Am I possibly the first scholar to recognize the equivalence of the
religious riding-donkey stories and the death-in-a-labyrinth myth?

Is it fairly common knowledge among theologians that Numbers 22:21 --
the story of Balaam's Ass -- is equivalent to the Minoan myth of the
Minotaur in the labyrinth that eats children? Or am I the first one to
recognize this?

The donkey-in-labyrinth myth expresses the mystic-state experience of
the stream of mental constructs being recognized as fixed in time so
that whether you try to evade ego death by turning left away from the
thought or turning right away from it, every move you mentally make
actually only confirms the idea of inability to escape whatever
thought lies ahead on path, in the preexisting stream of mental
constructs.

I recognized the equivalence when I read the chapter title in the book
Hellenistic Religions, by Luther Martin, "The Golden Ass in a
Labyrinthine World".  The rider-on-a-donkey theme, and the theme of
falling-off-the-donkey and dying or becoming enlightened, is actually
very common in myth; the rider is the higher consciousness or higher
self or enlightened post-initiation adult-self, and the donkey is the
stupid, illogical, lower ego-self or child-self including mundane
self-control.

One story of a church father or mystic has him riding a donkey too
fast in a forest and dying by hanging from a low-hanging tree branch. 
The book The Religion of Paul the Apostle (about Paul as shaman) shows
an icon of Paul falling off his horse on the road to Damascus, but I
am certain that it should show a donkey instead.

On Paul's trip to Damascus to persecute the Christians, he instead
becomes enlightened and becomes a convert.  On the diviner-for-pay
Balaam's trip to curse the Jews, he encounters the angel, his eyes are
opened, and he confesses sin/harmartia/erroroneous thinking regarding
his donkey-self-ego, and instead of cursing the Jews, he blesses them.
 Thus Paul's ride to Damascus is the New Testament equivalent to the
story of Balaam's Ass in the Old Testament.

My question is, have scholars before me recognized the isomorphism
among any of the following myths?

o  Balaam's Ass (Numbers 22:21)
o  Paul falling while travelling on the road to Damascus
o  The child-eating Minotaur in the Labyrinth (Minoan/Greek myth from
Cnossus/Crete)
o  The monk or church father who "died" by hanging from a low-hanging
branch while riding a donkey
o  Similar religious mythic stories involving riding a donkey or
encountering an angel of death in a labyrinth
o  Jesus riding the donkey into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday as a
sacrificial king

Books mentioned:

The Golden Ass: The Transformations of Lucius
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374505322

Hellenistic Religions: An Introduction (has a chapter "The Golden Ass
in a Labyrinthine World")
by Luther H. Martin
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/019504391X

Numbers 22 (Balaam's Ass)
http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=numbers+22&version=NIV-IBS&showfn=yes&showxref=yes&language=english

Don't forget Tristram Shandy's encounter with a donkey in Laurence
Sterne's novel. Shandy is fleeing death, and encounters a donkey at
the gates of Lyons. He gives it a macaroon, but it eats his trousers:

http://www.gifu-u.ac.jp/~masaru/TS/vii.100-119.html#macaroon

I can see the links between the different donkey myths (although I
think you should also have a look at Apuleius -
http://www.eserver.org/books/apuleius/default.html
- which certainly has a link with the other archetypes you cite) but I
can't for the life of me see why you're roping the minotaur in. Can
you explain how you're making that connection? The minotaur wasn't a
donkey, after all - that would have been a far less scary experience
for the sons and daughters of Athens.

Did you read the story of Balaam's Ass?  It might be a unique
integration of the Minotaur myth and the various donkey-riding
egodeath/enlightenment myths.  My research question amounts to:
Have other scholars discovered that the Balaam's Ass story integrates
the Minotaur myth with the various donkey-riding
egodeath/enlightenment myths?

