GREAT TREE MYTH THAT SAVED ANCIENT TRIBE - SRI LANKA

GREAT TREE MYTH THAT SAVED ANCIENT TRIBE

Myths are paradoxical. Some myths contain truths and others are simply fantasy or science fiction. Fiction is not a 20th century invention and has been enjoyed forever. Man has always enjoyed having his imagination stimulated. But are myths meant to be taken literally, figuratively or simply to hand down history from generation to generation? This is MY analogy…no one else’s so I take full responsibility for it.

MEMORY: What is a photo graphic memory? Ask a person with photo graphic memory and they will say they automatically convert information to pictures in their head. Memory classes teach how to do this and they will tell you to invent crazy and wild images, the more fantastic or funny or shocking the better. When imagination and emotions are both utilized the chance of remembering is multiplied many fold. Facts and figures quickly are forgotten…but old wives tails and stupid songs live on forever. This is not news to the ancients who used fantastic stories to stimulate the imagination so that people would not forget the myth. So…myths can be anything from an attempt to pass down true history to fantasy stories that mean nothing but entertainment.

One of the problems with myths is if there IS a story legend or lesson inside the myth…what is it? With the originator gone and the story being told over and over, the meaning may be lost over time but the myth lives on.

I found a great example and a fantastic analogy of this myth theory that is extremely thought provoking…well to me anyway. This came from the tsunami of Sri Lanka…because of the myth…I will never forget it. Read story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4181855.stm

The story is about the sea and the land and the fight between them over their borders. There is a great tree and the world sits in it and sometimes the tree becomes angry over the fight between the land and the water and it shakes in anger sending the water away. But the water fights back and when it comes, it drives itself deep onto the land killing everything in its path. The warning is when you see the sea retreat…RUN!

I was thinking later that this story is so fantastic, is it possible that even this ancient tribe believes it is factual? If questioned I would lay down a bet that you would find a mix of believers and those that smile and laugh about it…but they ALL know it!

But here is the key…an ancient story many thousands of years old…that no one can tell you who or when it was first created…SAVED THE ENTIRE POPULATION! “Someone” long ago new the power of myth and invented the story, so that the facts of the tsunami would be remembered by those in the future, that have never seen or experienced a tsunami.

And what happened to the people of Sri Lanka? The people of modern day science and technology? The people that laugh at the ancient tribesmen and ridicule them as backward and stupid? They did not see the receding water as an omen/warning and went running out on the beach left by the receding water or stood taking pictures. Even when the wall of water was coming back…you can hear the people standing there pointing and making comments about what it is. They died…and not one of the ancient tribes men was harmed. Tsunami vid from beach and reactions to it:   click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdwFWSWNt6o

So…anyone reading this may ask…what’s the point? How is it possible, that in this modern world of knowledge, Tsunami actions are not common knowledge? (I think they are now.) And how is it possible that modern man does not understand mythology and the many reasons it exists throughout the world? The point is, if you enjoy and believe in mythology, look closely at it because what is on the surface, may not be what it appears or was meant to be. Be your own guide.