Strangely enough, in the original Hebrew of the Bible, it didn’t read, “God made the Heavens and the Earth.” But it actually read, “The Elohim made the Heavens and the Earth.” “El” is the root word for deity, “Eloh” is the a feminine singular and so this translates to female deity. Then “Im” is the plural ending for all things masculine. Hence the idea that the original Bible scripture thought of God as both masculine and feminine. Not just the “Father” as many call God but also the “Mother” at the same time. Strange for a lot of Christians to be sexist and to only allow male popes in this day and age to think of, yes?
They put up all the warnings, disclaimers, and "trigger alerts" they could, in the most eloquent, concise, delicate, and respectful way in which anyone possibly could. Which should not surprise anyone, cause nothing they do at CrashCourse falls short of standards of pure excellence. Of course, some people still think that's not enough, and are still getting their feelings hurt.
@@marcelob.678 Kinda, yeah. A lot of war revolving around "Christianity" has been fighting over the same religion. The jews, muslims, christians, etc have been fighting over the same religion for decades. It's the minutiae of these religions that make people upset. If they could just accept their differences, there wouldn't be a war between em.
I hope it stays that way, the writers of this course are trying really hard to keep it neutral... Hopefully everyone's love for mythology keeps them from attacking each other.
7 ปีที่แล้ว +19
It seemed pretty fair as a video, respectful and attempting to just take a neutral look at it
Many were increasingly of the opinion that they'd all made a big mistake coming down from the trees in the first place, and some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no-one should ever have left the oceans.
I rather enjoted the hitchiker's guide to the galaxy movie. I think I'll go rewatch that. Let me just pull up netflix, do a search and nope. Not there. big surprise. Who do I pay for this "service" iv not used it in months, they never have any movies I want to watch.
As an agnostic and a mythology geek, I am so glad you took a little time to insert the Big Bang in ex-nihilo creation narratives. This episode wouldn't have been complete without pointing out that connection.
Marieke van Essen probably the ancients observed their own life cycles and made story that reflected them also in this regard. But I never considered this parallel with childbirth. Interesting.
If you read the Bible it’s not unclear where God is. Crash course just doesn’t understand what their talking about, they have not done sufficient research. God in heaven, and he created earth and everything in it. I don’t know why crash course called Christianity a myth because it’s not a myth and a lot of people still believe in it, including myself
Personally I really like it when the Big Bang is described like that. A common complaint against Naturalism is that it leaves the world dead, cold and boring. But in fact the story of the Big Bang is beautiful and awe inspiring. It can be incredibly poetic and really show you how vast the universe is and how tiny you are compared to it, but also the splendor and beauty that can be found in it. And how much more beautiful this is precisely because none of it was designed or intended by any entity. It makes you really realize what it means that we are made of stardust and that we are the universe gazing at itself.
hedgehog3180 what's neat is that our universe is roughly the size of a blackhole. My favorite theory is the multiverse theory and our entire universe is just a single grape on the vine of a hundred billion trillion other universes.
the idea of the big bang being initiated BY a greater deity has always fascinated me, since I was a kid. Who's to say that it was all coincidental? Maybe it was all meant to happen that way :)
Given my own experiences with the layering of mythologies and the relations of so many divine portfolios back to Thoth... I am honestly loving that he gets to be the side kick as we travel through this. Seriously. Take him the distance.
I really really enjoy this video. I really agree with the way you deal with these topics. It's very respectful and interesting. I hope the next videos have this level of quality.
I've always imagined the nothingness as a intensely chaotic state, like a vacuum that sucks so hard that it pulls a something into existence. I'd imagine that something is light. And that light is God/the force of life if you will. Or cosmic radiation soup which generates the base elements...
omfg, people... Nothing means NOTHING. There are NO RULES IN NOTHING. Nothingness is Timeless. There is no thing that precludes anything from happening in Nothing. Thus CHAOS comes to be. From Chaos forms temporary order, which is what we experience. This start allows for multiverse etc. Really..... I'm always shocked there is so little understanding of this, what with the amount of discussion that this topic faces and the fact that even ancient peoples had a vague understanding of this.
Armendicus Based on?.. nah. Influenced certainly. He was a catholic. I've read the Silmarillion and it is fairly pagan as well if you'd want to make that comparison.
Well, I believe I remember reading somewhere that Tolkien had stated that the creator god of Middle-Earth was meant to be the same being as the Christian God.
MoreAmerican "The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like ‘religion’, to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism.” which is a quotation from one of his letters to his friend.
I'm glad you're also including modern, scientific myths as well. What are myths but us trying to understand the universe, and what is science but the process of us trying to understand it more correctly? Anyways, I know you're limited on time for each episode, so I want to share a summary of one of my own favorite creation stories, that used by the Tengriists (the original religion of the Huns, Mongols, Hungarians, Turks and other people from the Asian Steppes). In the beginning, there was only Tengri and the Great Ocean of Time. Tengri would fly over this Ocean of Time alone, and lonely. This loneliness eventually brought Tengri to create a companion, Kishi, who was not as pure as Tengri. Kishi would grow proud, and eventually flew higher than his creator, and this Pride caused Kishi to fall. Tengri attempted to save him, but it was to late. Er Kishi fell into the Ocean of Time, and Tengri lifted land out of the Ocean to search for Kishi, creating the material world and the God Er-Sub. And from this new land, grew the Tree of Life, which sprouted all Humans, Animals, Plants, and lesser gods.
> What are myths but us trying to understand the universe, and what is science but the process of us trying to understand it more correctly? There is one minor difference. "Science" is a process by which we determine the truth. Myths are stories people made up. Myths are not true. Puting science and myths into the single category is frankly ridiculous.
You must have no real understanding of scientific method to say such things. Science uses models, and operationalized concepts and theories, and all those things are not so different from the characters in a myth. In the Big Bang theory, the laws of thermodynamics are characters that explain the formation of the universe. In the Evolution theory, natural and sexual selection are characters whose actions explain the diversity of living things. In cellular theory, cells are characters that make up other characters called organs that make up people. You have to understand how those are myths 1-To understand how people understand science. 2-To understand how real scientists must interpret the data into something that makes sense. Have you ever seen into a microscope to look at cells? Because I have, and you will see nothing - it's messy and weird and blurry - and unless you are looking for cells that you already know what they look like and have coloured them with chemical products to make them stand out, you will not understand what you see.
