Part 3 - Creation Myths
March 2019
Some people say that the matter always existed.
Others say that it was created in 6 days. The is known as the Ussher Chronology. It was calculated by James Ussher (an Irish Archbishop) in the 17th century. He counted up the ages of everyone in the Bible and concluded that Creation occurred on Oct. 23, 4004, B.C. which was a sunny Wednesday afternoon.
Other Creation Myths
Historian David Christian has summarised issues common to multiple creation myths:
“Each beginning seems to presuppose an earlier beginning. ... Instead of meeting a single starting point, we encounter an infinity of them, each of which poses the same problem. ... There are no entirely satisfactory solutions to this dilemma. What we have to find is not a solution but some way of dealing with the mystery .... And we have to do so using words. The words we reach for, from God to gravity, are inadequate to the task. So we have to use language poetically or symbolically; and such language, whether used by a scientist, a poet, or a shaman, can easily be misunderstood.”
There are five basic types of creation myth:
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Creation ex nihilo in which the creation is through the thought, word, dream or bodily secretions of a divine being.
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World parent - Creation by the dismemberment or corpse of a primordial being.
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World parent - Creation by the splitting or ordering of a primordial unity such as the cracking of a cosmic egg or a bringing order from chaos.
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Emergence myths in which progenitors pass through a series of worlds and metamorphoses until reaching the present world.
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Earth diver creation in which a diver, usually a bird or amphibian sent by a creator, plunges to the seabed through a primordial ocean to bring up sand or mud which develops into a terrestrial world.
In creation from chaos myths, initially there is nothing but a formless, shapeless expanse. In these stories the word "chaos" means "disorder", and this formless expanse, which is also sometimes called a void or an abyss, contains the material with which the created world will be made. Chaos may be described as having the consistency of vapor or water, dimensionless, and sometimes salty or muddy. These myths associate chaos with evil and oblivion, in contrast to "order" (cosmos) which is the good. The act of creation is the bringing of order from disorder, and in many of these cultures it is believed that at some point the forces preserving order and form will weaken and the world will once again be engulfed into the abyss. One example is the Genesis creation myth from the first chapter of the Book of Genesis.
World parent
There are two types of world parent myths, both describing a separation or splitting of a primeval entity, the world parent or parents. One form describes the primeval state as an eternal union of two parents, and the creation takes place when the two are pulled apart. The two parents are commonly identified as Sky (usually male) and Earth (usually female) who in the primeval state were so tightly bound to each other that no offspring could emerge. These myths often depict creation as the result of a sexual union, and serve as genealogical record of the deities born from it.
In the second form of world parent myth, creation itself springs from dismembered parts of the body of the primeval being or from a cosmic egg. Often in these stories the limbs, hair, blood, bones or organs of the primeval being are somehow severed or sacrificed to transform into sky, earth, animal or plant life, and other worldly features. These myths tend to emphasize creative forces as animistic in nature rather than sexual, and depict the sacred as the elemental and integral component of the natural world.
Emergence
In emergence myths humanity emerges from another world into the one they currently inhabit. The previous world is often considered the womb of the earth mother, and the process of emergence is likened to the act of giving birth. The role of midwife is usually played by a female deity, like the spider woman of several mythologies of Indigenous peoples in the Americas. Male characters rarely figure into these stories, and scholars often consider them in counterpoint to male-oriented creation myths, like those of the ex nihilo variety.
Earth-diver
The earth-diver is a common character in various traditional creation myths. In these stories a supreme being usually sends an animal into the primal waters to find bits of sand or mud with which to build habitable land. Some scholars interpret these myths psychologically while others interpret them cosmogonically. In both cases emphasis is placed on beginnings emanating from the depths. Earth-diver myths are common in Native American folklore
The most famous Ex nihilo myths. The idea that God created the world out of nothing – ex nihilo – is central today to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and the medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides felt it was the only concept that the three religions shared
The "Debate between sheep and grain" or "Myth of cattle and grain" is a Sumerian creation myth, (WORLD PARENT) written on clay tablets in the mid to late 3rd millennium BCE. This involves the gods in a discussion on which is more beneficial – cattle/sheep or grain and they go onto discuss how things came into being.
