The flyers go up everywhere. Come and learn about the Ancient Wisdom of…....let’s say the Celts. “It’s nearly 2,000 years old!” Oooooh!
The anaemic female who squawks on about “intuitive knowledge” hasn’t got a clue about the Celts apart from selective reading of the Mabinogion. The Celt worshiped virility. The strongest warrior had the dubious duty of mounting (yes! that way!) the finest mare every Spring to ensure fertility. Females were distinctly second class, except for the purpose of breeding. Boudicca was an anomaly.
Does she know about an even earlier ancient wisdom? Nearly 3,000 years old? Women were unstable because they had too much blood in them. That’s why nature released some every month. The Four Humours had to be in balance, otherwise women became HYSTERical. No, thats not allowed. That’s bad ancient wisdom.
Pick and choose, pick and choose. It’s true when it suits me. I like it so it must be true. My invisible friend is better than your invisible friend.
Oh, what a relief to return to an objective, empirical reality.
(Don’t forget to have a look at my poetry site: great ideas rendered lyrical)
The flyers go up everywhere. Come and learn about the Ancient Wisdom of…....let’s say the Celts. “It’s nearly 2,000 years old!” Oooooh!
The anaemic female who squawks on about “intuitive knowledge” hasn’t got a clue about the Celts apart from selective reading of the Mabinogion. The Celt worshiped virility. The strongest warrior had the dubious duty of mounting (yes! that way!) the finest mare every Spring to ensure fertility. Females were distinctly second class, except for the purpose of breeding. Boudicca was an anomaly.
Does she know about an even earlier ancient wisdom? Nearly 3,000 years old? Women were unstable because they had too much blood in them. That’s why nature released some every month. The Four Humours had to be in balance, otherwise women became HYSTERical. No, thats not allowed. That’s bad ancient wisdom.
Pick and choose, pick and choose. It’s true when it suits me. I like it so it must be true. My invisible friend is better than your invisible friend.
Oh, what a relief to return to an objective, empirical reality.
(Don’t forget to have a look at my poetry site: great ideas rendered lyrical)
Don’t forget that the pyramids were built by Egyptian magicians who used special sonic vibrations to get the stone blocks raised. Well, that’s at least partially true: pharaoh said (in Jean Luc-Picard’s phrase) “make it so,” which got transmitted on down the line to the overseers who shouted at the workers using somewhat more colorful “sonic vibrations.”
Did you see that recent show on natgeo about the French Architect who has figured out how the pyramids could have indeed, and probably were, built? Very enlightening. Catch it if you have not. I saw it a few months ago.
Did you see that recent show on natgeo about the French Architect who has figured out how the pyramids could have indeed, and probably were, built? Very enlightening. Catch it if you have not. I saw it a few months ago.
Yes, it was very interesting. I’ve always been offended by people who claim that ancient monuments required some sort of supernatural assistance or, like von Danaken, that they were built with help from space aliens. Stuff like that seems to me to disrespect ordinary human ingenuity and commitment.
Yes. They learnt by trying, getting it wrong (bent pyramid) and doing a better job next time. How wonderfully normal and human. Thinking, trying, working, thinking again. It shows what we can do and still do in so many areas. So raise a glass now and then to us, from the day labourer to the architect, the floor sweeper to the scientist. Achievers all.
Agreed. Humans have this propensity to need or want to find supernatural explanations for things. Anybody can claim that god or space aliens did it. The real work is finding out how humans did it, since there is really no evidence to the contrary.
It’s funny how nobody ever talks about “ancient wisdom” when the subject is the low life expectancy or high infant mortality rates among the “ancients.” Golly, I wonder why that is.
It’s funny how nobody ever talks about “ancient wisdom” when the subject is the low life expectancy or high infant mortality rates among the “ancients.” Golly, I wonder why that is.
But bits and pieces of the wisdom of the ancients have been recovered and yield their benefits to those who seek. How about this herbal tea wrapper from Peru?
