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Dragons—All Between The Ears?
Jan
19, 2009
There is
no shortage of theories about the
nature of dragon mythology, but for
some reason a celestial or
atmospheric origin is seldom
considered.
Typical explanations range from
pure, unbridled imagination to a
hard-core cryptozoological
insistence that dragons are real and
belong in the category of "living
fossils." A longtime favourite is
the assumption that dragons are
essentially Dinosaurs, whose
existence was either inferred by
traditional cultures from the
accidental discovery of fossils or
was mysteriously kept alive for
millions of years in archaic
memories hardwired in the limbic
segment of the brain. The latter
idea of a "brain dragon" enjoys some
popularity in academe and comes very
close to a stimulating
thought-experiment proposed in 2000
by Florida anthropologist, David
Jones, in his book An Instinct for
Dragons.
In a nutshell, Jones argues that the
"brain dragon" reflected in myths
was not modeled on Dinosaurs, but on
a compressed racial memory of the
three main predators that used to
prey on our primate ancestors:
raptorial birds, big cats, and
snakes. Jones’ fundamental
observation – which he unfortunately
takes little care to document in
depth – is that dragons are
frequently depicted with attributes
taken from all three categories of
vertebrates – the flexible, scaly
body of a snake, the wings and
talons of a bird of prey, the
characteristic face of a panther or
lion. It is an original and
intriguing idea, presented in a very
readable format, but does it work?
At first blush, Jones’ model makes
much sense of the visual appearance
of the dragon as well as the deep
innate fear the monster has elicited
around the world. Nevertheless, the
match between the evolutionary
psychology of primates and the
content of dragon mythology is by no
means as close as Jones suggests.
For one thing, the emotional
response to the dragon was not
universally expressed in terms of
fear.
In countless cases, the dragon was
held in high esteem and portrayed in
affectionate terms as an instrument
of creation, the original receptacle
of all life forms, or a benign force
in the heavens. This is even the
case in non-centralised societies
organised in bands and tribes, that
did – on Jones’ theory – not yet
"tame" the dragon.
In addition, Jones’ capitalisation
on birds of prey, felid carnivores
and snakes is biased in its
selectivity: depending on where one
lived, animals such as bears,
wolves, scorpions and spiders posed
just as much of a threat to early
primates, yet were not incorporated
in the standard prosopography of the
dragon. Moreover, many trademark
themes associated with dragons
receive no elucidation from the
assumption of a "brain dragon": the
cosmic dimensions of the dragon, the
dragon as the primordial container
or enclosure of all waters, the
dragon’s egg identified as the
visible cosmos, and the propensity
of the dragon to form a circle,
tail-in-mouth, or entwine itself in
pairs.
An impressive array of traditions
situate the dragon in the sky, where
the creature is variously identified
as the rainbow, the lightning flash,
the Milky Way, the tail of a comet,
auroral arcs, the ecliptic band, the
morning or evening star (!), or the
constellation Draco.
Throughout the entire study, Jones
makes no mention of the dragon’s
intricate relationship with the
firmament or the fabric of the
cosmos. Indeed, a closer look at the
narrative of the dragon combat
directly contravenes the
neurological theory in strong terms:
the ubiquitous mythical motif of a
warrior-hero residing in the belly
or the maw of the dragon prior to
victory could never have arisen as a
reflex of primate experiences with
predators, as nature must have
selected for animals that did not
end up in the clutches of eagles,
panthers or constricting snakes.
No monkey gobbled up by a predator
could live to tell the tale and pass
it on to offspring. Though Jones
does devote a chapter to the theme
of the dragon combat, which he
explains as an expression of
advanced progress in the political
level of civilisation, the
quintessential myth of the swallowed
hero, which is at the heart of
dragon mythology, does not rate a
mention.
Intriguingly, Jones’ original
starting point can be taken in an
entirely different direction. If it
may be granted that the archetype of
the dragon rests on a class of
conspicuous atmospheric phenomena,
what can the dragon’s avian wings,
leonine manes and ears, and
serpentine torso tell us about its
origins? The tails of comets and
auroral arcs, which are the
likeliest source of dragon reports
in historical times, are both formed
of plasma. The signature of
energetic plasmas is a notable
degree of filamentation.
On the rare occasions when plasma
filaments present themselves to the
human eye, the impression is that of
"hairs," "rays," "streamers," or
"spikes." If mythical dragons were
really the expression of active
plasma formations witnessed in the
sky, the radiant "feathers" of the
"feathered serpent," adding to its
avian aspect, and the "whiskers" and
"manes" of its catlike head, receive
a natural explanation in the
filamented appearance of such
plasmas. As argued on these pages
and elsewhere, plasma physics has
the potential to illuminate many
other aspects of dragon mythology,
including the motifs listed above.
The image of the dragon probably
originated in the external, natural
world, as Jones contends, yet the
prototype is more likely found in
cosmic plasmas seen at times of
extreme geophysical duress than in a
hazy, confused memory of threatening
vertebrate rivals. This is not to
rule out that such predators could
have left a lasting imprint on the
"mindset" of primate ancestors. If
they did, it is conceivable that
such deeply rooted fears played a
role in the mental process of
mythologising the extremely violent
plasmas hypothesised here.
When confronted with the
extraordinary spectacle of a plasma
filament in glow discharge mode,
producing instability effects that
are very hard to capture adequately
in language, human beings may well
have been reminded of the wild
animals that roam the air, the
forest, or the desert – and as they
struggled to apply the metaphors of
such animals to the complex images
displayed on the celestial screen,
any subconscious associations of
terror would have left their marks
on the coloration of the resulting
"myth" and its narrative context.
Contributed by Rens Van Der Sluijs
http://mythopedia.info
Books by Rens Van
Der Sluijs:
The Mythology of the World Axis
http://www.lulu.com/content/1085275
The World Axis as an
Atmospheric Phenomenon
http://www.lulu.com/content/1305081
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