Monday, April 30, 2007

Many men-of-mud myths from various cultures

Greek Terra Cotta doll
c. 800 BCE


















Not every culture has myths about the first humans being fashioned from earth or soil; the Norse myth has the first man and woman being made from the ash and the elm tree. However, many cultures from China to Africa to Native America do have stories about the first humans being made from soil and then having the spirit breathed into them by a deity. For a story about that, see Breath and Spirit of Life.

Here are a few stories from around the world about the earthly origins of human beings.

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Christian

http://www.endicott-studio.com/jMA0301/menMud.html

Christian Bible – the name Adam means clay…

http://www.behindthename.com/php/search.php?terms=Adam&nmd=n&gender=both&operator=or

Adam: This is the Hebrew word for "man". It could be ultimately derived from Hebrew adam meaning "to be red", referring to the ruddy colour of human skin, or from Assyrian adamu meaning "to make". According to Genesis in the Old Testament Adam was created from the earth by God (there is a word play on Hebrew adamah "earth").

http://www.cesame-nm.org/Viewpoint/contributions/bible/CREATIONSTORIES.html

Genesis 2: 7-8: "Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Thus the man became a living creature."

http://www.ancientdays.net/creationstories.htm

The word for "ground" is adamah. Adam was made of adamah (a female form of the noun).22

-- Footnote 22 - Perhaps this is where the idea of "Mother Earth" originated. Nations the world over speak of "Father Heaven" and "Mother Earth."

Man was formed. But he was still lifeless. There was no continuity whatever with any lower form of life. Man was lifeless until something else happened. The next phrase says, "He breathed (or blew) into his nostrils the breath of life, the mishnat chayyim (the very breathing in and out of life) and man became a living soul (or being)."

When God blew man's breath into his nose, He also blew in his being! (Paul used this terminology when he spoke much later to the Athenians in Act 17, "In Him we live and move and have our being.") The moment He withdraws His breath from our nostrils, we lose our life and we become dust again. We lose our being, as far as the physical body is concerned. But, once we have being, we cannot be destroyed altogether. (see my earlier post on the Breath and Spirit of Life for more about God and spirit and breath.)

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Africa Creation - Out of Africa – Myths

http://www.crystalinks.com/africacreation.html

Shilluks

The Shilluks of the Nile region, for example, tell a story in which humankind is fashioned out of clay. In each region of the world in which the creator traveled, he created humans from the materials available, making some white, others red or brown, and the Shilluk black.

He then took a piece of earth and gave them arms, eyes, etc. This story says much about their values and culture. In distributing the characteristics to man, he chose first to give them the ability to do work through the use of their arms and legs.

They were then given the ability to see and taste their food. Finally, they were given speech and hearing with which to entertain oneself ("An African Story"). This shows the value system at work among the Shilluk, that work comes above all else. It also attempts to explain the differences between men of various races by telling of how they came about.

A West African creation tale explains how two spirit people were accidentally sent down to earth by the sky god. Lonely, the people decided to create children from clay, but feel they must hide them when the sky god comes down. Because they are hidden in fire, the children soon turn to various shades based on how long they had been exposed to the heat. Over time, these clay children grow up and move to various regions of the earth, ultimately populating it (Fader). Much like that of the Shilluk people, this story serves a two-fold purpose: it explains both the creation of man as well as accounts for the differences among him. This tale shows the West Africans value these differences because they feel that all men are created equal and should be treated as such.

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Hawaiian

http://www.sacred-texts.com/pac/hm/hm06.htm

LEGEND OF CREATION

KANE was the leading god among the great gods named by the Hawaiians at the time of the arrival of the missionaries in the islands. He represented the god of procreation and was worshiped as ancestor of chiefs and commoners. According to the possibly late edition of the Kumuhonua legend, he formed the three worlds: the upper heaven of the gods, the lower heaven above the earth, and the earth itself as a garden for mankind; the latter he furnished with sea creatures, plants, and animals, and fashioned man and woman to inhabit it.

