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Comparing and contrasting creation myths
Comparing and contrasting creation myths
Comparing and contrasting creation myths
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Creation Myth In the beginning… There was only water and bare, empty land. In the center of this nothingness was a great mountain. This mountain stood tall and proud and it reached all the way into the heavens. At the very top of this mountain lived a pair of every kind of animal. In the center of this heaven grew a tree. This tree was not just any tree, it was the sacred tree of life, and it was not to be harmed in any way. Among the diverse group of animals was a pair of giraffes. The female giraffe had grown tired of eating the same old leaves and fruits. Being strong-willed and stubborn she decided that she just had to try a fruit from the sacred tree. She convinced her husband to accompany her and to be one of the first ones to taste this great, unknown fruit. Reluctantly her vacillating husband agrees. He tells himself that the consequences couldn’t be that bad, after all its only a tree. The pair reach the tree and begin to devour the delicious fruits. As they ate, they were oblivious to the great winds that had begun to blow. The winds continued to pick up speed and then with one strong gust every pair of animals is blown right off the mountain to the bare lands below. All the Animals are bewildered as they try to figure out what caused this. Finally the giraffes step forward admit to their part in the dilemma and take they blame. The animals are furious, but being sensible put aside their anger and decide to deal with the situation on hand. All the ...
Simmons estimates crude oil prices to average $24 WTI for 2000 and $21 WTI for 2001, with 1Q00 at $28, 2Q00 at $24, 3Q00 at $23 and 4Q00 at $21. For 2001, they see 1Q01 at $22, 2Q01 at $20, 3Q01 at $21 and 4Q01 stable at $21. Their thesis, relying on inventory-price dependence, is as follows.
In Christianity, trees were viewed as a primary source of life and knowledge, exhibited in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:9). Denver used trees as a safe haven for her; a safe place where she can hide from her mother after the trauma that transpired the night that crawling already? was killed. “Veiled and protected by the live green walls, she felt ripe and clear, and salvation was as easy as a wish,”(Morrison, 29). Contrasting with the safety of the trees for Denver, Sethe’s idea of trees has much darker connotations. As a child, she saw “Boys hangin’ from the most beautiful sycamores in the world. It shamed her-remembering the wonderful soughing trees rather than the boys,” (Morrison 6). For Sethe, the symbolism of trees has been twisted into viewing trees not as hope, but as death, and the pain from her past. As Amy had observed, the scars on Sethe only served as reminders of her painful time at Sweet Home, where she had very little hope for the future. A lesson that should be derived from this book is that the perspective from which you look at the past could help it become less painful. Sethe is too focused on the pain of her past, so therefore she is unable to see trees as they were meant to be seen, while Paul D views them as a pathway to second chances. He views trees as “inviting; things you could trust and be ear; talk to if you wanted to as he frequently did since way back when he took the midday meal in the fields of Sweet Home,” (Morrison,
First of all, in The Giraffe, people want to harm the tall animal because it creates an uncomfortable atmosphere, which can be seen through the reactions of many characters. As a result, everyone, except the boys, misunderstands the habits of the giraffe, and wants to kill it at the end. One clear example of a negative reaction to the presence of the giraffe can be shown through the police officer’s reaction to the presence of the giraffe: “[…] the policeman who came and said, ‘if you don’t take it away, I’ll kill it with my revolver’ (Senesi 3).” The officer of the law looks upon the giraffe from Africa as if it is a criminal. Since the ...
Myths – as they are known to most of the world – give insight into the pasts of various countries and religions as the people saw them. They have been used to explain phenomenons in nature or describe the tales of courageous and important men and women throughout history. Creation myths in particular define how the Earth itself was created, along with the universe, heavens, hell, people, and creatures that exist today. Genesis of Christian mythology, for instance, tells the story of how the single deity God spoke and formed everything from day and night to man and woman. Various African creation myths, such as with the Yoruba, explain the creation of the Earth through at least a couple gods working together and all life sprouting from a seed. But all share a common themes, such as a form of chaos or nothingness before life is created. Joseph Campbell notes that “... the idea of an absolute ontological distinction between God and man – or between gods and men, divinity and nature - first became an important social and psychological force in the near East, specifically Akkad, in the period of the first Semetic Kings, c. 2500 B.C.,” showing another similar trait – a god or set of gods exists to create in each story (626). Joseph Campbell makes a comparison of how both Genesis and the Book of the Dead of Egypt share the same idea of their bodies belonging to their god in some way, or being reabsorbed into them at death (630-631). Others, like the Japanese and Iroquois creation myths, claim the Earth was once covered entirely of water before land was formed. Adam and Eve of Genesis and Izanagi and sister Izanami of Shintoism provide examples of myths that share both a passive and active pair of people who eventually create the Earth's population. In any case, certain popular creation myths, some closely tied to prominent religions, share more common characteristics than others. An entire sub-study, called comparative mythology, gives insight into this subject.
