Adam and Eve is a story about losing immortality

There is a secret to immortality, and the oldest stories of death are some of the oldest stories we know. They can tell us how our ancestors thought of the moment their loved ones life ended. This is a look at some of the myths from this time, and what they meant, and the result is an interesting finding about immortality, alongside an unusual view of Adam and Eve.
If you want to support my research and see behind the scenes work, watch my videos early, and other insights then please become a Patreon: / crecganford
Thumbnail by Sangued of Deviant Art
References:
Denise Paulmer, the Two Themes in the Or in Gin of Heath in West Africa. 'No, New Series, Vol. 2, No. 1, Tue. 1967. T rad. Éva Gosselin, Jean·Michel Doul, etc.
Cerdova-Rios and F. manual Bruce-Lamb, WizardsoftheUpper Amazon, Atheneum, NY, 1971. Trad. Eva Gosselin, Jean-Michel Doulet
LeQuellec, Jean-Loïc. 2017. Les myths d'origne de al mort
d'Huy, Julien. 2020. Mort ou est ta victoire. Reconstruction statistique des premieres croyances de l'humanite sur la mort

[@Crecganford]

Do you want to hear more about Adam and Eve, or more about the other myths?

[@eardwulf785]

Personally I like all myths that are shared by cultures separated by time and distance. I only like biblical stories when it can be shown that they evolved from older myths. Thankyou 👍

[@sirnukesalot24]

The best possible follow-up for this video would cover stories about attempts to defeat death. The thing that popped out the most for me begs this question: The concept of the skinwalker sounds like it's connected to the skin-changer stories, but how closely related is it, and does the skinwalker story occur in places where the skin-changer story doesn't seem to be known? Also, does anyone else imagine that anxieties about the dead rising again and forced burial likely originated with the movement of a bloating corpse poorly covered with loose dirt?

[@wyattjones6820]

I would like either or! but I do agree the best follow up would be a video about how to defeat death. I love your channel!

[@LunarMartian]

I personally enjoy the comparisons. Perhaps a follow up about how the Adam and Eve story compares with other cultures' ideas of an early deathless paradise and its loss. Really anything you post is gold so I'm waiting for whatever it is :3

[@braukorpshomebrew6039]

of course!

[@dmmikerpg]

Can't tell you how thankful I am that you upload with subtitles (and in multiple languages no less!), wish more creators would do that.

[@Crecganford]

It doesn't take long to do, and so I pleased it has helped you.

[@king_halcyon]

@@Crecganford *I am pleased (sorry, I couldn't resist myself)

[@antonvoronov9671]

@@Crecganford would it be hard for you to make subtitles for your older videos? They are so interesting, but I feel like I have lost most of information due to difficulties with understanding accent

[@eardwulf785]

@@antonvoronov9671 Hi Anton, you can enable auto generated subtitles by clicking on the cc icon 👍

[@mirostsiklauri8028]

Δυστυχώς δεν έχει ελληνικούς υπότιτλους

[@ValeriePoynter]

The free education we get from this wonderful channel is fantastic! Thank you Jon and your patrons for all your hard work! Bravo! 🥰

[@Crecganford]

Thank you so much for you kind words.

[@Auromaxis]

Excellent subject. Yes I personally would like to hear more. This channel is a gold mine, you are absolutely brilliant man, with super topic selections.

[@Crecganford]

Thank you for your kinds words, I hope you enjoy this video.

[@deespaeth8180]

We have 3 deaths, the first death is the actual physical death. The second death is the memorial, funeral, wake, or what have you. The final death is when the last living person who knew you has died, and you are forgotten 💔

[@Kainis80]

Crecganford: snakes live forever unless you chop off their head. Snake: My name is Conner McCleod, of the Clan McCleod. There can be only one...

[@Crecganford]

Such a great movie!

[@zipperpillow]

An Episode about psychedelics? Yes, of course!

[@claudia.k.g.1271]

OMG, the Zombie apocalypse is based on the oldest myth about immortality. Totally did not know.

[@Scott_Forsell]

Until quite recently I wanted to be cremated and my ashes flung about in a scenic spot. My first preference would be Viking burial, or a sky burial, but both are disallowed under current US law, and I don't want to get my heirs in trouble with the law. Now, I want a tree burial. Your remains are wrapped up in a semipermeable container bag with a tree seed. Your nutrients feed the young tree. You become a tree in a way. The thought of being embalmed, put in a hard barrier casket and buried just seems wrong to me. I don't want to be a semi-decayed corpse in an underground box - that seems disrespectful and wasteful. Let my remains nourish new life. I would love to be a tree. Sunshine and wind and rain. I want this so badly! That is [bleeping] cool! I need to update my will.

[@deespaeth8180]

I love the tree burial idea.

[@ThMindFdr]

People will be used as compost soon enough, its not fiction but fact, too much land is being used for graves even though its a lucrative scam business..We have to pay to live and have to pay to die!!

