Convenient Myths The Axial Age, Dark Green Religion, and the World That Never Was

Convenient Myths: The Axial Age, Dark Green Religion, and the World That Never Was by Iain W. Provan
English | October 1, 2013 | ISBN: 1602589968, 1602589925 | True PDF | 171 pages | 11.3 MB
The contemporary world has been shaped by two important and potent myths. Karl Jaspers’ construct of the "axial age" envisions the common past (800-200 BC), the time when Western society was born and world religions spontaneously and independently appeared out of a seemingly shared value set. Conversely, the myth of the "dark green golden age," as narrated by David Suzuki and others, asserts that the axial age and the otherworldliness that accompanied the emergence of organized religion ripped society from a previously deep communion with nature. Both myths contend that to maintain balance we must return to the idealized past.