Summary creation and the cosmos PDF

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CREAT IO N AND

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THE COSMOS

be insncompotioiofthe c nni os mos. But we shou ld take th ese sto ries as a pro voca ti o n to th in k h ard e r a bout wh at ''scien tific" th in king re ally is. How are our beliefs abou t atomic particles differe n t from ancient beliefs about the powe r of earth and sky? C lea rly, the bards and poets who told most of these stories were not interested in conduct ing verifiable or falsifiable experim ents to find out how the world works . In th a t sense, they were "unscientific.'' But it does not follow that they were un so ph istica ted in th eir thin king. The , ,, ,11 ) a

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auth ors of the ea rliest survivin g texts were alrea dy responding in comp lex ways to a lon g se t o f o ra l and writte n tra di tions . Nor were these stories immediately suppla nted by later ways of thinking and writing. Mythological traditions about the origins of the universe in sp ired th e beg in nings of sc ie n ce a nd info rme d la te r d isc uss io ns of phi losop hy, history, and theology. Th e work of the ea rly G ree k th ink e rs w ho are of te n seen as the first scientists - the "pre-Socrat ics"- includcs some critique of tradi tional theology and myth; Xenoph anes, for inst ance, suggested that Homer and Hesiod (whose Theogon:y in cl ud es th e ea rlies t Greek myths about the origins of th e god s) are bo th "im p ious'' in the ir

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de pic tio n of the go ds com m itt ing adul tery. The earliest ''scientific" or "philo sophical'' th oug h t s till bel o ngs to the tra d itio n of H es iod , a lth oug h e n ti ties like ''wate r," "fire," ''air, " and '' mind" are su bst it uted for the na med deities who npp l'n rt·d in I hl' a rc haic k'ih (lik e C:a ia

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philosopher-poet Lucretius challenges the idea that ·we need to imagine divine creators for the (purely material) world, but he makes extensive poetic usc of the cosmological tradition even as he rejec ts it. This selection includes a range of texts, from the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish and the archaic Greek Theogony, thr.ough fragments of Ionian "pre-Socratic" philosophy, and on to the poetry of Lucretius. The continuity of mythical elements across the Babylo nian , Greek, and Roman cultures including the story of divine creation followed by a massive flood-suggests that the ancient Mediterranean world had a common heritage. Ancient cosmogonies do not usuallv begin ½ith creation ex nihilo ("fro nothing''). Rather, they present some kind of primeval matter - often personi fied forms of earth, sky, and water from vvhich the world took shape; the Akkadian epic Enmna Elish begins by imagining a time before the heaven and earth had names, and the text tells a story of progressively more-detailed processes of naming. In several stories, such as The Epic of Gilgmnesh , the separation of heaven and earth and their ensuing reunion fu el the creation of humankind and the development of civilization. These works also trace the ways that human life has changed since it began. The change may be prese nted , as in the Hebrew Bible and in the Greek myths of the Golden Age recorded by Hes iod, as a fall from a state of inno cence and grace. Alternatively, contem pora1y culture may be imagined as an

improvement on an old, primitive life, as in the Greek myth of Prometheus, who brought fire and technology to helpless humanity. Both these mythical pattern s- the idea of decline and the idea of progress- are essen tial to the way that human being s imagine them selves and their place in the world.

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/,11111111'l1111l 1·11lt111·t•. a ti vely new one i11 11111111111 hi sto r y. There is no word for the uni verst·' " one entity in Sumerian or Akkadian the langua ges spoken by the mos tancient Mesopotamian peoples (fro111 the sixth millennium B.C.E. onwar d). Rather, the universe is conceived 11s 11 combination of several constitue nt s and designated by terms such as An-11· 111 di vine int erve ntio n ca n all be c pl11i111•d in mater ia l ter ms; ma tte r is co111po 1•d of atoms, whic h are in a co nsla111 l,111' of random motio n, und this in itw ll 1•, sufficie nt to exp la in the p heno11H·1111 th a t we see a ro und us. O nc ol' tl11• m os t ch alle n g ing as pccls I , ll t'l'l' I i11 '.. work is th e int e rp lay bet wce11 tlw " I e n tific and the poe tic, and hell-H'l' II l lw ma terialist and the myt holo g irn I. h 11 in sta n ce , Luc re tius denies t hnt lhl· goclk di rec t th e world, yet he hq1,,i11 11"1 p o e m ,-vith a bea utiful , movin g d1·,l·1·1 p tion of how the godd ess Ven us 1·w1l11, 11, e very aspec t of life on ca rt h.

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111, , 1· .ig1·1'1y fo l low whe reve r you may lead) _; . , , , , 11 , ,,, sns a nd moun ta in s a nd h un ge rm g nve rs \ 11,1 (111, ll'nl'-s prin gi ng ho mes of the bird s and th e gree ningh el d s , 111111 i1ll lir ar ts yo u s tri ke your lur e of love 111 ct l,1 dl' i rc they p rop agate th eir kinds. \ c h i ,1,1 111·· ii is yo u a lo ne who gove rn th e bi r th \ , 11 I µ1 . , 1111h of thin gs, sin ce no thin g witho ut o u 1 ,11 lw µ.lad ur lovely or rise to th e shores of hght, I 1 1 1 1111 t o bcl'rie nd me as l tr y I 11 111 11 tl1l • c ve rses On the Nature of 11iin gs I 111 1111 l'rk-ud Memmius whom you, godd es s, have eve r 1 11 1 1 •d lo exc el, acco mp lishe d in all thin gs. \II t l w1 11or c , go d dess, gr a nt the m la s tin g grace! I 11 1I1 , • 1111·m1ti me let the savage works of war II, ,I ,·.i, ,, s l um be ring over land and sea. I 111 1 1111 alo n e c a n bless us mortal me n \\ 11 1 q c iic t peace ; Mars, p ote n t of arms, holds sway 111 1.. ,1111·, but surr e nde rs at yo ur bosom, \ 1 1 q1 ii, lw cl b y th e e t e r nal wou nd of lo ve. t 111 11·, his c hi s el e d n ec k th ro w n bac k, he gapes at you, 1 1, ,, ld1·" , :111d f'ec d s his gree dy eyes with love; 1 1 , n · li11c s ; h is s pir it lin gers upon your

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lips. \ 11 I t 111µ 11ho ut him , godd ess , as he r sts . · hol y bod y, po ur from your bp s sweet noth mgs, •,, 1 l.111 , rt·nowne d one, quie t peace for Ro me. I 111 I 1 · n111iol wo rk wit h a cle a r mind while my cou ntry 1 111 1 1 111

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