Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #802441 in Books
• Published on: 1993-06-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In a philosophical corner of the universe somewhere in the same quadrant as David Abram's The Spell of the Sensuous and Joseph Campbell's Power of Myth shines this brilliantly original, if somewhat confounding, investigation into the origin and meaning of myth. Never again will the reader be forced to ponder "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" Sansonese spells it out so even the least enlightened can understand--that is if we have enough power of concentration to follow his highly complex explanations. The clapping of one hand is the sound of our own listening--the actual noises of outer space and inner place. An exploration of shamanic trance and pranayama yoga unravels mysteries of consciousness leading Sansonese to discover the sacred geography from whence myth arose--it is in priopreception (subconscious physiological self perception) that we first heard the stories and the allegories. The bulk of the book is devoted to Greco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian pre-historical legends as they sprang from our ancestors' anatomy. This is a fascinating read for the epistemologically curious among us, and certainly for the self-absorbed. One imagines Pogo commenting: "We have met the origins of our mythology, and he is us". --P. Randall Cohan

Synopsis
The "shamanic trance" is a natural state, but one in which consciousness achieves a profound level of inner awareness. Over the course of milenia, the knowledge of shamanic trance was carried on in the form of myths and distilled into spiritual practices, for example, the Indian tradition of yoga. This guide compares the myths of the shamanic trance with the yogic practices, and concludes that myths are esoteric descriptions of what occurs within the human body, especially the human nervous system, during trance.

Customer Reviews

The Body of Myth
The Body of Myth: Mythology, Shamanic Trance, and the Sacred Geography of the Body examines the notion that much of the body of mythology, religion, and oral tradition has been created as a mnemonic about breath as a means to transcend human reality. This version of breath is akin to Buddhist awareness meditation and to trance of various earth and shamanic belief systems. The author explores a variety of Greek and Roman mythological elements as well as Christian Biblical accounts to illustrate the common underlying symbolism held within these stories and found within the basic tenets of these belief systems.

I found this book absolutely fascinating, very well researched, and full of though provoking information. I do not believe, however, that everyone will find this book as interesting as the work is set in standard textbook format. Moreover, in order to understand much of the book, the reader should be well acquainted with basic theories of the anthropology of religion and mythology as well as basic Buddhist philosophy. The reader should also have some basic knowledge of Greek and Roman mythology and literature as well as some knowledge of Christian Biblical accounts.

weird
An attractive and partly convincing idea at the start - that Zen riddles and yogic exercises are intended to force us back on proprioception, on our awareness of our own bodily state and position. But the author then convinces himself that just about every Greek, Hebrew and Indian story is all about detailed awareness of internal bodily states. This is bolstered by some extraordinarily arbitrary etymologies, in which names are reduced to single sounds that are then said to be the sound of one nostril snuffling, or some such. I think there is still something to be said for the initial insight, and it may be that it's possible to sense rather more of our own bodily states than we usually think, if only we follow the instructions (making sure we have a personal, present guru to guide us, and not relying only on books). I've only given it two stars, but it is quite fun.