Applying ancient divination to modern intuition | Peter Struck | TEDxPenn

Most ancient people were in the habit of imagining that messages from their gods were built into the world around them: in the oracles they consulted, in their dreams, and in the animals they sacrificed. They drew on them to sort out their thinking on knotty issues they faced in their lives, seeing more deeply into the past, present, or future. This talk explores the similarities between these ancient habits of mind and our own modern fascination, attested to in the discoveries of the cognitive sciences that lay behind books like Malcolm Gladwell's.
Peter Struck is Associate Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. His research engages with the history of the construction of meaning, in divination and in ancient notions of the organism. In 2004, he won Penn's Lindback Award, the university's highest award for teaching. Currently, he is writing about the applications of Greek and Roman divination in "Divine Signs and Human Nature: A Cognitive History of Divination in Antiquity".
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

Пікірлер: 82

  • @bakaichigo
    @bakaichigo7 жыл бұрын

    Awesome information. As a modern-day tarot reader I can say this is actually how it works. Answers that wouldn't come when I was obsessing over the problems and options came far more easily working on the visual puzzle of the cards. This also translates into other areas of my life; for example when I get overwhelmed by a problem, I'll sleep on it or go outside to sit and play with my dog - and find when I return to the issue later that I have a clearer, more balanced mind and perspective. :)

  • @dezireelovecraft7606

    @dezireelovecraft7606

    7 жыл бұрын

    RedVexeD yes soo true!!

  • @devindotzenrod361

    @devindotzenrod361

    5 жыл бұрын

    RedVexeD Will you give me a reading please

  • @curtismmichaels

    @curtismmichaels

    5 жыл бұрын

    As a reader I appreciate the clarity and accuracy of your post. Thank you for speaking in a manner that more might be open to understanding.

  • @chaosneal9049

    @chaosneal9049

    5 жыл бұрын

    You still around

  • @thedruiddiaries6378

    @thedruiddiaries6378

    3 жыл бұрын

    Have a look at Harvard edX Omens and Oracles. Its very goid. And, the speaker here was somewhat missleading. These animals were not disembowked alive . And, the practice began as observational and lay a foundation for anatomical science .

  • @Arnoric
    @Arnoric2 жыл бұрын

    One of my autistic traits is that the intuitive mode is my basic mode. Discursive thinking feels alien to me. Magic Mushrooms helped me a lot to understand how my capacity to understand works

  • @vikingshelm
    @vikingshelm7 жыл бұрын

    Love this man's teaching.

  • @random_corner5376
    @random_corner53766 жыл бұрын

    So in Laymen’s terms divination is a form of meditation to allow the intuitive mind formulate thinking on how to solve a problem compared to the conscious mind that if we focus on that problem we get further and further away from the solution we are seeking? If that is the case then there is something to it. I’ve been curious about divination for a while since it’s a mystery to me

  • @antiquebeast

    @antiquebeast

    4 жыл бұрын

    Random_Corner when you meditate, the hope goal is you open up to calm. Divining is more like retuning to open up to wisdom. Symbols/pictures are tuning “instructions.” I use them to find the feeling I’m hoping to understand, but I always need to hold/know the feeling first.

  • @vintheguy

    @vintheguy

    2 жыл бұрын

    *"if"*

  • @justincbryant

    @justincbryant

    2 жыл бұрын

    In Laymen's terms, youre making it too complicated. Life itself is a meditation.

  • @justincbryant

    @justincbryant

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@antiquebeast thoughts are beliefs, beliefs become actions, actions to habits, and then habits to character. thinking = being. When you say returning, it is the innate ability to focus awareness to such a degree that you speak and do thru god.

  • @gabrielaahumada9807
    @gabrielaahumada98073 жыл бұрын

    wowowowo that´s my profesor for Greek and Roman Mithology chulada de profesor, lo amo!!!!! best regards from Mexico.

  • @Marina-nt6my
    @Marina-nt6my2 жыл бұрын

    Awesome I'm glad I got this on my feed randomly

  • @FionaLundy
    @FionaLundy4 жыл бұрын

    Awesome talk!! I studied history at university & looooved it!! I bet he’s a great lecturer!! 👏🏻👏🏻

  • @MaryJaneHancock
    @MaryJaneHancock4 жыл бұрын

    Well said. And, I agree. So glad you posted. Thank you.

