A cartoon depiction of the god Thoth |
“Blasphemy does not out survive religion. If one is in doubt, try blaspheme against Odin”
Throughout history, gods, objects, or even animals have shifted along the range of the sacred-profane spectrum. But first of all, what is profanity? Profanity is the act of taking away God, and changing perception, thereof, and putting objects or figures to man’s common use. However, it is notable that such status is extremely contingent as, have said by an anonymous author “The god of one religion is a joke to another”.
Take the highly fanciful and chimeric Egyptian Gods for example, their visually playful nature have now manifested into many forms of parody including cartoon, dolls and other media that might be deemed an act of extreme blasphemy by the Egyptian thousand of years ago. Architecture also does not survive this, as can be seen by the many photos of the Great Sphinx the tourists take today.
A blaspheme acts towards the Great Sphinx |
The Mokele-Mbembe |
Mushhushshu Dragon of the Ishtar Gate |
One last thing that contributes to this shifts in the spectrum is the creation, and thus, the decline of ‘play’. One should remember whenever playing profane rubber-ball games that its predecessor is of sacred status. Pelota was the Meso-american forerunner of all present-day games of this kind. It was played on a large, H-shaped court. The ball was extremely hard, so hard that the players had to wear padded clothing for protection. They were allowed to hit the ball only with their elbows, hips, and knees. The object of the game was to knock the ball through a stone ring at either end of the court. The team of the first person to succeed in doing this win the game and those that are lost are sacrificed, thus, the game acts as a mediator between profane activity and the reach for the gods (sacrifice). In today’s world, the game manifests itself in the most profane ways, being played as football, volleyball, basketball, and many others by every people of every status across the world.