"Other ways of knowing," aka Different Cognitive Styles

[tama]

75. Mythology and literalism

Speaking as one belonging to an indigenous native culture (anthropologically as "informant&quot and also educated in Western culture so that I can try to interpret and translate to the best of my ability between our world views, the essence of mythological language is that it is open to interpretation, and interpretation can happen on many levels, from thoughts to life experience, shamanistic transformations etc. The function of mythological language is that of guiding maps in worlds of experiences, but without trying to limit the ways to experience. I feel that the Greek word "metaphorical" relation catches the relation of mythological language and world as whole beautifully.

And from what I understand, languages of science and scientific theories are not usually not meant to be taken literally as world-as-such, but as metaphoric relations. "Map is not the landscape" as they saying goes, and it applies both to mythological and scientific metaphoric language.

Like humans and human languages mythological language is part of natural world, as are experiences of interacting with spirit worlds in indigenous cultures. "Supernatural" seems to be wholly Western concept as it presupposes ability to "step out" of nature and look at it as externalized object from above. In that sense, the Western concept "supernatural" reveals the European sickness of mind and soul, as they confuse nature, world as whole, with an metaphorical image that allows them to imagine they can control world as external object from above, instead of belonging to world as integral and organic part. Considering world as home, not external object that you can step above - and crush under your feet.