World - Religion and Mythology

Religion and Mythology

Further information: world axis, world serpent, world elephant, Contemptus mundi, De contemptu mundi, Samsara, Maya (illusion), Church Militant, and Divisions of the world in Islam

Mythological cosmologies often depict the world as centered around an axis mundi and delimited by a boundary such as a world ocean, a world serpent or similar.

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Famous quotes containing the words religion and, religion and/or mythology:

    As soon as beauty is sought, not from religion and love, but for pleasure, it degrades the seeker.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    ... it was religion that saved me. Our ugly church and parochial school provided me with my only aesthetic outlet, in the words of the Mass and the litanies and the old Latin hymns, in the Easter lilies around the altar, rosaries, ornamented prayer books, votive lamps, holy cards stamped in gold and decorated with flower wreaths and a saint’s picture.
    Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)

    This is the frost coming out of the ground; this is Spring. It precedes the green and flowery spring, as mythology precedes regular poetry. I know of nothing more purgative of winter fumes and indigestions. It convinces me that Earth is still in her swaddling-clothes, and stretches forth baby fingers on every side.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)