Entry #12: If YOU created the world, and I created the world...who's flying the plane???

                

                 

(I take absolutely every ounce of responsibility for these dumb titles)
Nyello~

I hope everyone had a good fall break! I went home and saw my friends and pets. But, here we are, back to the grind!

                  So, creation stories! There are tons of them, and I find them all really fun to read. So many people think our world exists for a reason and we search high and low for that reason. It’s genuinely fascinating. I think it’s best to always look at these stories without a religious lens, though. It’s better to put bias aside when reading them so you can better understand the thought that went into the story.

                  Of course, then we get to the semi-biblical ones. The stories that loosely follow the Biblical creation story, but not quite. I think some tend to immediately rebuke these stories. It feels like someone is trying to rewrite a story that already exists.

                  In Tchou-Tchou, everything starts pretty similarly: two people, male and female, enjoying the garden of blocks until a serpent comes and spoils their fun. But, the two deceive the serpent instead turn him into a train.

                  In Rein Tout, the sin of man occurs when God gives them too much control over their lives. They are never satisfied and end up “killing” God himself.

                  If you’re expecting same-ol’ same-ol’ creation story from these films, they kind of throw you for a loop at the end. But, even in stories that don’t follow the Biblical formula, something always happens as the result of a mistake. Either the creator or the created slips up and brings badness and sin into the world.

In the Japanese Shinto creation story, Izunami is accidentally killed by her son and is sent to Yomi, or the land of the dead. Izunagi, Izunami’s husband, is wrought with grief and attempts to bring his wife out of Yomi. Izunami says she must speak with the king of Yomi and that Izunagi cannot look upon her while this happens. Izunagi grows impatient and walks back in before they are finished and Izunami is shamed. Because of this, thousands of demons, or Yokai, flee out of Yomi and plague the world.

Heck, I can use a fictional example, too. Here’s a stop motion remake of the beginning of Watership Down that tells the story of Frith and El-Ahrairah (I couldn’t find the original animation from the film, but I really do suggest you see this movie for yourself):

                  There are more examples, but my point is that different people’s interpretations on how the world is and how it came to be is really interesting to me. Even the shorts we saw that kind of “re-write” the Biblical creation story are really neat. If you ever get the chance, sit down and read some other creation stories. It’s good stuff!