PROFESSOR VS STUDENT

There is a story going around in the form of an email and Facebook posts and then forwarded on to others who, with the name dropping at the end, have bought the story hook, line and sinker without questioning it and then forwarding it on once more.  The story is about a conversation between a professor and his student, the topic being the belief in or faith of god and at first it sounds like the professor has the upper hand.  Soon, however, the student starts to ask the professor some things that he cannot answer and wins the so called argument along with the admiration of the classroom.  Lets have a look at that particular story...

Professor : You are a Christian, aren’t you, son ?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, you believe in GOD ?

Student : Absolutely, sir.

Professor : Is GOD good ?

Student : Sure.

Professor: Is GOD all powerful ?

Student : Yes.

Professor: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn’t. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?

(Student was silent.)

Professor: You can’t answer, can you ? Let’s start again, young fella. Is GOD good?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Is satan good ?

Student : No.

Professor: Where does satan come from ?

Student : From … GOD …

Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?

Student : Yes.

Professor: So who created evil ?

(Student did not answer.)

Professor: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, who created them ?

(Student had no answer.)

Professor: Science says you have 5 Senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son, have you ever seen GOD?

Student : No, sir.

Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?

Student : No , sir.

Professor: Have you ever felt your GOD, tasted your GOD, smelt your GOD? Have you ever had any sensory perception of GOD for that matter?

Student : No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Professor: Yet you still believe in Him?

Student : Yes.

Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.

Professor: Yes, faith. And that is the problem Science has.

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Professor: Yes.

Student : And is there such a thing as cold?

Professor: Yes.

Student : No, sir. There isn’t.

(The lecture theater became very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

(There was pin-drop silence in the lecture theater.)

Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student : You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light. But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, well you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man ?

Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Professor: Flawed ? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good GOD and a bad GOD. You are viewing the concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, Science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.

Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?

(The Professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going.)

Student : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor. Are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?

(The class was in uproar.)

Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?

(The class broke out into laughter. )

Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

(The room was silent. The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable.)

Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.

Student : That is it sir … Exactly ! The link between man & GOD is FAITH. That is all that keeps things alive and moving.

P.S.

I believe you have enjoyed the conversation. And if so, you’ll probably want your friends / colleagues to enjoy the same, won’t you?

Forward this to increase their knowledge … or FAITH.

By the way, that student was EINSTEIN.

This story has been addressed by both URBAN LEGENDS and SNOPES, both of which have stamped it false and it was also my first impression of this particular story.  They both also offer some great insights into the story, which I'll try not to rehash.  

In the beginning I am going along for the ride as the professor brings up some good points and they are points that I have brought up myself on a number of occasions so I follow his logic through to when he believes he has the upper hand and the student has lost.  Things suddenly turn around.

The low hanging fruit; heat and cold.  There is indeed such a thing known as heat and cold.  Arguably, cold is just the absence of heat and is a description thereof.  You can feel cold.  It is relative but it is as much of a "thing" as gravity.  This is where the professor made his first (fictitious as it was) mistake by not explaining what heat and cold actually were and, in fact, can be subject to all the scientific tests, all you have to do is grab a thermometer and you can see the temperature and the relative effect it will and does have one the environment.  Does water freeze because it's too hot or too cold?  Does water evaporate because it is too hot or too cold?  It's all relative.

Now to answer the burning question of whether the professor has a brain or not... the assumption is that a living breathing human has a brain, why?  Because without a brain the body could not function.  How do we know?  Science.  We asked the questions and we found the answers.  If the professor is walking and talking and breathing he has an operational brain and to disprove this scientific fact all you have to do is open his head though we need not do this because it has been done so many times in the past that said fact is assumed with no known exceptions, ergo, the professor has a brain.  God cannot be put through the same logic.  At all.  Nor can god be put through any scientific tests therefore the students premise is an argument from circular logic and doesn't hold water.  You cannot assume the existence of god because of many thousands or successful scientific tests in the past.

The final mistake the professor made was to call that assumption faith and the student used another logical fallacy, the argument from authority where he used the bible (and therefore church) as the authority that faith in god is what keeps things moving which in itself in a post hoc ergo propter hoc argument.

The last indecency was the fact that to make it more believable the student turned out to be non other than one of the greatest minds in the 20th century, Albert Einstein.  This is, of course, complete bullshit as Einstein was an open agnostic who knew there was no way to prove the existence of god;

I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.

That was from the book "Einstein: His Life and Universe" by Walter Isaacson in 2008.

I write this blog because it is a passion of mine to explore the myth of god and along the way I may even learn some cool stuff but it takes a lot of time and energy to write so if you enjoy reading this blog please make a donation by clicking the DONATE button on the right so I can put more time into creating a better blog.

Thank you all

Justin

CREATION BY AND FROM THE SELF - THE HINDU CREATION STORY

This story has been taken from the second and forth Brahmanas of the Brhadarayaka Upanishad and is arguably one of the oldest creation stories from one of the oldest peoples.  First written in India sometime in the 700's or 600's B.C.E, this passage was translated and published by S. Radhakrishnan in 1953.

In the beginning there was absolutely nothing, and what existed was covered by death and hunger. He thought, "Let me have a self", and he created the mind. As he moved about in worship, water was generated. Froth formed on the water, and the froth eventually solidifed to become earth. He rested on the earth, and from his luminence came fire. After resting, he divided himself in three parts, and one is fire, one is the sun, and one is the air.

How does death and hunger exist if, in the beginning, there was absolutely nothing.  I can imagine parents telling their kids this trying to get them to sleep.  The kids are going to ask the same question and you know the parent is going to say something like "just because."  Right off the bat this story is a bunch of bull, no more so than the other creation stories but this one is so in-your-face bad.  Anyway, onwards... 

Thus in the beginning the world was only his self, his being or essence, which then took the shape of a person. At first he was afraid, but realizing that he was alone and had nothing of which to be afraid, his fear ceased. However, he had no happiness because he was alone, and he longed for another. He grew as large as two persons embracing, and he caused his self to split into two matching parts, like two halves of a split pea, and from them arose husband and wife.

Wow, that is actually a little easier to swallow than making people out of mud, at least we can call on the science of mitosis!  Actually, it doesn't make it any more real as the idea of asexual division would not have been known then but perhaps it started a conversation somewhere that may have lead to the science... then again, lets move on.  Is this the first man and woman made from god or is this god getting himself a goddess? 