Also in Sumerian Mythology (Emergence Myth) the Anunnaki were a pantheon of good and evil gods and goddesses (duality) who came to Earth to create the human race. According to the some resources, these gods came from Nibiru - 'Planet of the Crossing.' The Assyrians and Babylonians called it 'Marduk', after their chief god. Sumerians said one year on planet Nibiru, a sar, was equivalent in time to 3,600 Earth years. Anunnaki lifespans were 120 sars which is 120 x 3,600 or 432,000 years. According to the King List - 120 sars had passed from the time the Anunnaki arrived on Earth to the time of the Great Flood.
Egyptian mythology (World Parent)
Before the beginning of time, there was Nu (or Nun), the primeval ocean of chaos. From an egg on Nu’s surface emerged a deity referred to variously as Atum, Amen, Re, Ra, or Amen-Ra. Ra created a divine son and daughter via masturbation, who bred to produce a race of gods. Ra’s tears became mankind. Ra’s grandson, the god Osiris, married his sister Isis. Isis learned Ra’s secret name, which allowed Osiris to take Ra’s place as king of Earth. Osiris showed humans how to get food and wine, while Isis taught them weaving and medicine.
Osiris’ brother Set, who represents evil, was jealous of Osiris. He tricked Osiris into a chest, which was sealed with molten lead and cast into the Nile, drowning him. After a long search, Isis found the chest, but Set managed to get his hands on it and tore his brother’s body into 14 pieces before hurling them back into the Nile. Isis recovered all the pieces of Osiris except his penis, which had been eaten by a fish. She fashioned a penis out of clay and blew life back into Osiris through it – which must count as the earliest account of a blow job in history. He was revived just long enough to impregnate Isis with their son, Horus, after which he died for good and became king of the netherworld. To keep baby Horus safe from Set, Isis put him in a basket to float down the Nile, inspiring the story of Moses. When Horus grew up, he and Set had a contest to see who should rule the earth and Horus won.
Norse Myth (World Parent – Dismembered)
Before time existed, there was a place of fog and ice called Niflheim. Across a great void was Muspelheim, where fire demons and fire giants dwelled. The great world-tree, Yggdrasil, reached through all time and space, but was perpetually under attack from Nidhogg, the evil serpent. The fountain of Mimir, source of hidden wisdom, lay under a root of the tree. Fire from Muspelheim eventually melted Niflheim’s ice, which dripped and formed a giant cow named Audhumla and a frost giant named Ymir. More giants grew from Ymir’s armpit sweat and were breastfed by Audhumla, who created more giants by licking blocks of salty ice.
These giants mated and gave birth to the god Odin and his brothers. Odin and his brothers killed Ymir and the earth was made from his flesh, the heavens from his skull, the sea from his blood, the clouds from his brains, mountains from his bones, and trees from his hair.
Odin built Asgard as a dwelling place for the gods and linked it to Midgard (Earth) by a rainbow bridge called Bifrost. The maggots in Ymir’s corpse become dwarfs and remained beneath the surface of the earth in what was left of Ymir’s body. The Gods found two tree trunks on Midgard and breathed life into them, creating Ask and Embla, the first man and woman.
In Hindu philosophy, (Creation and World Parent) the existence of the universe is governed by Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Sustainer) and Shiva (the Destroyer).
Brahma began from nothingness. By thought alone, he created the waters, into which he deposited his semen. This grew into a golden egg, out of which he was born. By thought again, he split the egg in two, and the halves became heaven and earth. Brahma grew lonely, so he split himself in two to form male and female. In one variation of the story, Brahma repeatedly splits himself in two until all living things are created from his body. In another, the first man and woman mate in different animal forms until life forms are born.
