The Genesis Site - Myths

Genesis 1

Our modern world has created a new kind of religion. It is called "evolution". Evolution declares how life came into existance. The evolution theory sure is religious. For there is no real scientific proof there has been some way of evolution. Still most people accept it as "the truth". But I'm not going to discuss this subject. I wonder why old nations and forgotten tribes all around the world knew for sure there once was creation. And a Creator. Let's read some examples. Pay attention to the details which we can find back in Genesis!

The Delaware tribes of the US have their holy book called Walam Olum. This book describes the history of the tribe from their origin till the coming of the white men in America. The story starts with a big nothing. In this nothing lives the Creator. And, as his name does suspect, he is creating land, water, firmament and anything else. He makes human beings too and gives them soules.
It is a peaceful time. But the coming of a big snake changes everything. Dead and disease penetrates the world.

The first one who was, is the Creator. This is what the Hopi tribes tell. He created the first being, a goddess. Some other gods were made, each with their own part in completing creation. By singing the song of creation human beings were made after the image of the gods. They received their speech and they were told to honour their Creator for evermore. But evil came into the world and violence and diseases. So the Creator decided to destroy the world with a big flood.

Northern American stories tell about Father Earthmaker. Nobody knows where he came from. But this God discovered that things came into being when he thought of them. So he thought of light and there was light. Then he wished an earth and there was an earth. Then he started speaking and said he would make a creature like himself. So he took a piece of earth and modelled a human being. He spoke to it but there came no answer. So he gave it a spirit. But it still could not speak. Then he made a tongue. But still no answer. Then the human being got a soul. The being said something but the Creator could not understand him. So finally Earthmaker blew his breath into the mouth of the human being. Now he could speak.

In China is told how human beings were made out of yellow clay. The Miao (or: Miautso) tribes in southwestern China know about the first man created from the dirt. Of this man a woman was formed. The Miao call the created man: Patriarch Dirt. One of his sons was Se-teh.
One of the Egyptian stories tells how a god modelled a human being out of clay on a potter's wheel. In the Sudan is known how a god made mankind out of clay.
The Shilluks of the White Nile, the Fans and the Ewe-tribes of West Africa, the Cheremiss (a Finnish people) of Russia, the Kumis in Eastern India, tribes in the Pacific, well, in fact tribes all around the world have their stories about the creation of mankind out of clay.

The Australian Aboriginals tell how their Ancestors made themselves out of clay. And then, by singing, all that is was created.
The Maori's of New Sealand know how the universe was once darkness with water everywhere. Then the Divinity spoke and there was light. He spoke again and waters were seperated so land could be seen.

In Zaire is told how the Supreme Being felt lonely. So he made a chicken. This happened on the first day. Then he longed for a home and created the earth. This was the second day. But nobody was there to serve the Divinity. So the third day the chicken was laying 40 eggs. The fourth day out of these eggs 40 human beings came into being. The Supreme Being told them to populate the world.

The last words I'd like to show you are written in the Popol Vuh, the holy book of the Maya tribes in Meso-America. If you like more creation stories you have to look for instance in the general books with myths and legends. Sure you will find them there!

This is the account, here it is:
Now it still ripples, now it still murmurs, ripples, it still sighs, still hums, and it is empty under the sky.
Here follow the first words, the first eloquence:
There is not yet one person, one animal, bird, fish, crab, tree, rock, hollow, canyon, meadow, forest. Only the sky alone is there; the face of the earth is not clear. Only the sea alone is pooled under the sky; there is nothing whatever gathered together. It is at rest; not a single thing stirs. It is held back, kept a rest under the sky.
Whatever there is that might be is simply not there: only the pooled water, only the calm sea, only it alone is pooled.
Whatever might be is simply not there: only murmur, ripples, in the dark, in the night. Only the Maker, Modeler alone, Sovereign Plumed Serpent, the Bearers, Begetters are in the water, a glittering light. They are there, they are enclosed in quetzal feathers, in blue-green.
Thus the name, "Plumed Serpent." They are great knowers, great thinkers in their very being.
And of course there is the sky, and there is also the Heart of Sky. This is the name of the god, as it is spoken.

The gods come together and discuss about creation. Then creation is started:

And then the earth arose because of them, it was simply their word that brought it forth. For the forming of the earth they said "Earth." It arose suddenly, just like a cloud, like a mist, now forming, unfolding.

Another part of the Popol Vuh deals with the creation of mankind. The first human beings (four men only, four women would be created a little later) were made out of white and yellow corn. They were simply made and modeled. They had no mother and they had no father. And they were very special:

They were good people, handsome, with looks of the male kind. Thoughts came into existence and they gazed; their vision came all at once. Perfectly they saw, perfectly they knew everything under the sky, whenever they looked. The moment they turned around and looked around in the sky, on the earth, everything was seen without any obstruction. They didn't have to walk around before they could see what was under the sky; they just stayed where they were.
As they looked their knowledge became intense. Their sight passed through trees, through rocks, through lakes, throug seas, through mountains, through plains. They were truly gifted people.

But it didn't stay this way. The gods found out they were looking to much like them:

"What should we do with them now? Their vision should at least reach nearby, they should see at least a small part of the face of the earth, but what they're saying isn't good. Aren't they merely 'works' and 'designs' in their very names? Yet they'll become as great as gods, unless they procreate, proliferate at the sowing, the dawning, unless they increase."

And so the gods changed the nature of their works.

They were blinded as the face of a mirror is breathed upon. Their eyes were weakened. Now it was only when they looked nearby that things were clear.
And such was the loss of the means of understanding, along with the means of knowing everything, by the four humans.

Doesn't this all sound very familiar? Not only some kind of Paradise is remembered. The fall too - in one way of another - is alive today in myths and legends. Vague memories of true history as told in Genesis.

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