Mythology Genesis and other Creation Stories by Mary Sutherland, author of Living in the Light |
Before the written word, all information was passed on verbally, as an aide for people to remember events and deeds. From this art, mythology was born. Mythology was symbolic, using symbols to represent everything from gods to deeds. One symbol could illustrate what a hundred words could not. From mythology rose religion. Religion can be defined as a 'search' for God. It begins with the sense of wonder and awe and attempts to tell stories that will connect us to our Creator. After which, religion transformed into theology, reducing it into code and creeds, according to each faith's interpretion of the symbols within the myth. Literally changing the poetry into prose ie. God is literally 'up there' , this is what he literally 'thinks' and this is the way you've 'got to behave' to have the proper relationship with 'him'. With each myth or religion..if you dig deep enough..you will find the same common seeds among them all. And if you dig even deeper..you will find the common message that creates the thread that links man back to his Creator. The myth that has plagued man and woman for so long dates back to the creation stories.. This is not a story that was born from Christianity, but carries it's roots from the four corners of the earth, ie: Genesis: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep." Pima Indians of Arizona: "In the beginning there was only darkness everywhere-darkness and water. And the darkness gathered thick in places, crowding together and then separating, crowding and separating..." Hindu Upanishads: "In the beginning, there was only the great self reflected in the form of a person. Reflecting, it found nothing but itself. Then it's first word was "This am I." Genesis 1: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply." Bassari people of West Africa: "Unumbotte made a human being. It's name was Man. Unumbotte next made an antelope, named Antelope. Unumbotte made a snake, named Snake...And Unumbotte said to them, "The earth has not yet been pounded. You must pound the ground smooth where you are sitting." Unumbotte gave them seeds of all kinds, and said, "Go plant these." Genesis 2: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the hosts of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done..." Pima Indians: "I made the world and lo, the world is finished. Thus I make the world, and lo! The world is finished." Genesis 1: "And God saw everything tht he had made, and behold, it was very good." Upanishads: "Then he realized, I indeed, I am this creation, for I have poured it forth from myself. In that way he became his creation. Verily, he who know this becomes in this creation a creator." ((The message here tries to tell us that when you know this, then you have identified with the creative principle, which is the God power in the world, which is in you. Genesis continues: "Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" The man said, "The woman gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?: The woman said, "The serpent beguiled me, and I ate." (Here you see the first passing of the buck!) The Bassari legend continues in the same way. "One day Snake said, "We too should eat these fruits. Why must we go hungry?" Antelope said, "But we don't know anything about this fruit." Then Man and his wife took some of the fruit and ate it. Unumbotte came down from the sky and asked, "Who ate the fruit?" They answered, "We did." Unumbotte asked, "Who told you that you could eat that fruit." They both replied, "Snake did." As you see, even though we are given different cultures and each living in a different land, the stories are very similiar in nature. In each case...the culprit seems to be Snake. BUT Snake is used to symbolize the 'root' message in this myth. Here Snake symbolically represents the fall into generation or lives reincarnated. Just as the moon sheds it's shadow to be born again, so does the serpent shed it's skin. The serpent and moon are equivalent symbols used to represent the above. . Sometimes the serpent is represented as a circle eating it's own tail. That's the image of life. Life sheds one generation after another, to be born again. The serpent represent immortal energy and consciousness engaged in the field of time, constantly throwing off death and being born again. Snake, in most cultures has been given a positive interpretation. In India, the cobra, is held sacred and the mythological Serpent King is the next thing to the Buddha. It represents the power of life engaged in the field of time and of death, yet eternally alive. The world is but it's shadow...the falling skin. The serpent is also revered in the American Indian traditions as well. The serpent is thought of as a very important power to be made friends with. The Hopi have a snake dance where they take the snakes in their mouths and make friends with them.Then send them back to the hills, just as they have brought the message of the hills to the humans. The Burmese have a snake priestess who brings rain to her people by climbing up a mountain path, calling a king cobra from