Do you want to hear more about Adam and Eve, or more about the other myths?

Can't tell you how thankful I am that you upload with subtitles (and in multiple languages no less!), wish more creators would do that.

Crecganford: snakes live forever unless you chop off their head. Snake: My name is Conner McCleod, of the Clan McCleod. There can be only one...

The free education we get from this wonderful channel is fantastic! Thank you Jon and your patrons for all your hard work! Bravo! 🥰

We have 3 deaths, the first death is the actual physical death. The second death is the memorial, funeral, wake, or what have you. The final death is when the last living person who knew you has died, and you are forgotten 💔

OMG, the Zombie apocalypse is based on the oldest myth about immortality. Totally did not know.

Hahaha. Funny and smart. The part where you said: "I, am just an Archaeologist." I'm still smiling...

I laughed at how you kept the explanations at a level where children could watch. I can hear so many parents answering "What does that mean," with a simple, "I'll explain it to you later."

Excellent subject. Yes I personally would like to hear more. This channel is a gold mine, you are absolutely brilliant man, with super topic selections.

The Mowu and Spideree story is particularly remarkable in the way it describes a behavior we still have to deal with today. I think a lot of people could relate to the basic template of it in some way. It's practically a meme.

thats why Sephiroth from final fantasy 7 is the most remarkable videogame villain of all times, because he said to cloud "aslong someone remember me i will live forever" D; also alexander the great of macedonia and julius ceasar D; they understood being immortal means to achive something that humanity will remember all the time as long humanity exsist.

I've always had the thought that has been inferred by the way family spoke when I was a kid, that the "otherworld", or the "underneath", was like a waiting room for the soul... and babies/children having an "old soul" was one of those souls returning.

An Episode about psychedelics? Yes, of course!

Always appreciate your gift for story telling and bringing history and old mythology to life.

Another fascinating video- and very timely! Re: the mention of ancient use of psychedelics, I definitely would be interested in learning more about how that shows up in various mythologies & traditions around the world.

Until this, I was convinced that the secret to immortality was: "in the end, there can be only one." Oh well. So much for Highlanders telling truth!

I find it so beautiful how echoes of growing up and finding out about death for the first time end up in the stories we've told ourselves for a hundred thousand years ...

I was wondering what else I could have done in this Saturday afternoon. Well, time to learn something

The first story from West Africa reminds me of the Native American story of Coyote and Raven debating how long all the creatures of the land should live.

This channel is one of the few that I seriously look forward to the regular uploads. Great content, sir, all the work that goes into it is very much appreciated 🙏

Always informative, always insightful, always worthwhile. Well done again Jon. Thank you.

Definitely would like to hear about the death cult talked about in the books mentioned

Thank you. I find it very interesting to learn that a lot of proto-myths about dearth considered human originaly immortal. The "skin has to change" is fascinating.

I can understand English, but Serbian Cyrillic subtitles caught me off guard. Not to mention accurate to boot. That's neat.

Wonderful and insightful video. Your last reference to the Indoeuropeans reminds me of Norse, Havamal 77: Cattle die, | and kinsmen die, And so one dies one's self; One thing now | that never dies, The fame of a dead man's deeds

Really interesting as always thanks. Thanks also for offering to cover plants related to immortality. Just wanted to mention Peter Lamborn Wilson's Ploughing the Clouds: the Search for Irish Soma, though you're likely already aware of it. So a vote for including fly agaric from me thanks!

Your last point was a core Ancient Egyptian belief regarding death. Speaking the deceased's name kept them alive in the afterworld. The corollary was also true: those whose names are never spoken again are lost even in the afterlife. To that end, it was somewhat common for pharaohs to order the removal of names from monuments. Ramses II took this to the extreme by having names replaced with his own on tons of monuments -- one of his nicknames, The Great Builder, partly stemmed from early archaeologists/historians not realizing that he wasn't responsible for many of the works his name was on.

"Losing Immortality"? Awesome idea to explore, Jon. Thank you. I imagine it like this.....as when we were all children, when we cannot imagine anything except that this will last forever.... And then the inevitable question from us children after someone we know, dies: "Why do people die?" Probably parents from all over the world struggled to answer this very penetrating and challenging question, and all of them came up with different answers, which in its own way points to something more revealing. The universal answer to "why do we die?" depends on your local economy (fishing, hunting, farming, some version of killing, etc.) but the need to have an answer...that makes sense to a child....while still making the parent seem in charge....creates the universal conditions to invent the same or similar answer. "We kill to live. But because we kill, that doesn't make us bad, because we die too. Therefore, in order to not have a crying child for the next 2 days, let us just say something that we don't really know, and can't know anything about. Let's just say that it's an endless loop, so that this kid will finally shut up, and have something to think about, and we can get back to doing what we were doing before." It's not a "Truth", it's more like the lowest common denominator that seems to work, independantly discovered, to assuage people's anxieties about the unknown and the unknowable, so it is wide-spread without stemming from the same "original"......white lie. It's not a dispersed idea. It is a convergent idea, with many local variations about how to get there, and where "there" is. Lovely summary. You are a gift to us all. Thank you.

