Creation Myths

[allfoak]

Why do so many cultures past and present around the world have a creation myth?
These myths were how people understood the world they lived in.
Were they just primitive story tellers or do these myths still hold significance for us today?

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Why do so many cultures past and present around the world have a creation myth?
These myths were how people understood the world they lived in.
Were they just primitive story tellers or do these myths still hold significance for us today?

They hold significance about who we are, how we think, and where we came from - not so much significance about the world.

 

[allfoak]

A creation myth is a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it. While in popular usage the term myth often refers to false or fanciful stories, formally, it does not imply falsehood. Cultures generally regard their creation myths as true.
Creation myth - Wikipedia
Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaCreation_myth

 

[bobhikes]

I believe they try to teach us a basic purpose or how to find purpose. Without purpose life is very challenging.

 

[allfoak]

They hold significance about who we are, how we think, and where we came from - not so much significance about the world.

Perhaps i am misunderstanding your use of the term world?

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Perhaps i am misunderstanding your use of the term world?

About how the world came to be.

 

[allfoak]

About how the world came to be.

i get it now, thank you.
Perhaps.
It is interesting that they would be called creation myths.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

i get it now, thank you.
Perhaps.
It is interesting that they would be called creation myths.

They are called 'creation myths' by anthropologists and sociologists and people who study or promote specific religions, and people who study literature of other cultures, etc., from a WESTERN perspective...that is, how do they compare with our superior Monotheistic or Atheistic stories about how and why the wolrd came to be...It's a western categorical placeholder, not a real cross-cultural concept...

 

[Dawnofhope]

Why do so many cultures past and present around the world have a creation myth?
These myths were how people understood the world they lived in.
Were they just primitive story tellers or do these myths still hold significance for us today?

The creation myths that I am most familiar with are:

(1) The Abrahamic creation myth written in genesis
(2) The creation myth of the Maoris, indigenous peoples of Aoteoroa, New Zealand where I live
(3) The creation myth of the Shintoism, the indigenous religion of the Japanese

Understanding our origins in relation to God is the common thread for all three. The Abrahamic myth presents God as having a plan for the world and humanity that is organised and systematic. A God is introduced that is an All-Powerful Creator and is concerned for His Creation.

 

[allfoak]

They are called 'creation myths' by anthropologists and sociologists and people who study or promote specific religions, and people who study literature of other cultures, etc., from a WESTERN perspective...that is, how do they compare with our superior Monotheistic or Atheistic stories about how and why the wolrd came to be...It's a western categorical placeholder, not a real cross-cultural concept...

There must have been reason for the anthropologists and sociologists to use the term creation myth?

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

There must have been reason for the anthropologists and sociologists to use the term creation myth?

yes, they classified the stories of other cultures based on their similarity to the creation story in Genesis.

 

[allfoak]

yes, they classified the stories of other cultures based on their similarity to the creation story in Genesis.

Which, according to the religions who claim it as their own, say it is indeed a literal account of creation.
Is this not true?

 

[pearl]

What seems basic to the myths of all cultures is the intrinsic belief in the existence of a wholly Other.

 

[allfoak]

What seems basic to the myths of all cultures is the intrinsic belief in the existence of a wholly Other.

Do you mean a creator?

 

[Jonathan Ainsley Bain]

They are called 'creation myths' by anthropologists and sociologists and people who study or promote specific religions, and people who study literature of other cultures, etc., from a WESTERN perspective...that is, how do they compare with our superior Monotheistic or Atheistic stories about how and why the wolrd came to be...It's a western categorical placeholder, not a real cross-cultural concept...

There must have been reason for the anthropologists and sociologists to use the term creation myth?

If one is claiming that another's account is a myth,
then they are claiming that they themselves 'know' for certainty
how existence came to exist.

One of the reasons why I could not take Anthropology beyond first year.
Speculation in the guise of information is a sure sign of corporuption.

At least in Philosophy we are honest enough to admit our uncertainty.

 

[allfoak]

If one is claiming that another's account is a myth,
then they are claiming that they themselves 'know' for certainty
how existence came to exist.

One of the reasons why I could not take Anthropology beyond first year.
Speculation in the guise of information is a sure sign of corporuption.

At least in Philosophy we are honest enough to admit our uncertainty.

Do you not think that myth is an accurate term to use?

 

[Jonathan Ainsley Bain]

Do you not think that myth is an accurate term to use?

Myth is condescending. It claims the account is untrue.
Now an account may be partly untrue, to a larger or lesser extent.
But who can say for certain about how the universe came into being?
We may just be in a highly complex computer game that itself could be
inside another highly complex computer game; almost to infinity.

There is no reason why this could not be true at all.

And any one of those games could consist of a universe which consists of say
a flat world resting on the back of a turtle flying through the cosmos.

Many millennia in the future we could construct such things, so there is no way
that anyone could be certain that we are not in such a construct.

I think we probably are.

 

[allfoak]

Myth is condescending. It claims the account is untrue.
Now an account may be partly untrue, to a larger or lesser extent.
But who can say for certain about how the universe came into being?
We may just be in a highly complex computer game that itself could be
inside another highly complex computer game; almost to infinity.

There is no reason why this could not be true at all.

And any one of those games could consist of a universe which consists of say
a flat world resting on the back of a turtle flying through the cosmos.

Many millennia in the future we could construct such things, so there is no way
that anyone could be certain that we are not in such a construct.

I think we probably are.

Did you see this post?
this is


Creation Myths

 

[JakofHearts]

China is the oldest and most enduring civilization in history. Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism came about in 400 to 500 BC in China yet China is much older going back 2,500 BC; and before Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism there was another belief --- a belief in one God. In the ancient Chinese writing which are known as pictographs similar to the ancient Egyptians it uses symbols to represent it's meaning.

And these meanings are strikingly similar to the Genesis creation account, the flood, and the tower of Babel.

Spoiler: Genesis creation in Chinese pictographs

Yeah, some myths have an element of truth to them and some do not. This creation myth just happens to be recorded by two peoples worlds apart.

 

[allfoak]

China is the oldest and most enduring civilization in history. Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism came about in 400 to 500 BC in China yet China is much older going back 2,500 BC; and before Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism there was another belief --- a belief in one God. In the ancient Chinese writing which are known as pictographs similar to the ancient Egyptians it uses symbols to represent it's meaning.

And these meanings are strikingly similar to the Genesis creation account, the flood, and the tower of Babel.

Spoiler: Genesis creation in Chinese pictographs

Yeah, some myths have an element of truth to them and some do not. This creation myth just happens to be recorded by two peoples worlds apart.

Good stuff dude.
What do you make of it?
Where did it come from?
I am thinking this kind of thing must be generated from an internal experience.