Personally I like all myths that are shared by cultures separated by time and distance. I only like biblical stories when it can be shown that they evolved from older myths. Thankyou 👍
The best possible follow-up for this video would cover stories about attempts to defeat death. The thing that popped out the most for me begs this question: The concept of the skinwalker sounds like it's connected to the skin-changer stories, but how closely related is it, and does the skinwalker story occur in places where the skin-changer story doesn't seem to be known? Also, does anyone else imagine that anxieties about the dead rising again and forced burial likely originated with the movement of a bloating corpse poorly covered with loose dirt?
I personally enjoy the comparisons. Perhaps a follow up about how the Adam and Eve story compares with other cultures' ideas of an early deathless paradise and its loss. Really anything you post is gold so I'm waiting for whatever it is :3
@@Crecganford would it be hard for you to make subtitles for your older videos? They are so interesting, but I feel like I have lost most of information due to difficulties with understanding accent
thats why Sephiroth from final fantasy 7 is the most remarkable videogame villain of all times, because he said to cloud "aslong someone remember me i will live forever" D; also alexander the great of macedonia and julius ceasar D; they understood being immortal means to achive something that humanity will remember all the time as long humanity exsist.
Excellent subject. Yes I personally would like to hear more. This channel is a gold mine, you are absolutely brilliant man, with super topic selections.
The Mowu and Spideree story is particularly remarkable in the way it describes a behavior we still have to deal with today. I think a lot of people could relate to the basic template of it in some way. It's practically a meme.
Another fascinating video- and very timely! Re: the mention of ancient use of psychedelics, I definitely would be interested in learning more about how that shows up in various mythologies & traditions around the world.
This channel is one of the few that I seriously look forward to the regular uploads. Great content, sir, all the work that goes into it is very much appreciated 🙏
I think it makes perfect sense for humans to link death and concepts about immortality to childbirth and procreation (and vice versa). Evolutionarily speaking, a species that would only consist of the same "immortal" members is much more prone to accidents or changes in environments, and is also less able to change its own genom to adapt. As such, reproduction is necessary to ensure long-term survival. This is not an active choice, it is a "rule of nature". Basically it turned out this way (that most if not all life works like this), not because it made sense, but because life that didn't work like this died out way too quickly. You can see the motif "new replacing old" in many stories, including modern fiction, with examples such as Elves (leaving Middle-Earth), vampires (hunted), greek titans and gods (the latter replacing the former). Immortality is, practically speaking, the alternative to procreation. And for such myths to develop, one must only think about the inception of life, to draw conclusions about its end. We are born into this world, and that is also the reason we die. I wouldn't be surprised, if such ideas were present ever since humanity developed consciousness and reason.
We have 3 deaths, the first death is the actual physical death. The second death is the memorial, funeral, wake, or what have you. The final death is when the last living person who knew you has died, and you are forgotten 💔
The "change your skin" story is so inspiring. Changing and adapting is indeed crucial to live a long life, as well as embracing the fact that everything changes.
I laughed at how you kept the explanations at a level where children could watch. I can hear so many parents answering "What does that mean," with a simple, "I'll explain it to you later."
I find it so beautiful how echoes of growing up and finding out about death for the first time end up in the stories we've told ourselves for a hundred thousand years ...
I've always had the thought that has been inferred by the way family spoke when I was a kid, that the "otherworld", or the "underneath", was like a waiting room for the soul... and babies/children having an "old soul" was one of those souls returning.
Hey, if there is a "waiting room" for the soul and u come back to the Earth, it means u never have a eternal life? Do we have to go back to this horrible place (earth) again and again?
The first story from West Africa reminds me of the Native American story of Coyote and Raven debating how long all the creatures of the land should live.
"Losing Immortality"? Awesome idea to explore, Jon. Thank you. I imagine it like this.....as when we were all children, when we cannot imagine anything except that this will last forever.... And then the inevitable question from us children after someone we know, dies: "Why do people die?" Probably parents from all over the world struggled to answer this very penetrating and challenging question, and all of them came up with different answers, which in its own way points to something more revealing. The universal answer to "why do we die?" depends on your local economy (fishing, hunting, farming, some version of killing, etc.) but the need to have an answer...that makes sense to a child....while still making the parent seem in charge....creates the universal conditions to invent the same or similar answer. "We kill to live. But because we kill, that doesn't make us bad, because we die too. Therefore, in order to not have a crying child for the next 2 days, let us just say something that we don't really know, and can't know anything about. Let's just say that it's an endless loop, so that this kid will finally shut up, and have something to think about, and we can get back to doing what we were doing before." It's not a "Truth", it's more like the lowest common denominator that seems to work, independantly discovered, to assuage people's anxieties about the unknown and the unknowable, so it is wide-spread without stemming from the same "original"......white lie. It's not a dispersed idea. It is a convergent idea, with many local variations about how to get there, and where "there" is. Lovely summary. You are a gift to us all. Thank you.
"If you die before you die, then you won't die when you die" sounds like a reference to ritual death in the initiation ceremonies of several religions, including the "baptism" of Christianity. Of course it could also be about hallucinogens, or the two topics may not be separate.
Thank you. I find it very interesting to learn that a lot of proto-myths about dearth considered human originaly immortal. The "skin has to change" is fascinating.
Really interesting as always thanks. Thanks also for offering to cover plants related to immortality. Just wanted to mention Peter Lamborn Wilson's Ploughing the Clouds: the Search for Irish Soma, though you're likely already aware of it. So a vote for including fly agaric from me thanks!
I have to admit that even though this is an academic video and there are all kinds of interesting take aways, probably the main reason I checked this one out is that I'm haunted by death. And I grieve over certain people. So there is something comforting in seeing how people have handled it throughout time. That it's hard but I'm not alone.
Your last point was a core Ancient Egyptian belief regarding death. Speaking the deceased's name kept them alive in the afterworld. The corollary was also true: those whose names are never spoken again are lost even in the afterlife. To that end, it was somewhat common for pharaohs to order the removal of names from monuments. Ramses II took this to the extreme by having names replaced with his own on tons of monuments -- one of his nicknames, The Great Builder, partly stemmed from early archaeologists/historians not realizing that he wasn't responsible for many of the works his name was on.
@@cyankirkpatrick5194 if you want to be rich, act rich. If you seek knowledge, then actively looking brings it. You have to use your body as well as your will to be heard. Your body speaks your intentions out loud. Manifesting your desires by emulating them in the physical.
I am interested in myths as transmitted by culture, and the collective unconscious. I can’t tell you how many times weird images popped up in my dreams and I had no idea what they were talking about. And then I looked them up in a symbol dictionary and they turn out to be well-known. Like the shedding skin, for example.
Thank you for another excellent video and perfect timing for a Halloween weekend! Also appreciate your links to your other videos - very helpful to rewatch those to expound on specific subject (like more on death puppers and snakes!)
Wonderful and insightful video. Your last reference to the Indoeuropeans reminds me of Norse, Havamal 77: Cattle die, | and kinsmen die, And so one dies one's self; One thing now | that never dies, The fame of a dead man's deeds
I am glad I found your channel I love history and mythology and being American I have had to teach myself the American school system is one of the worst in the developed world. I appreciate your work keep up the good fight brother.
Dr Alice is an amazing scientist. I am not exactly sure what proper credentials to call her by currently. I knew she was pursuing other doctorates. Thank you for a great video. I wanted to say episode because it’s like watching my favorite show on tv lol.🎃
I seem to remember that Carlos Castaneda in his books put forward the idea that those who had had children were not able to truly be warriors. He wrote that his teacher believed that one's luminosity emanating from the naval would become a hole thus severing the connection with universal power and thus the ability to transition to an afterlife.
