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Our objective is to study historical
information regarding the structure, workings and
origins of nature, with special emphasis on transient
events. As scientists now recognise plasma
as the dominant state of matter in the universe, the
subject is conveniently referred to as plasma mythology.
This eye-catching term serves to distinguish the present
approach from more traditional schools of 'nature mythology',
that did not acknowledge the significant role of transient
events in human traditions.
The plasma universe
Space is not a vacuum punctuated by isolated bodies
on perpetually stable courses, as defined by the law
of gravity. Since the beginning of the Space Age, it
has gradually been discovered that space consists for
99.99% of plasma and is threaded with electric
filaments and magnetic fields spanning over many orders
of magnitude. This new paradigm is known as plasma
cosmology and was pioneered by the Swedish scientist,
Hannes Alfvén (1908-1995). Plasma is a partially
ionised gas regarded as the 'fourth state of matter',
that responds with great sensitivity to changes in its
magnetic fields and becomes visible to the human eye
when it is pervaded by a sufficiently strong electrical
current.
The solid rock, the oceans and the lower regions of
the earth's atmosphere belong to the minute segment
of the cosmos that is not in the plasma state. Yet the
earth itself is bathed in an electromagnetic environment.
This consists of the magnetic shell that shields
the planet from the enveloping solar wind and other
external features impinging on it, such as Near-Earth
Objects (NEOs) and, far less frequently, cometary intruders
into the inner solar system. In addition, plasma penetrates
and controls a range of terrestrial phenomena, such
as the aurorae, lightning, fire, tornadoes and lava
flows.
Historical sources
The term 'historical information' is a broad denominator
including a great diversity of materials. 'Traditional
information' refers to any ideas that were passed
on collectively in traditional societies, often imbued
with a sense of sacrality and veridicality. Myths and
legends, rituals, religious and metaphysical notions,
artefacts and iconography, such as petroglyphs, geoglyphs,
designs on pottery and religious statuary, costume,
architecture, ranging from stone circles and pyramids
to stūpas and cathedrals, and 'proto-scientific'
cosmologies and histories are replete with references
to the natural world and its past. A second repository
of data consists of historical records concerning
observations of the sky, the atmosphere or the landscape,
or historical events.
As far as the celestial aspect of nature is concerned,
such historical sources have been the subject of disciplines
variously labelled archaeoastronomy, cultural
astronomy, the history of astronomy and the
history of ideas or of religion, depending
on geographical and chronological scope.
The study of historical information about the natural
world is useful in a variety of ways. It is of interest
in its own right, facilitating our understanding of
past cultures and their outlook on the world. In addition,
historical sources have much to contribute to modern
science, as they can complement the scientific reconstruction
of the past, specifically the recent history of planet
Earth. And conversely, recent discoveries concerning
the plasma universe shed fresh light on historical data
that had previously been inscrutable.
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rayed
curtain, aurora borealis
(© Historic NWS Collection, NOAA Photo Library) |
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the
zodiacal light
(© Dominic Cantin) |
axis
mundi
(© Jo Seong Hee) |
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 |
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aurora
borealis
(© Ben-Zin 2002) |
corona,
aurora borealis
(Wikimedia Commons) |
lightning
(Wikimedia Commons) |
A new theory of myth
Beginning with some of the classical philosophers, scholars
have pondered the nature and origin of mythology
for centuries. Yet while respectable disciplines such
as geology, astronomy, physics, biology, archaeology
and linguistics gradually matured, the subject of mythology
continued to lack a consensus core of method and direction.
Employing structural, historical and comparative methods
of reconstruction akin to those applied in linguistics
and evolutionary biology, it is possible to establish
a theoretical foundation for 'plasma mythology' as a
new direction in the discipline of comparative mythology.
Within the history of ideas, 'plasma mythology', with
its emphasis on transient natural phenomena, can be
seen as a modern successor to the 'introspective'
and structuralist psychosociological models preferred
during most of the 20th century, that were
championed by thinkers such as Sigmund Freud,
Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, Émile Durkheim,
Georges Dumézil, and Claude Lévi-Strauss.