They mated, and from their union arose the human beings of the earth. The female reflected on having mated with someone of whom she was once a part, and she resolved that she should hide so that it would not happen again. She changed to a cow to disguise herself, but he changed to a bull and mated with her, and from their union cows arose. She changed to the form of a mare, but he changed to that of a stallion and mated with her, and from that union came horses. She changed to the form of a donkey, but he did likewise, and from them arose the single-hoofed animals. She became a ewe, but he became a ram, and from their union came the sheep and goats. It continued thus, with her changing form to elude him but he finding her and mating with her, until they had created all the animals that live in pairs, from humans and horses to ants.

Ok, question answered... now we have the first people, and sacred cows!  This is actually a great little answer to the question of many and varied animals!  The only problem is ants do not live in pairs.  Come to think of it, nor do horses.  Oh well, cant get everything right.

After all this work, he reflected that he was indeed Creation personified, for he had created all this. Rubbing back and forth, he made Fire, the god of fire, from his hands, and from his semen he made Soma, the god of the moon. This was his highest creation because, although mortal himself, he had created immortal gods.

A mortal god?  So he creates everything and then, eventually, will die but the god of the moon made from his semen (not sure if I'll look at the moon the same way again) and the god of fire are immortal gods - what a bummer! And so ends the story of creation from the Brhadarayaka Upanishad.  I nice, short story just like that of Genesis and about as believable.

I write this blog because it is a passion of mine to explore the myth of god and along the way I may even learn some cool stuff but it takes a lot of time and energy to write so if you enjoy reading this blog please make a donation by clicking the DONATE button on the right so I can put more time into creating a better blog.

Thank you all

Justin

CREATION AND EMERGENCE - THE JICARILLA APACHE CREATION STORY

This is one of the longer creation stories which goes into a lot of detail about how things happened.  It was compiled and translated in the 1930's by Morris Opler.  This is the abridged version of five stories told by the Jicarilla Apaches.

In the beginning there was nothing - no earth, no living beings. There were only darkness, water, and Cyclone, the wind. There were no humans, but only the Hactcin, the Jicarilla supernatural beings. The Hactcin made the earth, the underworld beneath it, and the sky above it. The earth they made as a woman who faces upward, and the sky they made as a man who faces downward. The Hactcin lived in the underworld, where there was no light. There were mountains and plants in the underworld, and each had its own Hactcin. There were as yet no animals or humans, and everything in the underworld existed in a dream-like state and was spiritual and holy.

I know I'm not the only one who sees a pattern emerging in the creation stories.  Just about every one of them starts with "In the beginning there was nothing."  Ironically the Biblical apologists argue that we, the evolutionists, try to tell the world that everything came from nothing.  I pity the fool who believes that (sorry, that was my frustrated Mr T impression).  The scene has been set, there is darkness and water and cyclones and things and there are gods.  Continue...

The most powerful of the Hactcin in the underworld was Black Hactcin. One day Black Hactcin made the first animal with four legs and a tail made of clay. At first he thought it looked peculiar, but when he asked it to walk and saw how gracefully it walked, he decided it was good. Knowing this animal would be lonely, he made many other kinds of animals come from the body of the first. He laughed to see the diversity of the animals he had created. All the animals wanted to know what to eat and where to live, so he divided the foods among them, giving grass to the horse, sheep, and cow, and to others he gave brush, leaves, and pine needles. He sent them out to different places, some to the mountains, some to the deserts, and some to the plains, which is why the animals are found in different places today.

Sounds airily familiar doesn't it... sometimes you just have to let the story play out because debunking it is just to easy and needless in stories like this.  The question is, are there people who still believe that this actually happened?  Well, yes - they are called Christians (massive generalisation).  My only real question is why is he called "Black"?  Is that because he is bad or what?

Next Black Hactcin held out his hand and caught a drop of rain. He mixed this with some earth to make mud and made a bird from the mud. At first he wasn't sure he would like what he had made. He asked the bird to fly, and when it did he liked it. He decided the bird too would be lonely, so he grabbed it and whirled it rapidly clockwise. As the bird became dizzy, it saw images of other birds, and when Black Hactcin stopped whirling it, there were indeed many new kinds of birds, all of which live in the air because they were made from a drop of water that came from the air. Black Hactcin sent the birds out to find places they liked to live, and when they returned he gave each the place that they liked. To feed them, he threw seeds all over the ground. To tease them, however, he turned the seeds into insects, and he watched as they chased after the insects. At a river nearby, he told the birds to drink. Again, however, he couldn't resist teasing them, so he took some moss and made fish, frogs, and the other things that live in water. This frightened the birds as they came to drink, and it is why birds so often hop back in fright as they come down to drink. As some of the birds took off, their feathers fell in the water, and from them came the ducks and other birds that live in the water.

Oh my god, so this god, Black Hactcin, created more birds by spinning the first bird by the tail (paraphrasing) until said bird "saw" other birds because it was so dizzy and those birds manifested? Ha ha ha ha ha!  This god is starting to take on the characteristics of Loki, the Norse god of mischief.  What nasty, teasing god he is drawing pleasure from teasing his own creations, I now see why he was called "Black" - just one of the many personalities of the Christian god I guess.

Black Hactcin continued to make more animals and birds. The animals and birds that already existed all spoke the same language, and they held a council. They came to Black Hactcin and asked for a companion. They were concerned that they would be alone when Black Hactcin left them, and Black Hactcin agreed to make something to keep them company. He stood facing the east, and then the south, and then the west, and then the north. He had the animals bring him all sorts of materials from across the land, and he traced his outline on the ground. He then set the things that they brought him in the outline. The turquoise that they brought became veins, the red ochre became blood, the coral became skin, the white rock became bones, the Mexican opal became fingernails and teeth, the jet became the pupil, the abalone became the white of the eyes, and the white clay became the marrow of the bones. Pollen, iron ore, and water scum were used too, and Black Hactcin used a dark cloud to make the hair.

Not for the first time in these stories comes the language thing but this time we have accord in the creation kitchen, something tells me a man is about to be created.  Lets read on...

