Do you think the ancients understood the mystical universe better than us 'moderns' do?

Question

Are we moderns just able to get a glimpse of what ancients knew, or could it be that we are mentally and spiritually more evolved than them, in other words we are able to do what they did and even improve on it and discover more secrets about the spiritual universe that the ancients didn’t know?

J P: If you want to believe the universe is 'flat' thats up to you, but don't call me foolish for exlporing the possibilities of an infinite universe with infinite possibilities.

Answer 1

This is very true, and can also be untrue at the same time. This depends the way we choose to see things. And what is the best way to look at things has not been decided yet. What we can see is badly affected by what we do see. If we do not see with our physical eye then we see all with the inner eye of the mind - the intuition. We can see more with our imagination.

The rich folklores, myths and legends of the ancient world do prove that those people were actually able to understand more about the universe than we do. We have encased out perception into the caskets of science. We are unable to perceive anything without scientific explanation. And whatever we know, we never know for sure until we know who we are - and this is the ancient wisdom. And this can happen today also.

Answer 2

In every age there are a very few people who persevere enough to go very deeply into the mystical life.
When they try to speak of their experiences, they do so through the ideas and understandings of their own time, which can make those truths sound even more different and mysterious.
The basic truths which mystics have uncovered through the ages, though, have always been the same ones we can discover for ourselves today.
If you would like to read a good, knowledgeable discussion about all of this stuff, I reccommend Ken Wilber's book, 'One Taste'
Good luck with your own quest.
Jon C

Answer 3

no, they dont know more than us..we discovered more and definitely we knows the ancients through histories.

humans getting smarter and smarter and evolved to a better life due to the research and knowledge we have.

Eg. Ancient people believe in nature spirits, when they have trouble and face flood or draught seasons, they will make sacrifices to please the spirits they believe.

but, now, since we had knowledge about the reasons those disaster happens, we dont kill people for that..

Answer 4

Most people are too 'civilized'
to understand the mystical things the ancients took for granted.

Answer 5

I think that to answer this question properly you would have to first answer the question "is there a mystical universe". You might say that your question assumes that there is, in which case you should perhaps look at how you came to such a conclusion and how did earlier civilisations come to the conclusion that there was. Perhaps they didn't.

Answer 6

i think the "ancients" were more unstanding to the world around them because they were not distracted by technology and other modern things. we may be more evolved, but they were more able to discover different things about the universe. :]

Answer 7

We understand the universe more now than ever before. There is no such thing as a "Mystical" Universe, just two;
*The physical one we live in.
*The unreal, warped, foolish one you seem to inhabit.

Answer 8

It's a good question, I just don't know there's too little to go on.

The Jain religion have the sort of perspective to better answer this.

Answer 9

no they were just allowed to develop an understanding without having to contend with other ideologies. so they were able to grow and evolve beliefs at a pace which was almost imperceptible from one lifetime to the next.

Answer 10

Consider this:
What you describe as "mystical" was to them the natural order of things.
We, today, know different stuff. Not better, Not smarter, just different.