Okay maybe it's not relevant, but the installation artist/sculptor Sandy Skoglund recently did an installation in the bathrooms at Smith College based on creation myths of various cultures. It is pretty amazing. Check it out here:
http://www.sandyskoglund.com/pages/recent/smith/smithbath.html
Somebody recently told me that some scientists believe the big bang wasn't in one place and then expanding outward, but rather everywhere all at once. That was a copernican shift for me.
Sorry I don't have a reference for you, tho.
Posted by matt on April 9, 2005 at 9:53 AMDudes, I think it was called the omega thoery or somesuch, but it basically goes along the lines of (try to follow, i'm not that smart) man creates machine and explores other worlds and shit, then machines eventually are all that's left and stuff and make more off themsleves and eventually all matter in the univers is put into a single machine with a single conscious mind, and it's all that's left. And it tries to figure out why everything happened, so it creates a universe inside it's own mind and sets things into motion (because, y'know, it's powerful enough to calculate everything down to a base level) but eventually inside it's mind the same thing happens and the machine inside the universe insid the first machines mind does the same thing and it keeps on going. It may have already happened a few times before.
Er.... that wasn't really an origen so Ill put in somehting interesting................
Did you know most of the mortars and missiles we found out in Iraq were french made? There were usually large stockpiles of misiles with nothing to fire them. All made in fucking france, no wonder they never backed us up.
The french have never once won a military conflict for hundreds of years man.
Posted by SomeBritishMarine on September 23, 2004 at 10:51 PMJane,
I believe Mr. Kelly is trying to pin-down stories that our Sciences refer to as "origins" . The Big Bang, Genesis, the Genome Project are powerful human quests asking big questions. To write it off as "enternity" is to miss out on BILLIONS AND BILLIONS AND BILLIONS of light years of evolution and measurable existence. The closer we get to knowing where it all started for all matter and all organic life, the closer we get to "knowing"...WHO ARE WE? WHAT ARE WE? WHAT MADE US? HOW FAR DOES IT GO?
Posted by Sondra Sneed on September 18, 2004 at 2:39 AMWho said it had to start?
Maybe it is eternity !
On a similar note (pin intended) I really like Big Bands.
great website. If you're interested in an alternative view of creation, from a scientific point of view, why not try my website. You'll see how creation can be born from a nothingness substance as predicted under biblical text.
Posted by peter on August 14, 2004 at 9:09 PMThe norse creation myth is not exactly parallel to the big bang theory, but it does say that in the beginning there was a universe of cold void on one side, and hot fire on the other, i.e. a polarized universe. It's very similar to Anaximander's notions of polarization and opposing forces (love and hate) being the source of process and change. The myth goes downhill from there, though, with cows licking giants from the ice, and the earth being made from the parts of the body of a giant.
Posted by Fred Mannby on May 17, 2004 at 7:06 PMI've read snippets from the book, which is made up of his lectures. It's very interesting if you enjoy Jungian theories. I haven't read the whole collection though, so I can't recommend specific portions.
Posted by Ed Davis on July 29, 2003 at 6:30 PMYon, great tip on "In the Beginning." Just what I was looking for.
And likewise from Ed: I'll order "Primal Myths." Do you know anything about the book "Creation Myths" by Von Franz?
Others: thanks for the suggestions.
Posted by Kevin Kelly on July 29, 2003 at 5:01 PMParallel Myths by J.F. Bierlein (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345381467/002-0727750-0353648?v=glance) is a great resource. It covers the myths of many civilizations and written in a manner that is very accessible.
Primal Myths : Creation Myths Around the World by Barbara C. Sproul (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060675012/002-0727750-0353648?vi=glance) is also very good, and particularly focused on creation myths.
I think that you will particularly find that in most cases, it will be the names swapped with a few details rearranged, but mostly the same old "There was nothing, and then there was something, and from it came...stuff."
Hope this has helped. I have both books and I've done a fair amount of research on the topic for academic purposes, so if you want specifics, just ask.
Posted by Ed Davis on July 24, 2003 at 5:24 AMA wonderful book called "In the Beginning" by Virginia Hamilton (1988) has a retelling in reasonable language of 25 creation stories. It's ideal for teaching Sunday School to 3/4th graders.
Phan Ku bursts from an egg. Chinese 600BC.
Gaia comes from Chaos, but, not sound effects are mentioned. The Author describes this as a Creation from Nothing creation myth.
Posted by YON - Jan C. Hardenbergh on July 24, 2003 at 4:11 AMIf memory serves, Muslim canon actually mentions a bang.
Mormon theology is postively not ex-nihilo, believing the earth was organized rather than created out of nothing... that said, some have conjectured that Mormon cannon hints at a creation in an alternate dimension and an unveiling which brought everything into this universe. But the facts are sketchy.
Posted by vis10n on July 10, 2003 at 6:04 AMthis may be obvious but the hopi creation myth is really worth checking out if you haven't already.
http://www.tamucc.edu/~whatley/padm5370/read02g.htm
Posted by sose on July 1, 2003 at 4:32 PMthe norse creation myth starts out with a region of nothing ( i believe...) that then morphs into a region of fire and a region of ice, from which gradually appear a giant and his cow, or something along those lines.
Posted by Jeff Lindberg on June 19, 2003 at 7:18 PMWhile not exactly "traditional", one explanation from Douglas Adams certainly counts as a strange mirror to the Big Bang...
In "The Restuarant at the End of the Universe", Adams writes that the Jatravartid People of Viltvodle 6 are in the firm belief that everything in existence was sneezed into existence by a creature called the Great Green Arkleseizure. They live in constant fear of the end of the world, personified in the Coming of the Great White Handkerchief.
Posted by exZERO on June 17, 2003 at 9:35 PMHinduism holds that the universe is in a continuous process of creation, maintenance, and destruction. So there isn't just one Big Bang - there are an timeless number of such.
This MSNBC article connects recent theories of the Big Bang and Hinduism:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/743539.asp
M
Posted by Mita on June 13, 2003 at 1:46 AM
Just a few relevant passages (chapter and verse) of the Quran (Koran), which is the holy book of Islam. That is the legal translation of the Arabic work. "Allah" = "God." There are many, many, more references to creation, but these will give an idea:
Translation by Usuf Abdullah Ali
********************************************
021.030
Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?
021.031
And We have set on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with them, and We have made therein broad highways (between mountains) for them to pass through: that they may receive Guidance.
021.032
And We have made the heavens as a canopy well guarded: yet do they turn away from the Signs which these things (point to)!
021.033
It is He Who created the Night and the Day, and the sun and the moon: all (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its rounded course.
********************************************
007.054
Your Guardian-Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and is firmly established on the throne (of authority): He draweth the night as a veil o'er the day, each seeking the other in rapid succession: He created the sun, the moon, and the stars, (all) governed by laws under His command. Is it not His to create and to govern? Blessed be Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds!
********************************************
067.003
He Who created the seven heavens one above another: No want of proportion wilt thou see in the Creation of (Allah) Most Gracious. So turn thy vision again: seest thou any flaw?
067.004
Again turn thy vision a second time: (thy) vision will come back to thee dull and discomfited, in a state worn out.
067.005
And we have, (from of old), adorned the lowest heaven with Lamps, and We have made such (Lamps) (as) missiles to drive away the Evil Ones, and have prepared for them the Penalty of the Blazing Fire.
********************************************
Posted by Ray Alcodray on August 25, 2005 at 7:14 PM024.035
Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star: Lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light! Allah doth guide whom He will to His Light: Allah doth set forth Parables for men: and Allah doth know all things.