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2 results

From Ritual to God in the Ancient Near East
  • Tracing the Origins of Religion
  • Nicola Laneri
  • Published online:
    03 May 2024
    Print publication:
    09 May 2024
  • Human belief systems and practices can be traced to ca. 10,000 BCE in the Ancient Near East, where the earliest evidence of ritual structures and objects can be found. Religious architecture, the relics of human skeletons, animal symbolism, statues, and icons all contributed to a complex network into which the spiritual essence of the divine was materially present. In this book, Nicola Laneri traces the transformation of the belief systems that shaped life in ancient Near Eastern communities, from prehistoric times until the advent of religious monotheism in the Levant during the first millennium BCE. Considering a range of evidence, from stone ceremonial enclosures, such as as Göbleki Tepe, to the construction of the first temples and icons of Mesopotamian polytheistic beliefs, to the Temple of Jerusalem, the iconic center of Israelite monotheism, Laneri offers new insights into the symbolic value embodied in the religious materiality produced in the ancient Near East.

  • Chapter 4 - Empathy and Dissociation in the Creative Trance

  • Tobi Zausner
  • Book:
    The Creative Trance
    Published online:
    02 June 2022
    Print publication:
    09 June 2022, pp 49-61

  • Summary

    Empathy and dissociation form a paradoxical and dynamic fusion of opposites in the creative trance. Inherently structured by its domain, cultural traditions, personal preferences, and rules to achieve excellence, the creative trance is an experience of empathy connecting the creative person with the work produced, while dissociation separates the trance state from waking consciousness. Empathy can enhance sports performance by intuiting the moves of an opponent. Stanislavski’s system of empathic acting revolutionized film and theater, and in science, Alexander Graham Bell felt he became one with his machines. Some empathic people view creativity as their children; Charles Dickens called David Copperfield his “favorite child.” Dissociative inspiration can seem to originate from a Muse or divine source; Giacomo Puccini believed his opera Madame Butterfly “was dictated to me by God.” Cross culturally, dissociation in ritual trance possession where dancers assume the identity of deities, may bring numinous experiences for both performers and audiences.