The man they had made was lying face down, and it began to rise as the birds watched with excitement. The man arose from prone, to kneeling, to sitting up, and to standing. Four times Black Hactcin told him to speak, and he did. Four times Black Hactcin told him to laugh, and he did. It was likewise with shouting. Then Black Hactcin taught him to walk, and had him run four times in a clockwise circle.

Wadia know!

The birds and animals were afraid the man would be lonely, and they asked Black Hactcin give him company. Black Hactcin asked them for some lice, which he put on the man's head. The man went to sleep scratching, and he dreamed that there was a woman beside him. When he awoke, she was there. They asked Black Hactcin what they would eat, and he told them that the plants and the cloven-hoofed animals would be their food. They asked where they should live. He told them to stay anywhere they liked, which is why the Jicarilla move from place to place. 

I was hoping Black Hactcin would swing him around by the feet to create a partner but no such luck!  Seriously though... head lice?  Now Man was the first on earth to be a meat eater, how would that feel to be eating the things that helped make you?  I just realised that it is still just darkness and water...

These two, Ancestral Man and Ancestral Woman, had children, and the people multiplied. In those days no one died, although they all lived in darkness. This lasted for many years. Holy Boy, another Apache spirit, was unhappy with the darkness, and he tried to make a sun. As he worked at it, Cyclone came by and told him that White Hactcin had a sun. Holy Boy went to White Hactcin, who gave him the sun, and he went to Black Hactcin, who gave him the moon. Black Hactcin told Holy Boy how to make a sacred drawing on a buckskin to hold the sun and moon, and Holy Boy, Red Boy, Black Hactcin, and White Hactcin held a ceremony at which White Hactcin released the sun and Black Hactcin released the moon. The light grew stronger as the sun moved from north to south, and eventually it was like daylight is now.

Wow.  Holy Boy, Red Boy, Black Hactcin, and White Hactcin all sound like Marvel Comic super heroes!  But it does explain how we got the sun and moon - Holy Boy went on the scrounge basically.  I bet the people didn't know what this was.

The people didn't know what this was, and the shamans each began to claim that they had power over the sun. On the fourth day, there was an eclipse. After the sun had disappeared, the Hactcins told the shamans to make the sun reappear. The shamans tried all kinds of tricks, but they couldn't make the sun come back. To solve the problem, White Hactcin turned to the animals and had them bring the foods they ate. With the food and some sand and water, they began to grow a mountain. The mountain grew, but it stopped short of the hole in the sky that led from the underworld to the earth. It turned out that two girls had gone up on the mountain and had trampled the sacred plants and even had defecated there. White Hactcin, Black Hactcin, Holy Boy, and Red Boy had to go up the mountain and clean it. When they came down and the people sang, and the mountain grew again. It stopped, however, just short of the hole, and when the four went up again they could only see to the other earth. They sent up Fly and Spider, who took four rays of the sun and built a rope ladder to the upper world. Spider was the first one to climb to the upper world, where the sun was bright.

In all fairness this is the abridged version so there are probably a few things that were not mentioned because of the importance or lack of such as how many days have passed since the creation.  This passage is the first that has brought this to our attention to bring the story of Genesis crashing back into the foreground... then comes the religious bigotry, in this case the Shamans.  And then comes the sexism.  And then comes the Norse parallels or more than one world.  All of a sudden this story is making me angry.

White Hactcin, Black Hactcin, Holy Boy, and Red Boy climbed up the ladder, and they found much water on the earth. They sent for the four winds to blow the water away, and Beaver came up to build dams to hold the water in rivers. Spider made threads to catch the sun, and they made the sun go from east to west to light the entire world, not just one side. Hactcin called for the people to climb up, and for four days they climbed the mountain. At the top they found four ladders. Ancestral Man and Ancestral Woman were the first people to climb up, and the people climbed up into the upper world that we know today. Thus the earth is our mother, and the people climbed up as from a womb. Then the animals came up, and before long the ladders were worn out. Behind the animals came an old man and an old woman, and they couldn't climb the ladders. No one could get them up, and finally the two realized they had to stay in the underworld. They agreed to stay but told the others they must come back to the underworld eventually, which is why people go to the underworld after death.

Out comes more "just so" stories about all things cosmic and the reason people die, or at least where they go when they do die.

Everything in the upper world is alive - the rocks, the trees, the grass, the plants, the fire, the water. Originally they all spoke the Jicarilla Apache language and spoke to the people. The Hactcin, however, decided that it was boring to have all these things speaking the same, so they gave all these things and all the animals different voices.

The rocks, fire and water are all alive... not sure about that, just saying.  The Tower of Babel thing, talk about giving a positive spin on a more modern and shitty alternative. 

Eventually the people travelled out clockwise across the land. Different groups would break off and stay behind, and their children would begin to play games in which they used odd languages. The people in these groups began to forget their old languages and use these new ones, which is why now there are many languages. Only one group kept on traveling in the clockwise spiral until they reached the center of the world, and these are the Jicarilla Apaches.

Just So...

I write this blog because it is a passion of mine to explore the myth of god and along the way I may even learn some cool stuff but it takes a lot of time and energy to write so if you enjoy reading this blog please make a donation by clicking the DONATE button on the right so I can put more time into creating a better blog.

Thank you all

Justin

ACTIVIST HERO - ZACK KOPPLIN

My generation, X, has taken some major steps in this world both good and bad and everything we have done, like generations before, has an impact on the coming generations and right now Generation Y is in trouble.  Some choose to grin and bare it and some, like Zack Kopplin, choose to make a difference.  Even in the face of progressive science and mounting evidence previous generations, including mine, have decided to stick with the old ways - but not this kid.  Zack has taken a stand against stupidity and should be listened to and learned from, there is not much more I can say that this ARTICLE doesn't cover so please read it and then do your part to make it go viral.

DEATH, AND LIFE AND DEATH - THE GUINEA CREATION STORY

From the Kono people of Guinea comes this story which could be called the African creation story.  This version was published by Ulli Beier in 1966.

In the beginning there was nothing: neither matter nor light existed. In this world lived only Death, whose name is Sa, and his wife and their only daughter. Needing a place for his family to live, Sa eventually used his magical powers to create a vast sea of mud. They lived in this filth and instablilty for many years.