(a) Fornander version (1). In the first era Kane dwells alone in continual darkness (i ka po loa); there is neither heaven nor earth. In the second era light is created and the gods Ku and Lono, with Kane, fashion the earth and the things on the earth. In the third era they create man and woman, Kumu-honua (Earth beginning) and Lalo-honua (Earth below). In the fourth era Kane, who has lived on earth with man, goes up to heaven to live and the man, having broken Kane's law, is made subject to death.

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Native American

http://www.blackfeetnation.com/Home%20Page/creationstory.htm

Chewing Black Bones, a respected Blackfeet elder, told Ella E. Clark the following creation myth in 1953. Clark later published the account in her book, "Indian Legends from the Northern Rockies."

One day Old Man decided that he would make a woman and a child. So he formed them both of clay, the woman and the child, her son.

After he had molded the clay in human shape, he said to it, "You must be people." And then he covered it up and went away. The next morning he went to the place, took off the covering, looked at the images, and said "Arise and walk." They did so. They walked down to the river with their maker, and then he told them that his name was NAPI, Old Man.

This is how we came to be people. It is he who made us.

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http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html

Kato (Mendocino County, California):

The previous world had a sky of sandstone rock. Two gods, Thunder and Nagaicho, saw that it was old. They stretched it, propped up its four corners, created flowers, clouds and other pleasant things. They created a man out of earth, putting in grass for the stomach and heart, clay for liver and kidneys, pulverized red stone mixed with water for blood.

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http://www.oneida-nation.net/creation.html

After the Good Spirit completed the earth, he created man out of red clay. Placing the man upon the earth, the Good Spirit instructed the man about how he should live.

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Lithuanian Religion and Mythology

http://ausis.gf.vu.lt/eka/mythology/relmyth.html

Lithuanian ethological legends speaking about creation of the man occasionally state Dievas made a man from the dirt or clay and then inspired spirit in to the form. This motive does not differ in any detail from the Biblical story. It is quite truthworthy that even before Christianity Lithuanians had a version of the first "Molding" of a man, because it exits in many other isolated nations; the "dirt" version of the human being is also seen in the parallel between the words "Žmogus" (a human being) and "žemė" (earth), cf. Latin Homo-humus, Hebrew Adam-Adama. Possibly the idea of a human being stemming from earth irrespective of the Biblical influence exists in many agricultural nations. However, though Lithuanian version of molding must have existed some time ago, it became obliterated by the Biblical version in the legends, therefor it is impossible to discriminate it and to prove that it really existed.

However for Lithuanian tradition undoubtedly belongs human appearance from the Gods' saliva version: the God has walking along the water and spat and on his way back saw some creature, which as it turned out appeared from his saliva. In one legend this is the way how two people appear: a man and a woman, in other places just a human being and still in other instances Liucius (Liuciperis). These legends are rather numerous. One rare legend, true states that Dievas in stirring fire place smeared his face and started washing, a drop of water while he was washing fell on the ground and in this way the man appeared. A similar motive is stored in shanty and mansiu tribes and in arctic and Siberian mythologies. In either way the overall picture is still here, human being springs from the matters related to the God hitting the ground.

In Lithuanian tales this creativity is completely accidental. Dievas did not intend to create human being, he just spits, without any intention and in seeing a being appear is surprised himself and in some tales he addresses the new creature: "Who are you?", and, of course the answer is that it does not know. Dievas had to wreck his head for a long while before he remembers that before some time he spat here. This legend is a reflection of a very ancient ideology, Dievas is not interested in the human being and does not intend to create it.

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Sumerian

http://www.bibleorigins.net/EdenBibliographyWhyANakedAdamInEden.html

When Enki made man of the clay from over his apsu in Eridu, he ordered all the gods to first take three ablution baths on the 1st, 7th and 15th of the month, to absolve them of "blood-guilt" in the slaying of an Igigi god, whose flesh and blood was mixed into the clay animating mankind. So Solomon's brazen bath may recall this momentous event.

[In the Roman calendar, the 1st of the month was called the Calends, the 7th called the Nones, and the 15th called the Ides. Quite a coincidence that these same days would be the days for purification...especially since they also represent the lunar phases of New, First Quarter, and Full Moon! ~Phoenix~]

"In five extent major cosmogonies of the Eridu tradition, ENKI THE SPRINGWATER fertilizes earth by means of rivers and canals, causing life (including human life and cities) to rise along their banks. Under this tradition is included the distinct tradition of Enki's creating individual human beings out of clay." (p. 32. "Sumerian Texts.")