More about the psychodelics please. I looked up The Sacred Mushroom and came up with two books. Are you referring to The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross by John Allegro or The Sacred Mushroom: Key to the Door of Eternity by Andrija Puharich?
The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross was a book I read a while ago, an interesting concept, and one I believe the Vatican tried to hide for some years. Neither of these books have a strong academic bias, and so consider that if you read them, but they are interesting none the less.
Yes, I noticed that. That looks like it may be a problem with The Immortality Key as well. I see that Graham Hancock wrote the foreward which says to me the book is pseudoscience targeting. There can be good and real info in those kinds of books but it’s work to separate the wheat from the chaff. My supposition is that because those are the books you are talking about there isn’t other readily available more academicly sound work.
Hey man, anthropology major here. My brother and I have loads of discussions about myth and religion and history. We found your page and have been blown away by your analysis of several things. I had a suggestion for subject for you to look into. Connections between stories of vampires werewolves grims and hellhounds.
I've discussed Hell Hounds and Werewolves, but vampires I haven't. I will do a piece on them in the near future, as they are quite a fascinating subject. Thank you.
extraordinary-'Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Choose life and live thereof'. Which precisely aligns to your last comment on the video..Well done Sir.
I just found your channel and I’m binging many of your videos. As a fellow academic (different discipline though) I appreciate your academic approach. Your videos are amazing and very interesting
Again, a great video Jon, and story telling. Here something I like to add as an example 😉 Like in the Japanese Shinto story where the Allfather Izanagi had deceived the goddess of the Underworld. In revenge, the goddess will make a thousand people die every day in the creation of Izanagi. In turn, the Allfather arranges for one thousand five hundred women to give birth every day as compensation. Source, Joseph Campbell, Power of the Myth.
Wonderful as always! And I deeply resonate with your conclusion. The myths of our ancestors, otherwise profound intuitions about the Cosmos, have inspired a solemn ethos of dead veneration, of remembering and celebrating the ancestors in many cultures. I particularly enjoy the view of Historian of Religions Mircea Eliade on this: "The transformation of the dead person into an 'ancestor' corresponds to the fusion of the individual into an archetypal category. In numerous traditions [...] the souls of the common dead no longer possess a 'memory'; that is, they lose what may be called their historical individuality. The transformation of the dead into ghosts, and so on, in a certain sense signifies their reidentification with the impersonal archetype of the ancestor. The fact that in the Greek tradition only heroes preserve their personality (i.e., their memory) after death, is easy to understand: having, in his life on earth, performed no actions which were not exemplary, the hero retains the memory of them, since, from a certain point of view, these acts were impersonal."
I agree, yes, the hero is very important, almost replacing the god's roles in certain aspects. I do have a lot of time for Eliade, and her student, Lincoln, both have written some exceptionally enlightening work on this. Thank you for watching, and taking the time to comment such thoughtful words, they are much appreciated.
Fascinating! I am going to stretch it and state that the continuity of our present existence is the immortality of our ancestors and it will be our immortality and of those to come. Thank you. Good morning from Portugal :))))))))
That is an interesting thought, and yes, I can agree with the sentiment behind that, we are after all, the sum of our ancestors experiences, as well as our own.
Death is not inevitable, but change is. I thought about this one night. Some things don't die..some are not alive to begin with. But nothing stays the same forever. This was my most philosophical thought at some point:)))
Really great content and it’s always getting better! Loved this episode! PS - am curious about some of the book titles that you have behind you on the video! Your personal library must be really great.
I actually think this myth of death and immortality actually comes from the cognitive revolution of about 60,000 years ago. We went thru some kind of revolution and we left Africa, started to make cave paintings, probably even started having early religious ideas. I think it’s got more to do with us being able to have abstract ideas, contemplate the future, and our realization of our own mortality. Like before that, we didn’t actually possess awareness of our imminent death. Like we were more like animals before
Good timing. Today is the 3rd anniversary of my first First Death. I was in cardiac arrest for 40 minutes. They stabilized me in a coma, from which I arose on the third day, Halloween. Well, the modern date of Halloween, not the actual cross-quarter day on the 7th of November. I've been thinking about religions since then, new and old, real and invented. I had been working on a novel that included a fictional idea for a prehistoric religion set around 26,000 years ago. After my death experience, I wonder if I should pursue it for real. One of the ideas I had was to have a holy place where living members would continuously read the names of all the members who had passed (perhaps including names requested by non-members), so that they are never forgotten. Of course, I wonder if that's a good idea or not, in case someone wants to experience the second death and find out what, if anything, is beyond that. The original idea for the story was to include a claim of regeneration in the prehistoric religion that would serve as a myth for a future society that develops cryogenic stasis, medical regeneration, synthetic neurology, mind-machine interfaces, and Artificial Intelligence for something I call Telepresent Immortality. This would work by alternating waking biology and a synthetic anthropoid avatar. The biological person give the avatar their memories and the synthetic anthropoid takes the place of them during long periods of "sleep" during regeneration or while taking a vow of dormancy in cryosleep that can last years or centuries. A period of mind-linking and discussion with the avatar and biological person allows them to gain and remember what happened while they slept as if it was their own memory. I tried to make the tech as real as possible in the hope that it could one day be realized.
What a coincidence. I think that you should pursue your goal. Already scientists demonstrated that we give our memories to our children encoded in DNA. Memory is not possible without being encoded in DNA. Meaning that we have with us the memories of our ancestors, possibly not all of them, only those parts we inherit... but we have no conscious access to them. I think when we dream, make a story or draw we have access to some of it, also our instincts are based on those memories.
I love your lectures. I an a Seventh Day Adventist who believes in the bible and the writings of Ellen G White so was on e is the founders of our church. I find your findings amazing and would love to know more about the Germanic and English gods of my origins. I am an Australian. Thank you so much for what you have done. You have answered many questions that regular society throws about. ❤
* Fruits have seeds. Stones do not... * A comment on the 23:54 part: In Serbian, the word for Moon - "Mjesec" could be interpreted as: "think/feel + cut" (mjete +sec). One of the meanings associated with the Moons effect on psyche is- change- the mood swings, PMS, etc... *Regarding the dead "buried underground": The fantastic F.Herbert's SF novel "Dune" offers a very nice picture of that motif in the part where Alia has all the memories of her ancestors. Might be helpfull to a point... PS. Glad to have the translatable subtitles now. Now I can share your valuable vids with more people. Tnx. Keep it up. :) Cheers! :)
PPS. I am just adding potential clues that I stumbled upon, instead of interpretations... I see communication as a sort of "mental feeding". But why chew on what's already been chewed up by another? Gotta keep the brain muscle in shape; not lose one's "mental teeth", or weaken the abilities of one's "mental liver"! Also I'm bad at regurgitating. :D
Please do an extensive video on the Sacred Mushroom maybe including some history on the old gnostic interpretations of the Tanakh. Also might you be able to do one on the Sons of Light or other early interpreters of the New Testament
Excellent work Jon. All these myths allude to much the same story as in Genesis. Some blame the Serpent others blame ourselves, others say we were tricked and the Serpent was guiding us but other powers intervened. 'The stone in the water' tale and our reincarnation interrupted. So you've added greatly to my knowledge and confirmed some connections to other knowledge ive learned. I thank you for that wisdom Jon. Keep up these deep dives they really are enlightening.
@@Crecganford thank you for acknowledging my quest for deeper understanding. I think you know where im coming from. On the same track. I hope i inspire you to more also Jon. I appreciate your efforts. You obviously do read and understand your audience's enquiries personally. Thats very heartening. I appreciate it. My Thanks to you.