[@yolkcheeks]

Another fascinating video- and very timely! Re: the mention of ancient use of psychedelics, I definitely would be interested in learning more about how that shows up in various mythologies & traditions around the world.

[@Crecganford]

There seem to be a few people who want a video on that subject, and so I'll put it near the top of my to do list.

[@eduuklee9453]

thats why Sephiroth from final fantasy 7 is the most remarkable videogame villain of all times, because he said to cloud "aslong someone remember me i will live forever" D; also alexander the great of macedonia and julius ceasar D; they understood being immortal means to achive something that humanity will remember all the time as long humanity exsist.

[@argentandroid5732]

The Mowu and Spideree story is particularly remarkable in the way it describes a behavior we still have to deal with today. I think a lot of people could relate to the basic template of it in some way. It's practically a meme.

[@lazzymclandrover4447]

I've always had the thought that has been inferred by the way family spoke when I was a kid, that the "otherworld", or the "underneath", was like a waiting room for the soul... and babies/children having an "old soul" was one of those souls returning.

[@sillakilla8674]

Hey, if there is a "waiting room" for the soul and u come back to the Earth, it means u never have a eternal life? Do we have to go back to this horrible place (earth) again and again?

[@memmem0011]

@@sillakilla8674 try to find another way of seeing it as it’s bigger then that 🙏🏼

[@admiraloscar3320]

Either try to improve the world for when you come back or find a way to escape the cycle?

[@Baptized_in_Fire.]

There's always Disobjectification. You could try that. Worked for gotama. ​@@sillakilla8674

[@leahdragon]

​@@sillakilla8674The Earth is very Dualistic. It's not all good and not all bad. Start by making here a better place.

[@zipperpillow]

Always informative, always insightful, always worthwhile. Well done again Jon. Thank you.

[@Crecganford]

Thank you!

[@kylemacarthur9863]

Until this, I was convinced that the secret to immortality was: "in the end, there can be only one." Oh well. So much for Highlanders telling truth!

[@Crecganford]

I never watched all the films to actually find out if that was true... but great films none the less.

[@denaisaacthiswasgreat.thum7598]

Arrrr arrr arrrr.😁

[@braukorpshomebrew6039]

I laughed at how you kept the explanations at a level where children could watch. I can hear so many parents answering "What does that mean," with a simple, "I'll explain it to you later."

[@cupkelpie4656]

Secret of Immortality: Learn to change your skin

[@jamiegallier2106]

Always appreciate your gift for story telling and bringing history and old mythology to life.

[@Crecganford]

Thank you.

[@mateorocha1197]

Definitely would like to hear about the death cult talked about in the books mentioned

[@crowseed]

Really interesting as always thanks. Thanks also for offering to cover plants related to immortality. Just wanted to mention Peter Lamborn Wilson's Ploughing the Clouds: the Search for Irish Soma, though you're likely already aware of it. So a vote for including fly agaric from me thanks!

[@Crecganford]

Yes, I think there maybe a few who would like to hear more on this.

[@3rdeye671]

@@Crecganford me also Jon.

[@albert12256]

The first story from West Africa reminds me of the Native American story of Coyote and Raven debating how long all the creatures of the land should live.

[@ladyflimflam]

More about the psychodelics please. I looked up The Sacred Mushroom and came up with two books. Are you referring to The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross by John Allegro or The Sacred Mushroom: Key to the Door of Eternity by Andrija Puharich?

[@Crecganford]

The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross was a book I read a while ago, an interesting concept, and one I believe the Vatican tried to hide for some years. Neither of these books have a strong academic bias, and so consider that if you read them, but they are interesting none the less.

[@ladyflimflam]

Yes, I noticed that. That looks like it may be a problem with The Immortality Key as well. I see that Graham Hancock wrote the foreward which says to me the book is pseudoscience targeting. There can be good and real info in those kinds of books but it’s work to separate the wheat from the chaff. My supposition is that because those are the books you are talking about there isn’t other readily available more academicly sound work.

[@tuathadesidhe1530]

... Holy shit... "and now your bottom will close up, and your mouth will become your only hole"... Just terrifying.

[@davidg5898]

Your last point was a core Ancient Egyptian belief regarding death. Speaking the deceased's name kept them alive in the afterworld. The corollary was also true: those whose names are never spoken again are lost even in the afterlife. To that end, it was somewhat common for pharaohs to order the removal of names from monuments. Ramses II took this to the extreme by having names replaced with his own on tons of monuments -- one of his nicknames, The Great Builder, partly stemmed from early archaeologists/historians not realizing that he wasn't responsible for many of the works his name was on.

[@wkrapek]

I am interested in myths as transmitted by culture, and the collective unconscious. I can’t tell you how many times weird images popped up in my dreams and I had no idea what they were talking about. And then I looked them up in a symbol dictionary and they turn out to be well-known. Like the shedding skin, for example.

[@laciewall6170]

This channel is one of the few that I seriously look forward to the regular uploads. Great content, sir, all the work that goes into it is very much appreciated 🙏

[@Crecganford]

Thank you for your kind words, they really mean a lot.