+Robert Varulfur I though there was one, but after looking it up again, I don't think there are any true text for Tengriism, at least not those that weren't created after the last conversion of Nomads. I used sites such as this one (tengrism.wikispaces.com/) to gather information
Looking forward to how this series goes. It's interesting to hear about creation stories from other cultures. One thing I would like to point out, however, is a structural difference between the Genesis and Egyptian creation stories you glossed over with the remark, "Can we ever really call it nothingness with all this water around?" In the excerpt from the Egyptian myth, we see the water possibly existing prior to, or at least having a continuation with, the "Eternal Spirit" that rises as the Sun. Here, along with many of the other myths you cite, there doesn't seem to be a true "ex nihilo" beginning as (in this case) the waters are also a primeval factor in creation. Your question is quite valid here. But in the verses you pulled from Genesis, the structure is more clearly delineated as an "ex nihilo" creation event. "In the Beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth." There is a start to things in which God creates stuff, including the Earth. THEN we get "And the Earth was waste and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." The existence of these waters is hinged upon the first verse, where the Earth is created. Here, your question is not applicable as the "ex nihilo" event has already happened by the time we get to the waters. I may have to watch the video again, but this seems to me to be the only true "ex nihilo" myth you recounted, with the Creator existing before/outside/apart from anything else. The other myths I cannot speak to, being mostly unfamiliar with them, but it really was interesting to hear. A big hope I have for this series is in helping me fine-tune the mythology of a story-world I've been working on for a while now. Thank you!
I'll definitely have to rewatch then, because I got a different impression. Now that I'm re-thinking about it, the Kono creation myth has Death + his family existing prior to everything.
Syaoran Barker I think the first line is more set up to content than actually specifying the order of events. It's like if I said "I made a cake. I got eggs, milk, butter, flour, sugar and seasonings and mixed them together, then baked". It doesn't mean I made the cake before mixing the ingredients together.
That's entirely possible, but to my eye this more reads like "I made cake. And the cake didn't have any icing on it, so I iced the cake." Indeed, as far as I'm aware, the long-standing interpretation of those verses (here I must admit a bias in that I myself am a Christian) is that they indicate God calls the entirety of creation (indicated by a set phrase translated as "the heavens and the earth") into existence, gives a description of the state of the earth (which was "waste and void" or "formless and void" or instead of "void" it was "empty" all depending on what translation you use), and then gives us a kind of point-of-view statement ("The Spirit of God moved upon the surface of the waters"). From there, Genesis describes what God caused to happen within the creation he has called into existence.
I think that's an impasse. It's not possible to have a true ex nihilo myth. Even in the Semitic creation story, Yahweh exists before everything else. And since Yahweh is well, something, there was no true void in the first place.
I'm late and only two episodes into this series, but I love it so far! Mike is the perfect host for Mythology as well. I love the script, I love the animations, I love the way it's all presented and the way it all works together. Well done everyone who helped make this show possible! I'm really enjoying it.
What I absolutely adore about Mike, Hank and John, but also scientists in general, is the basic contract of openness to the idea of being wrong. They are willing to consider the other points of view, to see things through various examples because it doesn't hurt to think about it. This basic humility, this capacity to face facts as they are and accept being wrong is why they are of the most admirable people on Earth.
This is fascinating. I really like the move to read the Big Bang as an ex nihilo myth. I think that it's important to recognize our own mythologies rather than fall into the trap of thinking we're so far removed from such a basic human practice because of scientific progress. Good work here.
Mike's enthusiasm for mythology makes me feel so much better about myself. I adore studying mythology and it's nice finding others who enjoy it as well.
"In the Age of Ancients the world was unformed, shrouded by fog. A land of gray crags, Archtrees and Everlasting Dragons. But then there was Fire and with fire came disparity. Heat and cold, life and death, and of course, light and dark." Because Dark Souls it's not just a badass game, but it also has some amacing mythos.
I love how TH-cam's comment section is everyday proof of why we all have trouble living together as a species of so called intelligence. Love the video as well❤
I actually appreciate your flippant tone - looking at these myths with a light-heart is how one should look at them. Too many people in the past (and indeed, in the present) have died over myths because they were taken them far too seriously.
This is turning out great but one thing I hope to see mentioned in a future video is a Pueblo native creation myth: the first humans lived deep beneath the earth and bore no resemblance to humans today. They were brought up to the surface by star beings.
Mike: You are awesome here, just as on your own channel. I'm so glad they hired you for this. I love the way you're approaching the topic, allowing everyone to learn about mythology without alienation based on their belief system, or even scientific education level. Excellent job so far.
dr.kirby The more pressing question is- why didn't the gods give them the ability to speak? They created an entire world- yet did not have the ability to do so?
parrots learn words from humans and wouldn't be able to speak without being taught, your argument might have been better if you centered it on animals that have been shown to have languages, such as how crows are able to tell other crows about particular humans, and describe them well enough that those crows can hold grudges against people they've never seen based on events transcribed to them by the crows who saw it happen. orcas too have been observed communicating with each other in languages unique to their particular pod or stretch of sea that can't be understood by 'foreign' orcas from other pods in other regions.
It saddens me that many in the comment section kind of missed the point of the series, as the incessant arguing over whether the Genesis account is true or the big bang theory counts as a myth both indicate. If the first episode didn't help with that, though, what else can we do? People understand the world in narrative. Sure, we got the big bang theory from a bunch of data, but it doesn't mean anything to most people until we can talk about its story, more or less as presented here. In the same way, atheists should be able to recognize the value of a creation myth even if they believe the claims it makes are categorically false. Likewise, Christians should be willing to compare their myths to others, and ponder the similarities and differences between them. How can they be understood otherwise? Myths are about how people see the world, what we find important, and the meaning we find in it. Truth helps with that. Totally not the point, though. I hope by the end of this series, more people manage to engage beyond mere fact-checking. There's enough of that to do these days. Actually, that makes me wonder... are the people who become frustrated, angry, offended, or vindicated by comparison to the myths they find important/"not myths" simply less able to distance themselves from them? Going even further, are the ones who see the least value in discussing myth perhaps the ones for whom they have the most authority?