@@Crecganford you also inspire me to do more than just add comments, i think its time i put some videos together as you do. Maybe we inspire each other. Fascinating to read your reply,.. it opens some doors to what your into and why you do it. Similar to myself, unquenchable desire for enlightenment and true wisdom. I hope im not misguided in that appraisal, i feel im not.
As with most mythology, I think these stories are best understood through inner-outer correspondence, ie, by looking at the inner meanings. In this light, I don't think it is necessarily the case that our ancestors literally thought of themselves as immortal. Rather, the well-defined sense of separate self in a dualistic mode of experiencing had not yet fully emerged. Just as with infants in the oceanic feeling of primordial unity with no theory of mind regarding an "other", so too may early humans have experienced life. Primordial non-dual awareness has often been called the deathless state. With the entrance into dualistic experiencing comes the rise of heightened autobiographical self-awareness, sense of alienation and separateness, and--most critically--the painful awareness of one's own eventual death. The psychedelic experience and/or various mind-training practices involves an attempt to return to non-dual awareness by stripping down the perceptual and conceptual distractions to the point of minimal phenomenal experience without self-regard, thus regaining access to the deathless state. This process can also be called ego-death. It doesn't necessarily mean one will not eventually die physically, but the sting of death is removed through the selfless view. The state of "pure consciousness" (or at least with minimal phenomenal content) is inherently blissful and unconcerned with death. After all, from a non-self perspective, who is it that is going to die anyway? And why worry? (This also relates to the idea of describing paradise via negation--it can refer to the equanimous and peaceful state arrived at through the negation of the self-concept as well as the reifying tendency dualistically to see phenomena as discrete, independent entities having essence as opposed to interdependent, relational processes.) I suspect that early ancestors experienced such states of bare awareness--with its attendant sense of infinity and deathlessness--and then literalized or concretized that experience into the belief that by practicing ego-death in this life--in which consciousness continues without self-reference or discursive thought--one might similarly achieve the same feat at actual physical death, allowing mind or consciousness to continue. It is fascinating to compare all this to the Buddha's chain of dependent arising, in which, because of confused grasping at self and other, birth in dualistic cyclical existence occurs, as well as suffering of sickness, old age and death. Just like in these other stories, in the chain of dependent arising, death "enters the world" at the point of craving, sensory contact and contracted egoic identity with its endless proliferation of forms (eg, eating and sex and offspring). "The world" is understood not as the "world at large", apart from experience, but the only world which can possibly be known: the three-part "world of experience" (observer, observed and observing). Edward Eddinger's "Ego and Archetype" is a great book which elucidates some of this line of thinking, particularly with regard to the Garden of Eden story.
Until quite recently I wanted to be cremated and my ashes flung about in a scenic spot. My first preference would be Viking burial, or a sky burial, but both are disallowed under current US law, and I don't want to get my heirs in trouble with the law. Now, I want a tree burial. Your remains are wrapped up in a semipermeable container bag with a tree seed. Your nutrients feed the young tree. You become a tree in a way. The thought of being embalmed, put in a hard barrier casket and buried just seems wrong to me. I don't want to be a semi-decayed corpse in an underground box - that seems disrespectful and wasteful. Let my remains nourish new life. I would love to be a tree. Sunshine and wind and rain. I want this so badly! That is [bleeping] cool! I need to update my will.
People will be used as compost soon enough, its not fiction but fact, too much land is being used for graves even though its a lucrative scam business..We have to pay to live and have to pay to die!!
I seem to recall some Hominid finds in Africa where bodies seemed to have been deposited deep in caves, sometimes tools left in there too. I imagine this is an early version of burials.
The Neolithic village of Ba'ja in Jordan, they uncovered a buried-under-the-room skeleton with a beautiful necklace In the narrative of a documentary, they talked about the different attitudes between a culture that buries the dead under their home and one that buries them as far away as is practicable. Though they admit to an obvious difference, they persistently discuss the grief associated with death. It seems to me from the many different myths and ritual around death that grief is not a necessary response to the death of a loved one, even a revered one. There is, obviously the after-lives. And in the exposure-cultures the idea of paying a debt. I've started to think we overlook the simple acceptance of death. Full stop. And the possibility that these were simply tucked in for the last time. I know of no current translations of any such cessationist myths, but I do now see a distinct possibility that some of the translations and, even more importantly, the reconstructions of paleo-myths, expecting to find answers to the "big question", in the absence of an explanation have filled the void with the idea of ... whatever came to mind.
In Old Europe civilizations, they found bones of a person buried in the wall in a bowl, nowadays in the same place, there is a custom ritual when a person dye to put a piece of his hair into a whole in the wall and covers it to stay there with the belief that it is not known from whom the luck of that house comes and it is believed that the luck of the person will stay in the house. But they buried the whole person far away. You can see how older beliefs remained and the new ones prevail. There is also a myth called Manole, where Manole is a mason and he receives an important job from the Black ruler (a ruler of the valley, ruler in Romanian has the same word as in Slavic "water", in the mountains, there are valleys called "countries"). He should build a monastery with his team. He starts to build it, but each night the walls are demolished. Then in a dream, somebody tells him to burry into the wall the first person will come. Then Ana, his wife come and he burry her into the wall and the building was not destroyed from that moment on.
What you ended this segment would be a good lead onto The Beautiful Death, as the Greeks termed it. Some thing diving into that rabbit hole would be appreciated.
Well done! So well researched and put together. But when you said.. your bottom will close up and your mouth with become your only hole, I just about lost it LOL. 😂 3 hours later and I'm still cracking up. It sounds like an old Irish curse. I could tell you were struggling a little to keep a straight face as you said it too. You have my respect, no way I could have said that without busting up. I can't stop laughing. Thanks so much! 💞
i'd love to know more about about how the ancient consumption of mushrooms and other halluginogenics shaped our ancestors world views, stories, myths and beliefs. And thank you, this channel is truly amazing, I cannot believe we are able to use the technology we have to peer back into the depths of time and our own past.
I'm have started production on a video about the taking of hallucinogenics, it is probably a month or two away but it will be made. Thank you for watching and for taking the time to comment. It is appreciated.
@@Crecganford I can't wait! My brother and I love discussing your videos, I just hope you know how many people appreciate your channel and the knowledge you share!
Thought provoking, especially your final observation that the knowledge of death can lead us to live a better life. I would argue, though, that this form of immortality is sought by some individuals through heinous acts. Anyway, I appreciated your research and your points. Liked and subscribed.
Dear John. I miss videos about Indo-European mythology especially celtic, germanic and slavic mythology. While these more high level videos on the history of mythology are also interesting I would like more of a mix. Thanks for your videos.
Yes, I have gone off on a bit of a tangent, I will get back to these in the next month or so. My next video is about the Seven Sisters myth, then I will talk about Indo European belief in dogs and death, and then probably do Valkeries or Fairies. Although I'm known for going off on tagents, so I may do something completely different, but I do miss talking about a subject I'm more comfortable with,
The basic one will give you access. It is open to anyone right now, but at some point between now and the end of the year it will require an ID, and patreon's will get an ID, and so public access will end at this point.
A while ago saw a short video by someone chatting with an African hunter. He asked, among other things, and via an interpreter, what happens when someone dies. The answer came with a look that said 'what do you think?' "We bury them." The questioner was wanting to know about belief in an after life but the impression given was that you died, you were buried. The end.