I guess one could say that a mud sea was a perfect place for Sa and his family.  Lets stop for a moment and ask the question - if Sa and his family were the only entities and Sa himself could create things, Sa would be a deity, right?  If you were a deity and needed to create a place for your family to live would you make a sea of mud?  I'm just saying...

Finally the god Alatangana came to visit Sa and his familty. Alatangana was appalled at the mess in which they lived, and he condemned Sa for creating such a dirty place that lacked light and life. To set things right, Alatangana first consolidated the mud into the solid earth. However, this lifeless expanse across which he could now walk still depressed him. First he made plants to cover the new earth, and then animals to live on it. Even Sa realized that Alatangana had made the world a much better place, and he took Alatangana in as his guest.

Ahhh, that explains it!  Actually, no it doesn't.  Where did this god come from and why wasn't this particular deity there from the begining to create a nice place to live?  I think Sa was stitched up to be the bad guy in this story and after all the plants and animals were created it kind of feels like Alatangana was being a bit of a prick.  It's like he was saying to Sa - you know, what you made is shit, look what I can do!  But lets just put that behind us and see what happens next.

Alatangana was wifeless, and eventually he decided he wanted Sa's daughter for his wife. Sa at first was diplomatic in refusing to let Alatangana marry his daughter, but finally he explicitly refused Alatangana's request. Alatangana, however, wooed Sa's daughter, and eventually they eloped to a distant region of the earth.

Alatangana seems to be a real bastard! 

Alatangana and his new wife set up a happy home amidst the paradise that Alatangana had created from Sa's sea of mud. They had fourteen children. Seven were girls and seven were boys, and of each four had light skin and three had dark. This did not distress Alatangana, but he and his wife were shocked to find that their children spoke different languages that the parents did not understand.

That awkward moment when your kids speak a different language...

Frustrated with this state of affairs, Alatangana finally went to Sa for advice. Sa explained that this was a curse that he had put on Alatangana's children because of the way Alatangana had stolen his daughter. Alatangana returned home, and eventually his children went off to founded the peoples of the world, the French, the English, and the other European peoples, and the Kono, the Guuerze, the Manon Malinke, and the Toma Yacouba of Africa.

So this story is kind of like the tower of bable... sorta, kinda... probably more of a story of spite come to think of it.  It's a "do unto others because they did unto you" story.

All these descendents of Alatangana and his wife still lived in darkness, because although Alatangana had made the life that covered the earth, he could not find a way to make light. As before, his frustration forced him to call on Sa for help, but rather than face his hostile father-in-law, he decided to send two messengers. He chose the tou-tou bird, a small red bird that is one of the first to arise each morning in the forest, and the rooster. These two birds went to ask Sa how the world could be lit so that the new peoples of the earth could see to work.

C'mon, you're a god and you send birds to confront the devil... sorry, Death?  What kind of a god are you that doesn't know how to make light?  Of all the creation stories this one has me asking the most questions... so far.  I digress, lets push forward...

When the two presented their problem to Sa, he invited them into his home and taught them a song with which they could call forth daylight. When the two returned to Alatangana, he was furious at the nonsense they reported about a song they had learned. He nearly killed them, but eventually he sent them on their way.

Schadenfreude!

Not long afterward, the rooster broke into song, and the tou-tou bird sang its first notes. For the first time, dawn began to appear, and soon it was day. The sun that they had called forth made its way across the sky, and when it set the stars appeared to provide faint light at night. Every day since has begun the same way, with the call of the tou-tou bird and the cry of the rooster.

What came first, the rooster or the sunrise?  Any farmer will know a rooster crows at the dawn but, whatever...

Alatangana was grateful for the gift that he now realized Sa had given to him and his children. Sa was not long, however, in calling for payment of the debt. He came to Alatangana and pointed out the good things that he had done despite Alatangana's theft of his daughter. Now he demanded that in return he could, whenever he liked, claim any of Alatangana's offspring. Knowing his guilt and his debt to Sa, Alatangana agreed, and so it is that Alatangana's children, the human people, must meet with Death whenever he calls for them.

OK, didn't see that coming.  Who knew that Sa, aka Death, aka The Grim Reaper was African?!  This is one of the many entities of the anorexic guy with the scythe that must have slipped under Wiki's radar.  My understanding of palaeoanthropology is the whole "out of Africa" theme (which is still in dispute) means we, for the sake of argument, originated from the great continent so this may be our very first understanding of the concept and explanation of death (the process not the entity).  My logic may be, and probably is, skewed so leave a comment if you have any thoughts on this.

I write this blog because it is a passion of mine to explore the myth of god and along the way I may even learn some cool stuff but it takes a lot of time and energy to write so if you enjoy reading this blog please make a donation by clicking the DONATE button on the right so I can put more time into creating a better blog.

Thank you all

Justin

  

BLOGGERS BELIEF - JIMPITHECUS

Here is an interesting blog called SCIENCE AND RELIGION: A VIEW FROM AN EVOLUTIONARY CREATIONIST from a guy who calls himself Jimpithecus.  He is a Christian, librarian, palaeoanthropologist and an evolutionary creationist... there's a mouth full!  At first this all kind of sounds a little bipolar but when I started reading into his first blogs I began to get a better idea of where he was coming from.  For those of you who are not familiar with the handle palaeoanthropologits it is, simply put, the study of ancient man which means Jimpithecus (a nice little play on words) can be called a follower of the scientific method.  In other words he acknowledges the facts, the evidence of evolution and accepts it, as we all should, as the way things actually happened.  Good on ya mate!

What makes his blogs all the more enjoyable to read is he takes a sceptical (that is, after all, the correct English spelling) view on published articles found in the likes of the HUFFPO, USA TODAY regarding the "controversy" of creation vs evolution.  It would take me far too long to read through all his blog entries so I skimmed through looking for some choice cuts of blog to use as examples for this critique. I'd have to say, if I was to argue with a young earth creationist over their warped world view I'd want Jimpithecus in my corner.

From one of his blog entries he addresses the fact that Christians should make their peace with evolution.  I'm liking this guy more and more!  EVOLUTION ON CAMPUS is a good example of what I'm talking about.

This is the blog you want to go to if you have a question to answer about creation v evolution and just cant stomach ANSWERS IN GENESIS.  The only irony of this blogger is that in the face of all the evidence he still believes in an invisible man in the sky.

