Multiple things here. They were not on the edge of modernity. This is 1700 years too early. But this comparing of the mythic stage to that of Neanderthals is absolutely nothing I would say. The mythic stage is considerably more advanced and sophisticated than that. That's is purely your own fabricated value judgment that you alone are applying to it. There were of course some very advanced thinkers in that day, as you point out, but the world they lived in was in fact NOT the world of modernity. It was the mythic world of the day. That was center of gravity by and large.
Just because that was the general backdrop upon which people thought does not mean you don't have individuals here and there punching holes into the next stage of human evolution. In fact, it is the leading edges that largely pave the way for that to occur, later on down in history where the center of gravity of culture begins to shift into that direction. Then there is another leading edge beyond that, beyond modernity into postmodernity. Then another leading edge beyond that into Integral, and then beyond that, and that, and that, and that, and that.
But even people on the leading edge were still stuck utilizing the overall cavas of that day in order to speak of and communicate their thoughts and ideas. And that was my point about Jesus speaking in that language. Did Jesus see God "beyond" how most did? Sure, I think so of course. But even he would be taking what he realized God to be and frame them within the existing language of the day, speaking of things like heaven, which people image to this day to be a "place" somewhere "up there", in the sky or "beyond the grave". But I feel no need to literalize those things, that particular language and to make it a belief about the reality of it. Jesus did after all contradict those notions when he said the Kingdom of God was inside you.
Yes, and Paul spoke in the language of his day, and framed his own understanding and experiences of God within that language.
To be clear, in my pointing out they were not utilizing modernistic rational systems to see and talk about the world through, but rather mythic systems, is in no way a belittling of them! That's like saying English is "better than" Turkish.
No, I don't make it sound like that. That's you completely putting words and thoughts into my head that don't exist there. These value judgments about their intelligence has absolutely no bearing on saying they were living in a pre scientific, pre modern world. Is being 25 "better than" being 15? Were you a bumbling idiot barking at passing cars when you were simply younger than you are today in your knowledge and awareness of the world? Who is it supplying these value judgements? It's not me.
Of course there were great advancements happening during those ages. That's what we have built upon to today. We wouldn't be where we have come to today if the important lessons from them had not come before us. It's part of our own evolution. But it was in fact "before us". We've taken the advances that were brought forth, or emerged during that time into ours. As part of that natural process we also get rid of the now unnecessary supporting structures that were and are only pertinent to that stage of development.
The problem with fundamentalism that I am seeing is this is all a complaint about shifting the ways we think about and talk about reality, demanding we bring back the language and the days of Moses and the prophets and live and think as they did in those terms. Hell, even Jesus went beyond that mode of thinking. You can see it advancing. You can see an evolution in understanding happening right in the pages of the Bible itself. If not, why is there a New Testament?
Evolution is about building upon what came before, taking the positive parts that work, and discarding the parts that are no longer are needed. You can think of it like taking the training wheels off your bicycle once you've learned the principles of balance. The author of Hebrews even says this that the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. But fundamentalism would have us return to the cultural artifacts of that age in order to find Truth.
I believe the mythic language is NOT the end all be all way of understanding Truth, or to talk about or relate to God with. Nor do I believe the modern scientific language to be either. Nor any mode of thought or supporting language system is. They are all simply ways we frame the way we understand things, and each new understanding takes things into deeper and wider and more inclusive perspectives of the whole, as it adds to what came before it, builds upon it, as your own understanding has grown and deepened throughout your own personal growth.
Truth is not a static fact we need to "get back to". Truth is dynamic, and we need to evolve, and "it" needs us to evolve, I fully believe. Insisting God be understood only in terms that speak of magic and miracles is a hard, and unnecessary sell in a modern and postmodern world. Is it about God, or about your belief structures? That's the real question.
As a musician, I know this inspiration well when you move beyond operating out of the separate self. As a mystic, I know what this Mind of Christ is as well. But all of it is YOU. What comes out is the Mind of Christ, expressed through you, imperfect, relative, and finite as you are. It is beyond the ego, though, for sure.