I'm a Mormon, and in Mormon Mythology, the Adam & Eve story is that Adam & Eve were trapped in a "State of Innocence" (in which they were unable to have children, or know Joy, but were also unable to die) Eve eating the fruit was not a grand failing, but a willing sacrifice, to give up her immortality to give humanity a chance to exist (because, in Mormonism, we have pre-existing spirits, who need to be born in order to continue our progression to godhood) So, it is interesting to compare & contrast the Mormon interpretation od the story with the Historical progression
Disease genes such as cancer and heart disease humans share with very primitive animals. Mortality phylogenetics is much older than mythology. Good work as usual!
I was thinking about Little Red Riding Hood and I feel like it's peculiar that she would have such a specific name and only be in a single folk story. Is there a cannon for Little Red Riding Hood or were red hoods just a popular fashion choices amongst young women of the era?
There is a motif in myth called "digested by a terrestrial animal", and so I think the general plot is reasonably common, but the wearing of red, that is less so, but there are tales out there, often with a bear. But to have a story named after red clothing I am struggling to come up with anything. But I will have a think.
The color red was Perraut's addition and by that time no decent woman would wear red clothes. Think of the scarlet letter. Red is also the color of menstruation. In Perraut's version the girl get into bed naked with the wolf. The meaning is quite clear: from Perraut's tale: "Children, especially pretty, well bred young ladies, should never talk to strangers, for if they are foolish enough to do so, they should not be surprised if they become dinner for a greedy wolf - elegant red riding hood and all. There are real wolves with hairy pelts and enormous teeth, but there are also wolves who seem perfectly charming, quiet, polite, unassuming, complacent, and sweet, who pursue young girls at home and in the streets and pay them the most flattering attentions. Unfortunately, these smooth tongued, smooth pelted gentle wolves are the most dangerous beasts of all."
BTW: (2023/06/29) You need to update already! The hominid critter, Homo Naledi, was burying their dead in Rising Star Cave, South Africa, around 335,000 to 236,000 years ago. These were small critters, about 4' 9" in height and about 88 lbs with a brain about 1/3rd the size of ours. But they buried their dead, in a place they apparently considered a safe tomb. They used fire and they made marks on the walls that were meaningful art to them. (They marked entrances and exits.)
I do touch on this in my next video, although the paper you refer to is still in review and so is subject to change, and so I will await its formal release, although I'm not sure it will impact the myths I tell in this video.
2 and a half years ago, 2 weeks after my friend suddenly died, i had some mushrooms and i literally suddenly had this awareness... I felt heaviness and exhaustion come over me at the thought of living forever. I really felt immortal, not as me myself but my awareness this greater thing. And i really felt "what am i going to do with myself," i didnt feel hungry i felt almost bored and trapped with the prospect of existing forever forever felt too long. I started to return back to my body and remind myself i am me, i am here to live for now to experience life, sensations, etc. We live these lives to fill the time, to create, to just exist because if not we just exist as consciousness not in a body. I dunno i kind of feel like consciousness really is something that exists beyond our body, in an immortal way but our body dies and our identity, our humaness, name dies with it. I think i saw clarity after such a traumatic experience of losing a loved one. Whether its true or just some trauma response. See how the myth says the person who wanted humans to die changed their mind when their loved one died...
The loss of immortality may also be taken as a comming of age myth. Many tribes had trials and near death experiences as part of the rite of passage for young men, symbolising the transition from boy to man, or rather, the death of the boy and birth of the man. Before this rite, to a child, life is easy, it is paradise. One does not need to worry, not work for food, time is eternal and life goes on forever. As one enters maturity, which is signposted by the awakening of sexual desire and activity, childhood is over. One is cast out of the paradise of childhood into the harsh world of adulthood, where one is mortal, suffers hardship and must toil for food.
_"What we can't say [...] is whether the people who buried 'Mtoto' had a belief in the afterlife or reincarnation. But what we can say is that, through a burial, there was an emotional process going on"_ Maybe? "Through a burial" alone doesn't seem like much. In discussions about other cultures' views on death, I'm often reminded of a story I read where a mother threw her sick son off a cliff as casually as if she were sweeping. He was terminally ill, and they had a different view on death. A burial doesn't necessitate an "emotional process"; it could be a matter of sanitation, little different from burying fecal matter. To be clear, I'm not saying that I *don't* think Mtoto's burial involved grief, just that I'm curious if that's based solely on the burial?
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Do you want to hear more about Adam and Eve, or more about the other myths?
Personally I like all myths that are shared by cultures separated by time and distance. I only like biblical stories when it can be shown that they evolved from older myths.
Thankyou 👍
The best possible follow-up for this video would cover stories about attempts to defeat death.
The thing that popped out the most for me begs this question: The concept of the skinwalker sounds like it's connected to the skin-changer stories, but how closely related is it, and does the skinwalker story occur in places where the skin-changer story doesn't seem to be known?
Also, does anyone else imagine that anxieties about the dead rising again and forced burial likely originated with the movement of a bloating corpse poorly covered with loose dirt?
I would like either or! but I do agree the best follow up would be a video about how to defeat death. I love your channel!
I personally enjoy the comparisons. Perhaps a follow up about how the Adam and Eve story compares with other cultures' ideas of an early deathless paradise and its loss. Really anything you post is gold so I'm waiting for whatever it is :3
of course!
Can't tell you how thankful I am that you upload with subtitles (and in multiple languages no less!), wish more creators would do that.
It doesn't take long to do, and so I pleased it has helped you.
@@Crecganford *I am pleased
(sorry, I couldn't resist myself)
@@Crecganford would it be hard for you to make subtitles for your older videos? They are so interesting, but I feel like I have lost most of information due to difficulties with understanding accent
@@antonvoronov9671
Hi Anton, you can enable auto generated subtitles by clicking on the cc icon 👍
Δυστυχώς δεν έχει ελληνικούς υπότιτλους
thats why Sephiroth from final fantasy 7 is the most remarkable videogame villain of all times, because he said to cloud "aslong someone remember me i will live forever" D; also alexander the great of macedonia and julius ceasar D; they understood being immortal means to achive something that humanity will remember all the time as long humanity exsist.
The free education we get from this wonderful channel is fantastic! Thank you Jon and your patrons for all your hard work! Bravo! 🥰
Thank you so much for you kind words.
Crecganford: snakes live forever unless you chop off their head.
Snake: My name is Conner McCleod, of the Clan McCleod. There can be only one...
Such a great movie!
Excellent subject. Yes I personally would like to hear more. This channel is a gold mine, you are absolutely brilliant man, with super topic selections.
Thank you for your kinds words, I hope you enjoy this video.
OMG, the Zombie apocalypse is based on the oldest myth about immortality. Totally did not know.
Always appreciate your gift for story telling and bringing history and old mythology to life.
Thank you.
The Mowu and Spideree story is particularly remarkable in the way it describes a behavior we still have to deal with today.
I think a lot of people could relate to the basic template of it in some way. It's practically a meme.
An Episode about psychedelics? Yes, of course!
Always informative, always insightful, always worthwhile. Well done again Jon. Thank you.
Thank you!
Another fascinating video- and very timely! Re: the mention of ancient use of psychedelics, I definitely would be interested in learning more about how that shows up in various mythologies & traditions around the world.
There seem to be a few people who want a video on that subject, and so I'll put it near the top of my to do list.
This channel is one of the few that I seriously look forward to the regular uploads. Great content, sir, all the work that goes into it is very much appreciated 🙏
Thank you for your kind words, they really mean a lot.
I was wondering what else I could have done in this Saturday afternoon. Well, time to learn something
Hahaha. Funny and smart. The part where you said: "I, am just an Archaeologist."
I'm still smiling...
I think it makes perfect sense for humans to link death and concepts about immortality to childbirth and procreation (and vice versa).
Evolutionarily speaking, a species that would only consist of the same "immortal" members is much more prone to accidents or changes in environments, and is also less able to change its own genom to adapt. As such, reproduction is necessary to ensure long-term survival.