The Mesopotamian myths have several contradicting accounts regarding mankind's creation by the gods. One account has them popping up out of the earth like plants! However, my interest here is in exploring those myths that seem, to me, to be preserved in Genesis. The Igigi gods' threatened revolt in Sumer is located at two different locations, FIRST, at Eridu, where man is made of "water and clay"; and SECOND, at Nippur, where the of the "flesh and blood" of a slaughtered Igigi ring-leader god is ground into the clay to make man (Note: Man at Nippur is made on Enki's orders on the Shapattu/Shabattu Day, the 15th day of the month, the day of the FULL MOON. Enki is ultimately responsible for man's creation at both locations)

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Chinese myth

http://firehorseportfolio.com/tea/frommud.html

It was Nu Kua who decided to put people on the earth. She was lonely and had idle time. She molded yellow fertile clay to make men one at a time. This took too much time and too much effort. So she made mud from the clay, dipped a cord from around her waist. The mud which fell from the cord became men, but not as strong as those who she molded by hand. The strong and the weak, Nu Kua loved them all for they were her children and her loneliness went away.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%BCwa

Nuwa Story as Creator

It is said that Nüwa existed in the beginning of the world. She felt lonely as there were no animals so she began the creation of animals and humans. On the first day she created chickens. On the second day she created dogs. On the third day she created sheep. On the forth day she created pigs. On the fifth day she created cows. On the sixth day she created horses. On the seventh day she began creating men from yellow clay, sculpting each one individually, yet after she had created hundreds of figures in this way she still had more to make but had grown tired of the laborious process. So instead of hand crafting each figure, she dipped a rope in clay and flicked it so blobs of clay landed everywhere; each of these blobs became a person. In this way, the story relates, were nobles and commoners created from the hand crafted figures and the blobs respectively. Another variation on this story relates that some of the figures melted in the rain as Nüwa was waiting for them to dry and in this way sickness and physical abnormalities came into existence.

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Muslim

http://www.ldolphin.org/islamcreat.html

The Islamic View of Creation (The first created human was Adam (peace be upon him).

In the Qur’an, Allah says what means: *{And of His signs is this: He created you of dust, and behold you human beings, ranging widely!}* (Ar-Rum 30:20)

In another surah, we are told that: *{He created man of clay like the potter’s.}*

(Ar-Rahman 55:14)

Saturday, April 21, 2007

The Meaning of God

Many people believe the word God is historically connected to the word Good, but such is not the case.

The word God could derive from root words in several language families, and includes a combination of meanings, but the core idea of what God is seem to boil down to just a few definitions showing that ancient peoples regarded supreme beings much as we do today.

1 – to shine (indicative, no doubt, of the connection between God and the sun/sky)

2 – festival or holiday (which, remember, is a contraction of "holy day"); temple

3 – strong

4 – to call upon or invoke;

5 – sacrifice to (which we still do today in the form of fasting, or giving up something for Lent, etc.)

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Greek: Zeus
Roman: Jupiter








Greek and Latin Derivations


The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/d/d0175000.html

Deus definition

n. God.

Deus etymology

[Middle English, from Latin; see dyeu- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/roots/zzd04700.html

dyeu-
To shine (and in many derivatives, "sky, heaven, god"). Zero-grades *dyu- and *diw-.
Derivatives include Tuesday, divine, jovial, Jupiter, diary, dismal, journey, and psychedelic.

I. Basic form *dyeu-, Jove, the name of the god of the bright sky, head of the Indo-European pantheon.

    1. JOVE, JOVIAL; SANGIOVESE, from Latin Iovis, Jupiter, or Iov-, stem of Iuppiter, Jupiter.
    2. JULY, from Latin I(u)lius, "descended from Jupiter" (name of a Roman gens), from derivative *iou-il-.
    3. Vocative compound *dyeu-p(e)ter, "O father Jove" (*p(e)ter-, father; see p(e)ter- in Indo-European roots). JUPITER, from Latin Iuppiter, I(u)piter, head of the Roman pantheon.
    4. DIONE, ZEUS; DIANTHUS, DIOSCURI, from Greek Zeus (genitive Dios), Zeus.

