Creation stories have fascinated me for years. I grew up with a religious background that encouraged the exploration of the spiritual texts and stories of other religions and cultures.
In elementary school I remember reading a story that has stuck with me for years. It's a creation story in which God asks the wolf (or possibly a coyote but for the purposes of this blog post I'll tell it as a wolf) creature to create humans. The wolf realizing the importance of this task asks the other animals for their input and suggestions. The animals gather for a meeting that dissolves into an arguement. Soon one of the animals suggests they build their idea of what humans should look like in clay. At once the animals set to do this. However each animal has fashioned their animal into the image of themselves. The animals work on the clay versions of themselves and then one by one decide to take a nap. The wolf looks around at the creatures' creations and thinks of aspects of each one of them as well as characteristic of the animals that didn't attend the meeting such as the fish. He decides to incorporate aspects of all the animals. Quickly he goes around and pours water on all the other clay figures, destroying them and sets to creating his own. As the animals wake up they realize what the wolf did but it's to late to rebuild. The animals watch as the wolf finishes his creation and breathes life into it. This story happens to be the one that captivated my interest as a nine year old, but it is simply one of many different stories from around the world. These stories allowed people to answer tough questions about where they came from.
For centuries people have tried to understand the world they live in and how they came to be. They tried to answer the question of where they came from in these stories and myths. I'm focusing my research of religion and mythology solely on creation stories. As we discussed one creation story in class today and I begin my research I'm realizing that my research might take me close to the divide between religion and science. Creation stories are one of the biggest clashes between the two (creationism vs evolution). Living in today's world the conflict over the "theory of evolution" is huge. Creation stories have always fascinated me but they are not central to my core beliefs nor do I hold them as truth. However in some other religions they are held as fact. As science improves we continue to find evidence that contradicts these creation stories. Sometimes reading these stories with their magic I wonder if we lose something when we toss aside these stories. I feel that as I continue my research I will be exploring the purpose and meaning behind the stories and what we lose when we reject them completely in favor of science. I'm finding it almost impossible to research or talk about creation stories without discussing the religion vs science divide.
Lilia,
ReplyDeleteI love your research topic. Creation stories are always fascinating and I feel an essential part of culture, which is sadly being depleted of these amazing stories due to today's obsession with science and proving things with fact. I'm curious at how you're going to further your approach to this, as you state that creation stories are not central to your core beliefs nor do you hold them as truth. You also say that the central argument, per-se, to these stories is the aspect of religion vs. science. When talking about these creation stories do you have select religions in mind or just a few you come across as you do your research? Will there be a main point/religion/creation story you focus on when talking about the religion vs. science divide in your research paper or are you still deciding on what to do for that? In today's world science is so prevalent that, as you say, it's hard to wonder if these stories will start to die out because they have such a magical element to them. I hope you devote a small portion of your research to this idea - of them losing their magic among many young readers as they become brain-washed in such a scientifically bound world. I'm curious to how your paper end up, but I'm sure whatever you write will be fantastic. Good luck!
Lilia, I remember you mentioning this in class one day. You seem to really enjoy the topic and I think it's a really neat idea! Are you going to focus on that specific creation story that you mentioned in the post? I think you have a lot of great ideas for this research paper and some really good details. Can't wait to hear more about your topic! Good luck on your paper!
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