This is not an active choice, it is a "rule of nature". Basically it turned out this way (that most if not all life works like this), not because it made sense, but because life that didn't work like this died out way too quickly.
You can see the motif "new replacing old" in many stories, including modern fiction, with examples such as Elves (leaving Middle-Earth), vampires (hunted), greek titans and gods (the latter replacing the former).
Immortality is, practically speaking, the alternative to procreation.
And for such myths to develop, one must only think about the inception of life, to draw conclusions about its end. We are born into this world, and that is also the reason we die.
I wouldn't be surprised, if such ideas were present ever since humanity developed consciousness and reason.
We have 3 deaths, the first death is the actual physical death. The second death is the memorial, funeral, wake, or what have you. The final death is when the last living person who knew you has died, and you are forgotten 💔
The "change your skin" story is so inspiring. Changing and adapting is indeed crucial to live a long life, as well as embracing the fact that everything changes.
I laughed at how you kept the explanations at a level where children could watch. I can hear so many parents answering "What does that mean," with a simple, "I'll explain it to you later."
This has been my favorite video of yours yet. I really appreciate hearing about African myths
Thank you so much for your kind comments, I do my best to bring in as much myth as I can, irrespective of its origins.
I find it so beautiful how echoes of growing up and finding out about death for the first time end up in the stories we've told ourselves for a hundred thousand years ...
I've always had the thought that has been inferred by the way family spoke when I was a kid, that the "otherworld", or the "underneath", was like a waiting room for the soul... and babies/children having an "old soul" was one of those souls returning.
Hey, if there is a "waiting room" for the soul and u come back to the Earth, it means u never have a eternal life? Do we have to go back to this horrible place (earth) again and again?
@@sillakilla8674 try to find another way of seeing it as it’s bigger then that 🙏🏼
Either try to improve the world for when you come back or find a way to escape the cycle?
There's always Disobjectification. You could try that. Worked for gotama. @@sillakilla8674
@@sillakilla8674The Earth is very Dualistic. It's not all good and not all bad. Start by making here a better place.
The first story from West Africa reminds me of the Native American story of Coyote and Raven debating how long all the creatures of the land should live.
"Losing Immortality"? Awesome idea to explore, Jon. Thank you.
I imagine it like this.....as when we were all children, when we cannot imagine anything except that this will last forever....
And then the inevitable question from us children after someone we know, dies: "Why do people die?"
Probably parents from all over the world struggled to answer this very penetrating and challenging question, and all of them came up with different answers, which in its own way points to something more revealing.
The universal answer to "why do we die?" depends on your local economy (fishing, hunting, farming, some version of killing, etc.) but the need to have an answer...that makes sense to a child....while still making the parent seem in charge....creates the universal conditions to invent the same or similar answer. "We kill to live. But because we kill, that doesn't make us bad, because we die too. Therefore, in order to not have a crying child for the next 2 days, let us just say something that we don't really know, and can't know anything about. Let's just say that it's an endless loop, so that this kid will finally shut up, and have something to think about, and we can get back to doing what we were doing before."
It's not a "Truth", it's more like the lowest common denominator that seems to work, independantly discovered, to assuage people's anxieties about the unknown and the unknowable, so it is wide-spread without stemming from the same "original"......white lie.
It's not a dispersed idea. It is a convergent idea, with many local variations about how to get there, and where "there" is.
Lovely summary. You are a gift to us all. Thank you.
"If you die before you die, then you won't die when you die" sounds like a reference to ritual death in the initiation ceremonies of several religions, including the "baptism" of Christianity. Of course it could also be about hallucinogens, or the two topics may not be separate.
Thank you.
I find it very interesting to learn that a lot of proto-myths about dearth considered human originaly immortal.
The "skin has to change" is fascinating.
Your voice is so calming
Thank you.
Definitely would like to hear about the death cult talked about in the books mentioned
Really interesting as always thanks. Thanks also for offering to cover plants related to immortality. Just wanted to mention Peter Lamborn Wilson's Ploughing the Clouds: the Search for Irish Soma, though you're likely already aware of it. So a vote for including fly agaric from me thanks!
Yes, I think there maybe a few who would like to hear more on this.
@@Crecganford me also Jon.
I have to admit that even though this is an academic video and there are all kinds of interesting take aways, probably the main reason I checked this one out is that I'm haunted by death. And I grieve over certain people.
So there is something comforting in seeing how people have handled it throughout time. That it's hard but I'm not alone.
Your subtitles are excellent. Many thanks.
Your last point was a core Ancient Egyptian belief regarding death. Speaking the deceased's name kept them alive in the afterworld. The corollary was also true: those whose names are never spoken again are lost even in the afterlife.
To that end, it was somewhat common for pharaohs to order the removal of names from monuments. Ramses II took this to the extreme by having names replaced with his own on tons of monuments -- one of his nicknames, The Great Builder, partly stemmed from early archaeologists/historians not realizing that he wasn't responsible for many of the works his name was on.
I'm glad I subscribed here, I discovered you by accident, good things sometimes are discovered by chance.
Welcome, and I hope you enjoy this video too!
@@Crecganford I am enjoying these
Law of attraction. Seek knowledge and it will come to you. The cosmos hears you and replies.
@@3rdeye671 That maybe, then why bad and negative things seem to be the normal things for me, even though I've tried to change. What am I doing wrong?
@@cyankirkpatrick5194 if you want to be rich, act rich. If you seek knowledge, then actively looking brings it. You have to use your body as well as your will to be heard. Your body speaks your intentions out loud. Manifesting your desires by emulating them in the physical.
I am interested in myths as transmitted by culture, and the collective unconscious. I can’t tell you how many times weird images popped up in my dreams and I had no idea what they were talking about. And then I looked them up in a symbol dictionary and they turn out to be well-known. Like the shedding skin, for example.
Thank you for another excellent video and perfect timing for a Halloween weekend! Also appreciate your links to your other videos - very helpful to rewatch those to expound on specific subject (like more on death puppers and snakes!)
Wonderful and insightful video. Your last reference to the Indoeuropeans reminds me of Norse, Havamal 77:
Cattle die, | and kinsmen die,
And so one dies one's self;
One thing now | that never dies,
The fame of a dead man's deeds
That kind of motif comes directly from the Indo-European culture, and so yes, would feel very similar.
I am glad I found your channel I love history and mythology and being American I have had to teach myself the American school system is one of the worst in the developed world. I appreciate your work keep up the good fight brother.
Thank you for your kind words.
Until this, I was convinced that the secret to immortality was: "in the end, there can be only one." Oh well. So much for Highlanders telling truth!
I never watched all the films to actually find out if that was true... but great films none the less.
Arrrr arrr arrrr.😁
Dr Alice is an amazing scientist. I am not exactly sure what proper credentials to call her by currently. I knew she was pursuing other doctorates. Thank you for a great video. I wanted to say episode because it’s like watching my favorite show on tv lol.🎃
I seem to remember that Carlos Castaneda in his books put forward the idea that those who had had children were not able to truly be warriors. He wrote that his teacher believed that one's luminosity emanating from the naval would become a hole thus severing the connection with universal power and thus the ability to transition to an afterlife.
More about the psychodelics please. I looked up The Sacred Mushroom and came up with two books. Are you referring to The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross by John Allegro or The Sacred Mushroom: Key to the Door of Eternity by Andrija Puharich?
The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross was a book I read a while ago, an interesting concept, and one I believe the Vatican tried to hide for some years. Neither of these books have a strong academic bias, and so consider that if you read them, but they are interesting none the less.
