Carl Jung, in developing his views of archetypes and the collective unconscious, drew on Adolf Bastian views regarding “elementary ideas” and “ethnic ideas”. According to this view, some elements (“elementary ideas”) of culture, religion, etc., are ingrained within us human beings and are universal; other elements (“ethnic ideas” or “local ideas”) are products of our particular environments and differ from culture to culture. I first encountered this distinction in Joseph Campbell’s work, who in turn drew heavily on Carl Jung. Campbell’s most popular work is The Hero With A Thousand Faces, which he said is about similarities in different mythologies. His later and more thorough series, The Masks of God, he said is about differences. He relies on Bastian’s distinction quite heavily in this series.
I think this distinction is incredibly useful when discussing religious syncretism. How much of religion is elementary ideas? How much is ethnic ideas? Perhaps religions can’t all be reconciled exactly, but can common ideas be abstracted? Will there be a fully functioning religion left if the elementary ideas are abstracted? Or would you just have abstract doctrines that wouldn’t really work for anyone? Are there even any truly elementary ideas?
I just finished an intriguing book on Sufism: The Sufis by Idries Shah. (I’m reading the book because it heavily influenced Doris Lessing, whose science-fiction novel Shikasta completely blew me away!) Shah describes Sufism, which is a form of mysticism most often associated with Islam, as a form of theosophy; Wikipedia defines theosophy like this:
Theosophy is a doctrine of religious philosophy and metaphysics [...] [that] holds that all religions are attempts [...] to help humanity in evolving to greater perfection, and that each religion therefore has a portion of the truth.
I have more questions than answers on this matter, but it interests me a great deal.
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Carl Jung, in developing his views of archetypes and the collective unconscious, drew on Adolf Bastian views regarding “elementary ideas” and “ethnic ideas”. According to this view, some elements (“elementary ideas”) of culture, religion, etc., are ingrained within us human beings and are universal; other elements (“ethnic ideas” or “local ideas”) are products of our particular environments and differ from culture to culture. I first encountered this distinction in Joseph Campbell’s work, who in turn drew heavily on Carl Jung. Campbell’s most popular work is The Hero With A Thousand Faces, which he said is about similarities in different mythologies. His later and more thorough series, The Masks of God, he said is about differences. He relies on Bastian’s distinction quite heavily in this series.
I think this distinction is incredibly useful when discussing religious syncretism. How much of religion is elementary ideas? How much is ethnic ideas? Perhaps religions can’t all be reconciled exactly, but can common ideas be abstracted? Will there be a fully functioning religion left if the elementary ideas are abstracted? Or would you just have abstract doctrines that wouldn’t really work for anyone? Are there even any truly elementary ideas?
I just finished an intriguing book on Sufism: The Sufis by Idries Shah. (I’m reading the book because it heavily influenced Doris Lessing, whose science-fiction novel Shikasta completely blew me away!) Shah describes Sufism, which is a form of mysticism most often associated with Islam, as a form of theosophy; Wikipedia defines theosophy like this:
I have more questions than answers on this matter, but it interests me a great deal.