A colourful postcard just came through my letter-box: "Ancient Knowledge", it says, "The Centre for the Study of Self-Knowledge invites you to a series of open lectures: ... Tibetan Psychology (Buhhhata-Consciousness, Ego, Self-Knowledge) ... Mayan Wisdom (Secrets of a lost civilization, pyramids, cosomology) ... Celtic Mysteries (stone circles, leylines, the Runes).
Who believes in this crap? Of course, I have no problem with people studying this stuff for reasons of history or anthropology, but the clear implication of the leaflet (and much else beside) is that we'd be happier, better people if we would just listen to the message of ancient times, and get more in touch with the lifestyle of our cave- or hut-dwelling ancestors.
Well, I don't buy it. Modern life has its problems, but if you want me to swap 21st century medicince, communications, and manufacturing for that of a few thousand years ago, you'll have a long wait. Why suppose that those people were more in touch with truth and reality, and the things that really matter? What possible reason, other than distant romantic mist, is there to suppose that creators of stone circles were wise folk who can give us insights to help our present situation? Perhaps agrarian iron-age hut-dwellers used to sit around the camp-fire and reflect on how much more in touch with the real world the cave-dwelling hunter-gatherers had been.
Of course, such a rant comes with a barb, doesn't it? I came across someone this week declining to follow the ethical teaching of the church, saying that if some people wanted to follow the mythology of a nomadic bronze-age tribe, that was fine, but he shouldn't be expected to join in.
That stings. But I can see where he's coming from. The truth about God surely transcends our circumstances, and if the bible is one of his principal means of revalation, well it cannot be tossed lightly aside. But I'm increasingly coming to the view that we must work much harder to situate that truth for our present generation.
No comments:
Post a Comment