For et par uker siden ble jeg tipset om en artikkel Arne Næss har i boka “The Sacred Mountains of Asia” som er redigert av John Einarsen. Denne kom kjapt til Odderøya via Ebay, og det viste seg at Arnes artikkel bare utgjør en side.
Dette fjellet kalte Arne Næss for “Det gode lange livs far”, og var fylt av mytologi – selv om det ikke lå i Asia.
Foto: Lars Verket
Men, på denne siden redegjør han for de syv viktigste symbolske verdiene til et fjell under overskriften “Mountains & Mythology“:
- The movement upwards. The eye move upwards as an expression of elevation, increase of any positive mind.
- Ascension. A person moving upwards is a symbol of a person increasing in every positive way.
- Highness. The elevation reached and the difference in altitude in comparison to the environment, symbolizes excellence, nobility, majesty, steadiness, coolness, superiority.
- Trancendence. Every “ascension” is a passage to the beyond, a rupture of the level, a passage from the region of the trivial or profane to that of sur-passing, over-whelming importance. In short: to reach the mountain top is to transcend the human condition, reaching the unreachable.
- A mountain is the nearest to heaven. Or: mountains “touch” the heavens, and are therefore considered to be “the center” in the sense of the meeting-place between the heavenly and the earthly.
- The struggle towards the summit, towards the highest quality. The way up, the difficulty, the fatigue, of this struggle. Ritual ascension is a “difficult ascension”.
- The unreachable. The passage to the beyond, “trancendence,” may be possible or not possible for humans. The highly valued unclimbableness of mountains sumbolizes the unreachableness of the absolute – absolute virtue, power or also immortality.
Dette står på s. 89, og boka ble gitt ut av Shambala i 1995.
