03-11-2014, 07:29 PM
I've been giving a lot of thought lately to the idea of cultures and tradition assigning their own versions of creation myths in the context of time being circular.
The "real" creation would have taken place up to an infinite number of turnings of the Wheel ago. So let's think about creation myths starting with our own, present day theories and working backward.
A few examples:
Big Bang theory - scientific theory
Genesis accounts of creation
Popol Vuh
Māori myths
Greek cosmogonical myths
Sumerian creation myths (oldest)
So on and so forth...
Clearly many of these seem preposterous to "modern, scientific minds," but at the height of their tellings, were accepted as fact.
Let me ask the question. What is the creation myth in the Wheel of Time books?
The universe and the Wheel of Time are brought into existence by the Creator. At the moment of creation, the Creator's antithesis, the Dark One, is also brought into existence. The Creator imprisons the Dark One in a prison outside the pattern.
The Third Agers clearly believed this as truth. The Aes Sedai taught it, after all.
But could it be a myth based on who-knows-what just like all the other creation myths? Other than the fact that we know there is a Dark One, what if it's based on nothing at all that even closely resembles the truth of creation, or anything since?
The "real" creation would have taken place up to an infinite number of turnings of the Wheel ago. So let's think about creation myths starting with our own, present day theories and working backward.
A few examples:
Big Bang theory - scientific theory
Genesis accounts of creation
Popol Vuh
Māori myths
Greek cosmogonical myths
Sumerian creation myths (oldest)
So on and so forth...
Clearly many of these seem preposterous to "modern, scientific minds," but at the height of their tellings, were accepted as fact.
Let me ask the question. What is the creation myth in the Wheel of Time books?
The universe and the Wheel of Time are brought into existence by the Creator. At the moment of creation, the Creator's antithesis, the Dark One, is also brought into existence. The Creator imprisons the Dark One in a prison outside the pattern.
The Third Agers clearly believed this as truth. The Aes Sedai taught it, after all.
But could it be a myth based on who-knows-what just like all the other creation myths? Other than the fact that we know there is a Dark One, what if it's based on nothing at all that even closely resembles the truth of creation, or anything since?