II. Noun *deiwos, god, formed by e-insertion to the zero-grade *diw- and suffixation of (accented) -o-.


a. TIU, TUESDAY, from Old English T(i)w (genitive T(i)wes), god of war and sky;

b. TYR, from Old Norse T(y)r, sky god. Both a and b from Germanic *T(i)waz.

    1. DEISM, DEITY, DEUS, JOSS; ADIEU, DEIFIC, from Latin deus, god.
    2. DIVA, DIVINE, from Latin d(i)vus, divine, god.
    3. DIS, DIVES, from Latin d(i)ves, rich (< "fortunate, blessed, divine").
    4. Suffixed zero-grade form *diw-yo-, heavenly. DIANA, from Latin Di(a)na, moon goddess.
    5. DEVI; DEODAR, DEVANAGARI, from Sanskrit deva(h), god, and deva-, divine.
    6. ASMODEUS, from Avestan da(e)va-, spirit, demon

The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/t/t0149000.html

theo- definition

pref. God: theomorphism.

theo- etymology

[Greek, from theos; see dh(e)s- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/roots/zzd02800.html

dh(e)s-
Root of words in religious concepts. Contracted from *dhe(e)1s-. Possibly an extension of dh(e)- in Indo-European roots.
Derivatives include feast, fanatic, atheism, and enthusiasm.

  1. Suffixed form *dh(e)s-y(a)-. FAIR2, FERIA, from Latin f(e)riae (<>f(e)siae), holidays.
  2. Suffixed form *dh(e)s-to-. FEAST, -FEST, FESTAL, FESTIVAL, FESTIVE, FESTOON, FETE, FIESTA; OKTOBERFEST, from Latin f(e)stus, festive.
  3. Suffixed zero-grade form *dh(e)s-no-. FANATIC; PROFANE, from Latin f(a)num, temple.
  4. Suffixed zero-grade form *dh(e)s-o-. THEO-; APOTHEOSIS, ATHEISM, ENTHUSIASM, HENOTHEISM, PANTHEON, POLYTHEISM, TIFFANY, from Greek theos (< *thes-os), god.



God: as depicted by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel






Anglo-Saxon, Sanskrit, Persian, Hindu Derivations


Easton
's 1897 Bible Dictionary
http://www.christweb.com/cgi-bible/dictionary.pl?Word=god&Define=Yes

God

(A.S. and Dutch God; Dan. Gud; Ger. Gott), the name of the Divine Being. It is the rendering (1) of the Hebrew 'El, from a word meaning to be strong; (2) of 'Eloah_, plural _'Elohim. The singular form, Eloah, is used only in poetry. The plural form is more commonly used in all parts of the Bible, The Hebrew word Jehovah (q.v.), the only other word generally employed to denote the Supreme Being, is uniformly rendered in the Authorized Version by "LORD," printed in small capitals.


Etymology of the Name God

http://wahiduddin.net/words/name_god.htm

Oddly, the exact history of the word God is unknown. The word God is a relatively new European invention, which was never used in any of the ancient Judaeo-Christian scripture manuscripts that were written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek or Latin.

According to the best efforts of linguists and researchers, the root of the present word God is the Sanskrit word hu which means to call upon, invoke, implore.

Nonetheless, it is also interesting to note the similarity to the ancient Persian word for God which is Khoda.

The following is a survey of some of the efforts of those who have been trying to decipher the ancient roots of the word God:


Webster's 1913 Dictionary:
http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/god

\God\ (g[o^]d), n. [AS. god; akin to OS. & D. god, OHG. got, G. gott, Icel. gu[eth], go[eth], Sw. & Dan. gud, Goth. gup, prob. orig. a p. p. from a root appearing in Skr. h[=u], p. p. h[=u]ta, to call upon, invoke, implore. [root]30. Cf. {Goodbye}, {Gospel}, {Gossip}.]

