I have a great story to tell you.
Once, a very long time ago, before there were houses and cars and maps and stories—before there was language or community or stories to even tell, there was a small, childlike creature.
The creature was lonely. It existed in a place that was neither here, or there… of course, there was no way to know this, as there were no maps, and nowhere to precisely “be”.
But there it was. It existed. It was an enigma.
It was puzzled with it’s own existence—but not as we are. It was less, “Who am I?” And more, “How am I?”. It posited this question over and over, until it created its own reality.
This reality would eventually become what we know as our world. But nothing even close to resembling our world existed yet. This world was darker. But this darkness was not bad, or evil—yet. This darkness was simply dark because there was no light. It was as if there was a lump of coal (despite coal not existing) sitting in a pile of soot.
So the creature created something. Because it was lonely. The mere existence of the creature in a place, that was here, was not enough. So the creature created water. It put the water on the lump of coal in the pile of soot, and suddenly the lump of coal almost resembled our world as we know it. There was the coal, and the water.
But it wasn’t enough. The creature was still lonely, and the slow lapping of the water reminded the creature of this. So it created flora. It covered almost any surface on our world that wasn’t already covered in water: and some that were.
But again, it wasn’t enough. The creature was craving something more. This was a beautiful creation that this creature had made, but it needed more. It couldn’t stand being so… lonely.
So it made fauna. It created life. But the life did not interact with the creature—it couldn’t.
So the creature created humans. But the humans, despite looking at the creature, did not show gratitude towards the creature. And it was still lonely.
So the creature made the life flawed. It made us flawed.
For fauna: it created the circle of life. It created the need to destroy to survive. It created evil in humans hearts, to curse the life that the creature had made.
It may be haunting to hear about why we live with evil, why the creature still watches us in envy. But, of course, it’s too late. For once a story is told, it cannot be called back. Once told, it is loose in the world. You now know why we are cursed with the existence of evil.
Reflection:
In creating this story and retelling it, I found that my personality came out. The repetition was something that I relished, and that I believe drew my friends and family into the story, but also the interaction with me. I relished telling this story, and the sense of community that telling the story gave me. I appreciated being able to create my own story, although admittedly it was hard to come up with something at first. I sort of decided to focus on a single and all-powerful omnipotent being, similar to, as King points out, Genesis does (King, 24). I loved reflecting on why this was–I’m not religious even in the slightest, and I usually appreciate a story that isn’t so static as the one I’ve just told. But I enjoyed telling it. Whether or not I would enjoy hearing this story, I have no idea. I’m sure my personality will get lost over the internet, but I enjoyed this assignment nonetheless.
King, Thomas. The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. House of Anansi Press Inc., 2010.
Hi Brenda,
I really enjoyed this story, and that you took it in a bit of a different direction than some of the others I’ve read, in that evil is brought into the world via a being in the process of creation, not through a story.
I’d be interested to hear what kind of story you think this creature would tell, if it could, about the creation of life. Why was it so hurt that its creations didn’t show gratitude? Would it do it all again if it could?
Hi Jack!
Thank you! It’s funny, I wouldn’t have thought about telling this story from the creatures point of view–what an interesting thought. I kind of just assumed that it would be hard to write a first-person narrative for something as powerful and ancient as I made it out to be. I also don’t really know if the creature could successfully communicate or tell a story. At least, not in the same way that you or I could. If this makes sense? This could also be, possibly, why it didn’t think that it’s creations had shown it gratitude–despite humans having a propensity to start religions for that exct reason.
Hi Brenda,
I really enjoyed reading your story! You took a unique spin on evil coming into the world and transcribed it as a committed act done out of spite, rather than relating it to the fall of Adam and Eve. You mention that you’re not religious, and I was wondering if biblical stories say, Genesis, have any effect on the way you perceive the evil in humanity, or just life in general? It’s interesting to see how stories, whether you believe them or not, can have such a considerable influence and impact on our conceptions of life.
Hi Samantha!
Thanks for the question, I love it! I’m not really sure, to be honest–I’d probably have to have a pretty in-depth conversation with someone who is religious to see exactly how differently the impact of religion has had on me. Which, I haven’t–at least not in terms of my views on evil and right and wrong, that sort of thing. It obviously has something to do with my views, as reflected in this story that I chose. Perhaps I subconsciously gravitated towards a story that would reflect one of the most commonly-known stories in the Western World, aka Genesis. I love the reflection that this comment has made me do, thank you so much.
Hi Brenda,
I really loved the way in which you gave the creator of your world a strong motivation (loneliness) which both lead to its creation of life and goodness but how its loneliness resulted in creating evil in human beings as well as death. I was wondering what motivated you to give your creator figure human emotions and fallibility?
Hi Sophie!
Awesome question. I actually did think about this being a “plot hole”, if you will–but I wanted to kind of leave it up to interpretation instead of being sidetracked by it. I kind of wanted to hint that emotions have always existed, and that along with that, evil also has kind of always existed..just not in “our” world as we know it.