3 ms·
What I learned from the article was that Zoroastrians see Fire as sacred. It brings to my mind that the Martians in "Stranger in Strange Land" held Water as sa
by galaxyLogic 2y ago
What I learned from the article was that Zoroastrians see Fire as sacred. It brings to my mind that the Martians in "Stranger in Strange Land" held Water as sacred. Holy Water, yes that is a commmon notion. Just my random thought.
- adrian_b 2y agoFor many ancient people, water and fire were associated as opposites that nonetheless had some shared properties, and they were usually both objects of respect, with various associated deities. An interesting example is how in the Ancient Rome the most severe punishment except death, was named the "interdiction of water and fire", which meant banishment, because one could not live in a place without having access to water and fire.
- amonon 2y agoSome death poems from Zen tradition mention 'water from fire'. Three and seventy years I've drawn pure water from the fire-- Now I become a tiny bug With a touch of my body I shatter all worlds By Ingo, died 1281 A drop of water freezes instantly-- My seven years and seventy. All changes at a blow Springs of water welling from fire By Kaso Sodon, died 1428. From "Japanese Death Poems" by Yoel Hoffman. I recommend this book as a good memento mori.
- yencabulator 2y agoWestern world thought such things, too. > Flames were considered to be a mix of phlogiston and water https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlogiston_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlogiston_theory
- mbonnet 2y agoYou see the same thing in early Jewish culture. The oldest book in the Bible, Job, discusses YHWH slaying Leviathan - embodiment of the sea and chaos. God often appears in the form of fire (the burning bush, the pillar of flames) while "defeating" water - setting ablaze the drenched bull, changing the Nile.