Together, Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver), and Shiva (the Destroyer) make up the Supreme One. Each universe Brahma creates is eventually destroyed by Shiva, after which there is nothing but a vast ocean on which Vishnu floats, resting on a great snake. In some versions of the myth, Brahma comes not from an egg, but from a lotus flower that springs from Vishnu’s navel. Eventually, our world, too, will be destroyed by Shiva and the cycle will begin anew.
In Hinduism, nature and all of God's creations are manifestations of Him. He is within and without his creations, pervading the entire universe and also observing it externally. Hence all animals and humans have a divine element in them that is covered by the ignorance and illusions of material or profane existence.
Aboriginal creation stories begin with the Dreaming, (World Parent) when the world was bare and cold. The Rainbow Serpent slept underground with all the animal tribes in her belly. When the time was right, she emerged and spewed forth the animals, along with the features of the natural world.
The Rainbow Serpent was the maker of laws, which all creatures must obey. In some variations of the myth, she swallowed wrongdoers and spat out their bones to form rocks and hills. In others, she rewarded those who obeyed the law by giving them human form and turned the lawbreakers into stone.
The Rainbow Serpent is sometimes called the Old Woman, and it was she who taught humans how to get food. In tribes who believe they are descended from animals, the Rainbow Serpent was said to have given each a totem and ruled that no man could eat the animal it represented. This way, she ensured there would be enough food for all.
Islamic/Christian/Judaio Myths About Creation
Islam shares with Judaism and Christianity the story of a world-creating divine act, spaced out over six periods. The Islamic creation account, like the Hebrew one, involves Adam and Eve as the first parents, living in paradise. As in the Hebrew story, God warns Adam and Eve not to eat fruit from a certain tree, but they do anyway, earning expulsion from Paradise.
The creation narrative of Islam is further developed in many verses in the Qur'an. According to the Qur'an, the skies and the earth were joined together as one "unit of creation", after which they were "cloved asunder". After the parting of both, they simultaneously came into their present shape after going through a phase when they were smoke-like.
Some parts of the Qur'an state that the process of creation took 6 days. While other parts claim that the process took 8 days: 2 days to create the Earth, 4 days to create the mountains, to bless the Earth and to measure its sustenance, and then 2 more days to create the heavens and the stars.
However, the consensus among Muslim scholars is that the process of creation took 6 days, not 8; They claim that the 4 days for creating the mountains, blessing the Earth and measuring its sustenance implicitly include the 2 days for creating the Earth.
In light of modern scientific knowledge about the origins of the earth and the universe, many modern interpretations particularly by apologists, prefer to view the word "day" as used in the Qur'an to mean an arbitrary period of time or epoch; They justify this view by explaining that the usage of the word "day" to mean an arbitrary period of time is not uncommon.
The Qur'an states that God created the world and the cosmos, made all the creatures that walk, swim, crawl, and fly on the face of the earth from water. He made the angels, and the sun, moon and the stars to dwell in the universe. He poured down the rain in torrents, and broke up the soil to bring forth the corn, the grapes and other vegetation; the olive and the palm, the fruit trees and the grass.
God molded clay, earth, sand and water into a model of a man. He breathed life and power into it, and it immediately sprang to life. And this first man was called Adam. God took Adam to live in Paradise. God taught Adam the names of all the creatures, and then commanded all the angels to bow down before Adam. All of them bowed but Iblis (Lucifer) refused to obey.
God placed the couple in a beautiful garden in Paradise, telling them that they could eat whatever they wanted except the fruit of a forbidden tree. But Iblis (the Serpent) tempted them to disobey God, and eat the fruit. When God knew that Adam and Eve had disobeyed him, he cast them out of Paradise and sent them to the earth.