his den and actually kissing him three times on the nose. Here we see the cobra as the giver of life, the giver of rain, as a divine positive figure. Man is dual in nature. One nature is of the lower self, represented in the Snake. The other nature is spiritual, represented by Eagle. The serpent is earth bound and the eagle has access to spiritual flight. When the two come to gather, you see the symbol of the Dragon. With this transformation, the Serpent overcomes his earthly plight. Here we find the message that man must learn to overcome his lower self and amalgomate with his higher self. At this time he will overcome the re-cycling of life on earth. All over the earth, people recognize the image of the Dragon. Whether it be Polynesian, Iroquois, Egyptian or Chinese, the image is the same as well as the message behind it. The mythological symbols are universal and are susceptible to various differing interpretations. Every religion has the root of truth in it. But when the interpretations get stuck in their own metaphors, interpretating them as fact, then the civilizations of man are in trouble. A metaphor is an image that suggest something else. Thus if someone calls you a nut...it does not 'literally' mean you are a 'nut'. . |
Identifying woman, serpent and life with sin is the twist that been given to the creation story in the biblical myth and doctrine of the Fall. The Serpent was the one who brought sin into the world and the woman handed the forbidden apple to man, forever creating, from that moment on, life with sin. Joseph Campbell tells the story of an old Zen philosopher who commented on this Western philosophy. "Man against God. Man against Nature. Nature against man. Nature against God. God against nature....very funny religion." Every religion, although contradictory, is true in one form or another. But only when you read it metaphorically and can understand the interpretation of the message behind it. The trouble is there are so many religions now that get stuck on the metaphor and interpret it literally. Just because you are sometimes called a 'nut' does not mean that you are 'literally' a NUT..does it? There are two basic religions with many branches off them. One is the Nature Religion, where man, animal and nature are all part of the ONE. Much of your Eastern and Indian beliefs are based on this type of religion. The other encourages the separation of man from animal and nature. Here you find your Christian , Islam and Judaisim religions . Woman/Eve In The Garden Of Eden In the Western Biblical Tradition women are the root of all evil. With the misinterpretation of the metaphor, woman have taken alot of unnecessary condemnation from society. Have you ever asked yourself the question, 'Why was the knowledge of good and evil forbidden to Adam and Eve?' Without that knowledge we could never have participated in life. Woman brought life into the world . She is the mother of mankind. According to the SumarianSeals, 3500 B.C., we first hear of the Goddess . The Seals illustrated the tree, serpent and goddess, with the goddess giving the fruit of life to a visiting male. Historically, the Canaanites worshipped the Goddess and Snake, symbolizing them with the mystery of life. The Hebrews were a male orientated race. When the Hebrew conquered the people of Canaan, they subjugated them and rejected their Goddess. The Garden of Eden could be explained like that of the mother's womb. Here there was no sense of time or space. No distinguishing of identity of the male or female. No fear. Man lived within a womb of safety(Garden of Eden) and was one with God/Goddess.. But as with any fetus, a time comes when it must leave the womb.(Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden). After leaving the womb, two things occured. One he was now separted from God/Goddess and two he became aware (sinned) Metaphorically speaking he was born into sin. While in the womb he was one. Into the world, he became two, Adam/Eve..Male/Female, creating the one of the first opposites..Another opposite appears here with Adam/Eve and God. When the primary opposites become aware of their sexuality , the idea of sin comes into existence creating again another pair of opposites, good and evil. As you can begin to see here the Creation story here in Genesis is a metaphor within a metaphor. The Eastern Tradition of Hindu shows our Creation Story in the image of a triangle, which is the Mother Goddess, and a dot in the center of the triangle, which is the energy of the transcendent (God) entering the field of time. And then from this triangle there comes pairs of triangles in all directions. Out of one comes two. All things in the field of time are pairs of opposites. It is a shift of consciousness from the consciousness of identitity to the consciousness of participation in duality. And then you are into the field of time., which the Western Tradition identifies y as the Fall into Generation The Garden of Eden is a metaphor for that innocence that is innocent of time, of opposites and that is the prime center out of which consciousness then becomes aware of the changes. When man ate the forbidden fruit (became