  • @charlesodonnell2993
    @charlesodonnell2993 Жыл бұрын

    This follows well from the metaphysics of analytic idealism.

  • @antonnovo695
    @antonnovo6953 жыл бұрын

    This is Gold!

  • @CreativeSoul333
    @CreativeSoul333 Жыл бұрын

    Great talk!!!! Thank you 🙏

  • @evvie01
    @evvie013 жыл бұрын

    Very cool. Especially to my 10 year-old self who knew everything was/is connected back in 1971.

  • @hadriusreznor3247

    @hadriusreznor3247

    2 жыл бұрын

    How so?

  • @Graisslyaz
    @Graisslyaz3 жыл бұрын

    Loved it!!!

  • @CutsceneHunter
    @CutsceneHunter Жыл бұрын

    Great 👍 👌

  • @malichelete_music
    @malichelete_music Жыл бұрын

    Amazing. 🎉

  • @aniruddhamitra6621
    @aniruddhamitra6621 Жыл бұрын

    even in ancient world, the sound quality was far better!

  • @gl8715
    @gl87153 жыл бұрын

    🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

  • @dragonarchive7443
    @dragonarchive74433 жыл бұрын

    What's the song name?

  • @skylark1772
    @skylark17722 жыл бұрын

    Maybe I need to re-watch this. Sounded to me like he was trying to provide a rational explanation for a primordial,spiritual divination system.

  • @wendymoran6759

    @wendymoran6759

    Жыл бұрын

    ... as if there are no spirits or deities involved.

  • @alecmisra4964
    @alecmisra49643 жыл бұрын

    If it is about a trance state why did they have very specific rules for interpreting flights of birds and other forms of divination?

  • @vintheguy

    @vintheguy

    2 жыл бұрын

    Because it was actually a cultural thing which the believed helped them when it did not infact

  • @ashleywatson3407

    @ashleywatson3407

    Жыл бұрын

    The Oracle was in a trance, the people asking the questions were not. It was up to the people to go to the Oracle and ask a question. If the Oracle were not in a trance state, the answer would not come about and it speaks to divination itself. If you are not in a trans state, you will not be fully connected, and you will not be able to find an answer. She was also a facilitator. People had trust when they came to her and asked a question and that's why she said it in a riddle. She helped facilitate their state of trance, by giving them a riddle in something to figure out. And thereby put them in a state of trance and helped them find an answer. Boom.

  • @ashleywatson3407

    @ashleywatson3407

    Жыл бұрын

    @@vintheguy I don't think discrediting culture is a very good thing to do. Culture is an extremely good foundation, and gives us a way to live our lives. If it weren't for culture these questions themselves would not be coming about, and neither would your question. For culture, oracles and whatnot wouldn't be needed. Culture is not the issue here. The issue is that people are not willing to embrace what they have to do. It's a scary thing to go into a trance, but in ancient Greece it was extremely possible and it is still possible now in some ways. The Oracle knew what she was doing, bashing her isn't necessarily a good idea.

  • @vintheguy

    @vintheguy

    Жыл бұрын

    @@ashleywatson3407 I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea what you are talking about

  • @fairyfortunes9362
    @fairyfortunes93623 жыл бұрын

    I am absolutely blown away by this presentation. There have been some recent studies with the Ouija board and the theory as I understand it is that the Ouija board allows the brain to access subconscious knowledge. Hence the Ouija board may in fact be able to help people with dementia communicate and access information. I'm not sure that I agree with John Milton, intuition is not rare to humans, we need to remove it from the realm of the elite so that we can better process information.

  • @Space.Pimpin
    @Space.Pimpin5 жыл бұрын

    if anyone else was using both their rational and intuitive mind, they would agree this guy took a long time to say very little

  • @andrewgill6770

    @andrewgill6770

    3 жыл бұрын

    He was actually saying, if you follow your intuition in the moment, you won't get in trouble by over rationalizing.

  • @jmediums

    @jmediums

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@andrewgill6770 yeah, that seemed to be the end message. not that we are using divination when we go for a walk. personally i cant wait to roast some turtle shells later this year to see if i should quit my job or not.

