 Spiritual: March 11, 2009 Issue [#2929] |
  Spiritual
This week: Edited by: Sophurky  
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Hi, I'm Sophurky ~ your editor for this edition of the Spiritual Newsletter. This week we'll talk about writing our own creation stories.
The Rev. Scotty McLennan, author of the book Finding Your Religion, compares humanity's innate need for spiritual searching to climbing a mountain. In his view, we are all endeavoring to climb the same figurative mountain in our search for the divine, we just may take different ways to get there. In other words, there is one "God," but many paths. I honor whatever path or paths you have chosen to climb that mountain in your quest for the Sacred.  |
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In the Beginning -- Writing Your Creation Story
Genesis 1:1-3
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. While a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.
From the Pima Indians of Arizona:
In the beginning there was only darkness everywhere – darkness and water. And the darkness gathered in thick places, crowding together and then separating, crowding and separating …
From the Upanishads:
In the beginning there was only the great self reflected in the form of a person. Reflecting, it found nothing but itself. Then its first word was, “This am I.”
One of the most powerful writing exercises that I have ever take part in was one in which I was invited to write my own "creation" story. With complete and utter respect for the religious/spiritual traditions of everyone in the group, and our adherence to and belief in creation stories that came from those traditions, we were asked to set those aside temporarily (and respectfully) for the purpose of the exercise, and write our own version of a "creation story" based on our values, perspectives, and our own personal experiences of the Sacred. It is important to note that we were not being asked to discard our beliefs in the creation stories from our religious traditions and "own" these new stories, nor were the traditional stories treated with disrespect in anyway. Solely as a writing exercise that would also tap into and reflect our spiritual cores, we were asked to write a story describing how the world and the rest of creation came into being.
The exercise was grounded in the notion that it is in the nature of humans to wonder about the unknown and search for answers. One of the most common thing people wonder about is where we came from. Whether it involves searching for answers about the origins of our individual birth (“Mommy, where did I come from?”) or a more cosmic question regarding the creation of the universe, human beings share a common desire to know how it all began. Thus, at the foundation of nearly every culture there is a creation story that attempt to explain, from their unique perspective, how the wonders of the earth came to be. These stories stem from the beliefs and culture of a particular people and, once created, tend to have an immense influence on their beliefs and frames of reference for their future as the story is shared from generation to generation. In other words, the stories reflect the culture, and then influence the way people of that culture think about the world and their place in it. It is interesting to note that despite being separated by their place in the world and their place in time, many cultures developed creation stories with similar basic elements (as you can see from the three quoted above).
While the stories found in Genesis 1 and 2 are among the most well-known, most other creation stories predate the Genesis versions by many thousands of years, as primitive inhabitants from all parts of the globe including Australian aboriginals, African tribes, Aztecs of South America, and North American Indians all included creation mythology as a central part of their religious and cultural beliefs. Other civilizations had creation stories that also predate Genesis, the most well-known of which is the Enuma Elish. The creation stories that I have always liked best come from Native American traditions, many of which invoke the image of the earth sitting on the back of a great turtle. In many of the stories the “god” figure is called Great Spirit, and animals often have a central role in the plot. My favorite creation story comes from a Native American tribe in northern California, and while it doesn’t go into detail about how the earth itself was created, it depicts a lovely tale of how humanity came into being. If I were to claim my own creation story, it would be very similar to this one, which goes like this...
Everything else is already in place - the trees and mountains, stars and oceans. Even the animals are already there. And so, with the help of Coyote, Great Spirit finally gets around to making the humans. He gathers multi-colored bark from many trees, some seeds, flowers and grasses, some feathers from great birds and some discarded fur from bear and wolf and mixes them all together with some mud to make a man and a woman. Coyote and Great Spirit then hide behind a tree so the people can't see them when they wake up, and they wait. After a little while, the woman wakes up - she sits up and looks around, rubs the sleep out of her eyes and admires the beauty of the creation that surrounds her. Then she notices the man lying next to her, still sleeping. She sees an eagle feather on the ground nearby, which she picks up and uses to tickle the man under his chin. And the man wakes up, laughing. 
Creation stories produced many thousands of years ago reflect the cultural beliefs and values of those people, expressing ideas that are perceived by some people and cultures to be truths at a deeper, more symbolic level. But they don’t necessarily convey our modern values or understandings of the universe. So even though we may believe in and feel strongly about the creation story from our own religious perspective, and believe it to be true -- what if you were asked to manufacture your own creation story, for the purpose of your own spiritual reflection and as a writing exercise -- what would it include? What values and beliefs would be part of your story to symbolize those greater, deeper truths that you hold dear? What would be most important to your story? How would people and animals fit in? That was the task given to me and as I said before, it was a valuable writing exercise both in terms of writing AND spiritual introspection.
I would love to hear from some of you if you are willing to take on this exercise -- and if you send me the results I'll feature them in next month's newsletter! Again please understand this is in no way meant to discredit the creation story from your own faith tradition -- rather it is meant to be a significant way for you to connect with the Sacred in terms of crafting your own creation story.
Sophurky |
Below you'll find some creation stories, or personal musings about a creation story from other WDC members. Please let the folks know if you read their piece by leaving a thoughtful comment or review.
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A creation story - no real religious background or anything, just an idea.
#1356814 by Charmaine  |
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Now for a few comments about my last newsletter on love 
From larryp
Highly commendable newsletter about love Sophy. If you don't mind, in my next newsletter, I may issue a challenge to others, in response to your newsletter, to write a poem or love letter about love without using the word 'love.' I know you have challenged me to do so.
Thanks for an inspirational newsletter.
Larry
I don't mind at all -- it's a great prompt, and really challenges the poet in all of us!
  
From SHEA
Thank you Sophy, and congratulations are in order for your wonderfully factual and eye opening dialogue.
I want to fall in Love with YOU! Happy Valentine's!
In Christ,
Sheamus
Awww thanks, glad you enjoyed the newsletter!
From Katya the Poet 
Nice newsletter! (And thank you for using my poem!) I loved having the definitions laid out like that--and so much to mull over here.
Thanks for the comment, glad you enjoyed it, and hope you got some nice reponses to your poem.
Please keep your comments and suggestions coming, they are greatly appreciated! And on behalf of myself and the other regular Spiritual Newsletter Editors larryp and kittiara -- thanks for reading!
Until next time! Sophurky
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