“What I want to know is why you are so much larger than me? That’s easy, said the Moose, and he walked into the lake and he disappeared.”

-Thomas King

This is one of my favourite King quotes and is the reason why I have decided to assess the major differences and similarities between King’s Creation story about Charm and the world on a turtle and my own somewhat convoluted stories. In this post, you can expect to learn about how I see the world through the lens of my creation stories, where King and I meet on common ground, and where we diverge. Mostly, it is storytelling and I hope you enjoy it.

If you are unfamiliar with King’s story about Charm, you can read it here (Begins on Page 11) or listen to it on CBC.

If you don’t have time to (re)read it, I have included a short summary:

Earth was created on the back of a turtle. Rather, the earth as we know it was. Long ago, the earth was really all water and there was no land to be seen. Animals lived there, but there were no people. On another, larger world, far away, was a curious woman named Charm. She ended up falling through her world pursuing her curiosity, and fell through space onto Earth (perhaps better named Water!). Not knowing how to swim, she was saved by animals. One of which, an Otter, dove and returned to Charm, who was now resting on a turtle. The otter was exhausted but had brought some mud. Soon, Charm gave birth on the back of the turtle and her twins shaped the mud and made the mountains, valleys, rivers, and forests we now know today. One twin built and ordered, the other muddled and added complexity. All the earth as we know it rests on the back of a turtle.

 

What follows are some stories. I have tried to write the way I would tell them to mirror King’s methods. Similar to King’s story about Charm my tale is less about creation and is really more about a happening.

How the World came to be

You might be wondering how we came to be. It is a long, long story. It takes longer than a life to tell, so all we really get is a highlight reel. A summary. Coles notes. A dummy’s guide to life.

Once upon a time there was infinity.

It does not end or begin. Like tracing a finger on a drawn circle. I suppose it isn’t once upon a time after all, it’s always.

Infinity just is.

Infinity? What is it?

People call it different things.

Energy and matter they say.

They are the same thing, but different, like water and ice.

Yes, steam too.

Energy and matter.

We don’t really understand how, but a long time ago a man with a very impressive beard say that energy and matter are interchangeable. Matter becomes energy, energy becomes matter. It never disappears or appears really, but it moves around. Sometimes it moves around in ways we cannot understand. Through things calls dimensions.

Dimensions. Like drawing a square on a page, and making it into a cube. You just went up a dimension! Congratulations. Some women and men believe there to be at least 11 or more dimensions. Really we don’t know.

We don’t know.

But energy and matter…

There is a funny thing about things. Sometimes things run away from each other. Like a drop of dye in a glass of water. And sometimes things stick together, like oil in a glass of water.

Try it at home.

Why is that?

Energy and matter, of course.

See, energy and matter like to travel but seem to get lonely too. We don’t know why.

Sometimes there is this pull on matter, maybe it is energy, and it matter stays together.

Sometimes there is this push on matter and it tries to stay away.

Like how sometimes we just want a hug, and other times we want to be left alone.

Anyway, back to the World.

Once upon an always, there was enough matter bumping into each other that a force pulled and pulled. Like gravity. Maybe it was gravity?

This force it made a ball. That got bigger and bigger.

When things get compressed they get hot, and heat is energy. Matter and energy are the same, and maybe some of that heat energy matter just wanted to escape the crowd.

Like being in a stuffy crowded room and escaping to fresh air.

That big ball is the sun.

Energy and matter.

Other balls formed in other places.

Why are they balls?

Oh, well they pull towards a centre.

Anyhow, this is how the earth came to be.

It wasn’t created so much as happened. Imagine a whirlpool in a ballpit.

Eventually, some matter stuck together. Like oil in water. The little balls all stick together and spin in space.

For a long long long time. And now there is this big ball, the Earth.

It’s hot in the middle so they say.

That probably why there are volcanoes. Energy and matter.

Ok fine. But where does life come from? Where do we come from?

Don’t worry, I’m not out of stories yet. I’ll tell two stories and you can take your pick. Choose your own adventure:

After the earth glued itself together it got hit over and over again by comets and asteroids. Some of them had water. Oceans of water.

Then this thing happened. Maybe once, maybe a bazillion times. But at least once.

This thing.

The earth was hot. Some of the water turned into steam and vapour and rose, becoming clouds. Then this thing happened, it was lightning.

Lightning is energy, you see.

From the forces and pulls of different types of matter moving around. Being pulled around.

Every once in awhile there is such a difference in how excited the energy in clouds and the ground that energy goes to balance it out. Like visiting someone after a long time the excitement builds and builds and builds.

Hi. How are you? EXCITED!

Lightning stuck some water.

And some bits and pieces in the water, they get all boiled up into a ball.

A tiny ball on a big ball.

A ball of oil.

Anything is possible, so they say. I suppose it must be.

Because it seems impossible to for this ball full of proteins of oil out of soup and lightening. It is improbable.

But if you flip a coin a bazillion times, it will eventually come up heads enough times in a row to be astonishing.

This ball has some bits and pieces in it. And it copies itself.

A long long time goes by.

These little balls, they like to copy themselves.

