The Cave of Forgotten Dreams and Karen Armstrong

Dr. Sexson suggested I watch Hertzog's new documentary The Cave of Forgotten Dreams.  As with any literary piece he suggests, the information in this film is profound.  One of the most interesting aspects of the film was how it strongly suggests that 24,000 years ago there was no separation between human and animal consciousness, life was all part of a big web of creation of which all life stemmed, and consciousness traveled through these web channels like information through a phone line.  This reality presents itself in the drawings found in this cave that has been sealed for 24,000 years and is like "a time capsule" of information of a civilization that was much different than ours.  We see traces of this way of being in some of the stories we've read for this class. Today, however, we are so insulatory, and our connection with other life, species, and nature has atrophied so much it's almost nonexistent, and the consequences of this intellectual and spiritual departure are much more crippling than most of us realize.

Karen Armstrong, in her book A Short History Of Myth, addresses the implication of our loss of myth and story telling.  It's a great read, for those of you who haven't already read it!