Old Ground of Common Sense · of Ancestors & Archetypes
⁘ “Common sense. Why is it common? It's rooted in something more elementary than your particular concerns. In the good old days, it was more present. They had symbolic systems in navigating and negotiating with the world. It made sense.”
First of all, let's tackle common sense, common wisdom.
Why is it common?
It's common exactly for the reason that it is rooted
in something non-specific to anyone's particular concerns.
It is rooted in primaries, in the more elementary aspects and dynamics of our reality.
It makes sense to everyone, or so it should, and that's why it is common.
Then, yes, the glaring contrast between modern human
and our ancestors, the people of the good old days.
What set them apart?
There is no inherent merit in anything old.
Let bygones be bygones.
However, what they had in their symbols, in their culture,
whether as the elements of nature, in a polytheistic framing,
or any other system of belief and understanding,
negotiating with the world, they were rooting themselves, framing their reality in something more fundamental, something more basic, essentially valid premises, and that made life make a lot more sense to everyone.