This has been my favorite video of yours yet. I really appreciate hearing about African myths

I'm glad I subscribed here, I discovered you by accident, good things sometimes are discovered by chance.

Right, cup of tea and Myth time!

extraordinary-'Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Choose life and live thereof'. Which precisely aligns to your last comment on the video..Well done Sir.

I am interested in myths as transmitted by culture, and the collective unconscious. I can’t tell you how many times weird images popped up in my dreams and I had no idea what they were talking about. And then I looked them up in a symbol dictionary and they turn out to be well-known. Like the shedding skin, for example.

More about the psychodelics please. I looked up The Sacred Mushroom and came up with two books. Are you referring to The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross by John Allegro or The Sacred Mushroom: Key to the Door of Eternity by Andrija Puharich?

Fascinating! I am going to stretch it and state that the continuity of our present existence is the immortality of our ancestors and it will be our immortality and of those to come. Thank you. Good morning from Portugal :))))))))

Given your final note, it’s funny how mad gods get when you say their names. 🤔😂 Great show!

Your subtitles are excellent. Many thanks.

New Crecganford? Today is gonna be a good day.

Nice to see our old friend the immortal snake again! 🙂

Again, a great video Jon, and story telling. Here something I like to add as an example 😉 Like in the Japanese Shinto story where the Allfather Izanagi had deceived the goddess of the Underworld. In revenge, the goddess will make a thousand people die every day in the creation of Izanagi. In turn, the Allfather arranges for one thousand five hundred women to give birth every day as compensation. Source, Joseph Campbell, Power of the Myth.

Great talk. Really gives one things to think about.

Dr Alice is an amazing scientist. I am not exactly sure what proper credentials to call her by currently. I knew she was pursuing other doctorates. Thank you for a great video. I wanted to say episode because it’s like watching my favorite show on tv lol.🎃

I seem to remember that Carlos Castaneda in his books put forward the idea that those who had had children were not able to truly be warriors. He wrote that his teacher believed that one's luminosity emanating from the naval would become a hole thus severing the connection with universal power and thus the ability to transition to an afterlife.

Thank you for another excellent video and perfect timing for a Halloween weekend! Also appreciate your links to your other videos - very helpful to rewatch those to expound on specific subject (like more on death puppers and snakes!)

* Fruits have seeds. Stones do not... * A comment on the 23:54 part: In Serbian, the word for Moon - "Mjesec" could be interpreted as: "think/feel + cut" (mjete +sec). One of the meanings associated with the Moons effect on psyche is- change- the mood swings, PMS, etc... *Regarding the dead "buried underground": The fantastic F.Herbert's SF novel "Dune" offers a very nice picture of that motif in the part where Alia has all the memories of her ancestors. Might be helpfull to a point... PS. Glad to have the translatable subtitles now. Now I can share your valuable vids with more people. Tnx. Keep it up. :) Cheers! :)

Hey man, anthropology major here. My brother and I have loads of discussions about myth and religion and history. We found your page and have been blown away by your analysis of several things. I had a suggestion for subject for you to look into. Connections between stories of vampires werewolves grims and hellhounds.

I have to admit that even though this is an academic video and there are all kinds of interesting take aways, probably the main reason I checked this one out is that I'm haunted by death. And I grieve over certain people. So there is something comforting in seeing how people have handled it throughout time. That it's hard but I'm not alone.

Death is not inevitable, but change is. I thought about this one night. Some things don't die..some are not alive to begin with. But nothing stays the same forever. This was my most philosophical thought at some point:)))

Great episode as always Jon. Glad your videos are getting out to more and more people.

I only recently found your channel but as a nerd with a love of stories its so interesting!

Really great content and it’s always getting better! Loved this episode! PS - am curious about some of the book titles that you have behind you on the video! Your personal library must be really great.

Always more things to learn from you. Thank you.

I am glad I found your channel I love history and mythology and being American I have had to teach myself the American school system is one of the worst in the developed world. I appreciate your work keep up the good fight brother.

