Rhyan Harrison Ecology of Magic

In Abram's book The Spell of the Sensuous, Abram gives all the credit of his newfound respect for the spirits to his trip to the Indonesian wilderness. For him, this is a sort of pilgrimage in finding the spirits to connect with the way the people of oral traditions did. For example, during one of Abram's nights, he comes across a cave to stay in while a storm was raging outside. He sleeps on his back, observing spiders building a web whilst listening to pouring rain, thunder, and lightning. In this, he finds a strange calmness in the simplicity of it, being at tune with nature. Abrams calls this his first experience with the spirits that inhabited the land he was in. He says there is an intelligence that lies with the nonhuman nature in these parts, shattering the notion we have of thinking and feeling.

In this, Abram seems to be saying that there is more to the Indonesian mountains than what meets the eye. One has to be able to look past our given senses to be able to see what exactly is there. For him, it came in a time of silence, serenity, and being alone. I wonder if this is an equation for finding the discoveries that he has made. Can anyone go to the same cave he was in, do exactly what he did and find these spirits? Probably not. Is there something specific about this cave that is unique from all other caves? Maybe there is, but I'm sure one could find the same discoveries in a different area. So, if its not unique to this specific cave, then what is different? My assumption would be the head-space and isolation that Abrams found when he did these specific tasks. He found this way of thinking by accident, not by purposefully seeking it out. In that way, we might also find it. By recognizing that nature, living beings, non-living beings, caves, trees, spiders, storms might all be connected in some way or another. We simply have to look and be able to see it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Adam Sheldrick- Thoughts on cannibalism

Throughout this class, we have learned about various forms of traditions and customs that I was not aware of before. With that being said I think that it is not right for humans to consume other humans under any circumstances. I am a firm believer in letting people do their own thing and not bother them when it comes to religion but there’s is a point where you have to draw the line and say enough is enough. I understand that if there are traditions for certain religions and groups of people where cannibalism has been practiced, but there are other ways to honor God. It is not my place to tell them what they are doing is morally wrong but something should be put in place to attempt to put an end to this. There have been many times throughout history where things have been carried on because it was seen as “normal,” but then as time has gone on changes were put into effect to stop it. The rates of cannibalism have decreased as history has gone on which is a good sign because as the data...
Read more

Adam Sheldrick - The Significance of Symbols

In the Rollo May reading on The Significance of Symbols, he talks about how man is the only symbol-using organism. This is important because this is what sets us apart from the other creatures in this world. The ability of “man’s capacity to separate inner meaning and the outer existence” is what gives us the ways that we can learn and understand symbols and put them into action and be able to communicate with them. This reading covers multiple of the concepts that we have talked about in class, such as the sacred with the history that comes along with symbols and how they have evolved over time just like humans have in terms of intelligence. Paul Ricoeur goes over his definition of a myth in his writings of The Symbolism of Evil. His interpretation of a myth is “a traditional narration which relates to events that happened at the beginning of time and which has the purpose of providing grounds for the ritual actions of men of today...” in this definition Ricoeur helps us better under...
Read more

Kip Redick Intro

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...
Read more