Not only do these shared themes point to an innate psychology present in all people in every culture, but perhaps even to a direct influence of “The Epic of Gilgamesh” on these holy texts. In the book of Genesis, the creation story of The Old Testament, God creates all things, the earth and the Heavens. He makes the animals and then finally mankind to watch over it all, as God says, “Let us make a human in our image...to hold sway over the fish...and all the crawling things that crawl upon this earth” (2. 1-4). Depending on the variation of the story, God either creates both Adam and Eve from soil, or Adam from soil and then Eve from his rib to be his companion.
Since the existence of human beings, there have been creation myths to explain how life existed on the planet. These creation myths have a huge impact on how people view utopia. Nearly every culture or society has its own creation myth, which is just a version of how humans came to exist on the planet Earth. Many religions also have their own versions, such as the Christians, Islamic, and Jewish. Some cultures with creation myths include the Greeks, the Romans, the Norse, the Chinese, the Mayans, the Aztecs, the Incas, the Sumerians, the Japanese, the Korean and the Native Americans.
Whilst it is very successful at this, and is in most cases necessary to the plant, the very mechanism by which it reproduces (mitosis) does not result in much genetic variation. Should an environmental change come along for which the species is not adapted, it is likely that it will be wiped out entirely. This is because none of the individuals have developed any mutations or genetic adaptations that allow them to survive in that
There are many creation myths around the world. Creation Myths may share similarities which are known as motifs. Some myths share motifs and the culture the myths were created may be separated by oceans. How would the early civilizations have creation myths that share so many motifs. In my opinion, three of the most common or important creation myth motifs are humans take care of the earth and worship their god(s), the the gods destroy earth, and Chaos is the beginning of time.
There are so many mysteries that remain unsolved even until now; one of them and probably the most popular is how life started and how organisms were ‘created’. There are two theories that stand out the most; evolution and intelligent design. While evolution explains how organisms had developed from simple forms billions years ago through a process called natural selection, intelligent design states that nature is too complex to happened by a random process like evolution by natural selection, thus there must be an “intelligent agent” that is responsible for the creation of the universe. William Paley, in his book Natural Theology: or, Evidence of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity explained intelligent design by comparing the complexity
Perhaps the best way to understand the human condition is to understand history; and the best way to understand history is by understanding origin myths. Although myths are allegorical, their metaphors hold the secrets that reveal truth – and origin myths are no different. Origin myths provide insight into humanity and a common past, shared by us all (Bergman 1994). Before the invention of written language, people used myths to pass on knowledge, values, and beliefs orally, and most, if not all, cultures throughout history have created origin myths to explain the world around them. Here, we will compare and contrast the creation myths of the Navajo, Chinese, Hebrew, Egyptian, and Polynesian people to illustrate that these cultures all hold
Whereas, in Genesis God is referred to in third person and his actions, as commands. Stories and characters different, they might contain. The message did not change all that often throughout these texts. As Harrison in Creation of Universe notes, “we begin by turning to the creation myths that might offer insight into the views of earlier societies on the birth and death of the universe.” It is interesting to see scriptures written for different religions through different times contain such similarities in their theme.
It is noteworthy that this story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is the foundation of the religion with the largest number of followers worldwide. Why does it continue to resonate with so many people even today? The reason is that this utopia contains archetypes that reflect the collective unconscious that is found across all cultures. This is the result of universal themes in this story about humanity’s needs and desires that we still see occurring in our society today. The story of Genesis contains three archetypal characteristics that illustrate these patterns that still demonstrate humanity’s needs.
Creation Myth Motifs Carlton Douglas Ridenhour, better known as Chuck D, an American rapper, once stated, “Culture is this thing that we can exchange among ourselves as human beings to knock aside our differences and build upon our similarities.” Despite cultural differences, many ancient creation myths have similar occurrences and ideas. While people travel often, it is difficult to think these similarities could have traveled halfway across the world, especially in ancient times. These cross-cultural similarities are referred to as “motifs.” Concerning creation myths, there are three significant motifs: the idea of women bringing evil and harm into the world, the idea of humans being created on the first try, and the idea of humans being made from organic materials.
Many different cultures have myths and stories about how they think the world was created. These myths commonly reflect different values that these cultures have. Although these myths are different stories from different cultures, they often have traits in common. The creation myths from the Iroquois and the African Bushmen are similar because they both are about creation and they share many elements, but there are also differences in the stories because they are different myths from different cultures.
DAWKINS’S MAIN ARGUMENTS Dawkins’ main arguments are that science has made God needless. Science will eventually explain why everything seems to be the why they are and why certain things exist. For example, science has shown us that the variety of organic life can be explained through natural processes, like natural selection and random mutation. This means that there is no requirement for any supernatural creator or designer of organic entities. Although science does not have an explanation for everything – like where did the beginning of the universe come from and where did the beginning of life from non-living matter come from – the time will eventually come that, through research, progress will be made and
1. What phenomenon or practice does each story seek to explain? Pay close attention to the power relationships. Each study seeks to explain origin myth and creation myths. For instance, in the story titled, How the World was made discusses about how the world was constructed, how it began, and how people first came to inhabit it which is a origin myth..
While learning about the creation myths, one can point out numerous similarities between them. Although during the time there was no possible way for people to communicate, we wonder how they became so similar. We call these similarities motifs. Three of the major motifs that I have identified are: Humans were made of organic materials, it took multiple attempts to create them, and humans were created to look after the earth. I feel these motifs are the most important, that is why I decided to write about them, because they explain many of the questions we have today, such as; how we began populating the Earth and why we should take care of it.
Along with animals, many were different from the animals that we have here on earth. Hugerto had four different Gods. The God of the rock, the God of the water, the God of life, and the God of growth. These four Gods were the only inhabitants of this planet. They had created this planet by combining their powers together and over many years the planet finally formed.
Was he a man or likness of a man. How can people think that god is a man, if no one has ever seen him/her. If god created us in his image, then why did he create the dinosaurs. Why didn’t he start off with humans. I think that god is just a higher being that people can blame for all the bad things that happen in life or the good things.