Catholic Encyclopedia:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06608x.htm

Etymology of the Word "God"

(Anglo-Saxon God; German Gott; akin to Persian khoda; Hindu khooda).

God can variously be defined as:

  • the proper name of the one Supreme and Infinite Personal Being, the Creator and Ruler of the universe, to whom man owes obedience and worship;
  • the common or generic name of the several supposed beings to whom, in polytheistic religions, Divine attributes are ascribed and Divine worship rendered;
  • the name sometimes applied to an idol as the image or dwelling-place of a god.
The root-meaning of the name (from Gothic root gheu; Sanskrit hub or emu, "to invoke or to sacrifice to") is either "the one invoked" or "the one sacrificed to." From different Indo-Germanic roots (div, "to shine" or "give light"; thes in thessasthai "to implore") come the Indo-Iranian deva, Sanskrit dyaus (gen. divas), Latin deus, Greek theos, Irish and Gaelic dia, all of which are generic names; also Greek Zeus (gen. Dios, Latin Jupiter (jovpater), Old Teutonic Tiu or Tiw (surviving in Tuesday), Latin Janus, Diana, and other proper names of pagan deities. The common name most widely used in Semitic occurs as 'el in Hebrew, 'ilu in Babylonian, 'ilah in Arabic, etc.; and though scholars are not agreed on the point, the root-meaning most probably is "the strong or mighty one."






Anglo-Saxon: Wodan
Norse: Odin








Oxford English Dictionary:

"god (gρd). Also 3-4 godd. [Com. Teut.: OE. god (masc. in sing.; pl. godu, godo neut., godas masc.) corresponds to OFris., OS., Du. god masc., OHG. got, cot (MHG. got, mod.Ger. gott) masc., ON. goð, guð neut. and masc., pl. goð, guð neut. (later Icel. pl. guðir masc.; Sw., Da. gud), Goth. guÞ (masc. in sing.; pl. guÞa, guda neut.). The Goth. and ON. words always follow the neuter declension, though when used in the Christian sense they are syntactically masc. The OTeut. type is therefore *guđom neut., the adoption of the masculine concord being presumably due to the Christian use of the word. The neuter sb., in its original heathen use, would answer rather to L. numen than to L. deus. Another approximate equivalent of deus in OTeut. was *ansu-z (Goth. in latinized pl. form anses, ON. ρss, OE. Ós- in personal names, ésa genit. pl.); but this seems to have been applied only to the higher deities of the native pantheon, never to foreign gods; and it never came into Christian use.

The ulterior etymology is disputed. Apart from the unlikely hypothesis of adoption from some foreign tongue, the OTeut. *gubom implies as its pre-Teut. type either *ghudho-m or *ghutó-m. The former does not appear to admit of explanation; but the latter would represent the neut. of the passive pple. of a root *gheu-. There are two Aryan roots of the required form (both *glheu, with palatal aspirate): one meaning ‘to invoke’ (Skr. hū), the other ‘to pour, to offer sacrifice’ (Skr. hu, Gr. χέειν, OE. yéotan YETE v.). Hence *glhutó-m has been variously interpreted as ‘what is invoked’ (cf. Skr. puru-hūta ‘much-invoked’, an epithet of Indra) and as ‘what is worshipped by sacrifice’ (cf. Skr. hutá, which occurs in the sense ‘sacrificed to’ as well as in that of ‘offered in sacrifice’). Either of these conjectures is fairly plausible, as they both yield a sense practically coincident with the most obvious definition deducible from the actual use of the word, ‘an object of worship’.

Some scholars, accepting the derivation from the root *glheu- to pour, have supposed the etymological sense to be ‘molten image’ (= Gr. χυγόν), but the assumed development of meaning seems very unlikely.

transcribed from The Oxford English Dictionary


Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=god

god

\God\ (g[o^]d), n. [AS. god; akin to OS. & D. god, OHG. got, G. gott, Icel. gu[eth], go[eth], Sw. & Dan. gud, Goth. gup, prob. orig. a p. p. from a root appearing in Skr. h[=u], p. p. h[=u]ta, to call upon, invoke, implore. [root]30. Cf. Goodbye, Gospel, Gossip.]