I write this blog because it is a passion of mine to explore the myth of god and along the way even I learn some cool stuff but it takes a lot of time and energy to write so if you enjoy reading this blog please make a donation by clicking the DONATE button on the right so I can put more time into creating a better blog.

Thank you all

Justin

CORN AND MEDICINE - THE CHEROKEE CREATION STORY

Within the Cherokee people there are many stories which revolve around a central theme and in the late 1800's James Mooney of the Bureau of American Ethnology gathered the stories from northern Georgia and Alabama, western North Carolina, central and eastern Tennessee, and Kentucky Cherokee to compile this story.

The earth began as nothing but water and darkness, and all the animals were in Galúnlati, above the stone vault that makes up the sky. Eventually Galúnlati became so crowded that the animals needed more room, and they wanted to move down to earth. Not knowing what was below the water, they sent down the Water-beetle to explore. Water-beetle dove below the water and eventually came back with some mud from below. That mud grew and grew, and finally it became the island that we call earth. This island of earth is suspended at its four corners from ropes that hang down from the sky, and legend has it that some day the ropes will break and the earth will sink back into the water.

The title "corn and medicine" made me double take on this wondering if it was actually a creation story or a "just so" story about health and farming but it turns out that this one of the most original creation stories of all time.  Are the animals god?  I'm so taken by the whole water and darkness thing and I'm trying to imagine what it would be like for those animals especially as they have been separated by a stone vault.  As myths go this is fare superior to Genesis in my humble opinion.  Lets see what happens next...

Because it grew from mud, the new earth was very soft. Many of the birds flew down to explore the new land, but it was too wet for them to stay. Finally Buzzard flew down, hoping it was dry, but the earth was still wet. Buzzard searched and searched, especially in the Cherokee country, and finally he became so tired that his wings flapped against the ground. His wings dug valleys where they hit the ground and turned up mountains where they pulled away, leaving the rugged country of the Cherokee.

Were the birds perching on the stone vault before they flew down and how did they get through the vault?  Who knows really, it was dark and not important information.  All I can say that must have been a mofo massive buzzard.  Still no mention of a god of any kind, how refreshing.

Eventually the earth was dry and the animals moved down. There still was no light, however, and so the animals set the sun passing from east to west just over their heads. With the sun so close, many of the animals were burned, giving the red crawfish its crimson color. The animals raised the sun again and again, until it was high enough that all could survive.

A touch of localised causality such as the crawfish reminds us that this story was told with only the knowledge of the local land.

When the plants and animals first came to earth, they were told to stay awake for seven nights, as in the Cherokee medicine ceremony. The animals all stayed awake the first night, and many stayed awake the next few nights, but only the owl and the panther and a couple of others stayed awake all seven nights. They were given the ability to see at night and so to hunt at night when the others are asleep. The same thing happened among the trees, and only the cedar, pine, spruce, holly and laurel stayed awake all seven nights, which is why they can stay green all year when the others lose their leaves.

More "just so" stories mixed in with a couple of familiar time scales.  Up until this point we have heard nothing about any kind of deity and all of a sudden someone or something has told them to stay awake.  My spidey sensors are tingling.

Humans came after the animals. At first they multiplied rapidly, and the first woman give birth every seven days. Eventually there were so many of them that it seemed they might not all survive, and since then to this day each woman has been able to have just one child each year. Among these early people were a man and a woman name Kanáti and Selu, whose names meant "The Lucky Hunter" and "Corn", respectively. Kanáti would go hunting and invariably return with game, which Selu would prepare by the stream near their home. She also would always return home with baskets of corn, which she would pound to make meal for bread.

This is a great story.  It does follow the bible with respect to the order of living creations but after that it's a nice little tale about hunters and gatherers and so far no mass destruction.

Kanáti and Selu had a little boy, and he would play by the stream. Eventually they realized that he was playing with another little boy who had arisen from the blood of the game washed by the stream. With their son's help they caught the other boy, and eventually he lived with them like he was their own son, although he was called "the Wild Boy".

Yeah, not sure what that is about but I guess we'll find out soon...

Kanáti brought home game whenever he went hunting, and one day the two boys decided to follow him. They followed him into the mountains until he came to a large rock, which he pulled aside to reveal a cave from which a buck emerged. Kanáti shot the buck and, after covering the cave, he headed home. The boys got home before him and didn't reveal what they had learned, but a few days later they returned to the rock. With a struggle they pulled it aside and had great fun watching the deer come out of the cave. They lost track of what they were doing, however, and soon all sorts of game animals - rabbit and turkeys and partridges and buffalo and all - escaped from the cave. Kanáti saw all these animals coming down the mountain and knew what the boys must have done, and he went up the mountain after them. He opened four jars in the cave, and from them came fleas and lice and gnats and bedbugs that attacked the boys. He sent them home, hoping he could find some of the dispersed game for the supper. Thus it is that people must now hunt for game.

But what happened to the flea and lice ridden kids?  Before Kanáti discovered the cave he was hunting for game anyway, right?  He just stumbled upon an easy way to bring home the venison which was shot to shit when the kids did just what kids do.  It does kind of seem like the trouble the kids got into affected all of humanity after that so was that the Cherokee original sin?  Makes you think, right?  Do I smell a conspiracy?

The boys went home, and Selu told them there would be no meat for dinner. However, she went to the storehouse for food, and told the boys to wait while she did so. They followed her instead to the storehouse and watched her go inside. She put down her basket and then rubbed her stomach, and the basket was partly full with corn. Then she rubbed her sides, and it was full to the top with beans. Watching through a crack in the storehouse wall, the boys saw all this. Selu knew that they had seen her, but she went ahead and fixed them a last meal. Then she and Kanáti explained that, because their secrets were revealed, they would die, and with them would end the easy life they had known. However, Selu told them to drag her body seven times around a circle in front of their house, and then to drag her seven times over the soil inside the circle, and if they stayed up all night to watch, in the morning they would have a crop of corn. The boys, however, only cleared a few spots and they only dragged her body over it twice, which is why corn only grows in certain places on the earth. They did sit up all night, though, and in the morning the corn was grown, and still it is grown today, although now it takes half a year.

I'm not sure what to say about this paragraph, seems a little bit brutish and crazy all at the same time.  The number seven comes up again followed by yet another "just so" story though it's a bit of an anticlimax.

