Ancient Greek Creation Myths - Ultimate Theories

This will now be a 2-part post since I recently deleted an old website of mine and decided to first combine the related pages together before I start spreading out all the stand-alone articles amid multiple blogs and whatnot. But back to the subject at hand...

Part 1: "Creation Myths - Ancient Greek"

Even though classical mythology has several versions/stories of creation, I won't spend much time on it; mainly because many creation theories are similar, in my opinion. Ancient Greek's creation myths set the stage for many of the goddesses and gods who were supposedly dwelling on the famous Mount Olympus.

One myth states: In the very beginning, it was total darkness and absolute nothingness...and this dark void was known as chaos. Amid all of this "nothingness" there came a goddess called "Eurynome"...as she took the form of a Dove and laid an egg. Then, a serpent (sound familiar?) by the name of "Orphion" coiled itself around the egg. As the serpent incubated the egg of life, it finally hatched and out poured all things that exist.

Another myth involves Gaia, Mother Earth, & Uranus, the sky, making love. Uranus then, sent water upon her land which provided seas, oceans, and lakes...and in return, this yielded life and the first inhabitants (Cyclopes & Hundred-Handed Giants) that dwelled on this planet.

Editor's comment: I found the first myth to be especially interesting, with the correlation between the traditional biblical stories of Adam & Eve, the tree of life and the serpent. Although, it is not exactly the same, but it was a similar scenario, regardless. It also reminds me of Yin & Yang theories. Think about the first myth: Dove (good) + Serpent (evil) = Everything. Sort of balanced, but yet, chaotic. The second myth introduces the well-known Mother Earth, Gaia. With or without mythology, Mother Earth is an entity that many of us acknowledge. It wouldn't be a good idea to piss her off, either. Even though, us crafty, polluting humans of today, seem to be doing a good job at violating our planetary terms of agreement, if you know what I mean...

Update: Well, since I recently mentioned it in the comment field, I suppose that I need to provide a link to that other related post, here:  "The Ultimate Queries - Creation Theories" [Link is no longer active, but it is now Part 2 of this post.]

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Part 2: "The Ultimate Queries - Creation Theories"

Original Post Date: 5-3-2010

Who created all of this? What is this for? Why is that? Where did that come from?

Life brings many questions, but some are greater than others. As with new answers attained, you’ll find more complex questions that are often left unanswered……

Big Bang Theories, Religions, Philosophy, Greek Mythology…

Ultimate Queries & Creation Theories:

This is unlike most creationists versus evolutionists rants, and religions versus science debates, as they get nowhere besides feverish turmoil, confusion, and disagreements. This is simply a thought-provoking post, while trying for the impossible: to get people to agree that nobody knows, for sure, the answers or reasons for our actual existence.

I’m sure many of us inquisitive folks have pondered many times about problems that involve who, what, why and where? Yes, some of us are unduly curious while many people couldn't care less. Then, we have the special ones that claim to know all the answers to life – while not really knowing about anything, in general.

I’ll simply go over a few commonly talked about scenarios, beliefs, queries, and theories – while giving links for further information.

I’ll go ahead and start this off with a bang:

Yes, “The Big Bang Theory” seems to be the archrival to Christianity and a few other religions. I’ve seen some hellish ‘science versus religion’ debates in my day, and it is like entering into a land where everyone has their own personal jargon. These types of debates, often split up into 3 or 4 factions: Religion, Science, Agnostic, and the “I don’t know anything, but I hate all of y’all” types. Of course, there is more, but why waste the time on it…

Okay, now back to the big bang theory. This is one of the most widely accepted theories in science – when it comes to the birth of the universe. To be put in elementary terms, the belief is basically that the matter/atoms in the universe were once together and then, BANG! Everything exploded into space and from that point, the cosmos is constantly & perpetually expanding into the unknown. With the rudiments put in perspective to the plausibility of this belief, I’ve read about different variations and misconceptions of the Big Bang Theory – in the past, but simply put, it goes boom, bang! …and eons & eons later, we get to sit at our computer desks and talk about how clueless we are within this cyberspace community, as to what really happened and why we are here, etc. For more information about this scientific theory, click here.

Expansion of Life via Big Bang Theory:

Galactic, forward movement; hey, where are your dust particles at; oh, okay, I see ya now, fellow earthling...ha-ha! 