[@BrookeWilkerson-xs1uc]

Hahaha. Funny and smart. The part where you said: "I, am just an Archaeologist." I'm still smiling...

[@kariannecrysler640]

Dr Alice is an amazing scientist. I am not exactly sure what proper credentials to call her by currently. I knew she was pursuing other doctorates. Thank you for a great video. I wanted to say episode because it’s like watching my favorite show on tv lol.🎃

[@bumpty9830]

"If you die before you die, then you won't die when you die" sounds like a reference to ritual death in the initiation ceremonies of several religions, including the "baptism" of Christianity. Of course it could also be about hallucinogens, or the two topics may not be separate.

[@bennyvangelder7624]

Again, a great video Jon, and story telling. Here something I like to add as an example 😉 Like in the Japanese Shinto story where the Allfather Izanagi had deceived the goddess of the Underworld. In revenge, the goddess will make a thousand people die every day in the creation of Izanagi. In turn, the Allfather arranges for one thousand five hundred women to give birth every day as compensation. Source, Joseph Campbell, Power of the Myth.

[@Crecganford]

I do like Campbell, he has uncovered some great stories, and so thank you for sharing.

[@rachel_Cochran]

This has been my favorite video of yours yet. I really appreciate hearing about African myths

[@Crecganford]

Thank you so much for your kind comments, I do my best to bring in as much myth as I can, irrespective of its origins.

[@N1ghthavvk]

I think it makes perfect sense for humans to link death and concepts about immortality to childbirth and procreation (and vice versa). Evolutionarily speaking, a species that would only consist of the same "immortal" members is much more prone to accidents or changes in environments, and is also less able to change its own genom to adapt. As such, reproduction is necessary to ensure long-term survival. This is not an active choice, it is a "rule of nature". Basically it turned out this way (that most if not all life works like this), not because it made sense, but because life that didn't work like this died out way too quickly. You can see the motif "new replacing old" in many stories, including modern fiction, with examples such as Elves (leaving Middle-Earth), vampires (hunted), greek titans and gods (the latter replacing the former). Immortality is, practically speaking, the alternative to procreation. And for such myths to develop, one must only think about the inception of life, to draw conclusions about its end. We are born into this world, and that is also the reason we die. I wouldn't be surprised, if such ideas were present ever since humanity developed consciousness and reason.

[@cyan1616]

Well done! So well researched and put together. But when you said.. your bottom will close up and your mouth with become your only hole, I just about lost it LOL. 😂 3 hours later and I'm still cracking up. It sounds like an old Irish curse. I could tell you were struggling a little to keep a straight face as you said it too. You have my respect, no way I could have said that without busting up. I can't stop laughing. Thanks so much! 💞

[@thepeff]

I was thinking about Little Red Riding Hood and I feel like it's peculiar that she would have such a specific name and only be in a single folk story. Is there a cannon for Little Red Riding Hood or were red hoods just a popular fashion choices amongst young women of the era?

[@Crecganford]

There is a motif in myth called "digested by a terrestrial animal", and so I think the general plot is reasonably common, but the wearing of red, that is less so, but there are tales out there, often with a bear. But to have a story named after red clothing I am struggling to come up with anything. But I will have a think.

[@heraclito3114]

The color red was Perraut's addition and by that time no decent woman would wear red clothes. Think of the scarlet letter. Red is also the color of menstruation. In Perraut's version the girl get into bed naked with the wolf. The meaning is quite clear: from Perraut's tale: "Children, especially pretty, well bred young ladies, should never talk to strangers, for if they are foolish enough to do so, they should not be surprised if they become dinner for a greedy wolf - elegant red riding hood and all. There are real wolves with hairy pelts and enormous teeth, but there are also wolves who seem perfectly charming, quiet, polite, unassuming, complacent, and sweet, who pursue young girls at home and in the streets and pay them the most flattering attentions. Unfortunately, these smooth tongued, smooth pelted gentle wolves are the most dangerous beasts of all."

[@3rdeye671]

Little red riding hood - clitoris. The Wolf - a womaniser who likes young virgins. Wolf whistles are related. Its about lust and loss of innocence.

[@3rdeye671]

@@heraclito3114 well said.

[@onikn9138]

I wonder if there is any relation to the Jewish idea that the name of God must not be said. Do you have any idea why some names/things must not be said, ie is there a difference between things that must not be said. I think i remember you mentioned that bear must not be said, among a group, or a bear would come and probably kill someone. It's probably wrapped up in invocation which I have no idea when that human behavior came to be. I guess that it gave birth from ritual but it is something which seems on a different level. Great video as always.

[@NIDELLANEUM]

I was wondering what else I could have done in this Saturday afternoon. Well, time to learn something

[@cyankirkpatrick5194]

I'm glad I subscribed here, I discovered you by accident, good things sometimes are discovered by chance.

[@Crecganford]

Welcome, and I hope you enjoy this video too!

