http://files.myopera.com/damioon/blog/heaven_or_hell.jpg
The picture symbolizes the split between worlds created in each story. The darkness on the right is the symbol of the less appealing of the two worlds and the light on the left symbolizes the more appealing of the two worlds. This seperation seems to happen in all three creations when the creator seperates the good from the corrupt. The bright yellow ray of light symbolizes a clear split between the two worlds after the creation was complete.
In the Iroquois creation story, the good mind and bad mind created the earth and after the good mind overcame the bad mind, the bad mind sank down to eternal doom. This is the split symbolized by the light and dark side in the picture.
In the Pima’s story of creation, Juh-wert-a-Mah-kai (The Doctor of the Earth) created the earth. There is no discussion about him creating the heavens until the world becomes corrupt, and grey and old, and he makes the sky fall. After he makes the sky fall so he can start over with the creation of people it says he “made a new heaven and a new earth”. The creations of the heaven and the earth would be the split symbolized in the picture.
The biblical story immediately talks about how God created the heavens and the earth. After creating the heaven and earth he goes on to sculpt the earth and until it is good. Just like in the Pima’s story of creation, the heaven and the earth would be the two worlds seperated by the bright ray of light in the picture.
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ReplyDeleteWhat an artistic color photograph! It is kind of like I might want to put in my room. It would look really cute on the wall. I completely agree with your idea that the light – the sun – is one of the important symbols of the stories. In fact, many ancient civilizations, such as the Egyptians and Incas, worshipped the sun as a god. I have heard that an annual festival is held to give thanks to the sun god in Peru.
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing picture! The picture almost doesn't need an explanation because it is so self explanatory. I like that you pointed out the similarity between good vs. evil, light and dark, and heaven and hell. It was an accurate observation. It is interesting to me that people that far into our history knew that there was good and evil in the world without learning that prior. Today, we know that there is good and evil because we are taught it and they were never told about it. They just knew and that is amazing to me. I like that there is nature in the picture too since that seemed to be another commonality. Thanks for such a cool picture!
ReplyDeleteI think this is really good! The picture is beautiful and you explain yourself well for all three myths that you discuss. I guess when I look at the picture, though, I don't necessarily see a divison into two distinct entities (like heaven vs. hell), but I can see why one would. I wonder where this picture was taken. Do you have any idea?
ReplyDeleteI love this picture! It's so beautiful and tells so many stories. Good ones and bad ones. It also show a sense of creation as to what we read in each story. It really represents the Iroquois, Pima, and Biblical creation stories. I like how it shows darkness to represent the darkness that played out in each story and the sense of light that showed renewal of the Earth. Very good choice of a picture.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed interoperating your posting Matt. The picture alone is breath taking and your cognitive outcome of this picture was interesting. When I first glanced at the picture you have choosen I felt as though the picture was describing an internal battle one would be having. Thinking back to my psychology class the picture reminded me of the iceberg model of the ego. The dark side would be the “id” which is submerged under the water, the lighter side would be the “super-ego” which was both submerged and above the water, and the beam of light would be your “ego” which was above the water. Great posting Matt.
ReplyDeleteThe phrasing you used in the end of your post about how in the Biblical story, God continued to shape the Earth until it was good, reminded me of the Pima story. In the Pima story, the Doctor of the Earth has sort of a "if at first you don't succeed" complex going on. He too, continues to shape his world until it is acceptable. The flood story used in the Pima story is also reminiscent of the Biblical flood story as well. Thought that was interesting. Thanks for the great post, I really like the detail you used to describe your picture. The way you talked about not only the light and the dark but, the separation of the two, was interesting.
ReplyDeleteI think your posting is very creative. I would have never looked at this picture and saw what you saw until I read your posting. Going further with what Anna commented about, the yellow light you describe as separating the two worlds may also be the unveiling of the new world. The directional curve of the light looks as though it is pushing the darkness away, unveiling a new world. Very good pic and interpretation.
ReplyDeleteThis picture is a great choice because it can be interpreted in many different ways. There's the obvious divide between light and dark which can be found in all three creation stories. I like how the sun is on the left, light side of the picture but its rays are reaching towards the dark side of the picture. It reminds me of the Iroquois creation story where after Enigorio created the sun and the moon it mentions the light extending to the dark world.
ReplyDeleteI think this was a good picture to use in this case. This image definitaly displays the dark and the light side of the world. I can see how this picture represents all three creation stories. In the Iroquois the good mind obviously corresponds to the left side of the picture and the bad mind represents the upper right part of it. In the Biblical story of creation the light part of the picture represents day and the dark represents night.
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