Myth or Science
Throughout history there have been many attempts to explain the origin and workings of our universe. Most every culture has their own cosmogony. Nearly every individual has his or her own idea of what our universe is. During our modern era of advanced scientific knowledge, we feel that we have a good grasp on how the universe works. We have our Chemistry and Physics, along with Mathematics, to examine the universe with. Any person educated in these fields will tell you that they know our universe. The point is science in the modern era is thought to be the correct summation of the universe. We think we are right. Does this make everyone else wrong? Those that believe in myth over science, are they wrong? These are some of the questions that I will be discussing in this essay. I will examine the evolution of cosmological thought in Ancient Greece (Pre-Socratics through Aristotle). In doing this, I will show a movement from myth to more science based cosmologies. I will then examine the Buddhist Cosmology, which is somewhat separated from Ancient Greek thought. After all of this, I will examine the question of which is more correct, Science or Myth. Before continuing a clear definition of "myth" needs to be esta
By no means am I stating that myth is the proper method of explaining the universe. I am merely stating that it, and science, are possible explanations. Which one to believe in is complete up to the individual. Buddhist beliefs about the workings of the universe were also very spiritually centered. "Everything we apprehend in the world is mere illusion." (French, pg. 61) This statement was considered the core truth behind human interaction in the world. If everything in the world were an illusion, then it would be impossible to use science to determine the workings of the universe. Science could only be used to predict how the illusion will act and respond to different situations. With this concept brought to life, the only thing that could be used to explain the universe is myth. A Buddhist parable about a man walking through the forest helps describe their belief of reality in the world. It is summed up as follows. Some of the earliest known philosophies on the creation of the Earth come from the works of Hesiod. In his Theogony he attempts to explain the creation of the Earth, and all that surrounds him, using myth. In the myth Hesiod anthropomorphizes the cosmos. He tells of "Chaos" being the first to come into being, then he goes on to describe how each of the gods of the cosmos comes in to being. The gods of the cosmos are all related to some characteristic of our universe. They can be physical parts or concepts (similar to Plato's idea of the forms). For example the line, "Earth first bore starry Heaven, equal to herself, to cover her on every side, and to be an ever-sure abiding-place for the blessed gods."(Theogony, 126) describes both the act of birth, which is a human characteristic, and physical parts of the universe being gods (Heaven meaning the stars, and the Earth). He also has gods, such as Eros, which represents the concept of Love.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Buddhist Cosmology, Buddhists Buddhism, Socrates Plato, Hesiod Theogony, Geocentric Earth, Ancient Greece, II Dictionary, Theogony Hesiod, Physics Mathematics, Hesiod Aristotle's, buddhist cosmology, reach enlightenment, ancient greece, myth science, universe created, physical world, level reality, french pg, workings universe, karma reach enlightenment, webster's ii, french pg 61, webster's ii dictionary, myth science seen,
Approximate Word count = 2399
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