Have you ever had feelings of deja vu? Sort of like you have been somewhere before…or for a brief moment, you almost feel that this has already happened before? The reason that I ask, is because I once contemplated about: what if the universe is perpetually existing by exploding, expanding, forming, collapsing…then back to exploding, expanding, re-forming, collapsing again, and so on. Time is not a factor, when it comes to the small scale of us humanoids, dust particles, and/or specks of the universe. This ‘collapse theory’ comes from the idea that the universe will be eventually collapsing on its own self – due to gravity – after it has expanded to a certain distance from the prior “bang.” Anyway, it was just a thought… Creation theories have always perplexed my mind to no end because to me, they are the ultimate questions in life.

While we are still on science: Evolution, to me, has nothing to do with creation theories. Evolution neither proves or disproves an intelligent design or the existence of God or deities. Even if something is created, it is free to evolve with the ever-changing conditions; that’s just the way life is. One thing that is definitely in the scientific minds’ corner, is that they often use deductive reasoning with the goal to only believe in what they can prove. Now, the advantageous aspects of other philosophical beliefs & religions, is that they have the advantage when it comes to filling in gaps with imagination or assumptions based on dogma or personal/individual philosophy due to self-experience in this current plane of existence – which, has its own benefits at times, but is usually hard to uphold these claims of awareness in intellectual debates and whatnot.  Anyway, I wrote about what I think about this, here:  The Theory of Evolution and the Missing Link between Homo sapiens and the Homo erectus

Religions: Oh me, where do I start? Most religions, outside of a few ancient, mythical creation beliefs, probably have one of the most simple-minded viewpoints when it comes to creation stories. Christianity and several other bible-based religions has been pelted with unanswered queries, over the years. I’m sure many of us have heard, when arguing creation theories with religions and their bible that is adhered to their brain, the comebacks “it doesn’t have to explain that” or “it is not meant for us to know this yet” or other vague statements like “it is part of the divine plan.” Well, thanks a lot. That really helped me find an answer.

Personally, I don’t have any problem with religion, science, philosophy, or people who have no beliefs whatsoever. I think it should be kept a personal, spiritual or non-spiritual belief that shouldn’t be forced on others or organized for massive, monetary collections. If you want to get together and donate money to a good cause, you don’t need the offering plate to dictate your spending power.

I’m not getting deep into religions on this page, since I’d rather not see a fire-breathing ‘comment field’ with senseless ramblings – that’s what the online forums are for, ha-ha!

The only point being made here, is that when it comes to religion & creation stories: it is merely simple ideas without a lot of answers to queries. In a way, it is good because if you believe in your religion, you don’t waste time on trying to unravel the reasons for the universe. Then again, if you do decide to try and decode the property of infinity into something plausible, please, let me know about your findings… Plus, if I wanted to provide entertainment from a religion in a blog format, I would revert back to another post I wrote, here: What is up with the crazy Pentecostal Churches?

Taoism: I classify this as “philosophy” and not a religion. Now, philosophical belief systems like this, don’t focus on eternal damnation or a blissful heaven, as they speak about a way of life in relation to the Earth and the Cosmos, but never install tyrannical fear into your lives. I suppose that the most seemingly nefarious word spoken in such philosophies is perhaps the term "nothingness," but there is nothing wicked about that term once you understand it. True philosophy isn’t meant to answer everything, it is more or less a way to live in harmony with your surroundings. To read more about this particular philosophy, click here.

Ancient Greek Creation Theories: There are a few out there, but the one I’m going to bring up, sort of relates, in my opinion, to the biblical story about Adam & Eve, the serpent and the tree of knowledge. One myth states: (I rephrased it) “In the very beginning, it was total darkness and absolute nothingness…and this dark void was known as chaos. Amid all of this “nothingness” there came a goddess called “Eurynome”…as she took the form of a Dove and laid an egg. Then, a serpent (sound familiar?) by the name of “Orphion” coiled itself around the egg. As the serpent incubated the egg of life, it finally hatched and out poured all things that exist.”

This also reminds me of Yin & Yang concepts, with a balance of opposing forces. Obviously, there is a lot of symbolic talk, fanciful statements, and colorful metaphors in biblical stories & mythology, that shouldn’t be took literally and should be simply categorized as ‘human expression’…

I recently did a blog post on “Why Myths are Noteworthy” that may shine some light on why myths matter.

Conclusion: Basically, this page has provided no ultimate answers, just bringing more doubt to be installed into those evolving brains out there. As usual, if you do have something you want to enlighten me with, feel free to drop down some opinions in the ‘comment field’… Don’t be shy, I’m just your typical ignorant individual orbiting in this awesome solar system and simply trying to aspire in this thing we call life……

---End of Part 2: "The Ultimate Queries - Creation Theories"

Related Link: Video: 10 Crazy Theories about our Existence...

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