Primal Religions 2020

Excerpt Commentary Kelly Cooke 1/28/2020 Paul Ricouer states in the ‘The Symbolism of Evil’ that “Cosmos and psyche are the two poles of the same expressivity, I express myself in expressing the world ; I explore my own sacrality in deciphering that of the world” (13).” The way that the base layers of the model exerted themselv es were not based on intricate and built upon ideas. The primal layers within the model simply attempted to connect the world to themselves and their own belief systems. 

Outside Reading - myth in history Kelly Cooke 1/23/2020 The country of Palestine was once home to villages and clans of Palestinian people. As persecuted Jewish people in the Russian Empire sought out a homeland of their own, Palestine became an attractive option. Ilan Pappe wrote a book about the conflict that ensued between the two peoples called ‘A History of Modern Palestine.’ In this book, the misconceptions perpetuated about Palestinian land are discussed. The Jewish common folk emigrating to their new home of Palestine were often unaware of the fact that people already lived there. The myth advertised was that the land was not colonized and would be easy to live upon. Unfortunately this myth was a poor representation of the realities within the country. This example of myth demonstrates how powerful myths can be, regardless of the quality of the myth.

Outside Reading - myth in history Kelly Cooke 1/23/2020 The country of Palestine was once home to villages and clans of Palestinian people. As persecuted Jewish people in the Russian Empire sought out a homeland of their own, Palestine became an attractive option. Ilan Pappe wrote a book about the conflict that ensued between the two peoples called ‘A History of Modern Palestine.’ In this book, the misconceptions perpetuated about Palestinian land are discussed. The Jewish common folk emigrating to their new home of Palestine were often unaware of the fact that people already lived there. The myth advertised was that the land was not colonized and would be easy to live upon. Unfortunately this myth was a poor representation of the realities within the country. This example of myth demonstrates how powerful myths can be, regardless of the quality of the myth.

The Primal/Contemporary model Kelly Cooke 1/21/2020 The model we covered is a visual of how religions and spirituality have been developed from primal to contemporary. As new layers are formed and added to the model, there is an elaboration that takes place. It is not necessarily more complex, but it is more elaborate. The way that layers build off of one another implies that different religions are in a way, interconnected. Is that an accurate understanding of the model? As religion is developed, the technologies available to the world is also developed. This adds more layers to following a religion in itself because it is not seen as necessary as it once was. The world has been domesticated to fit the needs of men and they are able to control their world by “playing god” with the elements of wilderness/nature.

Rollo May's "The Significance of Symbols"  "Using symbols opens humans to transcending their immediate concrete situation through abstraction and living toward a possible situation" (20). writing is such a use of symbols, so we see from last class how writing systems are crucial to the elaboration of religion from primal towards the ancient  "...symbols and myths are an expression of man's unique self-consciousness, his capacity to transcend the immediate concrete situation and see his life in terms of 'the possible'..." (33). Is "the possible" here more along the lines of Sartre's nothingness --meaning there are no essential limits on what my life can be--or Nietzsche's slave morality --meaning a projection of one's hopes onto an afterlife? Paul Ricouer's The Symbolism of Evil "Anyone who wished to escape this contingency of historical encounters and stand apart from the game in the n...

Welcome to the 2020 Primal Religions class blog. Make sure to start the blog with your name and the subject of the entry (just as I have done with this post). Blog entries will be considered informal writing assignments and as such will be graded more in relation to content than style. Blog entries will contain questions and answers to questions, as well as reflections that relate to daily classroom discussions, completion of exercises, and reading assignments. Any questions the student has while reading or completing assignments should be written in their blog. Reflections may relate to connections the student makes between discussions in this class and those in other classes, between arguments raised in the readings in this class and those raised in other classes or from informal conversations. Students are encouraged to apply the ideas learned in this class to activities that take place outside of the class. These applications make great reflections. The student should bring ques...