Focus on Creation: Introduction
Questions about human existence are of all times. When man began to observe the earth, the moon and the sun, the stars, planets and the cosmos, he was naturally led to think about a Maker or makers who fashioned the universe. The sense of wonder he must have felt caused him to long for knowledge about beginning and end, and about an eternity without beginning or end. Questions about man's origin are linked to the human need to interpret our existence, to endow the universe with meaning, to think about its maker, the unknowable First, or God who brings order to chaos, God the Creator who separated the earth from water, the Nous bringing light in the midst of darkness, who himself was the Good in the All. By acquiring gnosis or intuition about the divine, various philosophical, mystical and religious thinkers thought it was possible for divine though mortal man to shed the imperfections of his created body and return to a union with the Godhead.
In addition to biblical creation stories there were many other influential ideas current concerning the creation of the universe, the world and the creatures in it. Several philosophical and religious creation myths were interpreted and elaborated in the history of Western thought and belief. Various wisdom traditions in Western culture exercised a profound influence on man's continuous attempts to fathom the creation, ranging from Genesis to Plato, from Marsilio Ficino's interpretation of the Hermetic works to Jacob Böhme's Mysterium Magnum.
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Last modified: July 17, 2003
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