Creation Myths Lecture

What is mythologys relation to religion, spirituality, and science?

o Since the 60s we have been looking at the relation of mythology on science (usually we
have thought the reverse, that science dissolves myth)
o The cosmos is an epic drama in three phases:
Genesis where there a fall and nature is fallen therefore an ontological
separation of the spiritual and natural (with the exception of the Christ figure
who is a lynch-pin btw the two worlds)
The world of nature simulates the spiritual, but it is merely a
simulacrum of the spiritual realm since it is fallen
Incarnation, Cruxificition, and Resurrection
Judgment and Redemption
o This view was dissolved by Columbus, Renaissance Science, Reformation, the change
of politics, etc.
The problem is that earth was seen as the heaviest b/c made of all the elements
and therefore at the center of the earth and ether was light and so in the
heavens
Ether is alive and turns with perfect circular motion; the Medieval thinkers
said that it is alive, but each one also has an angel pushing the sphere
mechanically (this laid the basis in the western imagination for a mechanical
cosmos)
John Burdian suggested that the angels were unnecessary if we think that God
created an impetus which set these spheres in motion; he was the first to
think in terms of inorganic forces moving things around
Copernicus was religious and wanted to save the Platonic vision of perfect
circular motion; the best way for him to do this is to place the sun at the center;
this means that what appears to the senses is wrong, the entire cosmos is
swirling around the sun
Kepler, Galileo, and Newton then place the nails in this view of the world; Kepler
changed finally the cosmos from an organism to a mechanical force(there is no
anima mundi, a world soul moving everything)
The universe then is no longer alive; God was seen as a clock-work God
Prior to this, the earth and heavens were seen to be under two different types
of laws; the realm of heaven was perfect, in eternity, and had perfect motion;
the realm of earth was fallen, in time, and separate
With these new advances, earth and heaven are under the SAME forces
(although Newtons calculations still thought that if God did not periodically
intervene that the planets and the sun would crash into each other)
LaPlace in the 18
th
century then did away from God and saw inorganic forces
understandable by mathematics
This mechanistic vision held until it was done away by thermodynamics and
electrodynamics; Einstein placed the cap on this with relativity theory and
quantum mechanics
With the new laws governing the macrocosm, Einsteins vision is different
where space is a mysterious mass-energy field and gravity is a kind of curve in
space of massive objects in them (like a sheet with a bowling ball in the center);
this is a different vision from Newton that objects were being acted upon by this
mysterious force of gravity from afar (force acting over distances unified
mass-energy field; this is closer to a unified cosmos)
Quantum physics then showed that we have different laws acting at different
levels; this is the idea of the great chain of being; this is part of the new fusion
of science and spirituality (mostly with Jung and Einstein)
Certainty phenomena in this new vision are seen to not be understood on a
mechanistic view and turn to spirituality: astrology, soul, reincarnation, angels,
the astral plane, etc.
What is different btw our disciplines?