Star Wars has a great mythology and I love it. But if I encounter someone who tells me that it is a historical account of what actually happened long ago in a galaxy far far away I can't help but point out it is just a story. That doesn't mean I miss the importance of myth, that I don't get it, or that I've failed to understand the point of this series. But its likely they do if the story has to be real for it to have any truth or beauty. I'm not sure I could look through a thread on the beauty of Star Wars and not point out the errors of someone claiming there actually was a death star, a battle of hoth, or even Ewoks. That would say nothing of my love of a good story and the power of myth.
Data from Star Trek is clearly the best data. Have you not seen the documentary about his life on I think the SciFi channel. Also, I'm not sure who the most impressive authority figure is, but its probably Kirk ... and I think memes will always outrank the books in my lamborghini account.
The Literal interpretation of the Bible is a fairly new thing most early Christians view the Old Testament like they're Jewish predecessor this allegory tales
The only issue with that is you are comparing a relatively new story written by a man who says it's a story to deeply held and ancient beliefs. Agree or not, why "correct" someone's beliefs? (Of course I am talking about someone just living their life and not someone trying to rule over others or hurt people)
It has always been fascinating to me how much these ex nihilo creation stories parallel the account we get from science. I won't at this time try to draw any significance from that (I don't know that it signifies anything at all) but it is fascinating.
I thing it might be because they all might of came from the same true story that over time was "telephoned" into a completely different story even though they were all based on the same true and actual event of creation
I love how you don't have bias towards a specific idea of creation. You're keeping a neutral and informative view on it. I think that's my favorite part so far. Besides Thoth.
Haha loling: Salt is the component of two opposite sides, Na and Cl2, when joined together, they form salt. This salt can be neutral, or some other salts are acidic. Which is when two opposing sides are ruuuude.
The mesoamerican one seemed interesting, like feathered serpents = dinos, and the four creations were extinction events, maybe mesoamerican peoples have a long memory haha
Actually the four extinction events were just tescatlipoca and quetzalcoatl messing around with the 'who's going to be the sun' deal (which caused a lot of caos); and the feathered serpent (quetzalcoatl) is the god of wind and learning (knowledge); so there's no way that this has anything to do with dinosaurs and the common science theory.
I LOVE THIS !! Can not wait to see more! Also, I have two requests / questions: 1. Could it be possible to talk about how the great floods is recurrent in many religions, as explored (if I am not wrong) byJacques Bergier and Louis Pauwels on their book The Morning of the Magicians? 2. Would it be possible to talk one day about Wicca? It is a neo-pagan religion that rely on ancient myths, and the view on things as creation and all, varies from wiccan to wiccan. Anyhow, thank you for this series, it looks reaaaally cool, and I can not wait to learn more ^^
I think this is amazing! I am strong in my faith but I'd love to learn about everyone else's and also myths. Why are people offended? He gave a trigger warning
Hi. Just wanted to bring something up, Person who Reads Comments at Crash Course (if there is one) Love the show, but being an Indian epics aficionado, I HAVE to mention this. In the title slide depicting Ramayana, it says that the Ramayana is the largest ancient epic in world literature. But this is simply not true. Anybody with just a little more than vague knowledge about Indian epics will know this. That honour goes to the Mahabharata, which consists of about a hundred-thousand couplets, or maybe more, depending on the version. The Ramayana is only about one-fourth the size of it. Please look into this or else my anal retentiveness will have been in vain. kthnxbye P.S. Did I mention that I love the show?
Vinayaka Halemane thanks for the info! I'm sure crash course is well-researched, but some facts can sometimes be missed or mixed up on their part. Its always awesome hearing from people who are passionate about the subject!
I find it interesting about the creation story in Egypt. I think it would cool if you would add in the dates to these things. Moses wrote the book of Genesis after the Israelites left Egypt. Either they influenced the Egyptians or the Egyptians influenced the book of Genesis. Still pretty cool to hear these from this secular perspective.
We do have texts from both Egypt and Mesopotamia that tell similar stories to Genesis from way before the Torah was written down. The point with all of these stories, including Genesis: The time when they are attested in writing is basically random. We can say "this text is from year X" (or usually "probably around century Y") - we can't say when the story originated. They were passed down orally, and sometimes committed to writing, and _a tiny little bit_ of these writings have survived. That said, Genesis is part of a common Middle Eastern (incl. Egypt) tradition, and was written down much later than many other versions.
i think it's safe to say that in Mythology, there is only one fact: there are not such thing as a auteur, or something influence otherthing. It all comes, most likely, from a time before writting was invented, and those stories where told, and retold so many times, that when eventually someone write them, centuries after, they all are very similar, but they are all different. These happens today, when we have a level of information like never before in Mankind, and happens very quickly (if we want, we could even trace a same story in different websites in a question of days or weeks), imagine how a story evolve without records, acess to the original story, and during thousands of years. What I find amazing is not the differences in the stories, is how similar they are. And that's, for me, the definition of a Myth, when the story is so GOOD, that it barely change, and keep all the main features.
they chose water because they were smart enough to know that there was no life without water, therefore life needed to come out of water. also they recognized the power of language and communication, and so the creation is spoken and created by the Word (as a thing)
I'm so happy that they mentioned Guatemala and especially the popohl vuh. As a fellow Guatemalan it makes me so super happy and honored because the history classes given in the USA barely mentioned Guatemala if at all.
I liked video .... but in creation myths I missed really oldest written, Babylonian one (Gilgamesh story) and really well documented Hindu (Indian!?) Sanskrit written versions. Stay cool!
As soon as he said that we would talk about creation out of nothingness, I thought of the big bang, so I'm glad they included it in this. If you think of myths on a symbolic level, these ex nihilo creation myths are sorta accurate really. The light, then the water, then the life. There's the idea of a gradual process even. If we consider both big bang and Genesis as myths (as they did in the episode), it's weird that there would be so much of a fight considering the proximity. I'm of course not talking about saying that the other is correct (I'm a scientist, there's only one truth in my eyes), but I'm talking about admitting that the other is not that wrong, and being able to respect them for how close they got through completely different approaches.
