A new book started, loaded with info: "Divine Fury" by Darrin McMahon about the development of the meaning of 'genius' from antiquity through the Christian era to the age of Einstein. It is an academic book laden with footnotes and references, which in many ways is a good thing; unlike some of the odd spiritual pieces presented in this blog, the info here has sound backing. However, as usual with academic books, all information is objectified. There is no central core, or "guts" to it, leading one to feel as if all of history was a trick of mind, the reality of it being only what we can now clarify through our libraries with hard fact. Fortunately, the author has no ax to grind, no debunking in mind. Like Joe Friday, he just wants the facts. There is another book which I think was mentioned here months ago, "The Axial Age" by Karen Armstrong, which did have an ax to grind. The author, a nun turned secular academic, "demystified" the development of the great religions in the so-called Axial Age, from about 500 BC to 600 AD (Islam a late offshoot), leaving one feeling as dried as a husk afterwards. Having read her autobiography (The Spiral Staircase), it seems obvious that she wishes to debunk the mythology that was ground into her. This is not such a book - but it does call for the suspension of any spiritual beliefs as one passes from one time and culture to another, each with its own interpretation of the genii, or genius.
I will touch on much of this in future blogs. For now, it will suffice to mention one small fact brought out in the book that showcases our changing, or secularizing, mentality. In ancient Rome, the birthday party was held not for the person with the birthday, but for his 'genius' or companion spirit, which Christians later adopted as the "guardian angel." Here, relatives were gathered to offer cake and wine to the abiding spirit in the birthday boy. Candles were lit and wished over to give voice to the spirit world for things that one would like to happen in this. So our current custom of birthday parties originated as a pagan ritual to the spirit world.
This is no surprise, as all of the customs from ancient times had spiritual overtones. More than that, all of our verbs and probably all of our nouns (of the latter I am not sure, given my knowledge) also at one time had spiritual meaning beneath them. For instance, as anyone knows who has read the Bible, even to say the word for God was forbidden, as it was extremely dangerous to do so in most settings. That is to say that in ancient times, people simply could not avoid notions of the spiritual, and with even the smallest amount of curiosity were invited, by word and custom, to inquire into the deeper meanings of life.
Yet now we use such loaded words as "awesome" and "weird" with secular nonchalance - just as words for divine beings are used without thought as curses. Why this is so I do not fully understand - some would say it is because of a natural de-evolution as we slip into the last period of the Iron Age. But certainly it also has to do with levels of abstraction. Just as new cities were often built on the forgotten ruins of the old, so new ideas are built on the forgotten wisdom (and words) of old. In so doing, we lose the roots and with it the root meaning. We are suspended high off the ground on the rubble of older cultures, and in so doing, we lose many of the basic and most important elements of these ideas. We see this happening in America today, as the notions of the Founding Fathers are further subsumed by other ideals which to them would be anathema. By this example I do not wish to become political, but only to show how roots are lost. The further we go back, the more we find that our roots are in the mysteries of the world, those mysteries of life and death and fate and heaven and spirit. For many, these deeper notions have been left behind as if they were so much rubble. But the rubble touches the ground, and without the ground, all falls apart.
How different were they from us? How was it to live in an enchanted world? And how telling that we have to ask that, for it reminds us of the direction we have taken in our civilization. While we have gained much - thank god for dentists! - we have lost, or become alienated from, much of our soul. Whereas once it was in our very words, now we have to read and study and dig to a ground that was once everyone's birthright. FK
I will touch on much of this in future blogs. For now, it will suffice to mention one small fact brought out in the book that showcases our changing, or secularizing, mentality. In ancient Rome, the birthday party was held not for the person with the birthday, but for his 'genius' or companion spirit, which Christians later adopted as the "guardian angel." Here, relatives were gathered to offer cake and wine to the abiding spirit in the birthday boy. Candles were lit and wished over to give voice to the spirit world for things that one would like to happen in this. So our current custom of birthday parties originated as a pagan ritual to the spirit world.
This is no surprise, as all of the customs from ancient times had spiritual overtones. More than that, all of our verbs and probably all of our nouns (of the latter I am not sure, given my knowledge) also at one time had spiritual meaning beneath them. For instance, as anyone knows who has read the Bible, even to say the word for God was forbidden, as it was extremely dangerous to do so in most settings. That is to say that in ancient times, people simply could not avoid notions of the spiritual, and with even the smallest amount of curiosity were invited, by word and custom, to inquire into the deeper meanings of life.
Yet now we use such loaded words as "awesome" and "weird" with secular nonchalance - just as words for divine beings are used without thought as curses. Why this is so I do not fully understand - some would say it is because of a natural de-evolution as we slip into the last period of the Iron Age. But certainly it also has to do with levels of abstraction. Just as new cities were often built on the forgotten ruins of the old, so new ideas are built on the forgotten wisdom (and words) of old. In so doing, we lose the roots and with it the root meaning. We are suspended high off the ground on the rubble of older cultures, and in so doing, we lose many of the basic and most important elements of these ideas. We see this happening in America today, as the notions of the Founding Fathers are further subsumed by other ideals which to them would be anathema. By this example I do not wish to become political, but only to show how roots are lost. The further we go back, the more we find that our roots are in the mysteries of the world, those mysteries of life and death and fate and heaven and spirit. For many, these deeper notions have been left behind as if they were so much rubble. But the rubble touches the ground, and without the ground, all falls apart.
How different were they from us? How was it to live in an enchanted world? And how telling that we have to ask that, for it reminds us of the direction we have taken in our civilization. While we have gained much - thank god for dentists! - we have lost, or become alienated from, much of our soul. Whereas once it was in our very words, now we have to read and study and dig to a ground that was once everyone's birthright. FK
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