There’s a packet of Yogi licorice tea in my kitchen (not mine I have to say). Apparently Yogi Teas “Serve the Spirit”.
On the packet it makes a point of mentioning that licorce ‘has been treasured for centuries by many ancient cultures’ and that it was ‘found in King Tutankhamon’s tomb for his enjoyment in the afterlife’.
A nice mixture of the ancient and the eastern. How can it go wrong?
I suspect that a lot of the present ‘ancient wisdom’ trend is brought on by disappointment (justified or not) with the modern world. People like to think that the ancients were more connected with the earth - and were therefore obviously more balanced and possessed of intuitive wisdom.
Reaction to contemporary woes by looking to the past isn’t a new thing. In the Victorian times here in Britain, with the massive advancement of industry and the resulting social disruption, there was a movement towards medievalism and associated myths such as Camelot. It can be seen in the architecture of the period (Gothic Revival) and in art movements such as the Pre-Raphaelites. In the Victorian day people’s knowledge of the rest of the world was relatively limited, so the local medieval world of knights and fare maidens was invoked rather than the current exotic distant ones.
Most “ancient wisdoms” are nothing but modern fantasies that have been brushed with a patina to give them the semblance of age. Like a reproduction of an antique, they are usually made with inferior materials and will fail to stand up to close scrutiny. Therefore they are completely valueless, but for those who fail to understand this, they think they are getting a great deal.
Most “ancient wisdoms” are nothing but modern fantasies that have been brushed with a patina to give them the semblance of age. Like a reproduction of an antique, they are usually made with inferior materials and will fail to stand up to close scrutiny. Therefore they are completely valueless, but for those who fail to understand this, they think they are getting a great deal.
On the other hand, it is worth remembering that the relatively comfortable life we have today is the result of the efforts of the ancients, even though they don’t share in the fruits of their labor.
On the other hand, it is worth remembering that the relatively comfortable life we have today is the result of the efforts of the ancients, even though they don’t share in the fruits of their labor.
Yes, of course, Burt, but I certainly had no intent to diminish the accomplishments of the ancients. However, most of what is sold today as “ancient wisdom” has little to nothing to do with the actual wisdom of the ancients.
Consider the Celts. Everything we know about them, outside of archaeology, comes from the fairly biased reporting of Greeks and Romans, or from the pens of Christian scribes, many of whom reshaped the material to suit their needs. The tales written in The White Book of Rhydderch, from which the afore mentioned Mabinogion is sourced, can be dated no earlier than the 12th century (The conversion of the Celts to Christianity had been mostly cemented by the 5th century). This means that most of what we know about the Celtic religion is either garbled or conjectural. Which means if someone is claiming that their knowledge is sourced from the ancient Druids, they are either deluded or lying (or a combo of both).
Or, to put it more simply, the Egyptians had no knowledge of “Pyramid Power.”
On the other hand, it is worth remembering that the relatively comfortable life we have today is the result of the efforts of the ancients, even though they don’t share in the fruits of their labor.
Yes, of course, Burt, but I certainly had no intent to diminish the accomplishments of the ancients. However, most of what is sold today as “ancient wisdom” has little to nothing to do with the actual wisdom of the ancients.
Consider the Celts. Everything we know about them, outside of archaeology, comes from the fairly biased reporting of Greeks and Romans, or from the pens of Christian scribes, many of whom reshaped the material to suit their needs. The tales written in The White Book of Rhydderch, from which the afore mentioned Mabinogion is sourced, can be dated no earlier than the 12th century (The conversion of the Celts to Christianity had been mostly cemented by the 5th century). This means that most of what we know about the Celtic religion is either garbled or conjectural. Which means if someone is claiming that their knowledge is sourced from the ancient Druids, they are either deluded or lying (or a combo of both).
Or, to put it more simply, the Egyptians had no knowledge of “Pyramid Power.”
I once met a neo-Druid (at a meeting of the Edmonton Society Against Mind Control, as it happens) who said that they had various secret rites, but mainly congregated in Irish pubs to consume copious quantities of “Druid Fluid.”