The exploitation of cutting-edge scientific knowledge
of geological, atmospheric and astronomical events as
potentially the ultimate inspiration for numerous mythical
themes can be regarded as a modern continuation of the
old 'nature school' of mythology, which –
beginning in the late 19th century and eventually
supplanted by the 'psychosociological' theories –
sought to invoke the behaviour of the sun, the moon,
vegetal life, and so forth as the inspirational source
of prominent mythical themes. Yet unlike the old school,
the modern interdisciplinary approach –
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places far less emphasis
on elaborate metaphors and the linguistic aspect
of the names of mythical characters; |
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concentrates on short-lived,
dramatic events instead of less 'awe-inspiring'
spectacles such as the sunrise or the lunar cycle; |
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and benefits from the
immensely improved state of geophysics, plasma physics,
climatology, and related scientific disciplines. |
The impact of cutting-edge science on the humanities
is most palpable in the field of astronomy. Before the
Space Age, scientists still described the solar system
as a relatively uneventful 'vacuum', in which only planets,
asteroids and the occasional comet moved on fixed courses
with Aristotelian or Ptolemaic precision. As a consequence,
scholars in the humanities investigating the reflections
of astronomical concepts in ancient traditions were
very much restricted to this straightjacket. The modern
understanding of the solar system as a highly complex
web of combined gravitational and electromagnetic forces,
in which the solar wind interacts with interplanetary
space and planetary magnetospheres, injects a new lease
of life into the obsolete pre-1950 understanding of
the solar system, allowing theorists to account for
a much greater variety of traditional observations at
a higher level of intellectual satisfaction.
Earlier theories incorporated
The 'plasma-physical' approach to historical information
about nature, notably creation mythology, does not simply
deny or ignore older mythological theories such as those
espoused by Edward Tylor, Sir James Frazer,
Émile Durkheim, Carl Jung, Mircea Eliade,
Georges Dumézil, and Claude Lévi-Strauss.
Instead, while acknowledging their value, it places
them in a different perspective, provided by a comprehensive,
overarching framework:
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The naturalists'
contention that many mythical and other traditions
describe familiar natural phenomena (symbolic
from a modern point of view, often meant literally
in traditional societies) is often correct, insofar
as the comparison of gods and ancestors to the sun,
the moon, the rainbow or a certain plant or animal
can be seen as an adaptation of earlier narrative
material to the present, 'tranquil' condition of
the natural world. |
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Durkheim's and Dumézil's
assertion that many myths reflect aspects of human
society are on target, although they were not
inspired by those aspects, but acted as models for
them. |
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Jung's archetypes and
Lévi-Strauss' binary structure of the mind
exist and operate in the mind as suggested,
but were also the imprint rather than the origin
of the myths. |
Typically, the raw content of mythical and other traditional
ideas was supplied by some sensory experience,
often visual, which subsequently informed and
shaped the psychological, sociological and artistic
dimensions of the tradition. In many cases, and typically
in creation mythology, such sensory experiences concerned
the external world of the sky, the atmosphere
or the landscape. In others, the experiential source
was internal, as in visions obtained by holy
men, Near-Death Experiences, and so forth. In an on-going
project, we develop a methodology to distinguish between
traditions based on external, physical phenomena and
on internal, psychological phenomena. Global motifs
embedded in the cycle of creation myths tend to originate
in collective experiences of the physical world. More
isolated motifs, motifs concerning human souls and ancestors
instead of deities, and motifs that continue to be experienced
by individuals today likely betray a psychological source.
The celestial provenance of the original contents of
many creation myths may account for the remarkable uniformity
of human tradition.
Verification
Unlike many previous theories of myth, the interdisciplinary
connection with plasma science adds the invaluable benefit
of testability: controlled laboratory experiments
are capable of testing the theory by replicating the
structures presented in myth and traditional art. Another
test might consist in a comparison of the geographic
distribution of specific mythical motifs to the way
a hypothetical prototype in the sky would have appeared
to terrestrial stargazers, allowing for latitude, longitude
and altitude, local climates, the orbital motion of
the earth and other objects possibly involved. This
line of research might be referred to as mythogeography.
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