Mytekonstruksjon i The Body of Myth: Mythology, Shamanic Trance, and the Sacred Geography of the Body: En diskursanalyse av innvirkningen til to diskurser på mytefremstillingen i et nyere vestlig esoterisk verk
Abstract
This master thesis aims to take a closer look at a recent western esoteric book called The Body of Myth: Mythology, Shamanic Trance, and the Sacred Geography of the Body written by Joseph Sansonese under the pseudonym J. Nigro Sansonese. Both the book and the author have gone relatively unnoticed by academic research of any kind, while at the same time striving to appear as sources of academic knowledge themselves. Drawing inspiration from a wide range of different material, the book constructs a theory of myth which gathers bits and pieces from a long list of sources; some of them academic, and others most decidedly not.The theory of myth states that myths are esoteric descriptions of the human body during sublime trance. Through trance one is able to experience salvation in the form of complete inner awareness, which is synonymous with the divine. The knowledge of this originated in Proto-Indo-European shamanistic explorations of the body. Myths are veiled descriptions of these practices, which in combination with the spiritual technique raja yoga allows an initiate to achieve the sublime trance. This knowledge has been lost to the majority of modern people, but was self-evident to Proto-Indo-European people.By utilizing discourse analysis and Bruce Lincolns theory of myth this master thesis argues that the theory of myth Sansonese presents in the book has been strongly affected by two discourses, namely the Indo-European and traditionalistic discourses, seen in part through the influence of the works of philologist Georges Dumézil and scholar of religion Mircea Eliade respectively, both of which are cited in the book.The thesis concludes that while at times wavering and unclear in its representation of Indo-European people and myths as distinct and superior to other peoples and their respective myths, a central ideological framework within the Indo-European discourse, there are clear signs of several of the other ideological narratives contained within this discourse as having shaped the way myths are constructed within the book. The influence of the traditionalistic discourse on the construction of myths within the book is unambiguous. Most of the hallmarks of the traditionalistic discourse can be found in the text, and its theory of myth reads as a clear-cut statement of traditionalism.
Description
Postponed access: the file will be accessible after 2025-05-15