Creation Myths

12 Pages 2982 Words

ssentially, the myth-creating act will be the action we do ourselves as we call the world to order. Because, as our third theme suggests, action cannot be merely the expression of the agent without regard for the condition of the world. The agent and the environing world cannot any longer be conceived as separate. They need to be related as "micro-" and "macro-" cosmos, each reflecting the other in mutual participation.
Probably the most important aspect of the creation myth is that it explains how the world comes to be. Creation myths can be models of how to create within a society. They can teach society how to mirror the behavior of their creator(s) in order to be happy, healthy, and prosperous.
They often determine the hierarchy of values within a given society. Setting the rules and their order of importance. Thereby giving the people a way of creating order and setting boundaries within a society.
Bishop (1 ) points out that lastly, all of the creation myths explain that there is a vital force that separates the living the non-living or a dead world from living world. So, there are five general classifications (some are blended together) of creation myths:
v Created from chaos or nothingness
v Created from a cosmic egg or primal maternal mound
v Created from a world parents who are separated
v Created from of process of earth-diving
v Created from several stages of emergence from other worlds
Creation begins from emptiness. Before "being" and its orderings stand chaos and eternal night. Mythic creation is a movement from non-being to being, from formlessness to form. This void both is the medium in which order emerges and is presupposed by all order, but it is not itself ordered or ordering. This "dark" is not the dark that stands in contrast to light and that manifests as shadow or contrast. It is the primary dark before any differentiation at all. It is neither feminine nor masculine; in fact, it is not polarize...