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Published: January 6th 2010
Jumpin' jungle !!!
Shades of Indiana Jones.Imagine hiking deep into the jungle and coming upon an ancient block wall, entwined with vines and obscured by trees. You scramble over a hillock to find more masonry ensnared by the jungle. The canopy of greenery keeps you from seeing the sky until suddenly you come upon a nearly vertical array of stonework stretching above the treetops, in steps. You begin to clamber up the steps, ascending above the trees, until you can look out over the rainforest, toward the sea. Where did this all come from? How did it get lost? This is the story told by John L Stephens, in 1841, and illustrated then by F. Catherwood. It can be read and seen in a two-volume set republished by Dover. And the actual illustrations are on display in Merida.
I've been to Athens and visited the Parthenon on the Acropolis. It's exquisite. Yet the gifts of logic championed during the Golden Age of Greek civilization were suppressed by dogma. And the Mayans knew more about Astronomy than anyone in Europe while western civilization was still deep in superstition enforced by religious fundamentalism which would not allow truth to dispel the notion of an Earth centered universe. But
at the same time, the Mayan religious hierarchy tried desperately to make it rain, through blood sacrifice. They were "divine" — and should have been able to do this, or so said "logic."
Mankind is so bright, while yet so dark. "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?" asks the Psalmist. Anthropology would have us reason that man is what he does. But deductive reasoning argues from Cause to effect. We must begin aright in order to understand ourselves and our context rightly. Einstein recognized that we must begin with light, as central to reality. "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." (1John1:5) Or, we could simply continue to wander around in the jungle, wondering what it's all about.
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HatCat
Eric Chaffee
Missing info
I should have added the title of the Stephens books: INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN THE YUCATAN. Also, the missing link of ball court action will be found in the next post. ~eric.