The End of the World

Limbo9

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Metaphor comes from the Greek Meta, a passing over, or a going from one place to another, and phorein, to move or to carry. Metaphors carry us from one place to another, they enable us to cross boundaries that would otherwise be closed to us. Spiritual truths that transcend time and space can only be borne in metaphorical vessels whose meaning in found in their connotations - not in their denotations, the hard, factual, unidimensional casings of their historical reference.

For instance The End of the World, that great metaphor of spirituality that has been so explosively employed by those who have taken its denotative skin and thrown aside its connotative meat.

The End of the World is not a cataclysmic event to whose final judgement terror we draw ever closer. The End of the World comes every day for those whose spiritual insight allows them to see the world as it is, transparent to transcendence, a sacrement to mystery. The End of the World is, therefore, metaphoric of our spiritual beginning rather than our fiery ending.
 
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Limbo9 said:
Metaphor comes from the Greek Meta, a passing over, or a going from one place to another, and phorein, to move or to carry. Metaphors carry us from one place to another, they enable us to cross boundaries that would otherwise be closed to us. Spiritual truths that transcend time and space can only be borne in metaphorical vessels whose meaning in found in their connotations - not in their denotations, the hard, factual, unidimensional casings of their historical reference.

For instance The End of the World, that great metaphor of spirituality that has been so explosively employed by those who have taken its denotative skin and thrown aside its connotative meat.

The End of the World is not a cataclysmic event to whose final judgement terror we draw ever closer. The End of the World comes every day for those whose spiritual insight allows them to see the world as it is, transparent to transcendence, a sacrement to mystery. The End of the World is, therefore, metaphoric of our spiritual beginning rather than our harsh and fiery ending.
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Couldn't it be both? Or neither?
 
KingMerv00 said:
Couldn't it be both? Or neither?
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Even if only one person throughout history has taken the spiritual meaning from the connotation, that is enough to make it impossible to be neither.

It could be both, but I strongly doubt it.
 
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Limbo9 said:
Even if only one person throughout history has taken the spiritual meaning from the connotation, that is enough to make it impossible to be neither.

It could be both, but I strongly doubt it.
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We live in a world of definition by concensus. By consensus, we have decided that the "End of the World" means cataclysmic change. You can define it however you like, but don't expect an average person to know what you are talking about.
 
The Garden of Eden is another great example of mis-read metaphor.

Was it a literal place on Earth? No, of course not. It's symbolic. The Garden represents our former state of unity with the transcendant. In that state, we were beyond duality. Dualities such as male and female, good and evil, past and future, life and death. We were one with God. Androgynous. Eternal.

Then, the infamous apple. Was it a literal fruit? No. The apple represents the key to the realm of duality. Now here we are, in the realm of duality, and so we "know good and evil."

So the first tree was the ticket to duality. The other tree, the one of Eternal life, is the ticket back. When we eat the fruit of Eternal Life we are returning to our original state - unity with the transcendant.

It's no coincidence that The Tree of Eternal Life is the Bo Tree underwhich the Buddha sat.
 
KingMerv00 said:
We live in a world of definition by concensus. By consensus, we have decided that the "End of the World" means cataclysmic change. You can define it however you like, but don't expect an average person to know what you are talking about.
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We also live in a world that has forgotten the true meaning of its religious symbolism and metaphor. Thats why there are so many religious conflicts in the world.
 
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Correa Neto said:
Couldn't it be just a myth?

Inspired by our very fears?
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To describe religious teachings as myth is not to de-bunk them. The contemporary impression of myth as falsehood has led people to think of them as fantasies passing as truth. That is the wrong way to look at myth.

Myth is always metaphor.
 
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Limbo9 said:
To describe religious teachings as myth is not to de-bunk them. The contemporary impression of myth as falsehood has led people to think of them as fantasies passing as truth. That is the wrong way to look at myth.
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If you want to communicate clearly, you are going to need solid definitions. It seems to me that you simply redefine insults upon religion until it isn't an insult anymore.
 
KingMerv00 said:
If you want to communicate clearly, you are going to need solid definitions. It seems to me that you simply redefine insults upon religion until it isn't an insult anymore.
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Mythology is other peoples religion. Religion is mis-read mythology.
 
Another example.

The Virgin Birth does not refer to the biological condition of Mary, the mother of Jesus, but to a rebirth of the spirit that everyone can experience. By the same token The Promised Land refers not to a geographical location but to the territory of the human heart which anyone can enter.

Virgin Birth is a spiritual status that was granted to many, many world teachers and powerful men. For instance Pythagoras, Plato, Alexander the Great, Zoroaster, The Buddha, Sargon, Perseus, Jason, Miletus, Minos, Asclepius and many others.

And of course, Anakin Skywalker.
 
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Limbo9 said:
Another example.

The Virgin Birth does not refer to the biological condition of Mary, the mother of Jesus, but to a rebirth of the spirit that everyone can experience. By the same token The Promised Land refers not to a geographical location but to the territory of the human heart which anyone can enter.

Virgin Birth is a spiritual status that was granted to many, many world teachers and powerful men. For instance Pythagoras, Plato, Alexander the Great, Zoroaster, Sargon, Perseus, Jason, Miletus, Minos, Asclepius and many others.
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Isn't it possible that the virgin birth was meant literally at first?
 
Someone's been reading a lot of Joseph Campbell or Carl Jung, or both. Good. And good message. Keep 'em coming.
 
Limbo9 said:
... Spiritual truths that transcend time and space can only be borne in metaphorical vessels whose meaning in found in their connotations - not in their denotations, the hard, factual, unidimensional casings of their historical reference.
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Now go to this link and find the "Monday, October 24, 2005" entry, 4th paragraph.

Not a good start, plagiarism.

Unless, of course, you are Joseph Campbell.

'Luthon64
 
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