In these early days, the plants, the animals, and the people all lived together as friends. As the people multiplied, however, the animals had less room to roam, and they were either slaughtered for food or trampled under the humans' feet. Finally the animals held a council to discuss what to do. The bears experimented with using bows and arrows to fight back, but they concluded that they would have to cut off their claws to use the bows. The deer held a council and decided to send rheumatism to any hunter who killed a deer without asking its pardon for having done so. When a deer is shot by a hunter, the fleet and silent Little Deer, leader of the deer, runs to the blood-stained spot to ask the spirit of the killed deer if the hunter prayed for pardon for his affront. If the answer is no, Little Deer follows the trail of blood and inflicts the hunter with rheumatism so that he is crippled.

Fair enough.  I've never shot a deer but one day I will and I shall pardon my spoils that's for darn sure!

The fish and reptiles likewise met, and resolved that the people would suffer from dreams in which snakes twined about them. The birds and smaller animals and insects all met too, and talked long into the night about how they had suffered from the humans. Eventually they created all sorts of new diseases to afflict humans, which have since become a scourge to the animals' oppressors.

I bet the insect council was lead by the mosquitoes.  I think I can see where this is going... after all, the story is called corn and medicine.

After this the plants met, and they resolved that something must be done to counteract what the animals had done. That is why so many trees and shrubs and herbs, and even the mosses, provide remedies for diseases. It was thus that medicine first came into the world, to counteract the revenge of the animals.

I knew it!  Sounds like the start of a war between big Pharma and big Animal and years later man will also have there revenge by testing cosmetics.

How likely do you think this story is?  I'm not sure it's a factual account of how it all happened but a story entertain.  I could imagine a couple hundred years ago the people of the tribe didn't know how things worked and how we got here and just needed some kind of answer for the kids so they made up a fantastic story to explain everything.  Little did they know that story would be handed down from generation to generation and finally published with many devout followers.
  That is the way all creation stories a breathed into life including that of Genesis... try reading it now and not think of the many other creation stories out there that are just as silly.

I write this blog because it is a passion of mine to explore the myth of god and along the way even I learn some cool stuff but it takes a lot of time and energy to write this blog.  If you enjoy reading this blog please make a donation by clicking the DONATE button on the right so I can put more time into creating a better blog.

Thank you all
Justin

RANGI AND PAPA - THE MAORI CREATION STORY

This is one of my favorite creation stories for no other reason that it is from the land of the long white cloud AKA Aotearoa, AKA New Zealand - my country.  I was born in Auckland, New Zealand so yeah, this is close to home you could say.  This creation myth came from the New Zealand Maori who arrived in New Zealand in the 13th century so it is the youngest people with the youngest creation myth.  

The following story was compiled by Sir George Grey in the 1840's when he was the Govenor of New Zealand, he published the story in 1955.

All humans are descended from one pair of ancestors, Rangi and Papa, who are also called Heaven and Earth. In those days, Heaven and Earth clung closely together, and all was darkness. Rangi and Papa had six sons: Tane-mahuta, the father of the forests and their inhabitants; Tawhiri-ma-tea, the father of winds and storms; Tangaroa, the father of fish and reptiles; Tu-matauenga, the father of fierce human beings; Haumia-tikitiki, the father of food that grows without cultivation; and Rongo-ma-tane, the father of cultivated food. These six sons and all other beings lived in darkness for an extremely long time, able only to wonder what light and vision might be like.

The six sons also wondered what the things they were fathers of looked like.  After all, it was very dark and photosynthesis would have been a bitch. 

Finally the sons of Heaven and Earth decided something must be done. Tu-matauenga, the father of fierce human beings, urged his brothers to slay their parents. However, Tane-mahuta, the father of the forests and their inhabitants, argued that they should separate their parents, making Rangi the distant sky over their heads and Papa the earth close to them like a mother. After long debate, the brothers agreed to this plan, except for Tawhiri-ma-tea, the father of winds and storms, who was distraught at the idea of separating their parents. The other brothers nonetheless proceeded with their plan.

It's almost as if the kids are all getting together to discuss putting Mum and Dad in a home instead of just killing the annoying old biddies.  But not all the kids are happy with that idea but too bad, it was done anyway.

Rongo-ma-tane, the father of cultivated food, rose and struggled to separate his parents, but he could not do it. Tangaroa, the father of fish and reptiles, also struggled but could not tear them apart. Haumia-tikitiki, the father of food that grows without cultivation, had no better luck at separating their parents. Tu-matauenga, the father of fierce human beings, likewise failed. Tane-mahuta, the father of the forests and their inhabitants, slowly rose up and struggled, but with little success. Then he put his head against the earth and, with his feet against the skies, slowly pushed them apart. His parents cried out in anguish, asking how their sons could do this, but Tane pushed and pushed until the sky was far above. As light spread across the earth, the multitude of humans that Rangi and Papa had parented were revealed.

Way to go father of the forests!!  How is being upside down easier to push than being right side up, and where did all the people come from, oh right - Rangi and Papa.  This is not so much a story of creation, by the looks of it, but a story of how light was separated from dark.  People don't seem to be very important in this story and you know, it makes sense because they are gods after all, we are just the mortal beings than ran around in the dark.

Tawhiri-ma-tea, the father of winds and storms, was furious that his brothers had so cruelly separated their parents and thrust their father away. Tawhiri-ma-tea followed his father and hid in the sky and plotted his revenge. Soon he sent down storms and squalls and fiery clouds and hurricanes to punish his brother Tane-mahuta, the father of the forests and their inhabitants, breaking off the tall trees and leaving the forests in shambles. Likewise the storms swept down on the oceans of Tangaroa, the father of fish and reptiles, and piled up waves and generated great whirlpools. Tangaroa, frightened by the havoc in oceans, dove deep to escape Tawhiri-ma-tea's wrath.

Sibling rivalry at it's very best, meanwhile Papa was getting ravaged by her wrathful son - how is that fair.  Sorry, not my place to get in the middle of a family affair, lets see how this baby turns out.

