Can creation and its threatened demise as manifested in climate change bring humans together again?
Can Cosmology and the goodness of creation named in Genesis 1 bring humans together again? And the sacredness of creation acknowledged in all the world’s religions bring people together again? Can our common self-interests bring people together again—such as our interest in not going extinct? and therefore our working together to preserve a healthy planet?
It is this—Creation—that lies at the heart of our spiritual journeys today as a species and as individuals.
Is Creation holy and sacred–or not? If it is, isn’t it time to begin our education with that? And therefore our Law? Our Politics? Our Economics? Our media? Our religions?
To say Earth is “holy” or “sacred” is to say it is special, unique, necessary and far bigger and older than ourselves. It makes us; we did not make it. We are, however, within it and curious about it and learning of it and because of it. Thomas Berry says, “only our sense of the sacred will save us.”
At the beginning of chapter two of Genesis, the Yahwist or J author ends his telling of the creation story this way. “Such were the origins of heaven and earth when they were created.” (Gen 2:4) This is very much a creation story, a cosmology story, from an ancient tribe and in many ways it tells us what all creation stories have in common.
Many other creation stories emerge in the Bible whether in the psalms or Song of Songs or in the New Testament in Matthew and in John 1 and elsewhere. It is almost as if we never have enough creation stories. Each one sheds light on the mystery that we call existence.
The fact that we have a new creation story from science is no small matter for it gives us a post-tribal version of how we got here.
People in Africa and India, China and Southern America, Europe and Russia and North America can tune into it and find they share a common origin. That is special and important. It is inclusive and universal as science tends to be. Nor do we have to cling to one religious story of creation for there are numerous stories around the world.
We don’t have to throw out the ancient stories even as we take in the new story. Every story has its lessons about who we are and how we belong and how we should conduct ourselves in our time on earth.
One of my favorite stories comes from the Apache people: First God created the dog. But the dog got lonely; so then God created humans. We are here to lessen the loneliness of the dog—doesn’t that teach us a bit of humility as a species? Humility, after all, has proven to be a rather difficult attitude for our species to learn.
Might we learn something important from other creation stories around the world also?
See Matthew Fox: Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
And Matthew Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths, pp. 26-49.
Banner Image: “God’s Creating Hand.” This mosaic is in the north transept of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. Photo by Lawrence OP on Flickr.
What creation stories and alternative creation stories do you hold? How do they move you and influence the way you live your life and develop your values? How does the new creation story from science do the same?
Recommended Reading
Fox’s spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator.
Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.
6 thoughts on “How Creation Stories Bind Our Species Together”
Creation is ongoing, evolution—
As an ecologist from early childhood, I have “known” this truth. As I’ve grown older it has been affirmed and confirmed, including in conversations with my cosmologist and ecologist sons. }:- a.m.
Patrick, I wish there were more kids like you were–that is, being ecologically minded…
In the Tzolkein, the ancient Mayan symbols that depict ongoing creation through wavespell emanations from the Hunab’Ku, the great central sun of the universe, the White Dog is the emissary of unconditional love.
Martha, thank you so much for sharing your insights on ancient Mayan symbols!
I would find it very interesting to read all of the creation stories from the different cultures and religions of the world…to hear and see them one to another…to discover not only the diversity but also the commonalities within them. I think that all of these stories would broaden humanities perspective of so many things.
Jeanette, I bet if you did a search, you would find there are books that are collections of creation stories from around the world.