21–30 of 45 posts
I have a copy of the collected stories of the Brothers Grimm from my childhood, but when I was young I skipped the preface (and to be honest, most of the "Christian" stories, which I found boring, preferring instead the fairy tales with blood, monsters, witches and the prototypical "the youngest of three brothers gets the princess/treasure"), but when I was older I did finally read the preface and was surprised to le…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
These stories weren't meant to be children's stories. They just became popular as such and have been edited to make them more child friendly to the point that with Disney they're hardly recognizable anymore.
That's not remotely true. Many of these stories were specifically to protect children. If you can't watch your children all the time, you can't just tell them, "Don't go too close to the water." They'll go anyway. So you tell them, "There are Wassermen (German) / Vodnik (Czech) who will grab you by the feet and pull you in."
It's this same imagery we see in old tales like that. Vivid and terrifying creatures and events that apply enough fear to curb our curiosity in places that it might get the better of us.
What's that quote from the movie producer? "All the good stories have already been told, it's just a matter of how you tell it"? Something like that. There are volumes and volumes of books about how every story can be described by just a few "proto" stories. It's not entirely surprising that there were proto stories before the written word.
This comment is not very original.
Carl Jung talks about a collective unconscious and I have to say that I find it absolutely fascinating that our symbols are so durable and our desires petrified. We have a core psychology of what it means to be human that remains unchanged and so its stories remain unchanged.
I've always wondered if stories with trolls and dwarves date from a time when there actually were other hominids around.
I have a copy of the collected stories of the Brothers Grimm from my childhood, but when I was young I skipped the preface (and to be honest, most of the "Christian" stories, which I found boring, preferring instead the fairy tales with blood, monsters, witches and the prototypical "the youngest of three brothers gets the princess/treasure"), but when I was older I did finally read the preface and was surprised to le…
These stories weren't meant to be children's stories. They just became popular as such and have been edited to make them more child friendly to the point that with Disney they're hardly recognizable anymore.
Or perhaps some stories may be so archetypical that they get reinvented repeatedly. Stories that share some similar plot points does not mean they must have a common origin.
Or perhaps some stories may be so archetypical that they get reinvented repeatedly. Stories that share some similar plot points does not mean they must have a common origin.
Given that Europe is a similar natural landscape: forest, river, mountain, and has the same wildlife: bears, pigs, wolves, and that it was sparsely populated by modern standards with travel going fastest by horse if you even had a horse, I can see why there are common threads throughout. The dangers were the same, the outcome the same, the weapons of defense the same. The common origin I would assume, is no more than…
Reminds me of all those internet scientists that ask "but what about the sun?" when the topic of AGW comes up. No shit, Sherlock, never thought about that blinding thing in the sky before!
Sorry for the rant and attacking you, but sometimes a bit of humility is warranted when it comes to science.
Jordan has uncanny ability to piece together observations on human behavior with science and mythology; expounding humanity's nuances, ticks and everyday common behavior through the lens of ancient mythology, evolution and ideas and theories by notable psychologists and philosophers.
Keep an open mind while listening, but also be prepared to think critically about many of his assumptions and assertions as Jordan takes a number of 'educated' leaps (and demands you follow) in regards to published studies and what they may infer, but the leaps are never illogical - just yet to be soundly proven.
Overall, listening to these lectures truly was a transformative experience for myself.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10941363 [2] https://www.youtube.com/user/JordanPetersonVideos [3]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqONu6wDYaE
edit: linked this story and not the previous one.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Given that Europe is a similar natural landscape: forest, river, mountain, and has the same wildlife: bears, pigs, wolves, and that it was sparsely populated by modern standards with travel going fastest by horse if you even had a horse, I can see why there are common threads throughout. The dangers were the same, the outcome the same, the weapons of defense the same. The common origin I would assume, is no more than…
Seriously, there are guys researching this topic for years, applying sophisticated linguistic analyses and then finally propose a novel hypothesis to the world - then comes a guy on the internet and after a quick snap of their thoughts destroys their work and claims they're wrong, it is no more than common experiences . Reminds me of all those internet scientists that ask "but what about the sun?" when the topic of A…
But you know, a common ancestor who imparted the wisdom of ye olde wurld on to generations to come, like a LotR type sceanrio, that's not making the square evidence fit in a round hole. /sceptic