- Published: September 10, 2022
- Updated: September 10, 2022
- University / College: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
- Language: English
- Downloads: 24
Introduction
A creational myth is defined as a symbolic narrative that explains the beginning of the world and how human beings came into existence in the universe. A myth is considered a certain belief towards something associate with a particular culture. The human culture consists of the creational myths, which in most instances, they develops from the oral traditions making them to have multiple versions. The creational myths may be either, fallacies, symbolic, metaphorical, or profound truths. Every culture has their own creational myth which explains the psychic life of all living beings. Members of particular cultures easily identify themselves through the creational myths that they share. The creational myths will therefore come up with an explanation of who we are, and this exposes the real priorities and prejudices of our self-existence. The images that people have about creation will always speak a lot about us.
The earth diver
In this creational theory, the Supreme Being will direct a living thing to go in the primal waters where they will come across either bits of sand or mud and the living things are required to build a habitat of a land where they can exist without any qualms. The earth -diver creational myth is interpreted into two ways, psychologically or cosmogonically. The myth focuses much on the depths of where human existence starts. A living being is forced into a deep sleep or also suspended in a state of primordial dream. The popular earth-diver will be the first creature to wake up and start a strong foundational framework in building lands where the next generation o living things will come to exist in. many of the earth-diver creational myths looks into many failed attempts of creating the suitable land to live in before the mission succeeds.
Judeo-Christian story of genesis myth
The Judeo-Christian genesis myth is very popular in the world today. The myth believes in existence of one Supreme Being, God. The belief in a single God is referred to as monotheism. The Supreme Being is the most high, and he is appreciated for creating the whole universe from nothing and instills a sense of life into the living creatures. The most high is the source of all origins that starts to breathe and have a life. Most of individual in the globe are Christians and believes that God is the source of all life and he has the power to control all the living things.
The genesis myth is the most common myth in the universe in the world. The myth explains the origin of the world and the order and fate of mankind. Christian’s beliefs that in the beginning, God started the art of creation from a formless void and darkness and created human beings and all the other living things that exists. Christian believes that God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden where they were in charge of all living things. Adam was in charge of the universe and he was given his helper Eve, who was created from his ribs. At the Garden of Eden, Adam and eve were placed in the middle and instructed not to ever eat the forbidden fruit. The tree was considered to be of knowledge of judging the good from evil.
ANALYSIS
This section provides a depth in analysis of the earth diver and the genesis myth creation theory. The discussion involves the origins of the earth, human, and the role of God in the creation.
Origin of the earth
In the earth-diver, the earth originates through the instructions of a supreme being. A living thing is directed into primal waters by the Supreme Being. When the living creature comes into the primal waters, he finds the bits of sand or mud. From the sand and mud, it is believed that the living creature creates a suitable land for existence of the next generation to come. God is the one responsible to send a living thing into the primal waters and gives the creature the knowledge and skills to build the earth. The Earth-diver creational myth shapes the origin of the world as explained.
The Judeo-Christian genesis myth explains that the earth came from a state of formless void and darkness. God separated the light from darkness therefore there came into existence day and night. In the second day, God formed both the land and seas and this also come with plants and vegetation. The third day was when God created the moon, starts and the sun in the universe. The fourth day is when the living creatures in the sea were created and all the birds of the sky. The fifth day is where all wild animals were introduced in the world and all creeping creatures. These events explain how the world was created from the state of formless void and darkness.
Origin of humans
The earth-diver explanation of the origin of humans goes as follows; God forced a living thing to get into deep sleep or the being is also suspended in a state of primordial dream. The earth-diver is the first living thing to wake up from the dream with a strong foundation to build a suitable land that will accommodate a safe existence. In the genesis myth, man is created from mud and God breathes life into him. Man is created in image of God and the woman is created from the ribs of the man.
Role of God
In both creational myths, God is the center of all occurrences. He is the highest Supreme Being and controls what happens in a systematic way. God has supernatural powers to control and give instructions of events to follow. He is in charge of everything and his role is to ensure everything goes as expected.
The earth-diver myth shows the extent of which human beings believed that their existence came from them getting into a deep sleep. Both myths indicate the role of human beings in creation as responsible to take full control of other living things. Human beings have a good relationship with God, and they are so close to the Supreme Being.
Both the creational theories indicate the aspects of monotheism. This means that human beings worship only one God, the highest Supreme Being. In both creational theories, god is both transcendent and immanent. Transcendence is where God exist above all living things and he is the highest in creation. The immanence of God explains that he is present everywhere and he guards all the operations of the human beings. In a nutshell, creational myths are strong beliefs and perceptions of a particular culture towards certain towards something. They are useful in defining our cultures, existence and our way of life.