Discussion- Destruction Myths
goodisnaks
Unit5DestructionMyths-2-1-1.pptxUnit 5: Destruction Myths
Flood Myths and Apocalypse
Destruction and Regeneration
Apocalypse- revelation, especially of the end of the world
Usually, end of old world and beginning of new world
Ritual cleansing
Flood archetype
Eschatology- study of the end of things
Discuss
What have you heard about the end of the world? End times? Apocalypse? Armageddon?
End of the World/Armageddon
Battle in ancient Israel (Judges, Kings)
Book of Daniel
Book of Revelation (16:16)
Zoroastrian Day of Judgment (Persian)
East vs. West view: cyclical vs. millenial
Book of Revelation
1st century CE, written by John the Divine (John of Patmos)
A figure on a throne, surrounded by 24 elders and four beasts (lion, cattle, man, eagle)
144,000 sealed servants of God
Six seals- 4 horseman (white, red, black, pale horses), slain souls, earthquake and destruction
Seventh seal- seven angels and seven plagues, Armaggedon
Destruction of Babylon
Fall of the Rebel Angels,
Bruegel, 1562
Rev 12:2-9
Fire and Ice
BY ROBERT FROST
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Hopi Emergence to Fifth World
Nine Worlds
1st three worlds destroyed by fire, ice, flood
We are in the 4th world
One-Hearts
Two-Hearts
Discuss
What are the one-hearts and the two-hearts? Give examples of current day people or groups that fit these descriptions.
Flood Myths
Noah (Hebrew)
Utnapishtim (Mesopotamia)
Manu (India)
Yu the Engineer (China)
Deucalian and Pyrrah (Greek)
Maya (Popol Vuh)
Baptism is microcosm of flood (cleansing and rebirth)
Psychologically, time in the dark world (unconscious) before rebirth (individuation)
Manu– India (700-300BCE)
Reared a fish in a jar
Fish grew large, saved Manu
Fish became mountain
Manu was lone survivor
Utnapishtim– Mesopotamia (from Epic of Gilgamesh c. 2100BCE)
The world was overpopulated and noisy, the gods agreed to kill mankind
Ea instructs Utnapishtim to build a boat
Stormed for 6 days and nights
Upnapishtim’s boat ground on Mt. Nisir
He and his wife (and animals) are sole survivors
Noah (Hebrew) (written down by 6th century BCE)
God tells Noah to build an ark
Takes his wife, his three sons and their wives, and animals
Rained for 40 days and nights
The ark landed on Mt. Ararat
God’s covenant with Noah (rainbow)
Hesiod’s Ages of Man (750-650 BCE)
Golden Age of Man- man and gods ruled by the Titan Cronus- harmony, abundance, peace
Silver Age – Zeus was ruler, men lived 100 years as children and then killed by Zeus as adults
Bronze Age – age of war and bronze weapons, ended in great flood lasting 9 days (Deucalion and wife Pyrrha survived)
Heroic Age – time of heroes and demigods
Iron Age (time of Hesiod)- age of desolation, destruction, pain. Humans will destroy itself and gods will abandon them
Greek flood
Deucalian (son of Prometheus) and Pyrrah
People had forgotten the purpose of their creation
Deucalion and Pyrrah build a boat
Storm rages for days
Boat rests atop Mt. Parnassos
Hermes: “Throw the bones of your mother over your shoulders”
Stones thrown by Decaulion become men, by Pyrrah, women
Maya: Popol Vuh
“Book of the Community”
Creators, Heart of Sky and Feathered Serpent
First attempts to create humans failed
Animals
Men of mud
Men of wood- wiped out by flood
Men and women of cornmeal
Ragnorok
Final battle between Aesir and Giants
Midgard serpent will emerge from sea (flood), giant Surtr sets Asgard and rainbow bridge on fire, sun and moon swallowed by wolves, Fenrir wolf breaks free, Yggdrasil shakes the ground
Huge battle
Surtr sets all 9 worlds on fire and everything sinks into sea
Nothing gods can do
Odin knows this is not the end of the world
Discuss
Several cultures have stories about different worlds (Hopi), or ages (Hesiod in Greece, Mayan).
Where does this concept come from? What does it mean?
What do you think about the idea of multiple worlds or ages?
How do myths of creation and destruction fit in with the rules of nature?
How do myths of creation and destruction fit in with science?
Diving deeper
Hegel/Marx idea of the dialectic process
Thesis- starting point, status quo
Antithesis-mechanism for change
Thesis/antithesis clash in crisis or revolution
Synthesis- progress