1. A being conceived of as possessing supernatural power, and to be propitiated by sacrifice, worship, etc.; a divinity; a deity; an object of worship; an idol.

He maketh a god, and worshipeth it. --Is. xliv. 15.

The race of Israel . . . bowing lowly down To bestial gods. --Milton.

2. The Supreme Being; the eternal and infinite Spirit, the Creator, and the Sovereign of the universe; Jehovah.


American Heritage Dictionary:
http://www.bartleby.com/61/21/G0172100.html


GOD

NOUN: 1. God a. A being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and ruler of the universe, the principal object of faith and worship in monotheistic religions. b. The force, effect, or a manifestation or aspect of this being. 2. A being of supernatural powers or attributes, believed in and worshiped by a people, especially a male deity thought to control some part of nature or reality. 3. An image of a supernatural being; an idol. 4. One that is worshiped, idealized, or followed: Money was their god. 5. A very handsome man. 6. A powerful ruler or despot.

ETYMOLOGY: Middle English, from Old English. See gheu(): in APPENDIX I

APPENDIX I: ENTRY: gheu()-

DEFINITION: To call, invoke. Oldest form *heu()-, becoming *gheu()- in centum languages. Suffixed zero-grade form *ghu-to-, “the invoked,” god. a. god, from Old English god, god; b. giddy, from Old English gydig, gidig, possessed, insane, from Germanic *gud-iga-, possessed by a god; c. götterdämmerung, from Old High German got, god. a–c all from Germanic *gudam, god. (Pokorny hau- 413.)


Hindu: Indra





The Origin of the English Word for God - Part One

By Craig Bluemel

http://www.bibleanswerstand.org/God.htm

Word origin: God - Our word god goes back via Germanic to Indo-European, in which a corresponding ancestor form meant “invoked one.” The word’s only surviving non-Germanic relative is Sanskrit hu, invoke the gods, a form which appears in the Rig Veda, most ancient of Hindu scriptures: puru-hutas, “much invoked,” epithet of the rain-and-thunder god Indra.

(From READER’S DIGEST, Family Word Finder, page 351)

(Originally published by The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc., Pleasantville New York, Montreal; Copyright 1975)

Now if the sources noted above are accurate, then the word that we use for the Supreme Being, God, comes from a very pagan origin. Thus the word god is used generically by many different religions to refer to their deity or “invoked one.”

Some may laugh at the notion, the very idea that the word “God” has any origin or association with Hindu Sanskrit. To illustrate how this is possible, we again quote from ‘Family Word Finder’ on the historical development of our Modern English language:

Page 7, ‘Word Origins’ - “English belongs to the Indo-European family of languages, which consists of about 100 related tongues, all descended from prehistoric language of a pastoral, bronze working, horse breeding people, the Aryans, who inhabited the steppes of Central Asia about 4500 B.C. Scholars refer to their language at this stage as proto-Indo-European, or simply Indo-European.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

The Breath and Spirit of Life

"Breath of Life" courtesy of artist Gerald Mendez
View Gerald's gallery at airbrush artists.org

Many traditions believe that God/Creator breathes the spirit and life into humans:

Baha'i

Direct thyself unto the Lord of the Supreme World and loosen thy tongue, so that He shall confirm thee by the spirit of Beyan (i. e., explanation) and breathe into thy mouth the Holy Spirit and move thy tongue with the best meanings and mysteries.

Christian

Genesis 2:7 says, "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

Daoist

In the Tao Te Ching the Chinese sage Lao Tzu says: “Tao is the breath that never dies. It is the mother of all creation.”

Egyptian

Kneph: the breath of life, his name meaning soul-breath. Kneph was a spirit that breathed life into things, giving them form. "In the Egyptian Coptic rite, the priest immediately after baptism breathes on the face of the infant saying, “Receive the Holy Ghost”; and their priests are ordained by the reigning bishop breathing on the new prelate’s face. And, by inhaling a dying breath capture its power."

Greek

The Greeks called the life-force Pneuma. Pneuma has the same range of meanings as prana, and more. It not only refers to breath, air, wind, and the spiritual life-force, it also means “spirit” and “soul.”