[@cyankirkpatrick5194]

@@Crecganford I am enjoying these

[@3rdeye671]

Law of attraction. Seek knowledge and it will come to you. The cosmos hears you and replies.

[@cyankirkpatrick5194]

@@3rdeye671 That maybe, then why bad and negative things seem to be the normal things for me, even though I've tried to change. What am I doing wrong?

[@3rdeye671]

@@cyankirkpatrick5194 if you want to be rich, act rich. If you seek knowledge, then actively looking brings it. You have to use your body as well as your will to be heard. Your body speaks your intentions out loud. Manifesting your desires by emulating them in the physical.

[@cataphractus9800]

Thank you for another excellent video and perfect timing for a Halloween weekend! Also appreciate your links to your other videos - very helpful to rewatch those to expound on specific subject (like more on death puppers and snakes!)

[@perstaunstrup3451]

Wonderful and insightful video. Your last reference to the Indoeuropeans reminds me of Norse, Havamal 77: Cattle die, | and kinsmen die, And so one dies one's self; One thing now | that never dies, The fame of a dead man's deeds

[@Crecganford]

That kind of motif comes directly from the Indo-European culture, and so yes, would feel very similar.

[@josephturner7569]

We don't die. We just change avatars.

[@Thanhatos]

Thank you. I find it very interesting to learn that a lot of proto-myths about dearth considered human originaly immortal. The "skin has to change" is fascinating.

[@bumpty9830]

"Mtoto" simply means "child" in Swahili. It's a bit like "Adam" meaning "person" rather than being a name.

[@ronaldmcneilly1509]

20:54 "...no myths include the like and subscribe button...🤣 Good stuff!

[@dismalthoughts]

_"What we can't say [...] is whether the people who buried 'Mtoto' had a belief in the afterlife or reincarnation. But what we can say is that, through a burial, there was an emotional process going on"_ Maybe? "Through a burial" alone doesn't seem like much. In discussions about other cultures' views on death, I'm often reminded of a story I read where a mother threw her sick son off a cliff as casually as if she were sweeping. He was terminally ill, and they had a different view on death. A burial doesn't necessitate an "emotional process"; it could be a matter of sanitation, little different from burying fecal matter. To be clear, I'm not saying that I *don't* think Mtoto's burial involved grief, just that I'm curious if that's based solely on the burial?

[@RobinMarks1313]

MUSHROOMS SAVED MY LIFE. no kidding. i am a little shaman

[@jesperandersson889]

It's just a myth... (giggles)

[@keithdrummond1003]

Fascinating. I would've assumed "changing the skin" for immortality would be the very definition of reincarnation.

[@TheMercian13]

Right, cup of tea and Myth time!

[@kellysouter4381]

Stuff Maru, the moon is correct. Everything in life is cyclical, including humans.

[@joesantos7085]

I am glad I found your channel I love history and mythology and being American I have had to teach myself the American school system is one of the worst in the developed world. I appreciate your work keep up the good fight brother.

[@Crecganford]

Thank you for your kind words.

[@philjameson292]

The study of phylogenetics seems very similar to Richard Dawkins concept on the Meme. He was talking about Christianity but it seems to me that you can use this concept to analyze other cultural features.

[@Crecganford]

Memes are an interesting story type, and there is no doubt some overlap with myth, but I think they are more analogous to folktales, but being pictorial they are more likely to maintain their “shape”. I’m going to talk about this more in my next video. Thanks for watching, and for taking the time to comment, it is appreciated.

[@griseldis]

So giving a child a name is a kind of potentially immortal act. Fascinating.

[@MrJohnMurdoch]

Your subtitles are excellent. Many thanks.

[@helenamcginty4920]

A while ago saw a short video by someone chatting with an African hunter. He asked, among other things, and via an interpreter, what happens when someone dies. The answer came with a look that said 'what do you think?' "We bury them." The questioner was wanting to know about belief in an after life but the impression given was that you died, you were buried. The end.

[@Crecganford]

I’ve seen that video as well, which is why if they are buried with something we can feel more confident about the feeling of an afterlife.

[@ML-HS]

I can understand English, but Serbian Cyrillic subtitles caught me off guard. Not to mention accurate to boot. That's neat.

[@kaarlimakela3413]

Not off topic, in the movie 'Moonstruck', a woman asked the question, Why do mature men fool around and cheat on their wives? A man blurted out ... FEAR OF DEATH.

[@josephturner7569]

The Adam and Eve story is a metaphor for Resurrection. Essentially the same thing Joshua Josephson did. An artificially induced NDE.

[@yeahnaaa292]

Rather, I Contend, Adam & Eve is a story expressing our Fear of Death - this being one of the foundations of all religions.

