October 27, 2018 Saturday
Bedtime Story
Some Common Traits of Religious Mythologies
The term creation ex nihilo means “creation
out of nothing” which makes sense as the whole purpose of creation is to
explain why there is something rather than nothing.
(3.) Supreme Deity – that range from
Abrahamic ones such Yahweh, Allah, Trinity, Jesus to Sky Ones such as Brahman
of Hindus, Jupiter, Zeus and many others
(4.) Exploit of a Hero – common ones being
Buddha, Moses, Muhammad and Jesus where the general trend would run something
like this.
The hero or the messiah gets a rally call
from heavens who ventures out and faces dark forces or suffering (he may even
encounter female temptress which he may or may not be able to resist).
These are the trials that he has to undergo
that will result in his initiation and eventually transformation.
Finally this ends in some form of return
after some type of magical flight.
(5.) Resurrection motif or more simply a
dying-and-rising deity is a very popular and ancient thread that runs though
several religious mythologies centered on the Fertile Crescent.
The Egyptians had a full-fledged and
fulltime god dedicated to afterlife, under-life and rebirth.
The Egyptians called him Osiris (greened
skin deity with a pharaoh’s beard) that was later transformed by the
Greco-Romans into Serapis with classical European looks and flowing Romanesque
locks of hair and rich beard.
Of course, both these names now mean
nothing to any of us no matter how religious we may be though I am very sure at
their time men must have fought and shed blood over them as it is done today.
(6.) Center of the World – this is yet
another appealing notion found in all mythological religions.
It is often the case made out in the
mythologies that it is not the Earth that is at the center of the Cosmos but
something else that lies exactly in between the axis of the Earth and Heavens,
the so called axis mundi.
It is at this point that some sort of
connection or link is made between the lowly earth and celestial Heavens and on
reaching this point (which ironically can often be on this planet) an average
human can develop some sort of connection or even communication with higher
Gods.
In some religious mythologies this point
can also act as navel or omphalos as it is known in Greek depicting the power
or centrality of certain empire such as Delphi used to be for the Hellenistic/Ancient
Greek Empires.
Such a point or place in Hinduism (one that
I am often tagged with in my official documents just on account of the lottery
of birth through certain parents in certain period of time limited by certain
geographical and political boundary) is Mount Kailash, the abode of Hindu god
Shiva who even unknown to most Hindus is supposedly the founder of Yoga.
This is the reason why his alternate name
is “Adi-Yogi”, the patron god of yoga, meditation and arts.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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