Creation Myths![]() Stories about How the World BeganCreation myths are stories about the birth of the world. They exist in just about every culture and reveal how people in ancient times speculated about how the world may have emerged. Creation stories were their kind of cosmological research, albeit of a very speculative nature.
Creation Myths Around the WorldCreations stories have appeared in just about every culture and mythological tradition. They differ tremendously, but also have several patterns and ingredients seemingly in common. These similarities can be traced down to how human speculation about the birth of the world was likely to begin and what inspired it. Also, many similarities between creation myths have to do with the narrative, the rules of telling a story — especially one dependent on oral tradition. Click the header to read about it.
I also quote some of the Genesis commentaries made by St. Augustine and Martin Luther, who both contributed to shed light on how the Bible was perceived in the past. Click the header to read about it.
It is a theme that can be recognized in many other creation myths. In Enuma Elish, the babylonian god Marduk defeats the gods of old, inherited from neighboring cultures, including the divine couple making the world appear when they join. Click the header to read about it.
Rig Veda, the ancient collection of hymns from India, also speculates about it — with thoughts that are perfectly relevant to us today as well. It's in the famous hymn Rig Veda 10:129, which ends in what almost seems like a joke. Click the header to read about it.
The Logics of MythThere are two kinds of myth: explanatory (like creation myths) and adventures (mainly hero stories). As for the former, there are additional rules regarding dramaturgy and time-space dimensions. Click the header to read about it.
Freud was particularly interested in myths about the appearance of gods and men, whereas Jung saw a pattern of archetypes in every myth of whatever content. This text is on my personal website stenudd.com. Click the header to go there.
Myth of Creation
The Greek philosophers had alternative views on cosmos and the divine, being much more similar to present day understanding of such matters. Here, the cosmological ideas of each one of the Greek philosophers is presented and compared. The texts are on my personal website stenudd.com. Click the header to go there.
Life Energy IdeasThere are indeed many near-synonyms to the life energy concept, as we know it from the Latin spiritus, the Greek pneuma, the Indian prana, the Chinese qi (or chi), and so on. But here are also many concepts that have been regarded as examples of a life energy, although at closer examination it's clear that they are not. Beliefs from distant times and cultures are not that easy to comprehend, so we frequently fall into the trap of expecting them to be exact counterparts to ideas of our own past. That's far from always the case. Those concepts that are indeed examples of a life energy, though, show several similarities — but still some significant differences, which help us to understand the life energy idea in the mind of man. The texts are on my website devoted to life energy ideas. Click the header to go there.
Stefan Stenudd
MENUCreation Myths Around the WorldHow stories of the beginning began.
The Meanings of MythologyTheories through history about myth and fable.
Archetypes in MythsThe mythological symbols and what they stand for.
The Logics of MythPatterns of creation.
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CREATION MYTHS IN DEPTHCreation in Rig Veda 10:129The paradox of origin, according to an Indian myth.
Genesis 1The first creation story of the bible scrutinized.
Enuma ElishThe ancient Babylonian creation myth.
Xingu Creation of ManThe insoluble solitude of gods and humans.
ON MY OTHER WEBSITESPsychoanalysis of MythWhat Sigmund Freud and C. G. Jung thought about myths, their origins and meanings.
Myth of CreationAn introduction to the subject of creation myths and the patterns of thought they reveal.
Cosmos of the AncientsWhat the Greek philosophers believed about the cosmos, their religion and their gods.
Life EnergyThe many ancient and modern life force beliefs all over the world explained and compared.
TaoisticTaoism, the ancient Chinese philosophy of life explained. Also, the complete classic text Tao Te Ching online.
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