[...]he make midwife toad, who carries fertilized eggs on his back for a month. understand that certain ="trms">species of mollusk can change their gender, know that from a ball afloat on tiny filaments inside its fanned shell, a sea scallop can tell which way is up.
    crane your neck. worm your way. wolf it down. monkey with things. outfox your foe. quit badgering your tax attorney.
    take notes on the deagness of coral, the pea-size heart of a bat. be meticulous. we will need these things so that we may speak.
    the human mind is the ="trms">child of primate evolution and our complex fluid ="trms">interactions with environment and one another. ="trms">animals have enrished this ="trms">social intelligence. they give concrete expression to thoughts and images. they carry the outside ="trms">world to our inner one and back again. they helped ="trms">language flower into ="trms">="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">metaphor, ="trms">symbol, and ritual. we once sang and danced them, made music from their skin, sinew, and bone. their ="trms">stories came off our tongues. we ate them. they ate us.
    close attention to mollusks and f="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rigate ="trms">birds and wolves makes us aware ont only of our own human identity but also of how much more there is, an assertion of our imperfect hunger for mystery. ‘without mystery life shrinks,’ wrote biologist Edward O. Wilson. ‘the completely known is a numbing void to all active minds.’”
(="ppl">Meloy, Eating Stone p142-143)

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="large lg2" stl="font-size:110%"> Jacobsen on ancient mesopotamian

='strcls'>*="trms">religion='lgc'> = ="trms">response='strcls'>*

='lgc'>[='strcls'>*='lgc'>]numinous='lgc'>: a unique experience of ='strcls'>*confrontation with power='strcls'>* not of this ="trms">world, confrontation with a ‘wholly other’
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> terrifying, demonic d="trms"nttrm="already,spread">read, awe, ="trms">sublime ma="trms">jesty, fascinating, ="trms">demanding unconditional allegiance, etc.
='strcls'>*="trms">positive human ="trms">response ='lgc'>[in thought (myth, theology) ='lgc'>+ in action (culd, worship)='lgc'>] ='lgc'>==> ="trms">religion='strcls'>*

="trms">="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">metaphor='lgc'>: human psychological reaction to the experience ='lgc'>[of numinous='lgc'>] by means of analogy
="prgrph">-in ="trms">="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">metaphors all that is shared by the worshipers of an individual culture or cultural period in their common ="trms">response to the numinous is summed and crystallized
="prgrph">-choice of central ="trms">="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">metaphor='lgc'>: wants to recapture and transmit, the primary meaning on which it builds, which underlines and determines the ='strcls'>*total character of its ="trms">response='strcls'>*='lgc'> = the total character of its ="trms">religion
="prgrph">-major ="trms">religious ="trms">="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">metaphors of the ancient mesopotamians have a double ="trms">nature as pointing beyond themselves to things not of this ="trms">world ='and'>& yet being and remaining very much of the ="trms">world

in attempting to ="trms">interpret ="trms">religious ="trms">="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">metaphors, one must seek to bring out as fully as possible its ='strcls'>*powers to sug="trms">gest and recall='strcls'>* the numinous
="prgrph">-to one generations is fresh and powerful may be to another seem old and trite
sug="trms">gestiveness ='lgc'>=/= re="trms">presentaive of its period ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">literalness='lgc'>: attention to human purposes and values ='lgc'>==> ='lgc'>[flase='lgc'>] sense that all has been explained and understood

human's recognition of dependency upon power not of this ="trms">world ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">religious expressino='lgc'> = transcendent hope and trust (='lgc'>=/= ="ppl">Nietzsche)


='strcls'>*(mesopotamian) numinous='lgc'> = immanence (in feature of confrontation) ='lgc'>=/= all transcendence

mesopotamian experience of numinous power='lgc'> = revelation of ='strcls'>*indwelling spirit='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> power at the center of something that caused it to be and thrive and flourish ='lgc'>=/= Old Testament's numinous='lgc'> = transcendent ='lgc'>{='lgc'>-='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='gtrw'>go to the experience of Moses with the burning bush='lgc'>: ‘God ='lgc'>=/= bush’ ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>**God happened as it were sojourn there موقتا but he is altogether transcendent, and there is nothing but a purely ="trms">situational ephemeral ="trms">relation with the bush='lgc'>}
='lgc'>--='not'>✕='lgc'>='lgc'>--> a mesopotamian would have experienced the burning bush ="trms">differently='lgc'>: numinous power of the bush's being (not just “in” it) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> numinous='lgc'> = immanent ='lgc'>=/= transcendent

power speaking to Moses in the desert disas="trms">sociates itself from the bush and identifies itself as the god of Moses's father ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> needs introduction ='lgc'>=/= numinous power speaking to the mesopotamian Enkidu in Gilgamesh Epis does not choose to disas="trms">sociate itself from it locus and so needs no introduction. ='lgc'>--='lgc'>{"the sun god heard the word of his mouth; from afar, from the midst of heaven, he kept calling to him.” ='lgc'><='lgc'>-- the power is here seen as immanent in the visible sun, is what animates it and motivates it, ='strcls'>*is the god who informs it='strcls'>*='lgc'>}

in Akkadian (the ="trms">language in which epic of Gilgamesh is ="trms">written)='lgc'>: ‘the word for X='lgc'> = the numinous power in X’
="lsts lst1">•(word for) visible sun='lgc'> = sun god
="lsts lst1">•the sumerian word for sky, the visible blue dome overhead, which turns black and full of stars that make their wat across it at night='lgc'> = the name of the numinous power in the sky, its power and its will to be, the sky god

the form given to numinous encounter may adjust to the content revealed in it

='strcls'>*sometimes the form-giving ="trms">imagination ="trms"nttrm="already,spread">reads details and meaning into a form beyond what is given in simple observation='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the numinous power in thunderstorm developed from the dark thundercloud into an enormous black eagle, but since the mighty roar of the thunder could not well be ="trms">imagined as issuing from other than a lion's maw, this ="trms">bird was given a lion's head