Yes, I noticed that. That looks like it may be a problem with The Immortality Key as well. I see that Graham Hancock wrote the foreward which says to me the book is pseudoscience targeting. There can be good and real info in those kinds of books but it’s work to separate the wheat from the chaff. My supposition is that because those are the books you are talking about there isn’t other readily available more academicly sound work.
Hey man, anthropology major here. My brother and I have loads of discussions about myth and religion and history. We found your page and have been blown away by your analysis of several things.
I had a suggestion for subject for you to look into. Connections between stories of vampires werewolves grims and hellhounds.
Would be incredibly dope to hear your thoughts on it
I've discussed Hell Hounds and Werewolves, but vampires I haven't. I will do a piece on them in the near future, as they are quite a fascinating subject. Thank you.
Right, cup of tea and Myth time!
... Holy shit... "and now your bottom will close up, and your mouth will become your only hole"... Just terrifying.
extraordinary-'Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Choose life and live thereof'. Which precisely aligns to your last comment on the video..Well done Sir.
As always, an excellent video. Fascinating stuff. I would definitely like to hear more about the psychedelics angle.
It is on my to do list as a fair few have now asked for it.
I just found your channel and I’m binging many of your videos. As a fellow academic (different discipline though) I appreciate your academic approach. Your videos are amazing and very interesting
Thank you for your kind words, they are appreciated.
the story about the man tho was pierced by a stake so he wouldn't leave his grave reminded me so much of that vampire legend.
Yes, I will talk about vampires as on as I can as it is an interesting myth.
Again, a great video Jon, and story telling. Here something I like to add as an example 😉
Like in the Japanese Shinto story where the Allfather Izanagi had deceived the goddess of the Underworld. In revenge, the goddess will make a thousand people die every day in the creation of Izanagi. In turn, the Allfather arranges for one thousand five hundred women to give birth every day as compensation.
Source, Joseph Campbell, Power of the Myth.
I do like Campbell, he has uncovered some great stories, and so thank you for sharing.
Wonderful as always! And I deeply resonate with your conclusion. The myths of our ancestors, otherwise profound intuitions about the Cosmos, have inspired a solemn ethos of dead veneration, of remembering and celebrating the ancestors in many cultures. I particularly enjoy the view of Historian of Religions Mircea Eliade on this: "The transformation of the dead person into an 'ancestor' corresponds to the fusion of the individual into an archetypal category. In numerous traditions [...] the souls of the common dead no longer possess a 'memory'; that is, they lose what may be called their historical individuality. The transformation of the dead into ghosts, and so on, in a certain sense signifies their reidentification with the impersonal archetype of the ancestor. The fact that in the Greek tradition only heroes preserve their personality (i.e., their memory) after death, is easy to understand: having, in his life on earth, performed no actions which were not exemplary, the hero retains the memory of them, since, from a certain point of view, these acts were impersonal."
I agree, yes, the hero is very important, almost replacing the god's roles in certain aspects. I do have a lot of time for Eliade, and her student, Lincoln, both have written some exceptionally enlightening work on this. Thank you for watching, and taking the time to comment such thoughtful words, they are much appreciated.
You are a very good teacher ❤
Thank you for such kind words.
I only recently found your channel but as a nerd with a love of stories its so interesting!
Thank you.
I really like these videos which cover the myths surrounding general topics from all over
Thank you, I will try and do more with time
This came just at the right time for me. Beautifully told. I'd love to hear more about all of these myths.
I will talk about these more with time.
Fascinating!
I am going to stretch it and state that the continuity of our present existence is the immortality of our ancestors and it will be our immortality and of those to come.
Thank you.
Good morning from Portugal :))))))))
That is an interesting thought, and yes, I can agree with the sentiment behind that, we are after all, the sum of our ancestors experiences, as well as our own.
@@Crecganford :))))))))))) Absolutely!
Your lecture was very inspiring, Jon.
Is always a pleasure listening to you.
Have a good day.
See you.
Great talk. Really gives one things to think about.
Thank you.
I can understand English, but Serbian Cyrillic subtitles caught me off guard. Not to mention accurate to boot. That's neat.
Great episode as always Jon. Glad your videos are getting out to more and more people.
And thank you for your continued support.
New Crecganford? Today is gonna be a good day.
Death is not inevitable, but change is.
I thought about this one night.
Some things don't die..some are not alive to begin with. But nothing stays the same forever.
This was my most philosophical thought at some point:)))
Really great content and it’s always getting better! Loved this episode!
PS - am curious about some of the book titles that you have behind you on the video! Your personal library must be really great.
Thank you, and my library is quite good, but I still have a list of about 500 books I would like to add to it!
I actually think this myth of death and immortality actually comes from the cognitive revolution of about 60,000 years ago. We went thru some kind of revolution and we left Africa, started to make cave paintings, probably even started having early religious ideas. I think it’s got more to do with us being able to have abstract ideas, contemplate the future, and our realization of our own mortality. Like before that, we didn’t actually possess awareness of our imminent death. Like we were more like animals before
I also think burial started as a way to protect our bodies from being eaten by animals as being eaten is a primordial fear
Good timing. Today is the 3rd anniversary of my first First Death. I was in cardiac arrest for 40 minutes. They stabilized me in a coma, from which I arose on the third day, Halloween. Well, the modern date of Halloween, not the actual cross-quarter day on the 7th of November.
I've been thinking about religions since then, new and old, real and invented. I had been working on a novel that included a fictional idea for a prehistoric religion set around 26,000 years ago. After my death experience, I wonder if I should pursue it for real. One of the ideas I had was to have a holy place where living members would continuously read the names of all the members who had passed (perhaps including names requested by non-members), so that they are never forgotten. Of course, I wonder if that's a good idea or not, in case someone wants to experience the second death and find out what, if anything, is beyond that.
The original idea for the story was to include a claim of regeneration in the prehistoric religion that would serve as a myth for a future society that develops cryogenic stasis, medical regeneration, synthetic neurology, mind-machine interfaces, and Artificial Intelligence for something I call Telepresent Immortality. This would work by alternating waking biology and a synthetic anthropoid avatar. The biological person give the avatar their memories and the synthetic anthropoid takes the place of them during long periods of "sleep" during regeneration or while taking a vow of dormancy in cryosleep that can last years or centuries. A period of mind-linking and discussion with the avatar and biological person allows them to gain and remember what happened while they slept as if it was their own memory. I tried to make the tech as real as possible in the hope that it could one day be realized.
What a coincidence. I think that you should pursue your goal. Already scientists demonstrated that we give our memories to our children encoded in DNA. Memory is not possible without being encoded in DNA. Meaning that we have with us the memories of our ancestors, possibly not all of them, only those parts we inherit... but we have no conscious access to them. I think when we dream, make a story or draw we have access to some of it, also our instincts are based on those memories.
Amazing video Jo! Grazie di cuore. Waiting for the psychedelic topic episode :)
Thank you.
I love your lectures. I an a Seventh Day Adventist who believes in the bible and the writings of Ellen G White so was on e is the founders of our church. I find your findings amazing and would love to know more about the Germanic and English gods of my origins. I am an Australian. Thank you so much for what you have done. You have answered many questions that regular society throws about. ❤
* Fruits have seeds. Stones do not...
* A comment on the 23:54 part:
In Serbian, the word for Moon - "Mjesec" could be interpreted as: "think/feel + cut" (mjete +sec). One of the meanings associated with the Moons effect on psyche is- change- the mood swings, PMS, etc...
*Regarding the dead "buried underground": The fantastic F.Herbert's SF novel "Dune" offers a very nice picture of that motif in the part where Alia has all the memories of her ancestors. Might be helpfull to a point...
PS. Glad to have the translatable subtitles now. Now I can share your valuable vids with more people.