If you haven't read it, Neil Gaiman's "Norse Mythology" is an amazing retelling of some of those stories! I'm halfway through and it is so, so good! :)
In the beginning, the Universe was created. This made a lot people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move. -Douglas Adams
😂👍💋
Strangely enough, in the original Hebrew of the Bible, it didn’t read, “God made the Heavens and the Earth.” But it actually read, “The Elohim made the Heavens and the Earth.” “El” is the root word for deity, “Eloh” is the a feminine singular and so this translates to female deity. Then “Im” is the plural ending for all things masculine. Hence the idea that the original Bible scripture thought of God as both masculine and feminine. Not just the “Father” as many call God but also the “Mother” at the same time. Strange for a lot of Christians to be sexist and to only allow male popes in this day and age to think of, yes?
Oh my god thank you this is amazing
Douglas Adams have a lot of great quotes
@@ravenn2631 that's cool!
Can you make a crash course art history? That would be so great!
Sabine Smith that would be almost as useless as making art history your major
neomcghee no knowledge is useless
Actually the people I know who majored in art history went on to pretty good careers.
Definitely yes please
I know several people who use their art history degrees to run some taco bells. That one should be a low priority one at best.
They put up all the warnings, disclaimers, and "trigger alerts" they could, in the most eloquent, concise, delicate, and respectful way in which anyone possibly could. Which should not surprise anyone, cause nothing they do at CrashCourse falls short of standards of pure excellence. Of course, some people still think that's not enough, and are still getting their feelings hurt.
What a bunch of snowflakes.
Well Christians are the biggest babies on the planet.
Who? Yet to see a single comment complaining.
@@BlackSheepNara So over a third of the world's population are the biggest babies in the world? Wow, what a sensical observation.
@@marcelob.678 Kinda, yeah. A lot of war revolving around "Christianity" has been fighting over the same religion. The jews, muslims, christians, etc have been fighting over the same religion for decades. It's the minutiae of these religions that make people upset. If they could just accept their differences, there wouldn't be a war between em.
what's this? the comments are civil and no one is attacking each other based on viewpoints
over the creation of the universe??
Jose Curiel I'm also pleasantly surprised by this.
Jose Curiel
Well, there are still anti-islamic comments, but there are less than I expected.
I hope it stays that way, the writers of this course are trying really hard to keep it neutral... Hopefully everyone's love for mythology keeps them from attacking each other.
It seemed pretty fair as a video, respectful and attempting to just take a neutral look at it
We must not be seeing the same comment section. Love the video though.
In the beginning the universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
lmao ++
Many were increasingly of the opinion that they'd all made a big mistake coming down from the trees in the first place, and some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no-one should ever have left the oceans.
I rather enjoted the hitchiker's guide to the galaxy movie. I think I'll go rewatch that. Let me just pull up netflix, do a search and nope. Not there. big surprise. Who do I pay for this "service" iv not used it in months, they never have any movies I want to watch.
Diego Morett Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. One of the human race's greatest achievements.
Best book eveeeeer
4:27 Everybody can relate to Death's family. Who hasn't had that visit from the annoying "helpful" neighbor...
As an agnostic and a mythology geek, I am so glad you took a little time to insert the Big Bang in ex-nihilo creation narratives. This episode wouldn't have been complete without pointing out that connection.
It's unclear where God is, there is a void but there is water... makes me think of being in the womb. Are there theories that go into that idea?
Marieke van Essen probably the ancients observed their own life cycles and made story that reflected them also in this regard.
But I never considered this parallel with childbirth. Interesting.
No.
I have no clue, but now I want to do some research on it, so thanks for the spark!
wHy WoUlD yOu Do ThIs
If you read the Bible it’s not unclear where God is. Crash course just doesn’t understand what their talking about, they have not done sufficient research. God in heaven, and he created earth and everything in it. I don’t know why crash course called Christianity a myth because it’s not a myth and a lot of people still believe in it, including myself
Personally I really like it when the Big Bang is described like that. A common complaint against Naturalism is that it leaves the world dead, cold and boring. But in fact the story of the Big Bang is beautiful and awe inspiring. It can be incredibly poetic and really show you how vast the universe is and how tiny you are compared to it, but also the splendor and beauty that can be found in it. And how much more beautiful this is precisely because none of it was designed or intended by any entity. It makes you really realize what it means that we are made of stardust and that we are the universe gazing at itself.
I know right! The idea that I'm a group of cells on a giant ball of dirt in an endless space of nothingness is really beautiful to me
hedgehog3180
Please stop.
hedgehog3180 what's neat is that our universe is roughly the size of a blackhole. My favorite theory is the multiverse theory and our entire universe is just a single grape on the vine of a hundred billion trillion other universes.
the idea of the big bang being initiated BY a greater deity has always fascinated me, since I was a kid. Who's to say that it was all coincidental? Maybe it was all meant to happen that way :)
Given my own experiences with the layering of mythologies and the relations of so many divine portfolios back to Thoth... I am honestly loving that he gets to be the side kick as we travel through this. Seriously. Take him the distance.
I really really enjoy this video. I really agree with the way you deal with these topics. It's very respectful and interesting. I hope the next videos have this level of quality.
You are speaking my language, friend. Respect is overlooked far too often in potentially controversial discourse.
Does anyone else pause the intros to read the facts?
yes, the mythology one isn't funny at all :(
Everytime
Yep.
Katherine A OMFG i do that every time
Katherine A I'm glad I'm not alone
Eyy I'm a mythology nerd and Its great to see a series on this!
Same. Love the Rick Riordan books.
Emily N Same
Feynstein 100 Agreed
Emily N
Myth fanatic club, up top! ✋🏻
ME TOO **high fives**
I think it's interesting that the myths presented seem to be set up as chaos into order but the big bang is actually order into chaos via entropy.
oh I didn't look at it this way.
SolofAvaldor Well, it's sort of subjective.