Tangaroa abandoned his two granchildren, the father of the fish and the father of the reptiles. The fish and reptiles were left not knowing what to do, and they debated how to escape the storm. Finally, the reptiles fled to the land and hid in the forests, and the fish fled for refuge to the sea. Tangaroa, angered at the reptiles' desertion and the forests' willingness to receive and protect them, now struggled with Tane-mahuta, the father of the forests and their inhabitants, who in turn fought back. Thus Tane provided the canoes, spears, and fish-hooks from the trees, and nets woven from fibrous plants, to capture the fish of Tangaroa's seas, and Tangaroa's waves attacked the shores of the forests, washing away the land and all the life it holds.

Is there a hint of the great flood there?  To me it seems like many of these creation stories have god, or gods, being so pissed off with the world in some form or another that he, she or they washed the world clean with some kind of water treatment... or is it just me?

Tawhiri-ma-tea, the god of winds and storms, also lashed out at his brothers Haumia-tikitiki, the father of food that grows without cultivation, and Rongo-ma-tane, the father of cultivated food, for their role in the separation of his parents and exile of his father. However, Papa, the earth-mother whom the brothers had taken as their home, clasped up Haumia-tikitiki and Rongo-ma-tane and held them close in her to save them from Tawhiri-ma-tea's fury.

Out from the folly of war comes the love of mother earth (nature).

Only Tu-matauenga, the father of fierce human beings, withstood Tawhiri-ma-tea's wrath as the winds and storms attacked. Tu-matauenga was impervious, having planned the death of their parents and having been abandoned by his brothers on the Earth. When Tawhiri-ma-tea's gales finally subsided, Tu-matauenga began to plan his revenge on his cowardly and weak brothers. First he turned to Tane-mahuta, the father of the forests and their inhabitants, both because Tane had abandoned him and because he knew Tane's offspring were increasing and might ultimately overwhelm Tu-matauenga's human progeny. Taking the leaves of the whanake tree, he made them into snares and hung them in the forests, where he caught Tanes's offspring and subdued the forest. Then he took on Tangaroa, the father of the seas and its life, and with nets he dragged Tangaroa's children from the seas. With a hoe and basket he dug up the children of Haumia-tikitiki, the god of food that needs no cultivation, and Rongo-ma-tane, the god of cultivated food. He dug up all kinds of plants and left them in the sun to dry, to gain revenge on those two brothers.

Wow, how childish.  I'm sure there is a lesson here soon, lets read on...

Tu-matauenga, the father of fierce human beings, thus consumed all his four brothers on Earth, and they became his food. Only one brother, Tawhiri-ma-tea, the god of winds and storms, remained unconquered, and to this day his storms attack human beings on both land and sea in revenge for the rending of Heaven and Earth.

OK, no lesson here.  This is really just a story about a) how the light was separated from the dark and b) why there is some shit weather in New Zealand sometimes.

I know this is a very young creation story which is why I expected a little more from it.  But no.  This is just as unbelievable as all the other creation stories but, as I pointed out earlier, there is the flood theme that keeps coming up.  In this story, however, there is no real timeline so no way to tell if we are talking about the same flood as the one which made Noah famous.

I write this blog because it is a passion of mine to explore the myth of god and along the way even I learn some cool stuff but it takes a lot of time and energy to write this blog.  If you enjoy reading this blog please make a donation by clicking the DONATE button on the right so I can put more time into creating a better blog.

Thank you all
Justin

BLOG PICKS - BRIAN WALSH

In his blog RATIONAL ALCHEMY Brian Walsh writes a tongue in cheek version of GENESIS 1:1 which just made me smile.  Basically speaking, Brian brings up some great points about Genesis 1 that I hadn't even thought of.  There is not much more to say about this blog but, well, I love it.  The only reason for me to write this blog is to bring attention Brian Walsh and his blog... one good blog deserves another :) 

THE FOUR CREATIONS - THE HOPI CREATION STORY

The Hopi (People of Peace) people of North Arizona have an interesting story of creation which was recorded by Oswald White Bear Fredericks in the 1950's as told by the Hopi elders.

THE FOUR CREATIONS

The world at first was endless space in which existed only the Creator, Taiowa. This world had no time, no shape, and no life, except in the mind of the Creator. Eventually the infinite creator created the finite in Sotuknang, whom he called his nephew and whom he created as his agent to establish nine universes. Sotuknang gathered together matter from the endless space to make the nine solid worlds. Then the Creator instructed him to gather together the waters from the endless space and place them on these worlds to make land and sea. When Sotuknang had done that, the Creator instructed him to gather together air to make winds and breezes on these worlds.

Do we see a familiarity here?  So the story starts off unsurprisingly with a god and as I read through I can hear the voice of an old man with a thick Native American accent telling the story.  Somehow that makes it more credible.  The same question pops into mind, what created Taiowa?  

  I digress, I'm thinking nephew may mean something different to these people.  To my logic, Taiowa created Sotuknang wouldn't that be a Father/Son deal?  I was getting excited by the thought these guys know about the Solar system and our 9 planets (now 8, sorry Pluto), which could still be the case, but they then made them out to be worlds like ours so who knows... the rest sounds like normal creation type stuff.

      The fourth act of creation with which the Creator charged Sotuknang was the creation of life. Sotuknang went to the world that was to first host life and there he created Spider Woman, and he gave her the power to create life. First Spider Woman took some earth and mixed it with saliva to make two beings. Over them she sang the Creation Song, and they came to life. She instructed one of them, Poqanghoya, to go across the earth and solidify it. She instructed the other, Palongawhoya, to send out sound to resonate through the earth, so that the earth vibrated with the energy of the Creator. Poqanghoya and Palongawhoya were despatched to the poles of the earth to keep it rotating.

Spider Woman?  Really?  So two beings were created from dirt and spit by Spider Woman and they came to life from her singing.  I think the chief was toking a little too hard from the peace pipe.

Then Spider Woman made all the plants, the flowers, the bushes, and the trees. Likewise she made the birds and animals, again using earth and singing the Creation Song. When all this was done, she made human beings, using yellow, red, white, and black earth mixed with her saliva. Singing the Creation Song, she made four men, and then in her own form she made four women. At first they had a soft spot in their foreheads, and although it solidified, it left a space through which they could hear the voice of Sotuknang and their Creator. Because these people could not speak, Spider Woman called on Sotuknang, who gave them four languages. His only instructions were for them to respect their Creator and to live in harmony with him.

