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The Question

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The Benefit of Being Less Sure

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Opening the window between science and myth enables fresh air to freely circulate, and alternative light to be freely exchanged.

The fresh air jolts us to be less sure of what we thought we knew. The alternative light prompts us to be more sure of our need to seek what we don’t know.

The chain of evidence both circumstantial and physical can only reconstruct the crime scene and place the suspects there. But there is no definitive way to solve the crime itself.

Myths don’t have closure. Science only turns a myth into mystery with possible closure. But that possible closure is only available to an explorer.

Magi From The East

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The identity of the magi from the east has become a very popular, very misunderstood, and therefore very mythical component of the story of the star.

All of the original ancient manuscripts all read “magi”, and not “wise men.”

Because the identify of the magi has become such a popular misunderstanding, depictions of their visit has fueled a lot of the modern skepticism about the entire story of the star. The skepticism could be because of the obvious religious imagery of three mythical – perhaps wise men – perhaps kings, somehow following an abnormally bright star over some great distance and then witnessing the star as it stops and hovers like a spotlight over the exact location of the nativity.

The story of the star often grinds to a halt when we try to reconcile with the popular myth of the magi. But just like Herod the Great, the magi were real people too.

Surreal and Real

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As it turns out, giant one-eyed skulls did belong to an ancient ancestor, a prehistoric ancestor of the elephant, a creature we named Deinotherium Giganteum, which means “terrible beast.”

This wasn’t actually known until the late 19th century, 2,600 years after The Odyssey was written. With the benefit of centuries of scientific research backing us up, we could smugly dismiss this whole giant Cyclops nonsense as fantasy perpetrated by an ignorant, ancient people. And we could go back to simply enjoying our modern comic book fantasies of the Cyclops.

But knowing what we now know, is our modern disbelief still secure?

In this video, presenter Frederick Tamagi discusses how we should engage myth in the modern age.

TQP 011: The Real Star of Bethlehem

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TQP 011: The Real Star of BethlehemThe story of the star is one of the most significant in the whole Bible, not just as an extraordinary standalone mythic phenomenon, which it is, but also as a trigger event for the literal birth of a whole spiritual movement that now influences over two billion people worldwide.

Without predispositions or prejudice, archeoastronomers have engaged the story of the star based on their own revised definition of myth as a valid ancient perspective, as a scientific and historical background, and as an invitation to explore.

Where everyone must start is the single account of this amazing start in the Bible itself, from the book of Matthew 2:2-10:

“Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his start when it rose and have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s priests and teachers of the law, he asked where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

“But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rules of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the start they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

This is the one account of this in the Bible.

The ancient crime scene testimony focuses on three key statements:

  1. From the time of King Herod
  2. Magi from the east
  3. We have seen a star in the east when it rose

In this episode of The Question podcast, you will hear highlights from Frederick Tamagi’s presentation on “The Real Star of Bethlehem,” and the music of Joel Pearson.

Thank you for listening!

What questions will you be taking with you after listening to this episode?

We encourage you to connect with us via social media:

We look forward to interacting with you.

TQP 010: Science & Myth III

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TQP 010: Science & Myth III

Archaeomythology, archeoastronomy, medical archeology, and geomythology have all gradually transformed what was once a one-dimensional wall between science and myth into a multi-dimensional window that allows scientific principles, recorded history, human imagination, and cultural identity to exchange freely between modern and ancient mankind.

This free and fearless exchange of the modern and the ancient in order to better understand the nature of truth is like exploring a new dimension of living memories rather than merely visiting an old museum of dead artifacts.

Opening the window between science and myth is like first drawing an accurate factual outline in black and white, and then suddenly discovering an unlimited palette of new colors, tones and hues with which to articulate a deeper identity.

The courage of the scientific community to examine myth as a new alternative source in the ongoing search for truth contradicts our modern attitudes towards myth. But for many of us, our outright rejection of myth is our way of being scientific and safely segregated from the ignorance and backwardness of our ancestors.