[@zipperpillow]

"Losing Immortality"? Awesome idea to explore, Jon. Thank you. I imagine it like this.....as when we were all children, when we cannot imagine anything except that this will last forever.... And then the inevitable question from us children after someone we know, dies: "Why do people die?" Probably parents from all over the world struggled to answer this very penetrating and challenging question, and all of them came up with different answers, which in its own way points to something more revealing. The universal answer to "why do we die?" depends on your local economy (fishing, hunting, farming, some version of killing, etc.) but the need to have an answer...that makes sense to a child....while still making the parent seem in charge....creates the universal conditions to invent the same or similar answer. "We kill to live. But because we kill, that doesn't make us bad, because we die too. Therefore, in order to not have a crying child for the next 2 days, let us just say something that we don't really know, and can't know anything about. Let's just say that it's an endless loop, so that this kid will finally shut up, and have something to think about, and we can get back to doing what we were doing before." It's not a "Truth", it's more like the lowest common denominator that seems to work, independantly discovered, to assuage people's anxieties about the unknown and the unknowable, so it is wide-spread without stemming from the same "original"......white lie. It's not a dispersed idea. It is a convergent idea, with many local variations about how to get there, and where "there" is. Lovely summary. You are a gift to us all. Thank you.

[@Ariel_is_a_dreamer]

The "change your skin" story is so inspiring. Changing and adapting is indeed crucial to live a long life, as well as embracing the fact that everything changes.

[@didjesbydan]

As with most mythology, I think these stories are best understood through inner-outer correspondence, ie, by looking at the inner meanings. In this light, I don't think it is necessarily the case that our ancestors literally thought of themselves as immortal. Rather, the well-defined sense of separate self in a dualistic mode of experiencing had not yet fully emerged. Just as with infants in the oceanic feeling of primordial unity with no theory of mind regarding an "other", so too may early humans have experienced life. Primordial non-dual awareness has often been called the deathless state. With the entrance into dualistic experiencing comes the rise of heightened autobiographical self-awareness, sense of alienation and separateness, and--most critically--the painful awareness of one's own eventual death. The psychedelic experience and/or various mind-training practices involves an attempt to return to non-dual awareness by stripping down the perceptual and conceptual distractions to the point of minimal phenomenal experience without self-regard, thus regaining access to the deathless state. This process can also be called ego-death. It doesn't necessarily mean one will not eventually die physically, but the sting of death is removed through the selfless view. The state of "pure consciousness" (or at least with minimal phenomenal content) is inherently blissful and unconcerned with death. After all, from a non-self perspective, who is it that is going to die anyway? And why worry? (This also relates to the idea of describing paradise via negation--it can refer to the equanimous and peaceful state arrived at through the negation of the self-concept as well as the reifying tendency dualistically to see phenomena as discrete, independent entities having essence as opposed to interdependent, relational processes.) I suspect that early ancestors experienced such states of bare awareness--with its attendant sense of infinity and deathlessness--and then literalized or concretized that experience into the belief that by practicing ego-death in this life--in which consciousness continues without self-reference or discursive thought--one might similarly achieve the same feat at actual physical death, allowing mind or consciousness to continue. It is fascinating to compare all this to the Buddha's chain of dependent arising, in which, because of confused grasping at self and other, birth in dualistic cyclical existence occurs, as well as suffering of sickness, old age and death. Just like in these other stories, in the chain of dependent arising, death "enters the world" at the point of craving, sensory contact and contracted egoic identity with its endless proliferation of forms (eg, eating and sex and offspring). "The world" is understood not as the "world at large", apart from experience, but the only world which can possibly be known: the three-part "world of experience" (observer, observed and observing). Edward Eddinger's "Ego and Archetype" is a great book which elucidates some of this line of thinking, particularly with regard to the Garden of Eden story.

[@RianHagebeuk]

GNU Terry Pratchett

[@Crowhag]

Wonderful as always! And I deeply resonate with your conclusion. The myths of our ancestors, otherwise profound intuitions about the Cosmos, have inspired a solemn ethos of dead veneration, of remembering and celebrating the ancestors in many cultures. I particularly enjoy the view of Historian of Religions Mircea Eliade on this: "The transformation of the dead person into an 'ancestor' corresponds to the fusion of the individual into an archetypal category. In numerous traditions [...] the souls of the common dead no longer possess a 'memory'; that is, they lose what may be called their historical individuality. The transformation of the dead into ghosts, and so on, in a certain sense signifies their reidentification with the impersonal archetype of the ancestor. The fact that in the Greek tradition only heroes preserve their personality (i.e., their memory) after death, is easy to understand: having, in his life on earth, performed no actions which were not exemplary, the hero retains the memory of them, since, from a certain point of view, these acts were impersonal."

[@Crecganford]

I agree, yes, the hero is very important, almost replacing the god's roles in certain aspects. I do have a lot of time for Eliade, and her student, Lincoln, both have written some exceptionally enlightening work on this. Thank you for watching, and taking the time to comment such thoughtful words, they are much appreciated.

[@Drbob369]

Disease genes such as cancer and heart disease humans share with very primitive animals. Mortality phylogenetics is much older than mythology. Good work as usual!