  • @vintheguy

    @vintheguy

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@andrewgill6770 Yeah, a lot to say a little

  • @KaisRealLife
    @KaisRealLife2 жыл бұрын

    ✨✨✨

  • @thedruiddiaries6378
    @thedruiddiaries63783 жыл бұрын

    Pithea was a title. The female Oracle changed, as they we chosen from the community and their answers were not always riddles. There wereno 'pulsating entrales'. Animals were brought to becrutually slaughtered, but did not have their entraiks riped outcwhike aluve. The god or gids answered the querrues by alterations that were revealed after the death of the animal and during a sort of autopsie that was recorded and compared to previous procedures. .. it was more like a contempirary autopsie.

  • @boxfox2945
    @boxfox29452 жыл бұрын

    And the lots' fell toward Jonah. Notrodomis used Jewish divination that incorporates a bowl of water and hullusnigins. Islamic geomancing, uses dots. That looks like DNA strands. The building blocks of life.

  • @ravenoptima
    @ravenoptima6 жыл бұрын

    I am liker 111!

  • @awiccanwitch5267

    @awiccanwitch5267

    4 жыл бұрын

    ravenoptima Ohhhh magickal numberrrr

  • @ebinuyasha1
    @ebinuyasha1 Жыл бұрын

    I thought this was a divination guide for rs3

  • @MrAKjosh
    @MrAKjosh4 жыл бұрын

    Superstitions are a little more believable if you’ve ever had a psychedelic experience.

  • @wkgames7516

    @wkgames7516

    3 жыл бұрын

    Soooooo... after he gives his point on why divination is not superstitious, you still don't believe it??

  • @DaDa-xi9tk
    @DaDa-xi9tk3 жыл бұрын

    An amateur on the topic who misses the crux of divination.

  • @lacephalous4672

    @lacephalous4672

    2 жыл бұрын

    enlighten me

  • @thedruiddiaries6378
    @thedruiddiaries63783 жыл бұрын

    First time I've given a thumbs down to a Ted Talk. It was based on glaring historical inaccuracies about ancient divination.

  • @jmediums

    @jmediums

    2 жыл бұрын

    curious about what was wrong, could you explain a bit?

  • @vintheguy

    @vintheguy

    2 жыл бұрын

    This guy is mostly just going off with with a strange theory that doesnt really have THAT much real evidence for it

  • @vintheguy

    @vintheguy

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@jmediums I'm not that big into the specific history of Greece, however, I do know that people haruspicy (the act of looking the entrails of animals to divine the future) was only really done by designated haruspexs and were usually for big questions such as "will the empire fall soon?" or other such things

  • @sophiamayaK9
    @sophiamayaK9 Жыл бұрын

    Isaiah 1:6-22…this man speaks of occult practices. The end times are here. It’s your choice: choose salvation and deliverance with Jesus…or spend eternity in the infernal fire of Satan….it’s your choice.

  • @malichelete_music

    @malichelete_music

    Жыл бұрын

    😂lol. Joke is on you.

  • @lastdays1188
    @lastdays11887 жыл бұрын

    God Forbids practicing divination, it is a sin, have nothing to do with this.

  • @dezireelovecraft7606

    @dezireelovecraft7606

    7 жыл бұрын

    we must be open to understand before we make judgment! love and blessings God has many names and shapes

  • @jamesm4732

    @jamesm4732

    7 жыл бұрын

    you mean, your doctrine forbids it...

  • @martin36369

    @martin36369

    6 жыл бұрын

    For those who don't believe in God, Sin also doesn't exist, stop projecting your beliefs on others, like I'm doing now!

  • @LucisFerre1

    @LucisFerre1

    6 жыл бұрын

    I guess you've never heard of prophets.

  • @Qarnifex

    @Qarnifex

    6 жыл бұрын

    no, he doesn't. That is what you have been told. The Bible never said this. In fact he did use divination, and sign reading and casting lots. The three wise men knew Jesus had been born by reading the signs in the sky (Divination) The apostles on several occasions cast lots (divination.) You do not even know how to read or interpret what is in your Bible. You should not be a teacher for Jesus when you yourself are uneducated.

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