Islam breaks somewhat with Judaism and Christianity in explaining why Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. In the actual Hebrew account in Genesis, a snake tempts them to eat the fruit. Extra-biblical Christian mythology identifies the snake with Satan, but the actual text of the Biblical story does not explicitly make this identification. In contrast, the Quran states explicitly that Shaitan (Satan) tempted Adam and Eve to eat the fruit.
In contrast with Judeo-Christian traditions, which sees Satan as a rebelling angel, Islamic tradition identifies Shaitan with a being called Iblis, who is a jinni, a spirit of fire. In Islamic tradition, angels consist of light and never disobey God since they do not have free will.
Thus, it is said that angels are incapable of sin. In contrast, God created jinn with free will and they may choose to obey Him or not, similar to the case of the human being. He told them to bow before Adam, but Iblis refused, claiming that his fiery nature was superior to Adam's flesh, which consisted of clay. God cast Iblis out of his paradise, and Iblis vowed to tempt Adam and Eve's generations to corruption and to disobey God.
Like Jewish Hebrews, Muslim Arabs trace their ancestry back to Abraham. Like Jews, Muslims believe that Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. While Jews see Isaac as the Hebrews' progenitor, the Muslims trace the Arabs back to Ishmael. However, although agreeing with Jews in terms of ancestry, Muslims shift the emphasis from Isaac to Ishmael. According to Muslim tradition, Ishmael helped Abraham build the Kaaba, and Ishmael's descendants (the Arabs) became the Kaaba's guardians. In addition, while the Bible describes Abraham offering his only son, Isaac, as a sacrifice to God (before God stops him), the Qur'an describes the same story, but with Ishmael as the nearly-sacrificed son.
The Quran contains several verses regarding the origin of the Kaaba. It states that the Kaaba was the first House of Worship, and that it was built by Ibrahim and Ishmael on Allah's instructions.
Chinese Creation Myths (World Parent Myth)
The first living being was P’an Ku, who grew for 18,000 years inside a cosmic egg. When he hatched, the shell above him became the sky while the piece below became the earth. The opposites in nature were separated as well—male and female, wet and dry, light and dark, yin and yang, etc.
After all this effort, P’an Ku literally fell to pieces and his features became the natural world. His limbs turned into mountains, his blood to rivers, his breath the wind, his voice the thunder, his hair the grass, his sweat the rain, and so on. His left eye became the sun and his right became the moon. Some people say that the parasites on P’an Ku’s body became mankind. This is view still held by many people as they see how the air, land and seas are being polluted by humanity.
Greek Myths (World Parent)
Hesiod, in his Theogony, says that Chaos existed in the beginning, and then gave birth to Gaia (the Earth), Tartarus (the Underworld), Eros (desire), Nyx (the darkness of the night) and Erebus (the darkness of the Underworld). Gaia brought forth Ouranos, the starry sky, her equal, to cover her, the hills, and the fruitless deep of the Sea, Pontus, "without sweet union of love" out of her own self.
Afterwards, Hesiod tells, she lay with Heaven and bore the World-Ocean Oceanus, Coeus and Crius and the Titans Hyperion and Iapetus, Theia and Rhea, Themis and Mnemosyne and Phoebe of the golden crown and lovely Tethys. "After them was born Cronos the wily, youngest and most terrible of her children, and he hated his lusty sire." Cronos, at Gaia's urging, castrates Ouranos.
He marries Rhea who bears him Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. Zeus and his brothers overthrow Cronos and the other Titans, then draw lots to determine what each of them will rule. Zeus draws heaven, Poseidon draws the sea, and Hades draws the underworld. The Earth was contested and no one of them had absolute sovereignty over it, as shown by Poseidon's anger when Zeus forced him to leave the battlefield in the Iliad.
You can see that there are lots of ways in which early societies concocted explanations for the beginning of everything.
However, on a fundamental level - it does have be one thing or the other.
Either the matter in the universe always existed or it somehow sprang into existence/was created.
We will explore the possibilities in a bit more detail in Part 4 – the Big Bang and Other Theories.