Tnx. Keep it up. :)
Cheers! :)
PPS. I am just adding potential clues that I stumbled upon, instead of interpretations... I see communication as a sort of "mental feeding". But why chew on what's already been chewed up by another? Gotta keep the brain muscle in shape; not lose one's "mental teeth", or weaken the abilities of one's "mental liver"! Also I'm bad at regurgitating. :D
I liked the old thumbnail better :(
RUclips didn't, this is my worst performing video for 4 months :( so I have to try something...
@@Crecganford no blame :D
Muchas gracias por tan buena investigación y explicación de un tema tan antiguo y complejo. Y también gracias por los subtítulos en español 👍
Please do an extensive video on the Sacred Mushroom maybe including some history on the old gnostic interpretations of the Tanakh. Also might you be able to do one on the Sons of Light or other early interpreters of the New Testament
Always more things to learn from you.
Thank you.
!You have been granted immortality!liked and subscribed!
Love to hear about death within death within life, academic approach to hallucinogens.
The videos are in production as we speak, although still maybe a month or two away, but they're on the way. Thank you!
Video about psychedelic and amanitas seems brilliant.
Excellent work Jon. All these myths allude to much the same story as in Genesis. Some blame the Serpent others blame ourselves, others say we were tricked and the Serpent was guiding us but other powers intervened. 'The stone in the water' tale and our reincarnation interrupted. So you've added greatly to my knowledge and confirmed some connections to other knowledge ive learned. I thank you for that wisdom Jon. Keep up these deep dives they really are enlightening.
Thank you for continuing to watch and support this channel, I do for people like yourself, who like to learn more and engage in a courteous way.
@@Crecganford thank you for acknowledging my quest for deeper understanding. I think you know where im coming from. On the same track. I hope i inspire you to more also Jon. I appreciate your efforts.
You obviously do read and understand your audience's enquiries personally. Thats very heartening. I appreciate it. My Thanks to you.
@@Crecganford you also inspire me to do more than just add comments, i think its time i put some videos together as you do. Maybe we inspire each other. Fascinating to read your reply,.. it opens some doors to what your into and why you do it. Similar to myself, unquenchable desire for enlightenment and true wisdom.
I hope im not misguided in that appraisal, i feel im not.
Nice to see our old friend the immortal snake again! 🙂
As with most mythology, I think these stories are best understood through inner-outer correspondence, ie, by looking at the inner meanings. In this light, I don't think it is necessarily the case that our ancestors literally thought of themselves as immortal. Rather, the well-defined sense of separate self in a dualistic mode of experiencing had not yet fully emerged. Just as with infants in the oceanic feeling of primordial unity with no theory of mind regarding an "other", so too may early humans have experienced life. Primordial non-dual awareness has often been called the deathless state. With the entrance into dualistic experiencing comes the rise of heightened autobiographical self-awareness, sense of alienation and separateness, and--most critically--the painful awareness of one's own eventual death.
The psychedelic experience and/or various mind-training practices involves an attempt to return to non-dual awareness by stripping down the perceptual and conceptual distractions to the point of minimal phenomenal experience without self-regard, thus regaining access to the deathless state. This process can also be called ego-death. It doesn't necessarily mean one will not eventually die physically, but the sting of death is removed through the selfless view. The state of "pure consciousness" (or at least with minimal phenomenal content) is inherently blissful and unconcerned with death. After all, from a non-self perspective, who is it that is going to die anyway? And why worry? (This also relates to the idea of describing paradise via negation--it can refer to the equanimous and peaceful state arrived at through the negation of the self-concept as well as the reifying tendency dualistically to see phenomena as discrete, independent entities having essence as opposed to interdependent, relational processes.)
I suspect that early ancestors experienced such states of bare awareness--with its attendant sense of infinity and deathlessness--and then literalized or concretized that experience into the belief that by practicing ego-death in this life--in which consciousness continues without self-reference or discursive thought--one might similarly achieve the same feat at actual physical death, allowing mind or consciousness to continue.
It is fascinating to compare all this to the Buddha's chain of dependent arising, in which, because of confused grasping at self and other, birth in dualistic cyclical existence occurs, as well as suffering of sickness, old age and death. Just like in these other stories, in the chain of dependent arising, death "enters the world" at the point of craving, sensory contact and contracted egoic identity with its endless proliferation of forms (eg, eating and sex and offspring). "The world" is understood not as the "world at large", apart from experience, but the only world which can possibly be known: the three-part "world of experience" (observer, observed and observing).
Edward Eddinger's "Ego and Archetype" is a great book which elucidates some of this line of thinking, particularly with regard to the Garden of Eden story.
Until quite recently I wanted to be cremated and my ashes flung about in a scenic spot.
My first preference would be Viking burial, or a sky burial, but both are disallowed under current US law, and I don't want to get my heirs in trouble with the law.
Now, I want a tree burial. Your remains are wrapped up in a semipermeable container bag with a tree seed. Your nutrients feed the young tree. You become a tree in a way.
The thought of being embalmed, put in a hard barrier casket and buried just seems wrong to me. I don't want to be a semi-decayed corpse in an underground box - that seems disrespectful and wasteful. Let my remains nourish new life.
I would love to be a tree. Sunshine and wind and rain.
I want this so badly! That is [bleeping] cool! I need to update my will.
I love the tree burial idea.
People will be used as compost soon enough, its not fiction but fact, too much land is being used for graves even though its a lucrative scam business..We have to pay to live and have to pay to die!!
33:00 quite so. It’s telling how true this is when the epic of gilgamesh itself imparts this lesson.
I seem to recall some Hominid finds in Africa where bodies seemed to have been deposited deep in caves, sometimes tools left in there too. I imagine this is an early version of burials.
The Neolithic village of Ba'ja in Jordan, they uncovered a buried-under-the-room skeleton with a beautiful necklace
In the narrative of a documentary, they talked about the different attitudes between a culture that buries the dead under their home and one that buries them as far away as is practicable. Though they admit to an obvious difference, they persistently discuss the grief associated with death. It seems to me from the many different myths and ritual around death that grief is not a necessary response to the death of a loved one, even a revered one. There is, obviously the after-lives. And in the exposure-cultures the idea of paying a debt.
I've started to think we overlook the simple acceptance of death. Full stop. And the possibility that these were simply tucked in for the last time. I know of no current translations of any such cessationist myths, but I do now see a distinct possibility that some of the translations and, even more importantly, the reconstructions of paleo-myths, expecting to find answers to the "big question", in the absence of an explanation have filled the void with the idea of ... whatever came to mind.
In Old Europe civilizations, they found bones of a person buried in the wall in a bowl, nowadays in the same place, there is a custom ritual when a person dye to put a piece of his hair into a whole in the wall and covers it to stay there with the belief that it is not known from whom the luck of that house comes and it is believed that the luck of the person will stay in the house. But they buried the whole person far away. You can see how older beliefs remained and the new ones prevail. There is also a myth called Manole, where Manole is a mason and he receives an important job from the Black ruler (a ruler of the valley, ruler in Romanian has the same word as in Slavic "water", in the mountains, there are valleys called "countries"). He should build a monastery with his team. He starts to build it, but each night the walls are demolished. Then in a dream, somebody tells him to burry into the wall the first person will come. Then Ana, his wife come and he burry her into the wall and the building was not destroyed from that moment on.
Yes, please do a video on psychadelics, hallucinations, OBEs, etc.
I am working on it, so I hope it isn’t too long now.
What you ended this segment would be a good lead onto The Beautiful Death, as the Greeks termed it. Some thing diving into that rabbit hole would be appreciated.
Well done! So well researched and put together.
