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Making Sense |
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The story of the separation of Heaven and Earth is perhaps the oldest and
most widespread of all mythological tales; there does not seem to be a
tradition anywhere that does not tell it in some form or other. Sometimes it
has the air of a folk-tale, sometimes it comes cloaked in all the awesome
mystery of the most ancient scriptures. This is clearly a story tha has been
profoundly important to tellers and listerners alike. The essence of the stopry is this: the world as it was first created was one of timeless accord, characterised by bt a unique and harmonious relationship between heaven and earth when gods and man communed and adversity was unknown. As the result of some transgression of the first people, which involved them overstepping their mark in some way, this harmonious relationship came to an end. At this point time began, with all its consequences; not only the people but the world itself was destined for disaster, decay and death. These stories have shaped the way we see the world and the sense we make of our experience of it. Stories do not tell themselves, however, so we have to ask what kind of inspiration can have been so profound that its effects would echo through millenia, resulting in that universal thirst for reintegration that has been so powerful and e4nduring in its shaping of the human spirit? |
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