Myth and cosmos, readings in mythology and symbolism

This VOLUME is concerned with some of the ways in which. people conceive of their society and the world in which it is. set. There seem to be certain virtually universal concepts which. are used to do this: a beUef in a Creator Spirit (or God) , usually. remote from men although believed to have been in contact with. them at the beginning of the world; beliefs in various intermediaries. between this spiritual power and men-deities, ancestors. and so on; and beliefs in various himian mtermediaries who have. the power to move from the sphere of ordinary mortals to that. of the Creator Spirit€"diviners, priests, prophets, shamans and. others. People express these and related ideas in various ways€"by. myth, legend, folktale, by notions of time and space. They also. express them in action, by sacrifice, prayer and the like; but in. this volume we are concerned with the former only, with beUefs,. concepts and symbols. Other ways are described in the two companion. volumes of readings, Gods and Rituals and Magic, Witchcrafty. and Curing,. The study of myth and cosmology has a long history. They. have been studied by folklorists, interested mainly in motifs and. their evolution and distribution; by psychologists, interested in. what can be discovered from them about the individual psyche;. by linguists; by historians of religion, interested mainly in the. world religions; and lastly by anthropologists. The accounts in this. volume are by anthropologists who, despite many differences in. their views and aims, are nonetheless all concerned with a fairly. similar set of problems and who all have a fairly similar viewpoint.