o (1) Mythology Campbell says that there is cosmological function of mythology; the
creation of an image of the cosmos which is up-to-date with the time; the problem is
that religion has not been able to keep up
A tradition must take the cosmology of the time and merge this with the myth
Mythos means spoken word of communication; it is traditional oral stories
coming from the mouth as the vehicle; this comes from the energies of the body
which is transforming the energies of the universe
There are four functions of a traditional mythology:
Metaphysical or Mystery function to awaken to the individual an awe
to the mystery of Being; if it does not do this we do not have a properly
functioning myth; here we have an invisible plane, intuited from within,
my the mind, which informs the visible place (we see Maya which is the
vehicle bringing forth forms from the mystery of the Brahman which is
energy)
o Brahman is energy, but is conscious, intelligent and purposive; it
is being, consciousness, and bliss; we are rooted in rapture; it
makes no difference what happens to these forms
o This is the perennial philosophy; this is what the mask of God is
hiding; all these are the same
Cosmological function the differences in the cosmologies is based
upon the historical-sociological roots of the culture; this springs forth
like a flower coming from the culture
o We can look back to the primary cosmological visions; the world
was built out of the bones of animals for paleolithic man; also,
the animal was willing to die for the man as long as man
performed the correct rituals; the animal was not dying, it was
slain, put in the ground, and then came back just like the stars
were returning each night; this covenant between man and
beast was shown in performing the correct rituals to keep this
covenant
o Later, what was important was plants and beings were living
within these plants (Dionysius was living in the grape); this
being gave itself willingly to be sacrificed to keep people alive
o By about 4000 BC we have cities and these have a new set of
concerns; there is complicated society, a division of labor and a
priesthood; writing, astrology, etc; this allowed a study of the
planets and out of this was the idea that there was a will in the
cosmos and the human will must imitate the will of the heavens
(they always return the same and can be mathematically
predicted)
o This becomes the primary motivation for high civilization for
Egypt, Babylon, etc.
Sociological function this differs from culture to culture and place to
place
o There are different ethical values in each culture
Master Morality Greeks and Renaissance
Goes back to the Illiad; virtue originally means
doing something well, doing with power; the
Olympiad is doing something well
What is bad is those who are not part of the
nobility, the slaves
Slave Morality Christian
Absolute distinction btw good and evil; he is
good who has no power to harm us, who obeys
rules
Virtue is following rules, not doing something
well; saying in place, not rocking the boat
Good vs. Evil (not Good vs. Bad as in master
morality)
o Normally these ethics are cosmologically validated, they are
built into the universe; just as the moon and stars always do
their thing, we should also
Psychological Function the most important b/c it involves taking the
individual through the various ways through the life cycle
o 0-12: Individual is dependent on the parents; here you are
supposed to foster a development of respect for elders and
dependency
o 13-40: Adolescence comes and initiation rituals bring people out
of this attitude to self-responsibility; we are now ourselves
father and mother; because all of our initiation rituals have
been done away with we have all children (gangs were made to
bring individuals to maturity)
o Around 40: the society has no need for you and we now need a
guide into old age and to prepare for death; myths have a
entirely new type that looks forward
Jungs psychology is mostly for older people because it
is all about what have we done for the cosmos
o (2) Religion systematized and petrified myth; it is taken into a priesthood and
dogmatized so as to not allow change; they are like dreams and should change
Visions are alive because our imagination is alive; the problem is that the really
good visions are frozen and barred off by the priesthood
We have to have myth first, then it is codified into dogma
Religion is built to harmonize these myths; spirituality is the inference of a
present entity or dimension from the causes in the present
We must believe in these spiritual forces in the world working through us and
trying to communicate to us; it is when we develop compassion for the suffering
of others that we develop this aspect
Spirituality is an individualized ideal, because it does not matter where you are
at, it just matters that you are able to see the world behind the world (of the
invisible powers)
o (3) Science has two components
(a) Creation of a cosmology finds what the universe looks like and where it
came from
Here the hero is the Pythagoran (finding the nature and purpose of the
cosmos)
We do not go to scientists for ethical help
(b) Technology the creation of machines to allow us to do things more
efficiently
Francis Bacon believed that science was technology; he wanted to