That is one creation story. Little balls and big odds. Energy and matter.

Bazillions.

Or maybe that isn’t right at all. This is another story I have heard, a story I like more. I like it because a moose walks into a lake. Well, there is no moose or lake, but you will see.

Earth may have formed as I spoke of before, balls hurtling through space coalescing into the planet as we know it. Asteroids and comets smashing into earth bring matter and debris is cast into space from the impacts.

This matter, might very well contain oceans.

The debris hum around earth, quickly caught in our gravity. Smashing into each other. Sometimes they coalesce, and before we know it, the moon is born. Or rather, is build. By gravity, by energy.

Some of these extraterrestrial rocks, some of them can contain oceans of water.

They crash into the earth. And melt.

Then there are oceans.

But in the water is life.

It came in the ice.

Frozen. Preserved.

It is possible life did not start here. That it is a continuance.

And aeons pass. Those things that survive, survive. Sometimes the climate changes and many die.

Years and years.

Animals, great and small. In and out of the oceans. Onto the land.

Finally, people, as we recognize them.

Years and years.

And you and I.

The matter we are made up of is the same as the stars, and we are descended from unknown life scattered across the universe. Sometimes it survives, sometimes it doesn’t. Like seeds on the wind. Some land on fields, some on rock. Some survive and some do not.

This story is called panspermia.

Instead of seeds growing into plants, it is the seeds of life on barren planets.

There is not creation, but a continuance. What is a beginning? Maybe there never has been a beginning.

That seems impossible. But there is a sliver of possibility. So really it is improbable.

 

Where does the energy and matter come from you might ask?

No-one really knows.

But it is. Whatever is means.

These are some stories. You can choose to believe them or not.

We’re all here together now though, so lets make the best of it.

Maybe there is magic out there. Maybe there is other life. Maybe there are gods.

Anything is possible, so they say.

———

Similarities and Differences

Based on my own experiences as a child who has asked for “five more minutes” of play or is told we will leave “in five”, or as an adult hitting a snooze button I don’t think I am alone in the human experience of time not being consistent and linear. Like King, I describe “creation” as a change rather than a discrete beginning. Perhaps it seems as though there should be a beginning, middle, and end to this story, post, or this discussion, much like birth, life and death. But even these discrete categories fall apart on closer analysis, any mother can tell you that birth is not in an instant! In fact, birth is describing a change from inside to outside of the womb rather than a creation or beginning. Even birth is a continuance. As for death, is it when we stop breathing? When our heart stops pumping? When our blood stops circulating? When the last of our cells cease to metabolize?

As you can see, I do not perceive creation as a moment. Like time, it is a continuance. This is where the creation story about Charm and my own overlap the most. That, and the gradual changes that have lead to life being the way it is. King’s and my own stories are different from the King James creation story in genesis as (1) The world starting perfect and falling into chaos and (2) that there was not “nothing” then “everything” at the whim of a (one) creator. In addition, in The Truth About Stories King mentions that he knows a few creation stories, I hope I have illustrated that we share common ground in having multiple stories. Much like Coyote – the trick is that either story can be false, or both can be true. They are not mutually exclusive.

There are differences in our stories. For King the Earth was once all water, to me it was all land. I do not believe turtles are holding up the land but I can understand how someone would. Simply put, earth sinks. We also diverge on another topic, four vs. three as “magic” numbers, or numbers of significance. This comes out in the four cardinal directions, four colours on the medicine wheel, four women and four men in Green Grass Running water. In my world-view, it takes two to make one (parents/child) leading to three; there is birth life and death, two of each appendage and sensory organ and one brain, day, night, and the space inbetween. I can see how four fits any of my own observations as well, but perhaps these are differences deeply ingrained in how we have learned to see the world. I think we can share common ground in our numbers, as well as our stories. It is not that one is right and one is wrong, both simply are.

If you do not like King’s or my own creation stories, there are plenty more out there. Perhaps you expected me to launch into a battle between King James and Thomas King. Battles over Eden and water, about creation and continuance. I will leave you with a piece* presented this week (March 10^th, 2014) at the Vancouver Poetry slam which tells the story of Genesis from an outsiders perspective.

*Note: This piece contains language and ideas that may be considered offensive to some. It is not my intention to cause offence or anger, but rather present an alternate view of the King James creation story as told by an “outsider” without addressing it directly because I am already way over my word limit for the week!

 

As the sun sets and we huddle around sharing stories and ourselves, we are looking for meaning. This comes down to the great questions of why are we here? What was here before? What will be after?

The answers are easy.

Just ask the moose.

 

 

References:

• Greene, Brian. “How Did Water Come to Earth?” Smithsonian Magazine. May 2013. Web. 13 Mar 2014.
• King, Thomas. Green Grass Running Water. Toronto: Harper Collins, 1993. Print.
• King, Thomas. The Truth About Stories. Toronto: Harper Collins, 2003. Print.
• Massey, Simon. “A Brief History of Creation”. Online Video Clip Youtube. Vancouver Poetry Slam.13 Mar 2014. Web. 13 Mar 2014.

• Photos by Duncan MacGillivray.