But when you said.. your bottom will close up and your mouth with become your only hole, I just about lost it LOL. 😂
3 hours later and I'm still cracking up. It sounds like an old Irish curse.
I could tell you were struggling a little to keep a straight face as you said it too. You have my respect, no way I could have said that without busting up.
I can't stop laughing. Thanks so much! 💞
Psychedelics in shamanism would be a really interesting video
I am working on a video about this, but it is complex, as I want to make sure I have the details right.
@@Crecganford wish you all the best. That could also help me for a novel I want to write :P
So giving a child a name is a kind of potentially immortal act. Fascinating.
i'd love to know more about about how the ancient consumption of mushrooms and other halluginogenics shaped our ancestors world views, stories, myths and beliefs. And thank you, this channel is truly amazing, I cannot believe we are able to use the technology we have to peer back into the depths of time and our own past.
I'm have started production on a video about the taking of hallucinogenics, it is probably a month or two away but it will be made. Thank you for watching and for taking the time to comment. It is appreciated.
@@Crecganford I can't wait! My brother and I love discussing your videos, I just hope you know how many people appreciate your channel and the knowledge you share!
Thought provoking, especially your final observation that the knowledge of death can lead us to live a better life. I would argue, though, that this form of immortality is sought by some individuals through heinous acts. Anyway, I appreciated your research and your points. Liked and subscribed.
Thank you for watching, subscribing, and taking the time to comment. It is always appreciated.
Dear John. I miss videos about Indo-European mythology especially celtic, germanic and slavic mythology. While these more high level videos on the history of mythology are also interesting I would like more of a mix. Thanks for your videos.
Yes, I have gone off on a bit of a tangent, I will get back to these in the next month or so. My next video is about the Seven Sisters myth, then I will talk about Indo European belief in dogs and death, and then probably do Valkeries or Fairies. Although I'm known for going off on tagents, so I may do something completely different, but I do miss talking about a subject I'm more comfortable with,
Yes, loads of interest to ear your take on the relationship between psychedelics and ancient myth. Please plough ahead!
Also, what patreon level do i need to subscribe to have access to the translated berezkin's database?
The basic one will give you access. It is open to anyone right now, but at some point between now and the end of the year it will require an ID, and patreon's will get an ID, and so public access will end at this point.
@@Crecganford cheers!
A while ago saw a short video by someone chatting with an African hunter. He asked, among other things, and via an interpreter, what happens when someone dies. The answer came with a look that said 'what do you think?'
"We bury them." The questioner was wanting to know about belief in an after life but the impression given was that you died, you were buried. The end.
I’ve seen that video as well, which is why if they are buried with something we can feel more confident about the feeling of an afterlife.
I'm a Mormon, and in Mormon Mythology, the Adam & Eve story is that Adam & Eve were trapped in a "State of Innocence" (in which they were unable to have children, or know Joy, but were also unable to die)
Eve eating the fruit was not a grand failing, but a willing sacrifice, to give up her immortality to give humanity a chance to exist (because, in Mormonism, we have pre-existing spirits, who need to be born in order to continue our progression to godhood)
So, it is interesting to compare & contrast the Mormon interpretation od the story with the Historical progression
Thank you for sharing that, very interesting.
Another very interesting video, thank you
Thank you for watching so many.
Disease genes such as cancer and heart disease humans share with very primitive animals. Mortality phylogenetics is much older than mythology.
Good work as usual!
Rather, I Contend, Adam & Eve is a story expressing our Fear of Death - this being one of the foundations of all religions.
Fascinating.
I would've assumed "changing the skin" for immortality would be the very definition of reincarnation.
I was thinking about Little Red Riding Hood and I feel like it's peculiar that she would have such a specific name and only be in a single folk story. Is there a cannon for Little Red Riding Hood or were red hoods just a popular fashion choices amongst young women of the era?
There is a motif in myth called "digested by a terrestrial animal", and so I think the general plot is reasonably common, but the wearing of red, that is less so, but there are tales out there, often with a bear. But to have a story named after red clothing I am struggling to come up with anything. But I will have a think.
The color red was Perraut's addition and by that time no decent woman would wear red clothes. Think of the scarlet letter. Red is also the color of menstruation.
In Perraut's version the girl get into bed naked with the wolf. The meaning is quite clear: from Perraut's tale:
"Children, especially pretty, well bred young ladies, should never talk to strangers, for if they are foolish enough to do so, they should not be surprised if they become dinner for a greedy wolf - elegant red riding hood and all.
There are real wolves with hairy pelts and enormous teeth, but there are also wolves who seem perfectly charming, quiet, polite, unassuming, complacent, and sweet, who pursue young girls at home and in the streets and pay them the most flattering attentions. Unfortunately, these smooth tongued, smooth pelted gentle wolves are the most dangerous beasts of all."
Little red riding hood - clitoris. The Wolf - a womaniser who likes young virgins. Wolf whistles are related. Its about lust and loss of innocence.
@@heraclito3114 well said.
BTW: (2023/06/29) You need to update already! The hominid critter, Homo Naledi, was burying their dead in Rising Star Cave, South Africa, around 335,000 to 236,000 years ago. These were small critters, about 4' 9" in height and about 88 lbs with a brain about 1/3rd the size of ours. But they buried their dead, in a place they apparently considered a safe tomb. They used fire and they made marks on the walls that were meaningful art to them. (They marked entrances and exits.)
I do touch on this in my next video, although the paper you refer to is still in review and so is subject to change, and so I will await its formal release, although I'm not sure it will impact the myths I tell in this video.
2 and a half years ago, 2 weeks after my friend suddenly died, i had some mushrooms and i literally suddenly had this awareness... I felt heaviness and exhaustion come over me at the thought of living forever. I really felt immortal, not as me myself but my awareness this greater thing. And i really felt "what am i going to do with myself," i didnt feel hungry i felt almost bored and trapped with the prospect of existing forever forever felt too long. I started to return back to my body and remind myself i am me, i am here to live for now to experience life, sensations, etc. We live these lives to fill the time, to create, to just exist because if not we just exist as consciousness not in a body. I dunno i kind of feel like consciousness really is something that exists beyond our body, in an immortal way but our body dies and our identity, our humaness, name dies with it.
I think i saw clarity after such a traumatic experience of losing a loved one. Whether its true or just some trauma response. See how the myth says the person who wanted humans to die changed their mind when their loved one died...
And psychedlics let u see your immortality!
We change our skin, through dying! Reincarnation seems to be consensus. Though it goes against our materialist paradigm.
The loss of immortality may also be taken as a comming of age myth. Many tribes had trials and near death experiences as part of the rite of passage for young men, symbolising the transition from boy to man, or rather, the death of the boy and birth of the man. Before this rite, to a child, life is easy, it is paradise. One does not need to worry, not work for food, time is eternal and life goes on forever. As one enters maturity, which is signposted by the awakening of sexual desire and activity, childhood is over. One is cast out of the paradise of childhood into the harsh world of adulthood, where one is mortal, suffers hardship and must toil for food.
Quite interesting. Nice to know!
_"What we can't say [...] is whether the people who buried 'Mtoto' had a belief in the afterlife or reincarnation. But what we can say is that, through a burial, there was an emotional process going on"_
Maybe? "Through a burial" alone doesn't seem like much. In discussions about other cultures' views on death, I'm often reminded of a story I read where a mother threw her sick son off a cliff as casually as if she were sweeping. He was terminally ill, and they had a different view on death. A burial doesn't necessitate an "emotional process"; it could be a matter of sanitation, little different from burying fecal matter. To be clear, I'm not saying that I *don't* think Mtoto's burial involved grief, just that I'm curious if that's based solely on the burial?