create the New Jerusalem with machines coming in the Early Modern
Era
People here are problem solvers and not as much concerned with
cosmology
Here the hero is the Archimedean (the engineer type; problem solvers)
Part 2
Genesis vs. the Upanishads
Upanishads do not have one particular myth for the origin of all things; all are seen as
metaphors for saying the same thing since we are talking about something that cannot be
conceived in thought
o The great self was floating in the void and said I am and became afraid because it
noticed that it was alone; it split into a male and female half
o The two had sexual desire for each other, but the female turned herself into a cow and
the male into a bull and they reproduced; then they turned into a mare and a stallion
and on and on
o One day the male version looked around and said that I am all what I have made, that
the great self (Brahman) is manifest in all things (the universe has created itself out of
itself organically)
In Genesis 2, there is a mist which covers the earth and he scoops down and grasps mud and
breathes into it and turns it into man
o He allows Adam to name all things and look for a mate, but he does not find one
o Here the paradigm is a pottery maker making something totally separate from his own
self; everything is not divine, God is separate, the world is not alive, it is not self-moving,
it has to be breathed upon from above
o For the Hindus everything is alive
o For the West then, everything must be conquered and overcome by force since we have
been sanctioned by the divine to do this
o The problem is that the industrial nation-state which has been made out of this is
destroying the resources whereby animals are being distinguished more than in the past
Egyptian Myths
o Here things arise and emerge spontaneously; in the beginning was chaos (nun) which
was water, undifferentiated stuff
o From out of nun, a lotus emerges and rises out of its surface and unfolds its pedals and
sitting upon it is a god (Atum) which later became Ra (sun god); this is like a sun rising
up out of a plant out of the Nile
o The god masturbates and out of the ejaculation comes the first two primordial male and
female gods:
God of air (Shu)
Goddess of moisture (Tefnut)
o Shu and Tefnut then give birth to the next pair of Gods
Geb God of the Earth
Nut Goddess of the Sky
They are laying on top of each other; Shu pushes up Nut up and Geb down (to
keep from having incest; now there is a primordial separation of heaven and
earth)
o Nut and Geb create Isis and Osiris and their brother and sister Neftes and Seth
Osiris mistakes his brothers wife Neftes for Isis and sleeps with her and out of
this comes a Jackel-headed boy Nubis (the god of resurrection)
Seth takes offense to Osiris and invites all the gods who get drunk and says that
anyone who fits into the coffin can have it; Osiris gets in and nails it shut and
throws it down the Nile which flows into the Mediterranean and lands in Syria;
when it lands a tree grows up around it; a king is walking by and looking for a
pillar to hold up his palace
Isis has gotten wind of all this and followed Osiris and puts herself in as
babysitter to the king and queens baby; she decides that she will make the
kings son immortal; she places the son in fire to purge the mortality from him
and changes herself into a swallow and flies around the kingdom
For making the son immortal, the king gives her the tree to get her husband
back; she goes back up the Nile and conceives from the dead body of her
husband Horus her sun
Seth is furious and rips Osiris into many pieces and spreads him around; Isis
finds all the pieces but his phallus which has been swallowed by a fish; they
stitch the body together and Horus goes out to avenge his fathers murder and
fights Seth; in the fight Seth loses a testicle and Horus loses an eye
o In the Egyptian afterlife (this is where the day of judgment of Christian apocalypse
comes in) the person is lead into the scales
The persons heart is weighed against a feather and if the heart is heavier than
the feather then they have led a materialistic life
If the persons heart is lighter than a feather, then the person will be guided and
will be given immortal life or reincarnated in time
o In this vision, everything is organically alive (contrasted with the Christian theme where
the Spirit hovers above the water and is separate from it)
The Egyptians believe all is divine; there is a lush animism which is similar to the
Hindu cosmos
Babylonian creation myth
o This is the source of the oldest dragon slayer myth which has been written down
o Sumerians were before the Babylonians and absorbed most of their mythology and
reinterpreted it into their own patriarchial lawyer myths
o In the beginning there is a undifferentiated chaos personified by three beings: Tiamat
(dragon), Chia (salt watery abyss), and Apsu (the male freshwater); they have a son
Numu (moisture and clouds); out of this comes Larmu and Leaarmu (personified by silt)
who give birth to Amshar and Tishar (who are the horizons of the heavens and earth)
o The generations of Gods after the original trinity are making a lot of noise and the gods
just want to go to sleep; they want to murder these other gods off to get peace and
quiet
(not finished; ends at last part of part 8)