There has to be some sort of translation problem here.  Spider Woman?  OK let's, for the moment, suspend our disbelief and accept the fact that Spider Woman created us out of different coloured earth; is that representative of the different races of the world?  If it is, I like it.  But still, Spider Woman?  I guess it's just as credible as a talking snake...

These people spread across the earth and multiplied. Despite their four languages, in those days they could understand each other's thoughts anyway, and for many years they and the animals lived together as one. Eventually, however, they began to divide, both the people from the animals and the people from each other, as they focused on their differences rather than their similarities. As division and suspicion became more widespread, only a few people from each of the four groups still remembered their Creator. Sotuknang appeared before these few and told them that he and the Creator would have to destroy this world, and that these few who remembered the Creator must travel across the land, following a cloud and a star, to find refuge. These people began their treks from the places where they lived, and when they finally converged Sotuknang appeared again. He opened a huge ant mound and told these people to go down in it to live with the ants while he destroyed the world with fire, and he told them to learn from the ants while they were there. The people went down and lived with the ants, who had storerooms of food that they had gathered in the summer, as well as chambers in which the people could live. This went on for quite a while, because after Sotuknang cleansed the world with fire it took a long time for the world to cool off. As the ants' food ran low, the people refused the food, but the ants kept feeding them and only tightened their own belts, which is why ants have such tiny waists today.

That is just awesome!  So, instead of a flood there was a global fire and both of which there is no evidence for.  My favorite part is the tiny waists for the ants; that is just precious!  In some ways some small areas of this story is close, bar some glaringly obvious differences, to the Genesis story.  The Hopi story seems to have a little more artistic licence though and I find it fun to read. 

Finally Sotuknang was done making the second world, which was not quite as beautiful as the first. Again he admonished the people to remember their Creator as they and the ants that had hosted them spread across the earth. The people multiplied rapidly and soon covered the entire earth. They did not live with the animals, however, because the animals in this second world were wild and unfriendly. Instead the people lived in villages and built roads between these, so that trade sprang up. They stored goods and traded those for goods from elsewhere, and soon they were trading for things they did not need. As their desire to have more and more grew, they began to forget their Creator, and soon wars over resources and trade were breaking out between villages. Finally Sotuknang appeared before the few people who still remembered the Creator, and again he sent them to live with the ants while he destroyed this corrupt world. This time he ordered Poqanghoya and Palongawhoya to abandon their posts at the poles, and soon the world spun out of control and rolled over. Mountains slid and fell, and lakes and rivers splashed across the land as the earth tumbled, and finally the earth froze over into nothing but ice.

Now the story starts to get more intriguing; the last great ice age nearly wiped out the humans.  Some managed by living in caves and others managed by constructing huts from animal hides but I don't think any of them to refuge with the ants.  As for the rest of the out of control spinning of the earth because of the poles, as all great traditions there is a silk think thread of credibility there is the form of the movement of the magnetic poles though I doubt this was known back then.  

  Shall we continue?  We left off with snowball earth...

This went on for years, and again the people lived with the ants. Finally Sotuknang sent Poqanghoya and Palongawhoya back to the poles to resume the normal rotation of the earth, and soon the ice melted and life returned. Sotuknang called the people up from their refuge, and he introduced them to the third world that he had made. Again he admonished the people to remember their Creator as they spread across the land. As they did so, they multiplied quickly, even more quickly than before, and soon they were living in large cities and developing into separate nations. With so many people and so many nations, soon there was war, and some of the nations made huge shields on which they could fly, and from these flying shields they attacked other cities. When Sotuknang saw all this war and destruction, he resolved to destroy this world quickly before it corrupted the few people who still remembered the Creator. He called on Spider Woman to gather those few and, along the shore, she placed each person with a little food in the hollow stem of a reed. When she had done this, Sotuknang let loose a flood that destroyed the warring cities and the world on which they lived.

So now we get the flood.  Took long enough, what's more is Spider Woman saves the people!  Well, not really, I mean who can survive in a reed and how massive were theses reeds?  Come to think of it, how small were these people to be able to live with the ants?  Hmmm... seems a little far fetched to me.

Once the rocking of the waves ceased, Spider Woman unsealed the reeds so the people could see. They floated on the water for many days, looking for land, until finally they drifted to an island. On the island they built little reed boats and set sail again to the east. After drifting many days, they came to a larger island, and after many more days to an even larger island. They hoped that this would be the fourth world that Sótuknang had made for them, but Spider Woman assured them that they still had a long and hard journey ahead. They walked across this island and built rafts on the far side, and set sail to the east again. They came to a fourth and still larger island, but again they had to cross it on foot and then build more rafts to continue east. From this island, Spider Woman sent them on alone, and after many days they encountered a vast land. Its shores were so high that they could not find a place to land, and only by opening the doors in their heads did they know where to go to land.

The only problem I have about this is the doors in their heads... I thought they had solidified or something.  This part is not only confusing but a little creepy. 

When they finally got ashore, Sotuknang was there waiting for them. As they watched to the west, he made the islands that they had used like stepping stones disappear into the sea. He welcomed them to the fourth world, but he warned them that it was not as beautiful as the previous ones, and that life here would be harder, with heat and cold, and tall mountains and deep valleys. He sent them on their way to migrate across the wild new land in search of the homes for their respective clans. The clans were to migrate across the land to learn its ways, although some grew weak and stopped in the warm climates or rich lands along the way. The Hopi trekked and far and wide, and went through the cold and icy country to the north before finally settling in the arid lands between the Colorado River and Rio Grande River. They chose that place so that the hardship of their life would always remind them of their dependence on, and link to, their Creator.

And they lived happily ever after.

I'm not sure if it could be said that the Hopi people still believe in the story of the four creations but the morals of the story and firmly held.  This is very obviously a story to show us how to live our lives and living peacefully with everything and respecting the creator is the Hopi way.  If only the believers in the story of Genesis could be like that, in fact if every religion could live like that we may not have any problems... maybe.


I write this blog because it is a passion of mine to explore the myth of god and along the way even I learn some cool stuff but it takes a lot of time and energy to write this blog.  If you enjoy reading this blog please make a donation by clicking the DONATE button on the right so I can put more time into creating a better blog.

Thank you all
Justin