The World on a Pancake- a Creation Myth (LA assignment)

[curiousitykitten]

she said it could be as crazy as you wanted, please tell me how you feel. I'm genuinely afraid of failing.


In the beginning there was darkness; a black abyss. It was a desolate place with absolutely no signs of life. There was a presence in this darkness, but it wasn’t human. Nothing can compare to its presence, it was the Great Creator.


Some think of the Great Creator as male, while others picture him as female. There is one thing certain about this great spirit, it is greater than all of us. The Great Creator is not like you or I; he is a spirit greater than all of us. Everything he makes is good as well as perfect.


We cannot be certain about the Great Creator’s appearance. It is believed that the shape of his spirit resembles the human body, for we are his greatest and smartest creation. We also assume that he is older than time, so he has a white beard and many wrinkles. His old age is a sign of how wise he is.


After years of sitting alone in the great black abyss we call the night sky, the Great Creator folded his hands and fingers together. It is hard to describe in words, but he held his hands in the way many of us humans do when we pray. When he released his hands, there appeared to be a great ball of clay.


The creator took off a piece of clay and moved his hands in a circular motion repeatedly. He thought about what he had planned and released his hands. After releasing them, a great big oven was floating in front of the creator. We use ovens in our kitchens to this day to honor the Great Creator.


The Great Creator turned on the oven because he knew what was right. The button he pressed turned bright green to signify life. The Great Creator knew what would come to be and had great plans. After the oven was turned on, it made strange noises and spun wildly. The sound echoed out into the dark abyss. The creator never spoke, for he had no one to speak to. This was the first sound ever produced in our universe. It was a loud and ear splitting screech.


The oven continued to spin over and over again. If you were to look at the oven while it was spinning, it wouldn’t be anything more than a blur. The oven spun so fast it heated up and ignited. The compression from space caused the oven to explode. The explosion formed an array of bright colors. It was like the fireworks we are familiar with. Some people refer to this explosion as the Super Nova, but believers of the Great Creator knew it was an oven explosion.


After the explosion was completed, particles of what once was the oven floated freely in space. Dust, pieces of metal, and dirt clumped together. Overtime this formed what we know of a “pancake”, but its size was simply magnificent. This is one reason we eat pancakes for breakfast, it is a celebration of our world and its humble beginnings. Our world once looked like the pancakes we eat for breakfast. It was flat, boring, and colorless. The Great Creator’s work wasn’t done at this point.


The Great Creator looked down at the empty world he had created. He was almost upset that it was entirely lifeless. In order to provide a proper environment for all of us, the Great Creator had two things in mind. He needed to create bodies of water. As we know nothing he created is able to live without water, so it was something we simply needed. We also needed fresh clean air to breathe; this air would later become a home for the sky animals that were to be created.


The Great Creator proceeded to make the essential water. He moved his hands in a fluid like motion and syrup streamed out of them and onto the pancake. The syrup emerging from his hands had salt inside, unlike the sugar syrup we put on our pancakes. The syrup laid out on the pancake is what we call our oceans. The portions without salt ran off into the pancake in what look like cracks and puddles, these are our lakes, rivers, and streams.


Right after the syrup had settled onto the pancake, a sweet smelling gas was omitted from the pancake. No one knows exactly how this air was created. It could have been magic, a reaction from the syrup, or the will of our creator (he knew air was needed in the first place). All we know is that it supports all that inhabit the pancake.


The Great Creator looked at the pancake once again. He was pleased with the fact it was now capable of supporting life, but he was still lonely. It took him a moment to realize what he had forgotten, something common human elders do today. After that moment, it dawned on him that his pancake looked like an unpainted picture with only yellow and blue. He knew exactly what to do from there.


He created all the animals we know of today. He created plants and flowers of all shapes and colors, some with hidden medicine and others simply for beauty. He created animals with scales, feathers, flippers, fur, trunks, hooves, and claws. Everything he created was unique and served a purpose. The winged animals resided in the skies, while the animals with flippers and fins resided inside the syrup. Many of the other animals lived on the land which was now lush and covered with trees, grass, and flowers.


The Great Creator looked down fondly at what he had made. He smiled at it and cherished the moment. Not before long, he saw some of the creatures he made bumping into each other. It took him a moment to realize why they were doing this. The creatures he made were not immortal as he was. Their eye sight was not great and they could see close to nothing. There was no source of light coming from the darkness surrounding the pancake.


The Great Creator chuckled at the difficulties of his creations and then felt sympathy. In a matter of seconds he took some clay and created two lamps. He held his hands over the lamps; this gave them the power to turn on. He called the large lamp the sun and the small lamp the moon. Each lamp takes a turn once a day. As soon as the sun was turned on by the creator, the animals stopped bumping into each other.


Although life on the pancake was beautiful and colorful, it was not always easy for the animals. For example, some areas were a distance from the lamps and other areas were barely touched by the syrup. This caused places on the pancake to be cold and dry. These cold and dry areas are our tundras and deserts. Animals unfortunate enough to live in these areas, such as the jack rabbits and penguins, had to try harder to survive. Some of the creatures were created stronger than others. It was common that the animals competed and fought against each other. This was no mistake. Our creator wanted his creations to experience sadness and defeat. This was the only way they would also know happiness and triumph.


With the new balance instilled in the world there was only one thing missing. The Great Creator found himself exhausted. His old hands shook because he was tired and old. He thought to himself, “It will take great energy to take care of all that I have made”. As he thought this, man and woman emerged from the center of the pancake. They looked just like he did and had almost the same powers as he did. Right then and there, the creator appointed his creation to their race. It was now their responsibility to care for the pancake and all that resided upon it. He instilled the couple with free will.


This is why we must love our creator and the pancake we stand on today. Without his love we would not know what life is. When we die we will return to our creator. If we carried out his wishes to respect his world, our souls will rest with the creator. However, if we do not abide by his wishes, he will push us off of the pancake and our souls will fall into the dark abyss.