of handing down their mythology by word of mouth from generation to generation. Their traditions were tenaciously held onto with such dire seriousness because the regular recital of the mythos and the enactment of its accompanying rituals were believed to ward off additional catastrophic events from occurring, thus preserving and ensuring the future stability of the present planetary world-order. |
5) If there is indeed an historical reality behind many or most traditional myths of creation, this also seems to warrant new ways of thinking about myth as a social phenomenon. [...]
— If indeed myths were not only a set of stories perennially retold ... if they were also the recital of things that had really happened in history, clothed in easily-remembered tales to articulate their oral transmission... the messages and data contained in creation myths as such may provide important insights into the development of both science and religion. — If cosmic events indeed influenced prehistoric cultures ... if the cause of the extraordinary development of man in prehistory was indeed delivered by external impulses that stimulated radical changes in the living conditions of primitive man ... it would then seem to be self-evident that the cosmic events recorded in myth must have been seriously dire and disastrous on a world-wide scale, and that such disasters could not result other than in abrupt cultural change. — If myth was indeed something alive and lived ... if history as we know it was the record of those who struggled to survive ... catastrophic impacts during the past several thousand years would have certainly played a critical role in shaping the major developments of human culture, serving as catalysts for profound sociological transformations, and as inspiration for the construction of megalithic monuments and memorials. (The large scale of these constructions, around which myth-making communities organized and orientated themselves in the Bronze age, may likewise be regarded as attempts to respond to and/or communicate with the large visual presences of the planetary gods overhead.) Such an approach to myth would also seem to account for the general unrest and instability archaeologists have uncovered in the Bronze and Iron age strata of human history, indicative of a possible relationship between the political structure and behavior of ancient peoples and the natural order or disorder of things at large. With their world being periodically subjected to floods, earthquakes, droughts, volcanic eruptions, disease, pestilence, cosmic impacts, and other powerful natural events, the fact of being human must have sometimes been stressful and full of fearful decisions and consequences. The fact that the governments of ancient cultures appear to have been rather oppressive and immoderate, chaotic and unprincipled, may be due to the simple fact that nature at large and the cosmic planetary order itself was in a very similar state. Societies deeply affected by the instability of one or more catastrophes may have given rise to irrationally repressive regimes. Unexpected and unnerving celestial events could cause fear and social disruption and even threaten the power of ruling elites, whose political power was often derived from their apparent connection to the heavens, and was largely predicated on being able to control the celestial bodies and keep them regular and predictable. Such situations might also help account for the relatively late development of philosophy and political discourse among cultures otherwise technologically adept and inventive. |
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As above, so below. — If myths of creation indeed constituted oral-based histories of ongoing changes in the solar system, our ancient ancestors would naturally have been unable to withdraw from perceptual contact with planetary and cometary gods, so long as celestial theophanies were their daily and nightly reality.
Mythopoeic thinking would’ve thus been purely and simply a mental mirror of the colorful cosmogonic events unfolding in the heavens above and occasionally touching down on land and sea below. Myth-making would not have been a pre-scientific or pre-rational developmental phase of human psychology, but rather a deeply integral, sympathetic reaction to the dynamic disorder that surrounded them. |