The Creation in Paganism
The creation of the world. What did our forebears believe in that context? Let's find out.
I believe that the pagans of the past had different views on that. Because in ancient Greece, for example, you do see a talk about a demiurge, a creator of this world. Or rather, something that has been interpreted as the creator of this world. But I think the original pagan European view is that there is no creation. The world, the cosmos, has always been here. The original Pagan idea is that the world has always existed, time is inseparable from astronomical cycles, matter, underlying forms, is eternal and uncreated. You cannot reach the edge of the cosmos, because there is no edge. It continues forever. Just like PI [pie]. Or PI [pee], as I would have said.
While there is no creation, you can also naturally assume that there is no end to the universe. It will never cease to be. There is no Armageddon or anything like that. Ragnarok is a description of something completely different. And I have described that in my book "Sorcery and Religion in Ancient Scandinavia".[1]Sources using Völuspá, by the way. Völuspá is not a myth about the creation of the world, but a myth about the creation of the world on a subjective level. That is for you, as a human being. What our mythology talks about is your subjective rebirth, and a world manifesting itself for you in your limited physical being.
The perception of the world as having a beginning and an end is, I think, very much Christian. And very much foreign for the pagan European. And when it comes to the ancient Greeks and their possible talk about the creation, I think that is because in ancient Greece, at that time, they had already lost connection to nature, because they were living in a civilization. And when you lose this connection, when you lose the contact with nature, you also lose contact with paganism,[2]because you distance yourself from it. You cut yourself off from it and start to imagine that you are above it or different from it or somehow independent of it. And this is a very civilized idea that we see very much in Judeo-Christianity. You start to wander off into delusions and despair. A need for "faith" comes over you, and drags you down into the realm of spiritual darkness.
The idea that there is something divine beyond the universe, the cosmos, is a thoroughly Christian idea. The original pagan conception is that the divine is a part of nature. You cannot separate the divine from the cosmos. You cannot claim that it is beyond cosmos, because the cosmos is the divine. And the divine is our cosmos. And it is eternal and timeless.
If you think animism is a type of atheism, please press dislike. If you understand that animism is not atheism, please press like. If you think paganism is based on having faith, please press dislike. If you think paganism is perfectly explainable, please press like. If you think it's okay to call other people's interpretations, lower interpretations, when you yourself are unable to interpret the myths at all, not even lower explanations to them, please press dislike.
The creation of the world. What did our forebears believe in that context? Let's find out.
I believe that the pagans of the past had different views on that. Because in ancient Greece, for example, you do see a talk about a demiurge, a creator of this world. Or rather, something that has been interpreted as the creator of this world. But I think the original pagan European view is that there is no creation. The world, the cosmos, has always been here. The original Pagan idea is that the world has always existed, time is inseparable from astronomical cycles, matter, underlying forms, is eternal and uncreated. You cannot reach the edge of the cosmos, because there is no edge. It continues forever. Just like PI [pie]. Or PI [pee], as I would have said.
While there is no creation, you can also naturally assume that there is no end to the universe. It will never cease to be. There is no Armageddon or anything like that. Ragnarok is a description of something completely different. And I have described that in my book "Sorcery and Religion in Ancient Scandinavia".[1]Sources using Völuspá, by the way. Völuspá is not a myth about the creation of the world, but a myth about the creation of the world on a subjective level. That is for you, as a human being. What our mythology talks about is your subjective rebirth, and a world manifesting itself for you in your limited physical being.
The perception of the world as having a beginning and an end is, I think, very much Christian. And very much foreign for the pagan European. And when it comes to the ancient Greeks and their possible talk about the creation, I think that is because in ancient Greece, at that time, they had already lost connection to nature, because they were living in a civilization. And when you lose this connection, when you lose the contact with nature, you also lose contact with paganism,[2]because you distance yourself from it. You cut yourself off from it and start to imagine that you are above it or different from it or somehow independent of it. And this is a very civilized idea that we see very much in Judeo-Christianity. You start to wander off into delusions and despair. A need for "faith" comes over you, and drags you down into the realm of spiritual darkness.
The idea that there is something divine beyond the universe, the cosmos, is a thoroughly Christian idea. The original pagan conception is that the divine is a part of nature. You cannot separate the divine from the cosmos. You cannot claim that it is beyond cosmos, because the cosmos is the divine. And the divine is our cosmos. And it is eternal and timeless.
If you think animism is a type of atheism, please press dislike. If you understand that animism is not atheism, please press like. If you think paganism is based on having faith, please press dislike. If you think paganism is perfectly explainable, please press like. If you think it's okay to call other people's interpretations, lower interpretations, when you yourself are unable to interpret the myths at all, not even lower explanations to them, please press dislike.
- Replace "initiation" with "reincarnation" in that book, and you have a very good book.
- With yourself
Video version of this article
0:04:42
If you're a regular viewer please DON'T try to become a Patreon supporter for as little as $1 per video because they are of course free for me to make, and I don't even have a Patreon account. I have NO EXPENSES when I make these videos. I only invest my ...