Hindu

In the Hindu tradition, God, Prana, and Divine Consciousness are considered to be one and the same. This is why the Hindu sages also call Prana “the Breath of God.” They go on to say that God creates the universe with his own breath because the pranic life-force (or Breath of God) is the same as Divine Consciousness in its creative (or moving) aspect.

Jewish

But, into this dirt, God breathes ruach elohim, God's breath. Man is made of dirt, like the animals, but endowed by God with God's spirit.

Mithraic

"…the sacred spirit may breathe in me…"

Muslim

"When thy Lord said unto the angels: lo! I am about to create a mortal out of mire, And when I have fashioned him and breathed into him of My Spirit, then fall down before him prostrate." (Qur'an. Ch 38- vrs 71&72)

Native American

Oh Great Spirit, Whose voice I hear in the wind, Whose breath gives life to the world, Hear me!

Roman

The Latin word spiritus not only has the same range of meanings as pneuma (breath, wind, spirit, soul, and life-force), it also means “God within the breath.”

Scandinavian

Each god gave Ask and Embla, the first woman and man, a gift: Odin gave them breath; Hœnir gave them understanding and spirit; and Lodur senses and outward appearance.

Shinto

"Rise early in the morning to greet the sun. Inhale and let yourself soar to the ends of the universe; breathe out and let the cosmos inside. Next breathe up the fecundity and vibrance of the earth. Blend the breath of earth with your own and become the breath of life itself. Your mind and body will be gladdened, depression and heartache will dissipate and you will be filled with gratitude (kansha)."

Sikh

"Enough to breathe the spirit of God on earth, And to live in the joy of Nam, And if these things are not given to him, Pray, here is Thy rosary of beads! I cannot tell beads unless I am quite comfortable." –Guru Granth, in the Measure Dhanasari.


Sunday, April 8, 2007

Reincarnation or Resurrection

Almost all religions believe you come back, the question seems to be, do you come back as the same old You or a brand new You?

Reincarnation graphic courtesy of Himalayan Academy via Wikipedia.













Traditions that believe in Reincarnation

British/Celtic

Buddhist

Daoist

Gnostic

Greek

Hindu

Jainism

Jewish (some)

Native American

Scandinavian

Sikh

Wiccan



















Traditions that believe in Resurrection

Christian

Egyptian

Jewish (some)

Mithraic

Muslim



Traditions that I'm not sure about or have found conflicting information

Baha'i

Confucian

Shinto

Zoroastrian

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Spirits of Divine Light







Baha'i:

Thou art My lamp and My light is in thee. Get thou from it thy radiance and seek none other than Me. For I have created thee rich and have bountifully shed My favour upon thee.

Christian:

The Holy white light spirit of God of Mount Sinai lives inside of every person on Earth. (Psalm 82:6).

Daoist:

Chinese called the human souls Hun and Po. Hun represents the light [yang], heavenly soul while Po represents the dark [yin], earthly soul.

Egyptian:








Gnostic:

Sophia-Achamoth communicated to him a ray of her divine light, and so animated man and endowed him with a soul. (Salvation: A person attains salvation by learning secret knowledge of their spiritual essence: a divine spark of light or spirit.)

Quaker:

(George Fox) He believed that an element of God's spirit is implanted within every person's soul. He called this "the seed of Christ", or "the seed of Light".

Sikh:

"The way one spark lights many fires,
individual flames leap up separately
then sink back into the original fire.
The same way from the Universal Creator all objects are born,
emerge from Him and are engulfed by Him."

Zoroastrian & Sufi:

Ishraq, the theosophy of Suhrawardi, a an Iranian Sufi master who was martyred in 1191, "was as close to the original teachings of Zoroaster as you could get. At its core was the concept of mundus imaginalis, a kind of parallel world, the Earth of Hurqalya, the Heavenly Jerusalem, a world of light that was itself a mirror of a still higher realm. In this world of light each person had another self, a self of light that was his or her true identity or Perfected Nature - but until this was realized it appeared as a guardian angel or spiritual guide." - Paul William Roberts, Journey of the Magi (1995) p. 245