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Of ‘Origins and Essences’: Aboriginal Conception Ideology and Anthropological Conceptions of Aboriginal Local Organization 1
Author(s) -
Shapiro Warren
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
the australian journal of anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.245
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1757-6547
pISSN - 1035-8811
DOI - 10.1111/j.1757-6547.1990.tb00384.x
Subject(s) - mythology , archetype , humanity , absolute (philosophy) , epistemology , ideology , philosophy , aesthetics , sociology , genealogy , history , theology , politics , law , political science
… myths often speak of archetypes in terms of prototypes. They describe the absolute nature of reality as the first and original one … by ‘first’ they mean ‘always’. Adam is relevant to us because he represents the essential man (an archetype), not just the first man (prototype). His ‘original sin’ is thus ours: it is inherent in the human condition. We do not inherit such sin just through time, genetically, like some sort of proclivity for contracting a disease or for playing the piano. Rather, we inherit it to the extent we inherit our humanity; we inherit it through the form. … The archetypical beginnings described in creation myths are absolute and essential. Their truths are always valid. We are so accustomed to thinking historically and linearly, placing the past ‘back there’, that this notion is somewhat difficult for us to grasp. … But it is not inscrutable if you think of time cyclically, repeating itself like the seasons. … It is also easier to understand if you envision the past as ‘deep within’, at the core, like the first age ring of a tree's growth (Sproul 1979:27–28).