Blog 3/ Creation

1) I think that every culture has a creation story because  people just want to know where they come from.  Creation stories can also give a culture a sense of their personal values.  What this reveals about the human condition is that people need an explantion on why they are living and where they came from.  They need a creation story to help better understand what they believe in.  Creation "myths" still exsist today.  Which story people believe in is usually based off of religion.


2) From reading the creations stories from the Maori and the Aboriginals, you can see what each culture values.  For example, the Aboriginal story talks about how the mother spirits wakes the plants, insects, and animals before they finally create humans.  I think that means that they value nature and wildlife, and not just humans.  From reading the creation story from the Aboriginals, one can get a good sense that they are environmentally conscious.  The Maori story is alot different because it talks about how in the beginning, there was only darkness, and the nothingness.  It then goes into talking about how the earth mother and the sky father had children who were stuck in the darkness.  In order for them to get out, they had to break their parents up. I think that the Maori people value people alot more then nature because their story only talks about the creation of humans.  The story makes no reference to the creation of animals or any kind of nature. 


3) By reading both the Maori and Aboriginal creation stories, you can pick out some similarities and differences.  Some similarities I found are that both cultures are very spiritual.  Both of their stories start out with spirits of the earth or the sky creating life.  Both cultures also value the sun and the moon very much.  There are differences between the cultures, for instance, the Maori story is all about the creation of humans, while the Aboriginal story talks about the creation of plants and animals first, then humans second.  I think that just means that the Aboriginal are more "one with nature" then the Maori.  One of the biggest differences I found was the overall vibe to both stories.  The maori story seemed so dark and morbid and the Aborignal story seemed very loving and caring.  I honestly don't know what that says about each culture. 


4)  In the world today, there are so many different "creation stories" for each culture.  The problem is, it is sometimes difficult to pick which one you think is right.  Each culture thinks that their story is better which also creates problems because it somtimes creates power struggles.


5) The "creation story" I believe in is evolution.  I guess thats not really a story but, its the only "story" that makes the most sense to me.  It doesn't make me think any differently, but it does give me a good explantion of where life started.  I don't shape any of my values off of evolution and the only thing it helps me understand is (like I said before) where I came from and where life started.  I believe in evolution because out of all the other stories, it is the only one that (to me) actually explains where life started.  It is the only story with evidence and proof to back up the overall story.