[@aiasaventine]

We chinese have a myth about the mid autumn festival. On the relevant part, the lady Chang'E consumed the pill of immortality, and flew to the moon and lived forever. I do wonder if it is related to what is discussed over here.

[@CourtneySchwartz]

Does the knowledge=death parallel extend to Odin and the well of Mimir?

[@Crecganford]

This is a very complex subject, and one I will talk about in the future.

[@gaufrid1956]

I believe this is true Jon! You only die when your name is said for the last time! Perhaps it takes a couple of generations before you actually die! Here in the Philippines on next Tuesday is the holiday for Undas, All Saints Day, when traditionally Filipinos visit the graves of their ancestors and light candles. Interestingly sometimes they also drink alcohol at the cemetery! I experienced this in 2017 when we visited the graves of my wife's father and her baby daughter who died aged 11 months. It's a public holiday. There is no such thing in my birthplace in Australia but there is a remembrance ceremony usually on November 2 for those who have died.

[@meisteremm]

It's a Catholic thing. Just as it is done in the Phillipines, where people go to the graves and clean them and spend the day with their departed loved ones, you will find the same thing in Latin American and other majority Catholic countries.

[@gaufrid1956]

@@meisteremm I'm also Catholic like my wife, at least by baptism. In Australia it's not a holiday and mostly any remembrance services are in the local parish churches. I know it's a big thing in predominantly Catholic countries.

[@cosmina-ioana8593]

This holiday looks like the veneration of the ancestors.

[@gaufrid1956]

@@cosmina-ioana8593 Very much so! Many tribes here still venerate the ancestors, including the Higaonon tribe to which my wife belongs. I know many Filipinos have "tao-tao" or similar ancestor figures in their homes, or in special shrines in the villages. The strange exception is the Ifugao tribe in the mountains of Northern Luzon, who are wary of ancestor spirits causing harm to those who have taken over the land they once worked! They do everything they can to scare the ancestor spirits away!

[@jgr7487]

the story about the man tho was pierced by a stake so he wouldn't leave his grave reminded me so much of that vampire legend.

[@Crecganford]

Yes, I will talk about vampires as on as I can as it is an interesting myth.

[@christopherp.8868]

Also you can die in the otherworld? Is that annihilation? No return basically...no immortality after death

[@vitwild323]

Just thought about how there is really not much on Slavic mythology. The Slavs are one of the yougest groups of people in Europe with a lot of gentical connection to those early peeps and ancient cultures who lived in what is known today as Russia. Aren't those people and their largely forgotten tales more ancient than the norse beliefs? Well, i am not scientist so I might be wrong. And If, then it's unfortunate we don't know much about them and you can't make any videos about the Slavs as a result. T_T It's like the Slavic people (from Poland to Russia) are a dark void in a sea of european people. I like to read a lot and i feel like they are the people i know the least about. lol nobody really tries to speak about them.

[@-zorkaz-5493]

I find it so beautiful how echoes of growing up and finding out about death for the first time end up in the stories we've told ourselves for a hundred thousand years ...

[@algernoncalydon3430]

What you ended this segment would be a good lead onto The Beautiful Death, as the Greeks termed it. Some thing diving into that rabbit hole would be appreciated.

[@revdrjamesshowersjr8494]

With the veneration of the Great king of the celtic gods, when did man give up the practice of leaving their window open to venerate the good god? (leaving food on the window sills)??

[@Honcho69able]

Please do an extensive video on the Sacred Mushroom maybe including some history on the old gnostic interpretations of the Tanakh. Also might you be able to do one on the Sons of Light or other early interpreters of the New Testament

[@algernoncalydon3430]

Perhaps the changing of skin is misinterpreted. That man had a soul which lived in the Real/Otherworld, and that the physical manifestation , the body in this world is the skin. So the soul, in the Otherworld changes it's skin, sheds it over and over and it is renewed as the body is reborn here, over and over. When man sinned, or whatever, he was kicked out of the Otherworld. Now he has no immortal soul in the Otherworld, now only exists as this physical thing here. Or perhaps the idea is the bond between the soul in the Otherworld is broken with the physical life in this world and the snake or god tries to teach the human life to shed his skin and not be afraid of dying. By dying maybe meant giving up clinging to this life and becoming free of desire and want. By "dying", giving up clinging to this one life, which is merely a skin that is shed, can the being then reconnect with the soul in the Otherworld, thus attaining immortality. Immortality in Buddhism and being the state of enlightenment.

[@EidanArdabor]

Muchas gracias por tan buena investigación y explicación de un tema tan antiguo y complejo. Y también gracias por los subtítulos en español 👍

[@zivotshonzou]

Video about psychedelic and amanitas seems brilliant.

[@Hakor0]

First nations is apt just like today they didn't necessarily like eachother all that much It's just mate you like to pretend they all had cups of tea and a scone but it never happened not in Australia or America or Africa or Europe etc Eg. Some were cannibals and some weren't that's a big deal no matter how you slice it 😉 Not to mention hey bro!

[@woodypigeon]

I don't believe that our names, or them being remembered, matter at all. These are purely human concerns and vanities.