Order into Chaos, Heat into Cold, Light into Darkness.
Entropy doesn't map well onto the religious conception of chaos (or order).
Finally, someone comments on entropy. Thank you!
Can you add timelines? Its interesting to know which myths came first and which followed. Love this episode!
I'm not saying it was aliens, but it was aliens.
shadowfirekarp Yes, yes indeed
+
Jesus was ana alien, the Feathered Snake as well
Bro what existed before aliens...who made the aliens...was it more aliens...bro
Whoa, no wonder aliens come from space, cuz they like, made space, you know?
I'm loving his relationship with the graphics. So fun!
the problem with ex nihilo creation myths Is that there is usually a God there in the void, meaning that the void wasn't devoid to begin with.
Yeah, it's sort of a weird paradox there.
Of course, that begs the question when was the metaphysical created? That's essentially moving the goal post.
I've always imagined the nothingness as a intensely chaotic state, like a vacuum that sucks so hard that it pulls a something into existence. I'd imagine that something is light. And that light is God/the force of life if you will. Or cosmic radiation soup which generates the base elements...
omfg, people... Nothing means NOTHING. There are NO RULES IN NOTHING. Nothingness is Timeless.
There is no thing that precludes anything from happening in Nothing. Thus CHAOS comes to be. From Chaos forms temporary order, which is what we experience.
This start allows for multiverse etc.
Really..... I'm always shocked there is so little understanding of this, what with the amount of discussion that this topic faces and the fact that even ancient peoples had a vague understanding of this.
unless you consider the idea that the void only existed in one dimension and God existed in some higher dimension
Its interesting because The Lord of The Rings creation mythos follows this formula too.
Lotr is based around Christianity. look it up.
Armendicus
Based on?.. nah. Influenced certainly. He was a catholic. I've read the Silmarillion and it is fairly pagan as well if you'd want to make that comparison.
Armendicus It's also based on landmarks in Birmingham, England. Many of these still stand today!
Well, I believe I remember reading somewhere that Tolkien had stated that the creator god of Middle-Earth was meant to be the same being as the Christian God.
MoreAmerican "The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like ‘religion’, to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism.” which is a quotation from one of his letters to his friend.
this is so cool i love mythology
G doc I know it's so interesting this is what made me subscribe.
+
G doc +
Me too. Favorite is Norse and Roman mythology.
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Can the Egyptian God Thoth be the mascot for the show? Please? Or at least on merchandise.
Brock McKelvey He is now.
MERCH!!! XP
hell ya iam 17
Brock McKelvey FORESHADOWING
I'm glad you're also including modern, scientific myths as well. What are myths but us trying to understand the universe, and what is science but the process of us trying to understand it more correctly?
Anyways, I know you're limited on time for each episode, so I want to share a summary of one of my own favorite creation stories, that used by the Tengriists (the original religion of the Huns, Mongols, Hungarians, Turks and other people from the Asian Steppes).
In the beginning, there was only Tengri and the Great Ocean of Time. Tengri would fly over this Ocean of Time alone, and lonely. This loneliness eventually brought Tengri to create a companion, Kishi, who was not as pure as Tengri. Kishi would grow proud, and eventually flew higher than his creator, and this Pride caused Kishi to fall. Tengri attempted to save him, but it was to late. Er Kishi fell into the Ocean of Time, and Tengri lifted land out of the Ocean to search for Kishi, creating the material world and the God Er-Sub. And from this new land, grew the Tree of Life, which sprouted all Humans, Animals, Plants, and lesser gods.
> What are myths but us trying to understand the universe, and what is science but the process of us trying to understand it more correctly?
There is one minor difference. "Science" is a process by which we determine the truth. Myths are stories people made up. Myths are not true. Puting science and myths into the single category is frankly ridiculous.
You must have no real understanding of scientific method to say such things.
Science uses models, and operationalized concepts and theories, and all those things are not so different from the characters in a myth.
In the Big Bang theory, the laws of thermodynamics are characters that explain the formation of the universe.
In the Evolution theory, natural and sexual selection are characters whose actions explain the diversity of living things.
In cellular theory, cells are characters that make up other characters called organs that make up people.
You have to understand how those are myths
1-To understand how people understand science.
2-To understand how real scientists must interpret the data into something that makes sense.
Have you ever seen into a microscope to look at cells? Because I have, and you will see nothing - it's messy and weird and blurry - and unless you are looking for cells that you already know what they look like and have coloured them with chemical products to make them stand out, you will not understand what you see.
Thomas Vinci Please watch the first episode of the series. Working with the definition presented there, we can classify scientific theories as myths.
I've never heard this one before! I love it. Do you know if there is/was a canonical text for the Tengriists?
+Robert Varulfur I though there was one, but after looking it up again, I don't think there are any true text for Tengriism, at least not those that weren't created after the last conversion of Nomads. I used sites such as this one (tengrism.wikispaces.com/) to gather information
Looking forward to how this series goes. It's interesting to hear about creation stories from other cultures. One thing I would like to point out, however, is a structural difference between the Genesis and Egyptian creation stories you glossed over with the remark, "Can we ever really call it nothingness with all this water around?"
In the excerpt from the Egyptian myth, we see the water possibly existing prior to, or at least having a continuation with, the "Eternal Spirit" that rises as the Sun. Here, along with many of the other myths you cite, there doesn't seem to be a true "ex nihilo" beginning as (in this case) the waters are also a primeval factor in creation. Your question is quite valid here.
But in the verses you pulled from Genesis, the structure is more clearly delineated as an "ex nihilo" creation event. "In the Beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth." There is a start to things in which God creates stuff, including the Earth. THEN we get "And the Earth was waste and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." The existence of these waters is hinged upon the first verse, where the Earth is created. Here, your question is not applicable as the "ex nihilo" event has already happened by the time we get to the waters. I may have to watch the video again, but this seems to me to be the only true "ex nihilo" myth you recounted, with the Creator existing before/outside/apart from anything else.
The other myths I cannot speak to, being mostly unfamiliar with them, but it really was interesting to hear. A big hope I have for this series is in helping me fine-tune the mythology of a story-world I've been working on for a while now. Thank you!
