Sunday, July 19, 2015

THERE IS NO 'THEY' OR 'WE' - JUST 'US'

Somewhere back in that great expanse of time when I was involved in gaining degrees from Brigham Young University, I wrote a paper about the commonality of the legends and stories among the cultures of the world regarding a universal flood having taken place. Although these stories varied in some of their details, the theme always contained the displeasure of a God or gods concerning the actions of a people or of the earth’s inhabitants, the flood which was described as covering the whole land or the whole earth and the emergence of a chastised and better people after the flood.

During my active teaching days, I had the experience of teaching a course called World Religions. During the multiple times I taught this subject I became aware that along with the common theme of the flood there were also common themes concerning the topics of the creation of the earth and the beginnings of human existence.

After many trips through the histories, doctrines, dogmas, legends and sacred writings of the religions of the world I am left without concrete evidence as to which of the stories is the most ancient, so I will relate them in a somewhat arbitrary order. Since my Thoughts are meant to be brief readings I will of necessity be leaving out a lot of details which I hope some will be motivated to explore more in depth on their own.

Since I in no way claim any expertise in the science of evolution I will not be including those theories which hold that man begin to emerge as we now know them to be about 85 million years ago. It is interesting to me that even in that field of study, primates are purported to have come from a common mother.

The aboriginal tribes of Australia and the Americas have a fairly common legend of the moment of creation of being ‘a time of dreaming.’ Although the details sometimes become fuzzy and are definitely varied, they bear in common the belief that all mankind came from a common mother figure.

China and some Germanic stories talk about two cosmic giant eggs, out of which came forth a giant whose body and limbs form the earth and the continents and eventually the inhabitants who dwell thereon. The most important parts of the giant bring forth the Asian nations while the lesser parts the rest of the inhabitants of the earth. In spite of the built in prejudices all mankind still stems from a common beginning.

Egypt, Greece and Japan all tell stories or myths about multiple gods who go through an elaborate history of chaos and affairs which ultimately result in the existence of humans with whom they have a lengthy intercourse over time. The result of all this interaction is that mankind springs forth from a common source.

We won't spend much time on India, because as with all things religious and philosophical they have a tremendous tolerance in being able to accept and adopt all stories from all cultures.

Most Christians acknowledge the creation story as found in the Torah, the Koran and the Old Testament and since my audience is familiar with this account I won't retell it in this Thought.

As is true with the common threads which weave through the universal stories of a great flood, it is likewise true that there are common threads weaving through the creation of the earth and its inhabitants. It is sufficient for today’s thought to concentrate on two of these threads and really ending up concentrating on one thread.

The first thread, which we will say but a few words about, is the creation of the physical earth. Whether the period of time was short or long or done in a time module which none of us is familiar with, we must eventually come to a common understanding that the earth came into existence and is here now.

The second thread is about the coming forth of the human race as we now know it. All religions seem to point to a single source for the beginning of our ancestors’ existence. Whether from an egg, the relationships of the gods or from a common mother, histories, legends, myths and sacred writings of all cultures seem to point to a time long ago when there was but one Family.

WHAT HAPPENED?


Whether it was because of the building of a tower or being driven north from the heat of Africa or the dispersion of the of people along the Fertile Crescent or the great wall of China no longer keeping people in or out, The Family explored, adventured, conquered and spread and became multiple families and became totally dysfunctional.

On occasion there have arisen voices of reason from some who have seen the light or had a dream, where the hope of overcoming the prejudices and myopic views of the masses and the reuniting of the Family have been preached. The walls of discord and hatred make their efforts seem like trying to knock down the

Great Wall of China with spit wads. Nevertheless, just because the piccolo is most often made insignificant by the blaring of the trumpets, does not mean that we should eliminate the sweetness and softness of the notes emanating from that soft and seemingly insignificant source.

Therefore I will add my little voice to those of centuries past.

When will brothers begin to refuse to slay brothers?

When will sisters fall upon one another’s necks as sisters?

When will we realize that there is no ‘they’ or ‘we’ – just ‘us’?

When will we begin to understand that we are Family?

AMOR – ABRAZOS – GOZO

No comments:

Post a Comment