The Myth of Life, Death and Reincarnation

Titien Diah SoelistyariniThe Myth of Life, Death and ReincarnationThe story that explains the origins of life and of all things An attempt:to make sense of life's mysteries; to impose structure and order in the universeto define the place of individuals, races and all people in that universeThe Creation MythFirst, there was chaosThe Universe began to take shapeTitans & giantsUranus oppresses his childrenThe castration of UranusThe new generation of GodsHistory repeats itself

Creation Myth in Greek MythologyDuring the flood, Old Man was sitting on the highest mountainved black water. Then he said to the people, "Talk," and they all talked differently; but those who drank black water spoke the same. This happened on the highest mountain in the Montana Reservation [Chief Mountain].

The Making of the Earth in Native American MythThere was once a time when there were but two persons in the world, Old Man and Old Woman. One time, when they were traveling about, Old Man met Old Woman, who said, "Now, let us come to an agreement of some kind; let us decide how the people shall live." "Well," said Old Man, " I am to have the first say in everything." To this Old Woman agreed, provided she had the second say. Then Old Man began, "The women are to tan the hides. When they do this, they are to rub brains on them to make them soft; they are to scrape them well with scraping tools, etc. But all this they are to do very quickly, for it will not be very hard work." "No, I will not agree to this," said Old Woman. "They must tan the hide in the way you say; but it must be made very hard work, and take a long time, so that the good workers may be found out." "Well", said Old Man, "let the people have eyes and mouths in their faces; but they shall be straight up and down." "No," said Old Woman, "we will not have them that way. We will have the eyes and mouth in the faces, as you say; but they shall all be set crosswise." "Well," said Old Man, "the people shall have ten fingers on each hand." "Oh, no!" said Old Woman. "That will be too many. They will be in the way. There shall be four fingers and one thumb on each hand.""Well," said Old Man, "we shall beget children. The genitals shall be at our navels." "No," said Old Woman, "that will make childbearing too easy; the people will not care for their children. The genitals shall be at the pubes." So they went on until they had provided for everything in the lives of the people that were to be. Then Old Woman asked what they should do about life and death. Order of Life and DeathShould the people always live, or should they die? They had some difficulty in agreeing on this; but finally Old Man said, "I will tell you what I will do. I will throw a buffalo chip into the water, and, if it floats, the people die for four days and live again. But, if it sinks, they will die forever." So he threw it in, and it floated. "No," said Old Woman, "we will not decide in that way. I will throw in this rock. If it floats, the people will die for four days. If it sinks, the people will die forever." Then Old Woman threw the rock out into the water, and it sank to the bottom. "There," said she, "it is better for the people to die forever; for, if they did not die forever, they would never feel sorry for each other, and there would be no sympathy in the world." "Well," said Old Man, let it be that way." After a time Old Woman had a daughter, who died. She was very sorry now that it had been fixed so that people died forever. So she said to Old Man, "Let us have our say over again." "No," said he, "we fixed it once."

Order of Life and DeathBrahmanaspati as the creator of all the gods (Agni, Mitra, Indra, the Adityas, etc.) who shaped the world, and Aditi as their mother (mother goddess)With blast and smelting, Brahmanaspati produced Existence, in an earlier age of Gods, sprang from Non-existence.Thereafter the regions were born, sprang from the Productive Power. Thus, Earth sprang from the Productive Power Daksa was born of Aditi, and Aditi was Daksa's Child. Then, from the feet of gods came a thickening cloud of dust arose.Gods, like Yatis, caused all existing things to grow, then brought forward Surya who was lying hidden in the sea.Eight are the Sons of Aditi who from her body sprang to life. With seven she went to meet the Gods she cast Martanda far away.So with her Seven Sons Aditi went forth to meet the earlier age. She brought Martanda thitherward to spring to life and die again. The Hindu GenesisThe origin of death is a theme in the myths of many cultures. Death is a universal feature of human life, so stories about its origin appear to be universal in various myths and beliefs.

The Myth of DeathThe Myth of the Old Woman Who Hid DeathIn the beginning times people lived happily without any fear of death. Now it happened one morning that God (Imana) was chasing death to exterminate it from the land of people. When God drew near to arrest (catch) death, death ran into a dog and possessed him. Then the dog quickly ran and entered into the small hut of an old woman who happened to be sitting near the fireplace warming herself. Then death spoke through the dog saying, "Hide me. If God comes inquiring about me, tell him that death is not here." The old woman, being surprised to see the dog and hear him speak, hid the dog under her bed. Then she went out and sat in front of her house.Suddenly God appeared with great speed. Seeing the woman, he halted and asked: "Lady, have you seen death?" "No, Sir," replied the old woman. "I am rather blind and death is not here. Maybe he passed by running." But because he knows everything, God said: "You have hidden death. So from now on you will be acquainted with death.