I'll definitely have to rewatch then, because I got a different impression. Now that I'm re-thinking about it, the Kono creation myth has Death + his family existing prior to everything.
Syaoran Barker I think the first line is more set up to content than actually specifying the order of events. It's like if I said "I made a cake. I got eggs, milk, butter, flour, sugar and seasonings and mixed them together, then baked". It doesn't mean I made the cake before mixing the ingredients together.
That's entirely possible, but to my eye this more reads like "I made cake. And the cake didn't have any icing on it, so I iced the cake." Indeed, as far as I'm aware, the long-standing interpretation of those verses (here I must admit a bias in that I myself am a Christian) is that they indicate God calls the entirety of creation (indicated by a set phrase translated as "the heavens and the earth") into existence, gives a description of the state of the earth (which was "waste and void" or "formless and void" or instead of "void" it was "empty" all depending on what translation you use), and then gives us a kind of point-of-view statement ("The Spirit of God moved upon the surface of the waters"). From there, Genesis describes what God caused to happen within the creation he has called into existence.
Syaoran Barker That makes sense, but I've heard that was the consensus (but I've never heard mine was the consensus either, so what do I know)
I think that's an impasse. It's not possible to have a true ex nihilo myth. Even in the Semitic creation story, Yahweh exists before everything else. And since Yahweh is well, something, there was no true void in the first place.
I'm late and only two episodes into this series, but I love it so far! Mike is the perfect host for Mythology as well. I love the script, I love the animations, I love the way it's all presented and the way it all works together. Well done everyone who helped make this show possible! I'm really enjoying it.
I CAME AS SOON AS I HEARD
In what way?
Hahahaha
Kappa that is 100% Pepsi
😂
Angelica?
Samantha Laboy Haha, I was going to post that because I had just watched an animatic, but I thought it would be off topic. Bless you!
This series is already great! Love the lack of censorship and the free talk and analysis!
What I absolutely adore about Mike, Hank and John, but also scientists in general, is the basic contract of openness to the idea of being wrong. They are willing to consider the other points of view, to see things through various examples because it doesn't hurt to think about it. This basic humility, this capacity to face facts as they are and accept being wrong is why they are of the most admirable people on Earth.
This is fascinating. I really like the move to read the Big Bang as an ex nihilo myth. I think that it's important to recognize our own mythologies rather than fall into the trap of thinking we're so far removed from such a basic human practice because of scientific progress. Good work here.
I'm really enjoying this series! Keep it up!
Mike's enthusiasm for mythology makes me feel so much better about myself. I adore studying mythology and it's nice finding others who enjoy it as well.
I love how you guys have turned Toth into nearly a whacky sidekick.
"In the Age of Ancients the world was unformed, shrouded by fog. A land of gray crags, Archtrees and Everlasting Dragons. But then there was Fire and with fire came disparity. Heat and cold, life and death, and of course, light and dark."
Because Dark Souls it's not just a badass game, but it also has some amacing mythos.
I love that Thoth is your sidekick for this series.
Could God microwave a burrito so hot that he, himself, could not eat it?
Why don't you ask that to a ghost?
God itself is already a paradox so technically he can microwave a burrito so hot that he, himself could not eat it... _then eat it_.
Half_Centaur yes God can do anything but he can also eat that burrito so no but yes...nevermind good question
Hank Green asks a same kind of question in crash course philosophy
God doesn't need to eat
I love how TH-cam's comment section is everyday proof of why we all have trouble living together as a species of so called intelligence. Love the video as well❤
I actually appreciate your flippant tone - looking at these myths with a light-heart is how one should look at them. Too many people in the past (and indeed, in the present) have died over myths because they were taken them far too seriously.
I am so incredibly happy that this series exists!
This is turning out great but one thing I hope to see mentioned in a future video is a Pueblo native creation myth: the first humans lived deep beneath the earth and bore no resemblance to humans today. They were brought up to the surface by star beings.
Mike: You are awesome here, just as on your own channel. I'm so glad they hired you for this. I love the way you're approaching the topic, allowing everyone to learn about mythology without alienation based on their belief system, or even scientific education level. Excellent job so far.
In the popul vul story, wouldn't the parrot technically be able to praise the lord?
yes it would but one day it heard the word motherfucker and just repeated it over and over.
Oh, you were raised Catholic, too?
Michael Williams lol wat?
dr.kirby The more pressing question is- why didn't the gods give them the ability to speak? They created an entire world- yet did not have the ability to do so?
parrots learn words from humans and wouldn't be able to speak without being taught,
your argument might have been better if you centered it on animals that have been shown to have languages, such as how crows are able to tell other crows about particular humans, and describe them well enough that those crows can hold grudges against people they've never seen based on events transcribed to them by the crows who saw it happen.
orcas too have been observed communicating with each other in languages unique to their particular pod or stretch of sea that can't be understood by 'foreign' orcas from other pods in other regions.
6:15 Hank and the Scientists would make an awesome band name
I love this dude's on camera persona. Very natural, enthusiastic and fun to watch.
It saddens me that many in the comment section kind of missed the point of the series, as the incessant arguing over whether the Genesis account is true or the big bang theory counts as a myth both indicate. If the first episode didn't help with that, though, what else can we do? People understand the world in narrative. Sure, we got the big bang theory from a bunch of data, but it doesn't mean anything to most people until we can talk about its story, more or less as presented here. In the same way, atheists should be able to recognize the value of a creation myth even if they believe the claims it makes are categorically false. Likewise, Christians should be willing to compare their myths to others, and ponder the similarities and differences between them. How can they be understood otherwise? Myths are about how people see the world, what we find important, and the meaning we find in it. Truth helps with that. Totally not the point, though. I hope by the end of this series, more people manage to engage beyond mere fact-checking. There's enough of that to do these days. Actually, that makes me wonder... are the people who become frustrated, angry, offended, or vindicated by comparison to the myths they find important/"not myths" simply less able to distance themselves from them? Going even further, are the ones who see the least value in discussing myth perhaps the ones for whom they have the most authority?
Twisted Tachyon Oooo. Interesting point of view.
