Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [151]
The gold ring and the rest of the treasure are then hidden in the Rhine, where it has been ever since.
MYTHIC VOICES
The two humans who hid themselves deep within Yggdrasill will be called Lif and Lithrasir…. Lif (“Life”) and Lifthrasir (“thriving remnant”) will have children. Their children will bear children. There will be life and new life, life everywhere on earth. That was the end; and this is the beginning.
—from The Norse Myths, Kevin Crossley-Holland
BRIDGE TO THE EAST
Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth!
—RUDYARD KIPLING, “The Ballad of East and West”
T
he stories, legends, and myths of northern Europe, the Mediterranean world, and the ancient Near East are mostly tales of long-dead religions. True, some of their gods, rituals, concepts, and theories remain alive today, borrowed by later faiths, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and kept alive in traditional celebrations and superstitions. A trendy but powerful New Age “revival” of goddess worship, Wicca, and “neo-druidism” has also attempted to resuscitate ancient mythic beliefs, worship, and other “old ways.” But it is fair to say that most of the mythologies of Europe and the ancient Near East are, well, ancient history. When we come to Asia, however, the story is a very different one—especially in India, China, Japan, and other places where Hinduism, Buddhism, and Shintoism are vigorous, widely practiced religions, deeply rooted in the myths of a very distant past. Nearly as old as Egypt and Mesopotamia, the civilizations of India and China, in particular, retain aspects of mythical systems that were born in the deep mists of prehistory. While understanding these ancient traditions—seemingly so “foreign” to Western experience—has always been intriguing and important, the need to gain a firmer grasp of the beliefs that form the soul of so much of Asia is greater now than ever before.
The reasons why should be fairly obvious. For one thing, our world is changing. Fast. Travel has made the globe smaller. Technology has made it spin more rapidly. When you call your bank or computer maker’s “tech support” from New York, the phone may be answered in New Delhi. The decisions made in Beijing and Bombay—more than ever before—affect people in Boise, Buenos Aires, Berlin, and the Bronx. The clashing ideologies of East meeting West have complicated our lives. And sophisticated weaponry has made it all the more dangerous.
Yes, “East is East and West is West.” But the twain now meet in cyberspace, on telephone call centers, and, certainly, in superstores, where Western shelves are loaded largely with Eastern-manufactured consumer goods.
Then there are the simple, raw numbers—populations are shifting and exploding. Though currently the world’s most populous nation, with more than 1.3 billion people in 2003, China will eventually be surpassed for that dubious distinction by India, which passed the 1 billion mark in 1999. Together, these two countries already account for nearly one-third of the planet’s population. And their ranks are swelling rapidly, even as Western birth rates slow or shrink.
Historians are often asked what the most important event at any given moment might be. Although it is impossible to answer definitely, it would be safe to guess that some of the most important things happening in the world in the early years of the twenty-first century won’t be happening in the capitals of Europe or America. Chances are they will happen in India, China, or elsewhere in Asia, where booming populations and economies are changing global realities.