Thursday, July 27, 2006

Creation Myth

Here's something I posted to a Quaker list recently, just when all are getting comfortable in their Bibles, dusting up on Tyre (an ancient interface twixt overland caravaners and Phoenicia). So I doubt many will have time for such blatant revisionism...



If you've cracked the cover of TetraScroll, you've seen yet another one of our creation myths, this one about how Eve did Adam a favor by goading him out of his nostalgia for a Garden of Eden that never was (something put there by temporal authorities).

The apple (yes, I know, not really an apple) was a symbol for the world being round, a sort of closed, finite Earth message (we're on a planet) that people weren't ready for. The priests jealously guarded their knowledge, and consequent authority. It was derivative authority however, as sea peoples had it as well, and used it effectively.

Demonizing the snake was a way to get these new Middle Eastern landlubbers to forget about the Far East, way more advanced in its civilization, and focused on Naga, a sea dragon. This dragon was also upsetting to local authorities, hence the story in Genesis, still used to frighten children to this day.