[@StarlasAiko]

The loss of immortality may also be taken as a comming of age myth. Many tribes had trials and near death experiences as part of the rite of passage for young men, symbolising the transition from boy to man, or rather, the death of the boy and birth of the man. Before this rite, to a child, life is easy, it is paradise. One does not need to worry, not work for food, time is eternal and life goes on forever. As one enters maturity, which is signposted by the awakening of sexual desire and activity, childhood is over. One is cast out of the paradise of childhood into the harsh world of adulthood, where one is mortal, suffers hardship and must toil for food.

[@Sam-ug4xt]

Knowledge, took away our immortality. Could it be stories of the loss true awareness of our nature, through the materialist dogmas,, the desire for life and sensations, makes us ignorant of reality. . For instance... Its not that anything has changed in human beings in ageeees in you look at our remains, - exceptttt the thing u cannot see in skeletons- our awareness... these allegories i think that tell us that we are blinded by our 'knowledge' so doomed to believe that death is the end. The old man went into the sky and told the boy change your skin, but it was lack of understanding why he could not. It was thinking he knew what he said and it was wrong therefore he died. a clue that wrong knowledge leads you up the wrong tree...

[@algernoncalydon3430]

Oh, and tying death with a sacred name. Such as in that tale of Irish heroes and others where they must be forced to give their real name, which can then be used against them, sometimes to kill them..

[@AndyBennett]

i'd be very interested if you believe the story of Hector and Achiles

[@littlebird619]

The Brazilian story reminds me of the French term, la petite mort, the time after completion.

[@writerblocks9553]

Are these the oldest stories about resurrection from death that we have? I hear Christians say their story is unique in that it is the first one that has resurrection, but I am sure that is not the case.

[@Crecganford]

Every story in the bible, has an older version from another culture, and these are the oldest stories that we have a significant level of confidence about as being the oldest, and so 60-80k years old.

[@Vlow52]

According to our little knowledge of universe, still enough to say, that your name is not that significant, we know the names of many kings and heroes from the past but their deeds are forgotten. Longing is more basic, so I’d say: you die when last bits of your intelligent information are not identifiable to other intelligent mind. Even tho, nothing in this universe can last forever, so immortality is one of the unreal human concepts.

[@lacidar3752]

33:00 quite so. It’s telling how true this is when the epic of gilgamesh itself imparts this lesson.

[@KedgeDragon]

The Neolithic village of Ba'ja in Jordan, they uncovered a buried-under-the-room skeleton with a beautiful necklace In the narrative of a documentary, they talked about the different attitudes between a culture that buries the dead under their home and one that buries them as far away as is practicable. Though they admit to an obvious difference, they persistently discuss the grief associated with death. It seems to me from the many different myths and ritual around death that grief is not a necessary response to the death of a loved one, even a revered one. There is, obviously the after-lives. And in the exposure-cultures the idea of paying a debt. I've started to think we overlook the simple acceptance of death. Full stop. And the possibility that these were simply tucked in for the last time. I know of no current translations of any such cessationist myths, but I do now see a distinct possibility that some of the translations and, even more importantly, the reconstructions of paleo-myths, expecting to find answers to the "big question", in the absence of an explanation have filled the void with the idea of ... whatever came to mind.

[@cosmina-ioana8593]

In Old Europe civilizations, they found bones of a person buried in the wall in a bowl, nowadays in the same place, there is a custom ritual when a person dye to put a piece of his hair into a whole in the wall and covers it to stay there with the belief that it is not known from whom the luck of that house comes and it is believed that the luck of the person will stay in the house. But they buried the whole person far away. You can see how older beliefs remained and the new ones prevail. There is also a myth called Manole, where Manole is a mason and he receives an important job from the Black ruler (a ruler of the valley, ruler in Romanian has the same word as in Slavic "water", in the mountains, there are valleys called "countries"). He should build a monastery with his team. He starts to build it, but each night the walls are demolished. Then in a dream, somebody tells him to burry into the wall the first person will come. Then Ana, his wife come and he burry her into the wall and the building was not destroyed from that moment on.

[@MatthewCaunsfield]

Nice to see our old friend the immortal snake again! 🙂

[@Valdagast]

Do you have any opinions on the two stone circles built by Neanderthals in France some 120,000 (?) years ago.

[@Crecganford]

Yes, I have studied one of them, and I will produce a video about it in the near future. It is fascinating, as there is enough evidence to suggest certain ritualistic behaviour.

[@Valdagast]

@@Crecganford Maybe it was a team-building exercise? The team had had a bad hunting season so their leader brought in an outside consultant.

[@morganmayfair4755]

Changing your skin sounds like a metaphor for changing your mind and thus your reality.

[@Crecganford]

It could, but we do see those animals actually shed their skin, so it probably was a physical interpretation.

[@morganmayfair4755]

I’m thinking it depends on how sophisticated the storyteller and audience were. We tend to imagine these ancient people were simple, in an unflattering sort of way, but were they really. We can only guess I guess.

