Page 175
Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2025 5:24 pm
A separate section in Wikipedia about myth is symbols. “Universal sign complexes are conveyed through various symbols. One of the most widespread among them is the world tree, which possesses both qualitative characteristics, through systems of semantic oppositions, and quantitative ones. Since within mythopoetic consciousness even numbers are not reducible to purely quantitative concepts, numbers are used not only to determine the external dimensions of the world or its image (the world tree), the quantitative ratio of parts, but also to define their qualitative characteristics. Numbers determine the higher essence of the world and predict its future interpretation. Thus, numbers are also used as a means of “bricolage.”
In archaic consciousness, mythopoetic schemes of the world model, the formal grid of relationships, often precede the substantive interpretation of its elements and predetermine this interpretation. At the same time, the same material method is used to convey parallel information of different content. For example, different types of world tree schemes serve to describe the parameters of universal space and the rules of orientation within it, temporal, numerical, etiological, ethical, genealogical, and other structures. Thus, many linguistic traditions encode corresponding elements of different structures in the same way or explicitly form such equations, such as year, space, and world tree; god, sky, and day; human, earth, death, etc.” Again, death – it is always important.
Next, “The Model of the Universe.” “In mythopoetic consciousness, space and time are not homogeneous. The highest value (maximum sacredness) is held by that point in space and time where the act of creation occurred – the center of the world (the middle of the world), and ‘in the beginning’ – the time of creation itself (mythical time). Cosmogonic representations are connected to these coordinates, which set the scheme for the unfolding of everything that exists in space and time, organizing the entire space-time continuum. Ritual (especially the calendar ritual and primarily the main one – the annual, marking the transition from the old year to the new) is also related to them. The structure of the ritual annual festival reproduces a critical borderline situation, where chaos gives rise to cosmos.”
“In the dichotomy ‘initial sacred time / empirical profane time,’ the former is perceived as the domain of the primary causes of subsequent real empirical events. Changes occurring in historical profane time (the formation of social relationships and institutions, evolution in the development of technology and culture)
In archaic consciousness, mythopoetic schemes of the world model, the formal grid of relationships, often precede the substantive interpretation of its elements and predetermine this interpretation. At the same time, the same material method is used to convey parallel information of different content. For example, different types of world tree schemes serve to describe the parameters of universal space and the rules of orientation within it, temporal, numerical, etiological, ethical, genealogical, and other structures. Thus, many linguistic traditions encode corresponding elements of different structures in the same way or explicitly form such equations, such as year, space, and world tree; god, sky, and day; human, earth, death, etc.” Again, death – it is always important.
Next, “The Model of the Universe.” “In mythopoetic consciousness, space and time are not homogeneous. The highest value (maximum sacredness) is held by that point in space and time where the act of creation occurred – the center of the world (the middle of the world), and ‘in the beginning’ – the time of creation itself (mythical time). Cosmogonic representations are connected to these coordinates, which set the scheme for the unfolding of everything that exists in space and time, organizing the entire space-time continuum. Ritual (especially the calendar ritual and primarily the main one – the annual, marking the transition from the old year to the new) is also related to them. The structure of the ritual annual festival reproduces a critical borderline situation, where chaos gives rise to cosmos.”
“In the dichotomy ‘initial sacred time / empirical profane time,’ the former is perceived as the domain of the primary causes of subsequent real empirical events. Changes occurring in historical profane time (the formation of social relationships and institutions, evolution in the development of technology and culture)