Star Wars has a great mythology and I love it. But if I encounter someone who tells me that it is a historical account of what actually happened long ago in a galaxy far far away I can't help but point out it is just a story. That doesn't mean I miss the importance of myth, that I don't get it, or that I've failed to understand the point of this series. But its likely they do if the story has to be real for it to have any truth or beauty.
I'm not sure I could look through a thread on the beauty of Star Wars and not point out the errors of someone claiming there actually was a death star, a battle of hoth, or even Ewoks. That would say nothing of my love of a good story and the power of myth.
Data from Star Trek is clearly the best data. Have you not seen the documentary about his life on I think the SciFi channel. Also, I'm not sure who the most impressive authority figure is, but its probably Kirk ... and I think memes will always outrank the books in my lamborghini account.
The Literal interpretation of the Bible is a fairly new thing most early Christians view the Old Testament like they're Jewish predecessor this allegory tales
The only issue with that is you are comparing a relatively new story written by a man who says it's a story to deeply held and ancient beliefs. Agree or not, why "correct" someone's beliefs? (Of course I am talking about someone just living their life and not someone trying to rule over others or hurt people)
oh wow I'm early. made it before the atheist vs Christian battle royale woo! 🙌
NoodlzOodlz
I tired to start it off above 😂😇
MoreAmerican noooooo! what have you done?! 😭
NoodlzOodlz LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!!!!
John Doe *runs for cover* 🏃
Sawyer Cantrell it's early. the fighters are still gearing up 😶
It has always been fascinating to me how much these ex nihilo creation stories parallel the account we get from science. I won't at this time try to draw any significance from that (I don't know that it signifies anything at all) but it is fascinating.
"And that's...how we got home renovation." LOL
"A SMALL, EASY topic.
The creation of the universe"
I like the way he talks, its soothing and informative. Its great to see a systematic approach to world religions.
'take a second to get comfortable with that'
*me, raised pagan, used to all my gods being considered characters* kay so moving on
Wow, there are still pagans left in the world? Stay strong, mate.
Schuirmageddon but your gods make for awesome movie plotlines...we can't help thinking of them as characters...lol.
Schuirmageddon ewwwww, a pagan?!
What is paganism for a religion? Could you explain
011 paganism is actually a lot of religions refered to with one name. This includes Norse and Greek/Roman mythology.
This is more civil than I expected. Looks like good comment sections can exist on the Internet
"Like service packs... but for existence." hahaha!!!
Thoroughly enjoyed this.Only episode 2 but loving the presentation style so much!
Loved this! SO balanced and well thought out.
+
Thank you so so so much for including the Mayan myth about creation
This guy is the best addition they made to the channel. Whatever they're paying you it's not enough my guy.
i am curious to why so many creation myths involve a searpont or a dragon.
Steve Bailey dragons make things interesting
Marsha Brady .. it could also be that our ancestors discovered many dinosaur fossils and incorporated them in to their myrhs.
Steve Bailey Humans instinctually can easily recognize snakes. It is something that is built into us to help us stay safe from them.
cause Dragons are awesome?
I thing it might be because they all might of came from the same true story that over time was "telephoned" into a completely different story even though they were all based on the same true and actual event of creation
I'm loving Crash Course Mythology!
I love how you don't have bias towards a specific idea of creation. You're keeping a neutral and informative view on it. I think that's my favorite part so far. Besides Thoth.
please do a crash course on history of salt!
Haha loling:
Salt is the component of two opposite sides, Na and Cl2, when joined together, they form salt. This salt can be neutral, or some other salts are acidic. Which is when two opposing sides are ruuuude.
Hist. of Salt 101
So our story begins in the TH-cam comment section...
Where two sides battle to become saltier...
and saltier....
and saltier...
I bet Thoth really enjoys this series of education and recording in a modern sense
My god, the pace of wich he speaks is just on point, loving this so far!
I'm a Christian and I really appreciate this series. Thanks for continuing to educate people and cause us to think! :D
The mesoamerican one seemed interesting, like feathered serpents = dinos, and the four creations were extinction events, maybe mesoamerican peoples have a long memory haha
I'm sure some respectable historians have disproved me but alas
test text there were no hominids when the last of the dinosaurs roamed the Earth, so that would be impossible. I guess they were just really creative.
Some people think dinosaur bones are the origin of the dragon myth in many cultures of the world.
Actually the four extinction events were just tescatlipoca and quetzalcoatl messing around with the 'who's going to be the sun' deal (which caused a lot of caos); and the feathered serpent (quetzalcoatl) is the god of wind and learning (knowledge); so there's no way that this has anything to do with dinosaurs and the common science theory.
Awesome overview, very diplomatically delivered. Thank you!
Hey Thought Bubble, saguaro cactus are indigenous to the Sonoran desert in NW Mexico and SW U.S., nowhere near Guatemala
surprised that you didn't mention pangu. it's similar to the big bang which is interesting.
I LOVE THIS !! Can not wait to see more! Also, I have two requests / questions:
1. Could it be possible to talk about how the great floods is recurrent in many religions, as explored (if I am not wrong) byJacques Bergier and Louis Pauwels on their book The Morning of the Magicians?
2. Would it be possible to talk one day about Wicca? It is a neo-pagan religion that rely on ancient myths, and the view on things as creation and all, varies from wiccan to wiccan.
Anyhow, thank you for this series, it looks reaaaally cool, and I can not wait to learn more ^^
Being Hindu AND Wiccan, and having studied religions and myths of the world for years, I find this series fascinating, familiar and entertaining.
man, that big bang bit is triggering a lot of people
ikr.
Cad? I don't get it
I absolutely love you all. Thank u for teaching me what I can enlighten others about. Y’all dope
Hindus believe that the first sound ever to exist in the universe was "om: hence its spiritual significance
I think this is amazing! I am strong in my faith but I'd love to learn about everyone else's and also myths. Why are people offended? He gave a trigger warning
got to admit this was more helpful and better presented about this topic than most similar TH-cam videos. good job crash course
Hi. Just wanted to bring something up, Person who Reads Comments at Crash Course (if there is one)
Love the show, but being an Indian epics aficionado, I HAVE to mention this. In the title slide depicting Ramayana, it says that the Ramayana is the largest ancient epic in world literature. But this is simply not true. Anybody with just a little more than vague knowledge about Indian epics will know this. That honour goes to the Mahabharata, which consists of about a hundred-thousand couplets, or maybe more, depending on the version. The Ramayana is only about one-fourth the size of it. Please look into this or else my anal retentiveness will have been in vain.
kthnxbye
P.S. Did I mention that I love the show?