Declaring something a myth is not a very kind expression. A deep cynicism, or even a mockery of what we judge to be absurd beliefs, especially those beliefs that emanate from an ancient culture. Like so much in our world of polarizing ideological conflict, we are sadly becoming conditioned to our own narrow reality and the conditioned reflex to judge anything outside of that reality.

But for the new scientists of geomythology, archeoastronomy, and the like, declaring something a myth implies neither the truth nor the falseness of an ancient story. This is because scientists understand, that for ancient cultures, a myth was by definition considered true in that it embodied that particular culture’s way of looking at the world and making sense of the world in that time.

Engaging myth is in direct opposition to our very popular, very simple and very judgmental view that myths are always false by definition. Our natural reflex is to reject myth as an impossibility. The reflex of new science is to embrace myth as a mystery.

In this episode of The Question Community podcast, you will hear highlights from Frederick Tamagi’s presentation on Science & Myth III as well as the music of Joel Pearson.

You can listen to part one and part two here.

Thank you for listening to Science & Myth III!

What questions will you be taking with you after listening to this episode?

We encourage you to connect with us via social media:

We look forward to interacting with you.

Mythical Science

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There are many stories of science and myth examining one another through the open window. And there are many more interesting questions about the nature of truth that’s made possible by allowing light to flow from either side of the window.

The modern iteration of the term “myth” has quietly become synonymous with ignorance, backwardness, nonsense, and even stupidity.

In this video, presenter Frederick Tamagi explores the connections between science and myth.

Thinkers or Judges

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Opening the window between science and myth can also bring new clarity about the importance of engaging the question of mystery.

Our modern attitudes often make it difficult to engage myth, but when thinkers engage myth as mystery, they cease to be judges.

Ancient myths are basically portraits of the imagination experience of our ancestors. The story of scientific discovery illustrates the potential benefits of resisting the reflex to judge our ancestors for the supposed ignorance or backwardness.

This reflex to judge is why calling something a myth today is virtually synonymous with calling something stupid.

By postponing judgment, and engaging myth as mystery, we open up an exchange of perspective with our ancestors, and notwithstanding the benefits of our overwhelming technological advantage.

Thoughtfully engaging myth allows us to see that our ancestor’s perspective on the extraordinary events of history, while undoubtedly imaginative, and sometimes incorrect, are not stupid.

The Oracle’s End

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There were also a couple of interesting historical anecdotes concerning the oracle that supported the ethylene gas theory.

The first anecdote was the legendary shortened life span of many priestesses that served as oracle throughout the five centuries that the temple was active.

Regular, prolonged exposure to ethylene gas would not only cause progressive physical and psychological deterioration, but would also explain the legends of intense ecstasies, or violent possessions, which could easily be ancient code speak for seizures. Apparently, this intense spiritual ordeal caused many oracles to die as very young women.

The second anecdote is an actual earthquake recorded in the area of Delphi in the year 373 B.C. – an earthquake that reportedly damaged the temple and surrounding structures.

The reason this earthquake may support the geomythology explanation of the oracle is that after this earthquake, stories about the oracle diminish considerably. Post-earthquake, it’s evident that the revered, prophetic reputation of the oracle was no longer a prominent feature of Greek history or myth.

In this video, presenter Frederick Tamagi explores what happened to the temple at Delphi.

Wall or Window?

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When we declare something a myth today, it’s a not-very-kind expression of our deep cynicism (even mockery) about seemingly unfounded beliefs (both religious and non-religious).

Our judgments about myth are a kind of self-securing “firewall” to the apparent ignorance and even backwardness of ancient people.

We protect our intellectual security against such ancient ignorance by believing nothing when it comes to myth.

In this video, Frederick Tamagi challenges the idea that myth is always false and untrue.

The Paradox of Myth

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What is a myth?

The familiar dictionary definition suggests that a myth is a traditional or legendary story in which subjects are grand creation or origin stories of the world, of nature, of civilizations, of culture.

Many believe that myths are false by definition.

In this video, presenter Frederick Tamagi explains what a myth is, and how science views it.