Bygone Beliefs, by H. Stanley Redgrove docx

[...]... beginning to realise that the results achieved by this type of mind, the general laws of Nature's behaviour formulated by its endeavours, are frequently of immense practical importance—of far more importance than the mere rules-of-thumb beyond which socalled practical minds never advance The classic example of the utility of seemingly useless knowledge is afforded by Sir WILLIAM HAMILTON'S discovery, or,... MAGIC IN THEORY AND PRACTICE VIII ARCHITECTURAL SYMBOLISM IX THE QUEST OF THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE X THE PHALLIC ELEMENT IN ALCHEMICAL DOCTRINE XI ROGER BACON: AN APPRECIATION XII THE CAMBRIDGE PLATONISTS BYGONE BELIEFS I SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF MEDAEVAL THOUGHT IN the earliest days of his upward evolution man was satisfied with a very crude explanation of natural phenomena— that to which the name "animism"... ed., 1895), vol i pp 111-124 The books have been translated into English by the Rev JOHN PARKER (2 vols.18971899), who believes in the genuineness of their alleged authorship The most obvious example of a mediaeval animistic belief is that in "elementals"—the spirits which personify the primordial forces of Nature, and are symbolised by the four elements, immanent in which they were supposed to exist,... the minds of the Egyptians by the necessity of fixing the boundaries of lands against the annual overflowing of the Nile But the Egyptians were what is called an essentially practical people, and their geometrical knowledge did not extend beyond a few empirical rules useful for fixing these boundaries and in constructing their temples Striking evidence of this fact is supplied by the AHMES papyrus, compiled... are the copyright holders I have further to offer my hearty thanks to Mr B R ROWBOTTOM and my wife for valuable assistance in reading the proofs H S R BLETCHLEY, 1919 BUCKS, December CONTENTS PREFACE BYGONE BELIEFS I SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF MEDAEVAL THOUGHT II PYTHAGORAS AND HIS PHILOSOPHY III MEDICINE MAGIC AND IV SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING BIRDS V THE POWDER OF SYMPATHY: A CURIOUS MEDICAL SUPERSTITION... Nature are personified: the rushing torrent, the devastating fire, the wind rustling the forest leaves—in the mind of the animistic savage all these are personalities, spirits, like himself, but animated by motives more or less antagonistic to him I suppose that no possible exception could be taken to the statement that modern science renders animism impossible But let us inquire in exactly what sense... philosophy of the middle ages as scholasticism, but rather place mysticism beside it as of equal rank, and even as being the more fruitful and promising movement."(1) (1) Professor WILHELM WINDELBAND, Ph.D.: "Present-Day Mysticism," The Quest, vol iv (1913), P 205 Alchemy, with its four Aristotelian or scholastic elements and its three mystical principles—sulphur, mercury, salt,—must be cited as the... seekers into Nature's secrets knew so little, and so frequently misapplied what they did know So alchemical philosophy arose and became systematised, with its wonderful endeavour to perfect the base metals by the Philosopher's Stone—the concentrated Essence of Nature,—as man's soul is perfected through the life-giving power of JESUS CHRIST I want, in conclusion to these brief introductory remarks, to say... G WELLS has given to it See The New Machiavelli What could be more easy to understand than that, when man first questioned as to the creation of the earth, he should suppose it to have been generated by some process analogous to that which he saw held in the case of man? How else could he account for its origin, if knowledge must proceed from the known to the unknown? No one questions at all that the... of mental degeneracy What I may term systematised as distinguished from crude animism persisted throughout the Middle Ages The work of systematisation had already been accomplished, to a large extent, by the Neo-Platonists and whoever were responsible for the Kabala It is true that these main sources of magical or animistic philosophy remained hidden during the greater part of the Middle Ages; but at . with a higher phase— perhaps I should say the highest phase—of the thought of a bygone age, to which the modern world may be completely debtor. "Some Characteristics of Mediaeval Thought,". at greater length than others, because it seems to me that the truths of which they are the images— vague and distorted in many cases though they be—are truths which we have either forgotten nowadays,. aright and appreciating at their true worth some of the more curious byways along which human thought has travelled. It is easy for the superficial thinker to dismiss much of the thought of the