Until quite recently I wanted to be cremated and my ashes flung about in a scenic spot. My first preference would be Viking burial, or a sky burial, but both are disallowed under current US law, and I don't want to get my heirs in trouble with the law. Now, I want a tree burial. Your remains are wrapped up in a semipermeable container bag with a tree seed. Your nutrients feed the young tree. You become a tree in a way. The thought of being embalmed, put in a hard barrier casket and buried just seems wrong to me. I don't want to be a semi-decayed corpse in an underground box - that seems disrespectful and wasteful. Let my remains nourish new life. I would love to be a tree. Sunshine and wind and rain. I want this so badly! That is [bleeping] cool! I need to update my will.

This came just at the right time for me. Beautifully told. I'd love to hear more about all of these myths.

33:00 quite so. It’s telling how true this is when the epic of gilgamesh itself imparts this lesson.

As always, an excellent video. Fascinating stuff. I would definitely like to hear more about the psychedelics angle.

Amazing video Jo! Grazie di cuore. Waiting for the psychedelic topic episode :)

!You have been granted immortality!liked and subscribed! Love to hear about death within death within life, academic approach to hallucinogens.

Wonderful as always! And I deeply resonate with your conclusion. The myths of our ancestors, otherwise profound intuitions about the Cosmos, have inspired a solemn ethos of dead veneration, of remembering and celebrating the ancestors in many cultures. I particularly enjoy the view of Historian of Religions Mircea Eliade on this: "The transformation of the dead person into an 'ancestor' corresponds to the fusion of the individual into an archetypal category. In numerous traditions [...] the souls of the common dead no longer possess a 'memory'; that is, they lose what may be called their historical individuality. The transformation of the dead into ghosts, and so on, in a certain sense signifies their reidentification with the impersonal archetype of the ancestor. The fact that in the Greek tradition only heroes preserve their personality (i.e., their memory) after death, is easy to understand: having, in his life on earth, performed no actions which were not exemplary, the hero retains the memory of them, since, from a certain point of view, these acts were impersonal."

I just found your channel and I’m binging many of your videos. As a fellow academic (different discipline though) I appreciate your academic approach. Your videos are amazing and very interesting

Video about psychedelic and amanitas seems brilliant.

I love your lectures. I an a Seventh Day Adventist who believes in the bible and the writings of Ellen G White so was on e is the founders of our church. I find your findings amazing and would love to know more about the Germanic and English gods of my origins. I am an Australian. Thank you so much for what you have done. You have answered many questions that regular society throws about. ❤

Please do an extensive video on the Sacred Mushroom maybe including some history on the old gnostic interpretations of the Tanakh. Also might you be able to do one on the Sons of Light or other early interpreters of the New Testament

Your voice is so calming

Great video loved it! Where does the idea of judgement after death come from?

I really like these videos which cover the myths surrounding general topics from all over

What you ended this segment would be a good lead onto The Beautiful Death, as the Greeks termed it. Some thing diving into that rabbit hole would be appreciated.

the story about the man tho was pierced by a stake so he wouldn't leave his grave reminded me so much of that vampire legend.

Quite interesting. Nice to know!

You are a very good teacher ❤

Disease genes such as cancer and heart disease humans share with very primitive animals. Mortality phylogenetics is much older than mythology. Good work as usual!

20:54 "...no myths include the like and subscribe button...🤣 Good stuff!

I was thinking about Little Red Riding Hood and I feel like it's peculiar that she would have such a specific name and only be in a single folk story. Is there a cannon for Little Red Riding Hood or were red hoods just a popular fashion choices amongst young women of the era?

"If you die before you die, then you won't die when you die" sounds like a reference to ritual death in the initiation ceremonies of several religions, including the "baptism" of Christianity. Of course it could also be about hallucinogens, or the two topics may not be separate.

Muchas gracias por tan buena investigación y explicación de un tema tan antiguo y complejo. Y también gracias por los subtítulos en español 👍

Another very interesting video, thank you

Thank you for your rich content.

Well done! So well researched and put together. But when you said.. your bottom will close up and your mouth with become your only hole, I just about lost it LOL. 😂 3 hours later and I'm still cracking up. It sounds like an old Irish curse. I could tell you were struggling a little to keep a straight face as you said it too. You have my respect, no way I could have said that without busting up. I can't stop laughing. Thanks so much! 💞

Love this content have a new subscriber ty

Excellent work Jon. All these myths allude to much the same story as in Genesis. Some blame the Serpent others blame ourselves, others say we were tricked and the Serpent was guiding us but other powers intervened. 'The stone in the water' tale and our reincarnation interrupted. So you've added greatly to my knowledge and confirmed some connections to other knowledge ive learned. I thank you for that wisdom Jon. Keep up these deep dives they really are enlightening.

