论神话时空观

On the Time and Space Concepts of Legends

向死而生是人类永恒的焦虑。世界各族神话中,神话时空观是人类征服死亡的终极精神武器。神话时空观的内涵是循环时间观和多维空间观。循环时间观主要表现为太阳运行神话和季节更替神话。多维空间观主要表现为天堂地狱神话、大地之脐神话和绝地天通神话。神话时空观帮助古代族群建构了世界模型和信仰基础,安排了顺天应时的生活节律,成为个人生命历程的指南。今天,这种古老智慧不仅与当代物理科学暗合,而且在现实生活中仍有规范社会伦理、克服死亡恐惧等实用功能。

Death is an eternal human concern. In the world legends the concepts of time and space are the ultimate weapons for human beings to conquer death, presenting the recursive and multi -dimension features. The recursive time concept is mainly realized by the sun movement and season alteration legends, while the multi- dimension space concept by the legends of paradise and heaven, the earth＇ s navel, and the earth - to - heaven road. It is argued that these concepts constitute the world model and belief basis, arrange the living rhythm in accordance with the heaven and seasons, and guide human life journey. Today, this wisdom is found to consist with physics and show practical functions in social ethics and the overcoming of fear of death.