='strcls'>**form-giving ="trms">imagination='strcls'>**
rings the changes on a basic meaningful form in a whole series of variations, each expressing the underlying numinous content in ="trms">different ways
="prgrph">-series of sug="trms">gestive variant images all expressive of its power to wax, to produce and yield


lord='lgc'>: a charismatic leader magically ="trms">responsible for producing fertility and plenty for his subjects
...="trms">situationally determined nonhuman forms ='lgc'>--='not'>✕='lgc'>='lgc'>--> victory of human form over nonhuman forms slowly and with difficulty (with the begining of third millennium from early Dynastic onward)


="trms">intransitive='lgc'>: fulfilled in the ="trms">specific ="trms">situation or ="trms">phenomenon and did not reach out beyond it (='lgc'>~ characteristic boundness to some ="trms">phenomena)
(ancient mesopotamian saw) numinous as immanent ='lgc'>==> name that power and attribut form to it in terms of the ="trms">phenomena


="large lg3" stl="font-size:111%"> ='lgc'>[Jacobsen's well ="trms">articulation to pose a ="trms">question ='lgc'>='lgc'>-->='lgc'>] ='strcls'>*the characteristic of mesopotamian boundness to the externals of ="trms">situation in which the numinous was encountered...='strcls'>* ='lgc'>==>
="lsts lst1">•="trms">intransitiveness
="lsts lst1">•="trms">differentiation ='lgc'>==> p="trms"nttrm="failure,blur,plur,lurk,tallur,slur">lura="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">listic aspect (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> polytheism) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> divine aspects that it recognized

p="trms"nttrm="failure,blur,plur,lurk,tallur,slur">lurality ='lgc'>==> ability to='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•distinguish
="lsts lst1">•evaluate
="lsts lst1">•choose

“No god went by, why are my muscles paralyzed” (Gilgamesh) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ‘god='lgc'> = paralyzing fear’
uncannily good luck
sudden realization of having come to harm
numinous power experienced in sudden illness
='strcls'>*no allegiance was invented='strcls'>* ='lgc'>==> no cult developed

they are gloomy, their shadow dark,
no light is in their bodies,
ever they slink along covertly,
walk not up="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">right,
from their claws drips bitter gall,
their footprints are (full of) evil venom.

="large lg4" stl="font-size:112%"> (from ='lgc'>[more primitive='qstn'>?='lgc'>]) d="trms"nttrm="already,spread">read ='lgc'>--to='lgc'>='lgc'>--> fascination

the shivers and chills (of death)
that fritter the sun of things,
spawn of the god of heavens,
spawned on an evil spirit,
the death warrants, be="trms">loved sons of the storm god,
born of the queen of the nether="trms">world,
who were torn out of heaven and hurled from the earth as castoffs,
are creatures of hell, all

we are not determined, we are engendered


numinous as immanent ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> external habituation='lgc'>: inviting (or magically enforcing) the ="trms">presence of the power within

="large lg5" stl="font-size:142%"> efforts of such habituation='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•cult dramatic
="lsts lst1">•="trms">fashioning or appropriate divine images
="lsts lst1">•="trms">religious ="trms">literature
="lsts lst1">•temples

='strcls'>*cult drama='lgc'>: the form fills with its content='strcls'>*
="trms">literally re-="trms">present god, ="trms">presenting his external form, (bring about the god's ="trms">presence through ritual re="trms">presentation of him) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> beneficent results for the ="trms">community ='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>--> still works today='lgc'>]
="lsts lst1">•sacred marriage
="lsts lst1">•yearly lamentations
="lsts lst1">•battle drama (primeval contest for ="trms">world order against the forces of chaos)
="trms">fashioning of images (of the god) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> to achive lasting ="trms">presence

="trms">poetry='lgc'>: means of invoking the ="trms">presence of powers ='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>--> we are doing this still='qstn'>?! bad ="trms">poetry='lgc'>]
creative power of the word underlines all mesopotamian (="trms">religious) ="trms">literature
="lsts lst1">•works of praise
="lsts lst1">•works of lament (specialized lamentation-priest ='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Sana, ="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Alice,Shariati">Ali )
='strcls'>*lament='lgc'>: influencing and swaying the divine heart by reminding the god of ="trms">past happiness, rather than by magically recreating that ="trms">past='strcls'>*


(mesopotamian='lgc'>:) ='strcls'>*temple='lgc'> = house='strcls'>*
(implication between) the divine owner and his house ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> emotional closeness of a human owner and [...]