Origin of Death in African BeliefThere are three primary places where the dead were perceived to go: Helheim (Old Norse Helheimr, the home of the goddess Hel), Valhalla (Old Norse Valhll, the hall of the fallen), and Folkvang (Old Norse Flkvangr, the field of the people or the field of warriors).To die is merely to continue living, although in a somewhat different form.Thus, life is eternal. Death is a threshold in the wider process of life, not so much an end as a continuance and a transformation.Norse MythologyThanatos the God of Death, does not appear as a distinct divinity, though he is described as the brother of Sleep, together with whom he carries the body of Sarpedon from the field of battle to the country of the Lycians (cited in Homers poem). The dead went to the Underworld (Hades the God of the Underworld)Greek Mythology11Many cultures have myths and legends that tell of heroes or other characters who die and then come back to life, not as their former selves but as other people, as animals, or even as plants. It is based on the belief that a person's soul continues to exist after death and can transmigrate, or move, to another living thing. Cultural groups that believe in reincarnation have different ideas about the way it takes place. Some say that human souls come from a general source of life-giving energy. Others claim that particular individuals are repeatedly reborn or come back to life in their descendants. The Myth of ReincarnationMost Aborigines believe that human souls come from spirits left behind by ancestral beings who roamed the earth during a mythical period called Dreamtime. The birth of a child is caused by an ancestral spirit entering a woman's body. The spirit waits in a sacred place for the woman to pass by. After death, the person's spirit returns to the ancestral powers. Australian AboriginesThe souls or spirits of recently dead people linger near the grave for a time, seeking other bodiesreptile, mammal, bird, or humanto inhabit. Many African traditions link reincarnation to the worship of ancestors, who may be reborn as their own descendants or as animals associated with their clans or groups. The Zulu people of southern Africa believe that a person's soul is reborn many times in the bodies of different animals, ranging in size from tiny insects to large elephants, before being born as a human again. The Yoruba and Edo of western Africa share the widely held notion that people are the reincarnations of their ancestors. They call boys "Father Has Returned" and girls "Mother Has Returned."

African BeliefsThe Greek historian, Herodotus, recorded ancient Egyptian ideas about reincarnation. The Egyptians believed that the soul passed through a variety of speciesanimals, marine life, and birdsbefore once again becoming a human. The entire journey, from death of a human to rebirth as a human again, took 3,000 years. One ancient Egyptian source, the Book of Going Forth by Day, states that the souls of important individuals can return to earth in the form of creatures such as the heron or crocodile.

EgyptianAncient Norse kings were regarded as reincarnations of the god Freyr. After the introduction of Christianity to Norway, some people believed the Christian king Saint Olaf was the reincarnation of an earlier pagan king, also named Olaf.

Norse MythologyReincarnation plays a central role in Buddhism and Hinduism, as well as in Jainism, and Sikhism that all began in India, where the idea of rebirth first appears in texts dating from about 700 B.C. They share a belief in samsarathe wheel of birth and rebirthand karmathe idea that an individual's future incarnation depends on the way he or she lived. People who have done good deeds and led moral lives are reborn into higher social classes; those who have not are doomed to return as members of the lower classes or as animals. Only by achieving the highest state of spiritual development can a person escape samsara altogether. Indian MythReincarnation plays a central role in Hinduism. People who have performed good deeds and led moral lives are reborn into higher social classes; those who have failed in these areas are doomed to return as members of the lower classes or as animals. This carving of two men with a wheel represents the cycle of birth and rebirth.

Every mythology has its own way in explaining the origin of life and death. However, there are still some interesting similarities that we can draw from all of these creation mythsMany traditional beliefs also acknowledged life after death; including believing in reincarnation, in which one can return to life after his death and reappear as someone or something else in another life.ConclusionBlack Foot Creation and Origin Myths in http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/blkftcreation.htmlMcClelland, Norman C. Encyclopedia of Reincarnation and Karma. Jefferson, NC & London: McFarland & Co. 2010.Origin of Death Myth of the Old Woman Who Hid Death in http://www.afriprov.org/index.php/african-stories-by-season/14-animal-stories/65-origin-of-death-myth-of-the-old-woman-who-hid-death.htmlReincarnation in http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Pr-Sa/Reincarnation.htmlThanatos in http://www.theoi.com/Daimon/Thanatos.htmlThe Creation Myth: How It All Began in http://www.igreekmythology.com/creation-myth.htmlThe Hindu Theories of Creation in http://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/concepts/creation.asp

References