The Minotaur is equivalent to the angel that Balaam and his donkey are
threatened by; the angel destroys delusion regarding one's
self-control agency.  The Minotaur is not equivalent to the donkey;
rather, the Minotaur (which eats children or kills the child-self in
the labyrinth) amounts to enlightenment *about* one's stupid asinine,
childish, lower self, or child-self assumptions about one's nature as
a "self-controller over time".

In the Minotaur myth, the elements are: 
o  Labyrinth
o  Child entering the labyrinth
o  Child eaten by Minotaur
o  Minotaur at the center of the labyrinth
o  Adult exiting the labyrinth (per my conception of the myth)

In the various donkey myths, the elements are:
o  Human rider
o  Donkey that is ridden
o  Rider falls and dies, or hangs
o  Possibly the idea of the donkey walking through *labyrinth* of
world (per Golden Ass, especially Martin's chapter title "The Golden
Ass in a Labyrinthian World").

My discovery, prompted by that chapter title triggering a memory of
the surreal scenario of an Old Testament talking donkey caught between
two closing-in walls, is that the Balaam's Ass story links the
Minotaur myth with the various donkey myths, because it combines the
structural elements of both:
o  Donkey
o  Rider
o  Near-death of both the lower donkey and the higher rider
o  Death-dealing entity (angel of enlightenment about our lower
self-control donkey-nature)
o  Labyrinth forcing an essentially fatal, unavoidable collision with
the mythic death-dealer
o  Enlightenment

I need to know if I am the first scholar to discover that Balaam's Ass
is a connecting link between the Minotaur myth and the religious
donkey-riding myths.

I'm not sure about this "mystic or church father" you mention. Is this
perhaps a garbled reference to the death
of Absalom son of the Israelite king David? See
http://www.ccel.org/wwsb/2Samuel/18.html.

Thank you for pointing out that story.  I still think I read some
other mythic-sounding story in a history of Christianity book, about a
monk who died by hanging from a low-hanging branch while riding his
donkey on a -- as I now seem to recall -- *narrow* path.


I don't understand all the parties and motives in the Absalom story,
but here is my paraphrase.  It has something to do with the ancient
theme of sacrificing the king's son to save the king's kingdom.  I
read all such religious stories as more or less opaque stories of the
sacrifice of one's lower, donkey self-identity, in order to awaken to
one's higher self.

http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=2+sam+18&version=NIV-IBS&showfn=yes&showxref=yes&language=english

King David accepted his people's advice and stayed in the city instead
of going to the battle.  He commanded "Be gentle with the young man
Absalom (David's son) for my sake."  David's men won, killing many. 
Strangely, "the forest claimed more lives that day than the sword"
(whatever that means).

--> The king's son Absalom happened to meet David's men. He was riding
his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large
oak, Absalom's head got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in
midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going. David's men saw
this but missed the opportunity to kill Absalom, whom they were
personally against.

The man who missed the opportunity to kill his personal enemy Absalom
said "I would not lift my hand against the king's son" because of the
king's command "Protect the young man Absalom for my sake."

--> The other man took three javelins in his hand and plunged them
into Absalom's heart while Absalom was still alive in the oak tree.
Ten of Joab's armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed
him. Then David's men stopped pursuing Israel.  They took Absalom,
threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled up a large heap of
rocks over him.

Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled to their homes. Ahimaaz son of
Zadok said, "Let me run and take the news to the king that the Lord
has delivered him from the hand of his enemies." "You are not the one
to take the news today," Joab told him. "You may take the news another
time, but you must not do so today, because the king's son is dead."
Two runners delivered the news of victory in the battle.  Ahimaaz
called out to the king, "All is well!" He bowed down before the king
with his face to the ground and said, "Praise be to the Lord your God!
He has delivered up the men who lifted their hands against my lord the
king."

The king asked, "Is the young man Absalom safe?" Then the Cushite
arrived and said, "My lord the king, hear the good news! The Lord has
delivered you today from all who rose up against you." The Cushite
replied, "May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to
harm you be [dead] like that young man."