The giraffe conveys a strong message about how humans have an inability both emotionally and intellectually to deal with any kind of change. In this story a giraffe was brought in to the town by a merchant, lots of the people in the town were scared and frightened by the giraffe entering in the town. The people living there did not want to keep “the beast” in their town, showing their intolerance towards anything that changes or that is new. The intolerance was to such extremes that he people were ready to kill the animal, “We 'll have to kill the giraffe” (Senesi 30). The refusal to accept change in this story is a direct reflection of our society today. People are still scared to accept
In 2004, crude oil producers around the world expected a 1.5% growth in the world’s demand for crude oil. The actual growth rate was more than double the projections at 3.3%. This growth was due to rapidly industrializing of foreign countries such as, China and India. Therefore the lack of crude oil affected the supply of gasoline to consumers at the pump.
The creation myths that I have studied are similar in many ways. They also have differences that show an inherently different way of thinking about the world. All have creators-gods that make the world into what is now. There are conflicts within their world, and these conflicts change the face world. God to god or human to god maybe be involved in these conflicts. Their bloody struggles prove who is more powerful, causing change in the control of the world. Some gods are beneficial to man and others are self-serving, using man only as a tool.
Throughout history man has searched for an explanation of our origins and why we are here. Many creation myths are attempts of our ancestors to do just that. I have found in reading many of these creation myths, that there is also an attempt to explain why human existence is imperfect. The following essay will compare and contrast four creation myths and their explanation of how mans imperfection came to be.
Can religions and cultures be anything more than their history? Why do we have a concept of history in the first place? Obviously history exists, but like the human ability to conceive of the future, history seems to be a rare phenomenon tied with our ability for language and the telling of stories. What’s even more fascinating is the human ability to make up a history or to tell a story, such as a creation myth, that seeks to explain something that has not been witnessed by anyone and does not have any role in finding food or creating shelter. We do not have a physical need to know how the earth came to be or to know how it is that we came to be here. Still, creation stories exist in almost all human cultures and, amazingly, many share many of the same elements. The question is, why? Is it a coincidence that so many of them share the same elements? By looking at a comparison of two creation stories, we should be able to understand the meaning of these similarities better.
Taxation has always been a major controversy. Just like any major corporation, the government is constantly looking to raise revenue. The easiest and fairest way to do this is by taxing the people. However, how the people will be taxed is always an issue.
The budget plan has announced the “Scheme $6,000” this year. It is a scheme that people who have Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card aged 18 or above can get $6000 from government. People who choose to defer receipt $6000 can have $200 bonus. It seems that it is a good policy for people: low-income group can have this subsidy to solve their financial problem; the others can save it, or use it to buy their favourite items. But when we think it seriously, is it really a helpful subsidy for low income group? Does the government only consume this bulk of $6000 and $200 bonus? Is it an efficient and fast process to give $6000 to people’s hand? Up to now, the “Scheme $6,000” has used almost 8 months to plan and work the delivery process. Compare to the delivering money process of Macau in recent years; it is a non-efficient and time-consuming way to plan and deliver. In this essay, we would focus on 4 aspects: time used, cost consumed, human resources and the long-term benefit. To find that is “Scheme $6,000” really benefit both government and Hong Kong people or not.
Ever since then the deforestation for resources has dramatically increased to an alarming rate. Every second we lose an area of two football fields and every week an area twice as big as Rhode Island. The Rainforests once covered fourteen percent of the Earth compared to the two percent now. In the...
Throughout the past twenty years there have been several drastic changes in oil prices. These dramatic shifts are helpful to look at because of their impact upon the economy and the oil industry. During this time period there are three major shifts in oil price that can be linked to specific events in world history (Miller, 1998). First, the Arab oil embargo of 1973 caused a widespread oil crisis and brought crude oil from three dollars a barrel to a staggering twelve dollars a barrel. Second, the 1979 Iranian revolution caused another crisis that brought crude oil prices to an all time high of thirty-six dollars per barrel. Finally, the third major shift occurred in 1991 due to the Persian Gulf War (Miller, 1998).
Also, music might be looked at as an outlet for today’s angry and energized teen. Without this outlet of stress and complete angst, maybe the suicide rate would increase, or the school shootings number would go up? Teens will continue to listen to such music that their parents loathe, nothing will change that; this may be looked at as a good thing from my point of view.
On the edge of a small wood, an ancient tree sat hunched over, the gnarled, old king of a once vast domain that had long ago been turned to pasture. The great, gray knees gripped the hard earth with a solidity of purpose that made it difficult to determine just where the tree began and the soil ended, so strong was the union of the ancient bark and grainy sustenance. Many years had those roots known—years when the dry sands had shriveled the outer branches under a parched sun, years when the waters had risen up, drowning those same sands in the tears of unceasing time.