[@jakeaurod]

Good timing. Today is the 3rd anniversary of my first First Death. I was in cardiac arrest for 40 minutes. They stabilized me in a coma, from which I arose on the third day, Halloween. Well, the modern date of Halloween, not the actual cross-quarter day on the 7th of November. I've been thinking about religions since then, new and old, real and invented. I had been working on a novel that included a fictional idea for a prehistoric religion set around 26,000 years ago. After my death experience, I wonder if I should pursue it for real. One of the ideas I had was to have a holy place where living members would continuously read the names of all the members who had passed (perhaps including names requested by non-members), so that they are never forgotten. Of course, I wonder if that's a good idea or not, in case someone wants to experience the second death and find out what, if anything, is beyond that. The original idea for the story was to include a claim of regeneration in the prehistoric religion that would serve as a myth for a future society that develops cryogenic stasis, medical regeneration, synthetic neurology, mind-machine interfaces, and Artificial Intelligence for something I call Telepresent Immortality. This would work by alternating waking biology and a synthetic anthropoid avatar. The biological person give the avatar their memories and the synthetic anthropoid takes the place of them during long periods of "sleep" during regeneration or while taking a vow of dormancy in cryosleep that can last years or centuries. A period of mind-linking and discussion with the avatar and biological person allows them to gain and remember what happened while they slept as if it was their own memory. I tried to make the tech as real as possible in the hope that it could one day be realized.

[@cosmina-ioana8593]

What a coincidence. I think that you should pursue your goal. Already scientists demonstrated that we give our memories to our children encoded in DNA. Memory is not possible without being encoded in DNA. Meaning that we have with us the memories of our ancestors, possibly not all of them, only those parts we inherit... but we have no conscious access to them. I think when we dream, make a story or draw we have access to some of it, also our instincts are based on those memories.

[@kristopherbarker3282]

I'm a Mormon, and in Mormon Mythology, the Adam & Eve story is that Adam & Eve were trapped in a "State of Innocence" (in which they were unable to have children, or know Joy, but were also unable to die) Eve eating the fruit was not a grand failing, but a willing sacrifice, to give up her immortality to give humanity a chance to exist (because, in Mormonism, we have pre-existing spirits, who need to be born in order to continue our progression to godhood) So, it is interesting to compare & contrast the Mormon interpretation od the story with the Historical progression

[@Crecganford]

Thank you for sharing that, very interesting.

[@enbyjedi]

I just found your channel and I’m binging many of your videos. As a fellow academic (different discipline though) I appreciate your academic approach. Your videos are amazing and very interesting

[@Crecganford]

Thank you for your kind words, they are appreciated.

[@Clifford_Banes]

I'm glad there aren't many comments yet, hopefully I have a better chance for you to read this one. As a plebean, I have no idea how you know all of these things. When you say "we know that this people used this tool", could you also say where, how do you know this? This would add a lot of credibility too, for people who don't believe facts, science and evidence. You need to shove it up their.. right in front of their eyes, so they can't deny it.

[@Crecganford]

I try to read all my comments, as they are all important. There is a balance between repeating things I have mentioned in older videos, and having the same 15 minutes of background for each video. I don't think I'll ever find a perfect balance. But if people have questions I do try and answer them.

[@Clifford_Banes]

@@Crecganford I'm not very educated so I have nothing left to say. Just, thank you, I can not believe your work is available for free to us, and keep up the good work!

[@Mrhikingbear139]

Dear John. I miss videos about Indo-European mythology especially celtic, germanic and slavic mythology. While these more high level videos on the history of mythology are also interesting I would like more of a mix. Thanks for your videos.

[@Crecganford]

Yes, I have gone off on a bit of a tangent, I will get back to these in the next month or so. My next video is about the Seven Sisters myth, then I will talk about Indo European belief in dogs and death, and then probably do Valkeries or Fairies. Although I'm known for going off on tagents, so I may do something completely different, but I do miss talking about a subject I'm more comfortable with,

[@concibar4267]

I liked the old thumbnail better :(

[@Crecganford]

KZbin didn't, this is my worst performing video for 4 months :( so I have to try something...

[@concibar4267]

@@Crecganford no blame :D

[@CourtneySchwartz]

New Crecganford? Today is gonna be a good day.

[@justinhall3344]

Wouldnt our aincent ancestors want to bury thier dead as a means to evade predators. Not to sound heartless, but back before we ruled the roost, a human sized chunk of meat was a becon to large predators

[@Crecganford]

I do say this, the body could be buried to stop it being eaten by animals.

[@justinhall3344]

@@Crecganford Ah, yes you did. I was distracted by the following fact you shared that some cultures would leave the body exposed to be taken by animals

[@littlebird619]

!You have been granted immortality!liked and subscribed! Love to hear about death within death within life, academic approach to hallucinogens.

[@Crecganford]

The videos are in production as we speak, although still maybe a month or two away, but they're on the way. Thank you!