--> The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and
wept. As he went, he said: "O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom!
If only I had died instead of you-O Absalom, my son, my son!"


So the "king", always representing the mystery-cult initiate, has
managed to preserve his kingdom and rulership, but only by sacrificing
and abandoning his "son" (his lower, egoic childself and way of
thinking regarding self-will and self-command).  Just as the mind can
move past the Minotaur or Lord's angel into maturity but only by
letting go of one's lower way of thinking, allegorized as child or
donkey, respectively.

_______________

How the Balaam's Ass story is like the child-eating Minotaur labyrinth
story

To highlight the Minotaur labyrinth aspect of the Balaam's Ass story
again, here is my paraphrase of the Balaam's Ass story, with an
emphasis on the parallels to the Minotaur/labyrinth child-killing
myth:

http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=num+22&version=NIV-IBS&showfn=yes&showxref=yes&language=english

When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a
drawn sword in his hand:
Step 1 (road): The angel stood in the road to oppose Balaam.  So
Balaam's donkey turned off the road into a field.
Step 2 (narrow path with walls): The angel stood in a narrow path
between two vineyards, with walls on both sides.  So Balaam's donkey
pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam's foot against it (alludes
to old "limping king" theme when ego-power is partly crippled,
indicating partial ego-death and partial enlightenment).
Step 3 (narrow place): The angel stood in a narrow place where there
was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left.  Balaam's
donkey lay down under Balaam. (ego-power or child-self collapses; full
enlightenment).

Balaam said to the donkey he was riding (his lower child-self): "You
have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you
right now." Then the Lord opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the Lord's
angel standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and
fell facedown. The angel of the Lord (acting like child-eating
Minotaur) said "I have come here to oppose you because your path is a
reckless one before me. I would certainly have killed you by now."

Balaam said to the Lord's angel, "I have sinned. I did not realize you
were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I
will go back."  He is permitted to go forward, now reconciled with
both his lower donkey-self and with the Lord's angel, promising he
will only say what the Lord makes him say.


Summary of the abstract psychology theory that explains both the
Minotaur and Balaam's Ass myths:

In terms of the Minotaur labyrinth, the mind enters the labyrinth of
introspection, encounters the ego-killing idea (Minotaur bull-man),
negotiates with it, and has to accept the death of the ego delusion of
personal self-will and self-command in order to move past that
realization; adult ego-transcendence results.


Statement of my research question:
o  Have other scholars recognized the equivalence of the Balaam's Ass
story and the Minotaur myth?

Minor adjunct questions to contribute toward that master question are:
o  Have other scholars besides me recognized these types of stories as
a sacrifice or abandonment of the lower child-self (ego) in order to
realize the higher adult-self?
o  Have other scholars besides me recognized the equivalence of all
these types of religious donkey-and-near-death stories?
o  Have other scholars besides me recognized the donkey-and-near-death
theme as a sacrifice or abandonment of the lower child-self (ego) in
order to realize the higher adult-self?

It is logically very difficult to prove a negative  - i.e. that NOBODY
has previously equated these myths, or placed the same psychological
interpretations on them.

Although your hypotheses certainly sound unique to me, a failure to
find like hypotheses, on the Internet, or elsewhere, would NOT
constitute PROOF of their uniqueness.  There would always be the
suspicion that one MIGHT find earlier expressions of them "had we but
world enough, and time..."

On the other hand, discovery of just a single prior reference, would
establish, beyond doubt, that they were NOT unique!

Therefore, if I have correctly ascertained the purpose of your
question, you could never be assured with 100% certainty that your
work was unique.  You might, less happily, determine that it certainly
was NOT.

Regards,

Louise

I'm hoping to find relevant leads, not necessarily an absolute yes or no answer.

I'm hoping to find relevant leads, not necessarily an absolute yes or no answer.