Vinayaka Halemane thanks for the info! I'm sure crash course is well-researched, but some facts can sometimes be missed or mixed up on their part. Its always awesome hearing from people who are passionate about the subject!
I find it interesting about the creation story in Egypt. I think it would cool if you would add in the dates to these things. Moses wrote the book of Genesis after the Israelites left Egypt. Either they influenced the Egyptians or the Egyptians influenced the book of Genesis. Still pretty cool to hear these from this secular perspective.
We don't really have exact dates just estimations
The Jews were never enslaved in Egypt and Moses never existed.
We do have texts from both Egypt and Mesopotamia that tell similar stories to Genesis from way before the Torah was written down.
The point with all of these stories, including Genesis: The time when they are attested in writing is basically random. We can say "this text is from year X" (or usually "probably around century Y") - we can't say when the story originated. They were passed down orally, and sometimes committed to writing, and _a tiny little bit_ of these writings have survived.
That said, Genesis is part of a common Middle Eastern (incl. Egypt) tradition, and was written down much later than many other versions.
i think it's safe to say that in Mythology, there is only one fact: there are not such thing as a auteur, or something influence otherthing. It all comes, most likely, from a time before writting was invented, and those stories where told, and retold so many times, that when eventually someone write them, centuries after, they all are very similar, but they are all different.
These happens today, when we have a level of information like never before in Mankind, and happens very quickly (if we want, we could even trace a same story in different websites in a question of days or weeks), imagine how a story evolve without records, acess to the original story, and during thousands of years. What I find amazing is not the differences in the stories, is how similar they are. And that's, for me, the definition of a Myth, when the story is so GOOD, that it barely change, and keep all the main features.
I love the fact that the Guinea creation myth is basically a godly housewarming party.
they chose water because they were smart enough to know that there was no life without water, therefore life needed to come out of water. also they recognized the power of language and communication, and so the creation is spoken and created by the Word (as a thing)
You do realize one of the stories had a sea of mud, not water, right?
Feynstein 100 you do realize mud is made out of earth and WATER? 😒 my point still stands
+L Phantomhive Lol of course. That was totally my bad. I apologize.
no problem!
Chaos isn’t before creation
“Chaos is a ladder”
-Littlefinger
Loving the slowly growing map of characters in the background. Watching that expand is going to be wonderful.
Uhm, ask Qui-Gon Jinn if the ability to speak is always a good thing...
Gawd is quite a character lol.
Which one?
I assume he means Yaweh, since there was that whole section of the video talking about how they'll be discussing the Abrahamic god as a character.
Darrius Cooper shhhh he is asleep
Oh right good thinking. We must not awaken the Great Dreamer :D
Yaweh? You heard wrong, he said Gahod
I'm so happy that they mentioned Guatemala and especially the popohl vuh. As a fellow Guatemalan it makes me so super happy and honored because the history classes given in the USA barely mentioned Guatemala if at all.
Who else is just now watching this because they are learning abt it on online school? jus me? okay then....
me too hahaha in social studdies I'm learning about greek methology
so death has a family? I just did not see that one comming. :-)
Anansi!! I loved hearing those stories in primary school here in the Caribbean.
The pokemon creation myth could be it's own episode. Like if you agree
Lockstin/Gnoggin did a video series on this, it's kinda spread out but it's really cool.
Arceus said "Let there be light," and thus electric Pokemon were born.
...I...may be mixing a few different mythologies up there.
Marielena Delgado + yes
YES!!!!!! 100%
WE NEED THIS!!!!
Are the characters of gods and goddesses available as stickers? If yes where can I buy them please!
On internet maybe?
This can be the most amazing TH-cam channel I've ever seen. Thank you so much!
The only creation myth I need is in Dark Souls 1.
Notification Squad Who else is here early
Great vid. I'd love to see more content on Mayan religion.
I liked video .... but in creation myths I missed really oldest written, Babylonian one (Gilgamesh story) and really well documented Hindu (Indian!?) Sanskrit written versions.
Stay cool!
was the serpent god Quetzalcoatl?
I'm pretty sure it's Kuku khan
@@thomascarpenter3967 same god different label, just like thoth is Hermes and Mercury
I was thinking all the way of the episode, that I'd love you to tackle the big bang as a myth. And you did! I love you so much!!!
As soon as he said that we would talk about creation out of nothingness, I thought of the big bang, so I'm glad they included it in this.
If you think of myths on a symbolic level, these ex nihilo creation myths are sorta accurate really. The light, then the water, then the life. There's the idea of a gradual process even.
If we consider both big bang and Genesis as myths (as they did in the episode), it's weird that there would be so much of a fight considering the proximity. I'm of course not talking about saying that the other is correct (I'm a scientist, there's only one truth in my eyes), but I'm talking about admitting that the other is not that wrong, and being able to respect them for how close they got through completely different approaches.
Will you ever extensively talk about certain mythologies? If you do make sure you include Hindu Mythology it is extremely fascinating. :P
Sudhish Reddy i agree!!
Or a Norse Mythology episode. We don't know that much of it but it still seems interesting
yeah
If you haven't read it, Neil Gaiman's "Norse Mythology" is an amazing retelling of some of those stories! I'm halfway through and it is so, so good! :)
Sudhish Reddy stumbled across it whilst looking for writing prompts and was blown away. Definitely worth a watch
Excellent job hosting Mike! The content is really good, but I love how you are presenting it. (You're catching up to my favorite host - Phil Plait)
Man I knew I should've turned my Wifi on...who knows how many existence updates I'm missing...
Myths are pretty dank
Congratulations for including the Big Bang in there. Hard to overstate how intellectually honest I think this is.
The most popular creation myth in America is that presidential decisions somehow creates jobs.