consciously aware) he entered into an age of accountability. Although he was given free will he would from then on be held accountable for thoughts and deeds, governed by the Laws of Retribution (Karma) As you have noticed in the Generations of Adam, Seth was his first Born. If Seth was his first born where did Cain and Abel fit in? Here again we find the use of a metaphor. Not only was man born into duality, he was born of duality with a higher and lower nature. One nature of the earthly kind, being born of dust and the other nature of the spiritual kind, having God within. Cain and Abel are the permutations of Adam and Eve. The murder of Abel by Cain is not the taking of life, but the loss of our spirituality, which is represented here with the letting of Eve/Abel's blood by our lower nature, Adam/Cain. Through knowledge, grew the negative characteristics of desire and greed. This contaminated the pure spirit within causing the death of Abel. He who overcomes his lower nature, is promised to join the Sons of Light. Those that surcumb to their lower nature joins with the forces of the Sons of Darkness, falling into the generations of birth and being subject to Karma. When man fell into generation, the gods departed (became invisible). With the desire to bring the gods back into their lives, religion was born and sacrifices were offered. The Lowered Natured Caine/Adam , the tiller of earth, sacrificed the 'fruit of the earth' (bringing in the practice of circumcism. The Higher Natured Abel , representing the vessel that carried the seed and hope of mankind, offered to God, ' the first of his flock'. I believe it is proper here to make note that the metaphoric 'Fallen Angels', represent humanity itself and demons represent the deadly passions of humanity. For further study on this , order Living In The Light. As you see, not only is Woman/Eve represented by the spirituality of Abel, but she is credited as the vehicle of life. She represents the givig of birth and the giving of nourishment. She is the female principle to the male principle as in the God/Goddess. The Goddess was revered by the Caanites, she was seen by the Indians as the Mother of Earth. You can even see somewhat of the goddess spirit in the Western Traditions thru the Virgin or Holy Mother. The tradition of the Goddess is celebrated beautifully in the twelfth and thirteen century French cathedrals, every one of which is called Notre Dame. The Egyptians honor the Mother of Heavens, the Goddess Nut. The Christian cross is symbolic of the earth and the mother symbol. With the crucification of Christ on the cross, we see the symbol where Jesus goes to the cross is on the way to the father, leaving the mother behind. So on the cross, Jesus leaves his body on the mother, from whom he has acquired his body, and he goes to the father, who is the ultimate transcendent mystery source. When the Hebrews came into power, they nearly wiped out the Goddess. The Old Testament term used for the Goddess is "the Abomination." Throughout the period represented in the Book of Kings, there was a back and forth between the two cults of goddess worshipping and non-goddess worshipping. Being that mountains were seen as symbols of the Goddess,many of the Hebrew Kings are condemned in the Old Testament for having worshiped on the mountaintops. You also see , in the Old Testament, a God who creates a world without a goddess. Then when you come to Proverbs, there she is. Sophia, the Goddess of Wisdom, who says, "When He created the world, I was there, and I was His greatest joy." If you go back into antiquity, you find the images of our Madonna. Here she is represented as Isis with Horus at her breast. Although no one knows the actual birth date of Christ, notice that the day we celebrate as his birthdate is the date of the winter solstice, December 25th, when the nights begin to be shorter and the days longer. That is the moment of the rebirth of light. That was exactly the date of the birth of the Persian God of Light, Sol, the Sun. Isis: "I am she that is the natural mother of all things. Mistress and governess of all the elements. Chief of the powers divine, queen of all that are i hell, but principal of all them that dwell in heaven. Manifested alone and under one form of all the gods and goddesses. " The GOLDEN ASS , 2nd Century A.D., tells of it's hero, had been by lust and magic converted into an ass and has to undergo an ordeal of painful and humiliating adventures until his redemption comes through the grace of the Goddess Isis. She appears with a rose in her hand and when he eats the rose, he is converted back not only into a man but a saint. Here he has experienced the second birth..he was reborn. The second birth is of an exalted, spiritually informed incarnation, brought on only through the Goddess. The second birth is brought on through a spiritual mother. Notre Dame de Paris, Notre Dame de Chartres ...our Mother Church. We are reborn spiritually by entering and leaving a church. Thus church represents the Spiritual Mother ..The Goddess. The ring on the finger of the Pope, which he holds out for all to kiss, carries the insigma of the Goddess Isis. |