Good timing. Today is the 3rd anniversary of my first First Death. I was in cardiac arrest for 40 minutes. They stabilized me in a coma, from which I arose on the third day, Halloween. Well, the modern date of Halloween, not the actual cross-quarter day on the 7th of November. I've been thinking about religions since then, new and old, real and invented. I had been working on a novel that included a fictional idea for a prehistoric religion set around 26,000 years ago. After my death experience, I wonder if I should pursue it for real. One of the ideas I had was to have a holy place where living members would continuously read the names of all the members who had passed (perhaps including names requested by non-members), so that they are never forgotten. Of course, I wonder if that's a good idea or not, in case someone wants to experience the second death and find out what, if anything, is beyond that. The original idea for the story was to include a claim of regeneration in the prehistoric religion that would serve as a myth for a future society that develops cryogenic stasis, medical regeneration, synthetic neurology, mind-machine interfaces, and Artificial Intelligence for something I call Telepresent Immortality. This would work by alternating waking biology and a synthetic anthropoid avatar. The biological person give the avatar their memories and the synthetic anthropoid takes the place of them during long periods of "sleep" during regeneration or while taking a vow of dormancy in cryosleep that can last years or centuries. A period of mind-linking and discussion with the avatar and biological person allows them to gain and remember what happened while they slept as if it was their own memory. I tried to make the tech as real as possible in the hope that it could one day be realized.

I seem to recall some Hominid finds in Africa where bodies seemed to have been deposited deep in caves, sometimes tools left in there too. I imagine this is an early version of burials.

Yes, please do a video on psychadelics, hallucinations, OBEs, etc.

wonderful video on a saturday morning. Thanks!!

Dear John. I miss videos about Indo-European mythology especially celtic, germanic and slavic mythology. While these more high level videos on the history of mythology are also interesting I would like more of a mix. Thanks for your videos.

Thought provoking, especially your final observation that the knowledge of death can lead us to live a better life. I would argue, though, that this form of immortality is sought by some individuals through heinous acts. Anyway, I appreciated your research and your points. Liked and subscribed.

I have been binge watching your videos. Thank you very much! You mention a book called "The Sacred Mushroom", but I find several with that title or versions of it. Who is the author of that book that you mention?

Yes, loads of interest to ear your take on the relationship between psychedelics and ancient myth. Please plough ahead!

Seriously good subject..

Please do a video on the immortality key and the academic research. This is the topic I want to understand more than any other, in particular the place where that book becomes very thin, when it makes tenuous links to PIE culture and the temple complex at gobeckli tepe.

I think it makes perfect sense for humans to link death and concepts about immortality to childbirth and procreation (and vice versa). Evolutionarily speaking, a species that would only consist of the same "immortal" members is much more prone to accidents or changes in environments, and is also less able to change its own genom to adapt. As such, reproduction is necessary to ensure long-term survival. This is not an active choice, it is a "rule of nature". Basically it turned out this way (that most if not all life works like this), not because it made sense, but because life that didn't work like this died out way too quickly. You can see the motif "new replacing old" in many stories, including modern fiction, with examples such as Elves (leaving Middle-Earth), vampires (hunted), greek titans and gods (the latter replacing the former). Immortality is, practically speaking, the alternative to procreation. And for such myths to develop, one must only think about the inception of life, to draw conclusions about its end. We are born into this world, and that is also the reason we die. I wouldn't be surprised, if such ideas were present ever since humanity developed consciousness and reason.

The Neolithic village of Ba'ja in Jordan, they uncovered a buried-under-the-room skeleton with a beautiful necklace In the narrative of a documentary, they talked about the different attitudes between a culture that buries the dead under their home and one that buries them as far away as is practicable. Though they admit to an obvious difference, they persistently discuss the grief associated with death. It seems to me from the many different myths and ritual around death that grief is not a necessary response to the death of a loved one, even a revered one. There is, obviously the after-lives. And in the exposure-cultures the idea of paying a debt. I've started to think we overlook the simple acceptance of death. Full stop. And the possibility that these were simply tucked in for the last time. I know of no current translations of any such cessationist myths, but I do now see a distinct possibility that some of the translations and, even more importantly, the reconstructions of paleo-myths, expecting to find answers to the "big question", in the absence of an explanation have filled the void with the idea of ... whatever came to mind.

🖤 lovely video

... Holy shit... "and now your bottom will close up, and your mouth will become your only hole"... Just terrifying.

brilliant!!!

I’ve read the Immortality Key but would you suggest the other academic sources you mention?

what a lej! good luck on achieving immortality! ;)

Psychedelics in shamanism would be a really interesting video

Great video! How is your potential interview with Ben Stanhope going?