Labyrinths

[Circe]

I was looking at pictures of the human brain today and then accidently stumbled upon some depicting the Hopi labyrinth.
It occured to me that the two look very much alike.

The labyrinthine symbolism was very prominent throughout the world but the earliest actual structures seem to have emerged in Egypt and Greece. My understanding is that they symbolized knowledge and spiritual rebirth.

My question -
Could the human brain have been used as a blueprint in building labyrinths?

brain

Hopi labyrinth

7-circuit labyrinth

 

[kmguru]

Nay...the human art is probably the product of early human child doodling on the sand with a stick.... ...the organized form is the result of our sensory perception...me thinks...

 

[JoojooSpaceape]

It is very possible, and even plausible, there are many things that ancient cultures did that we dont know of, I would sudgest this be moved or reposted in the human science department though as it does not really have to do with pseudoscience

 

[AntonK]

WOW...normally things are requested to be moved to Pseudoscience. I dont think I've ever seen something in Pseudoscience that actually belonged in a real forum! Congrats!

-AntonK

 

[Xevious]

We know the Egyptians knew about the brain, but I don't think they would have used it as a source for the Labrynth for a key reason. The Egyptians thought the brain was a radiator - they removed it when they embalmed someone and even threw it away some of the time, because they thought it was unimportant. The heart however, was left in place as it was thought to be the source of intelligence.

In the case of Egypt at least, I can't see them basing the labrynth structure on the human Brain. They didn't subscribe any significant importance to that organ. On the other hand, some ancient South American cultures could perform Brain surgery, so who knows what OTHER ancient civalizations knew about the brain.

 

[JoojooSpaceape]

well, that could be true, but also, think of it, they understood most of the other organs, the greeks knew enough about the kidney to know it grew back, its very possible that the labyrinth,and the brain , may be connected in the way that they were a mystery, or puzzle to the people who designed them, just a thought

 

[DarkEyedBeauty]

Possibilities of this seem plausible. Read up on the Golden Ratio. Art mimics life, life mimics art. It's all very beautiful and real.

 

[Circe]

Xevious, you do have a point. It does seem that the Egyptians didn't pay too much attention to the brain.

I find it puzzling though; they were smart people who apparently knew about various brain fluids and who are thought to have performed brain surgery as early as 3000 BC. One would assume that they must have been fairly familiar with brain capabilities and yet they considered it unimportant. This is baffling If you take under consideration the possibility that trepanation might have been performed for spiritual, rather then illness or injury-related reasons.
Btw, isn't it mind-boggling that the earliest brain surgery, as evidence shows, was performed, often successfuly, by the late Stone Age people?

There is one more thing that bothers me about the Egyptians - the mummification process itself. For such a spiritually advanced nation, preoccupied with afterlife, they seem to have paid too much attention to the preservation of the body. Why? And even If they did think that after death one might still need a body, why store lungs, liver or stomach in canopic jars and yet get rid of the one organ that controls them all?

Pythagoras is believed to have been educated in Egypt (he was supposedly an adept of the Egyptian Mystery Schools) and yet he and his followers were not at all concerned with bodily matters, quite the opposite. They did believe in reincarnation but that had nothing to do with saving one's body for some later event.

Anyway, back to the topic. Let's assume for a moment that the brain was indeed a blueprint for the labyrinth. Let's assume that the very early Egyptians saw a connection between this organ and spirituality. Is it possible that those who came later lost some of the "secret" knowledge?
Also, I know it is said that they used to throw the brain away - in any case it wasn't stored in the canopic jars - but do we know what they really did with it? It's curious that they preserved everything but the most important organ?

DarkEyedBeauty, can you elaborate on the issue of the Golden Ratio ( in relation to my brain-labyrinth theory)? I only know that the Greeks "invented" it but it is believed that they had borrowed it from the Egyptians. It's supposed to be incorporated into the Great Pyramid.