What are the major differences or similarities between the ethos of the creation story or stories you are familiar with and the story King tells in The Truth About Stories?

I was raised Catholic and I practiced up until I moved to Kelowna for post-secondary education. I had my doubts growing up, but they weren’t strong enough that I could be labelled atheist. I simply stopped practicing and that pushed religion aside altogether for me. Having said that, I’m quite familiar with “Genesis” and I see a handful of similarities in it when compared to King’s “The Earth Diver” in The Truth About Stories.

First of all, both stories begin with water. The interesting thing about that is a lot of other creation stories begin with water. Kind of interesting. On a side note, although Buddhism has no universal and mutually shared creation story, some branches believe the origin of existence began with water as well. I know water is important since more than half of what we’re comprised of is water, but when you get down to it… why water? Why was God in “Genesis” “moving over the surface of water”? Why couldn’t it have been over a surface of dirt? Why did water have to be present before everything else? Why couldn’t he create water afterwards? I should stop before I go insane.

So, both “Genesis” and “The Earth Diver” begin with water. In the latter, Charm falls into Earth which was nothing but water. Another similarity is the presence of animals. In “Genesis”, God creates animals before even creating man. In “The Earth Diver”, it is unknown if the animals preceded Charm, or if Charm preceded them, but animals appear to exist in abundance too. Additionally, animals who talk to the humans exist in both of these creation stories. The snake who gets Eve to break the one and only rule in the Garden of Eden, and the moose and sea creatures who interact with Charm from beginning to end.

Parallels and binaries are also ubiquitous in both “Genesis” and “The Earth Diver”; they are more so apparent in the former, but the latter has them too. God in “Genesis” creates heaven and hell, night and day, and man and woman. The twins born of Charm in “The Earth Diver” create summer and winter, roses and thorns, sunshine and shadows; just like God in “Genesis”, the twins create man and woman.

The major differences between the two stories are few, but significant. In “Genesis” there is an omnipresent, omniscient, and powerful creator who exists before everything else. In “The Earth Diver”, no such figure exists; although it is unclear whether Charm was present before the existence of the Moose and the world/universe she inhabited prior to her accidental arrival on Earth, it is clear she is not as powerful and authoritative as God in “Genesis”. The world is built through cooperation in “The Earth Diver”, while one powerful figure creates everything in “Genesis”. Additionally, in “Genesis”, the readers are taught to distinguish right from wrong, and good from bad; Adam and Eve are asked not to eat from the tree of knowledge and are punished for doing so. In “The Earth Diver” there is nothing right or wrong, good or bad. The animals, Charm, and the twins simply work with what’s in front of them and are happy with whatever outcome.

As I said in a previous blog, I was irked by King’s tirade about how the world may have been a better place if a story like “The Earth Diver” took precedence instead of “Genesis”. In general, I think creation stories are troublesome. We’re always going to ask the who’s, what’s, when’s, where’s, why’s, and how come’s. Did Charm exist before the Moose? Who created Charm and who created the person/being/figure who created Charm? Why did they do so? The questions are endless. In Buddhist teachings, Buddha advices people not to worry about the origin of the world because it’s counter-productive to what we should be doing. In Buddhism, the point is to escape suffering and to do so is to escape the cycle of birth and rebirth. To gain enlightenment. Following the eightfold path and meditation are methods which help achieve enlightenment and Nirvana. According to Buddha, questioning how life came to be only slows us down from enlightenment.

To end this blog, here is a quotation by Buddha which sums up why he thinks creation stories are problematic:

A person approached the Buddha asking, “What will happen after I die? What was my form before my birth? What is the source of all we see? Answer these questions and I will become your disciple.” The Buddha replied in this manner:

A man is shot with a poison arrow. Wounded, he refuses any aid, demanding answers to his questions. “Who shot the arrow? What is the poison? Of what wood is the shaft? From which bird came the feathers for the flight?” Surely he will die with these questions still unanswered.

Works Cited

Allan, John. “The Eight-Fold Path.” Buddha Net. Buddhist Studies, n.d. Web. 10 Jul 2015.

Paw, Maung. The Agganna Sutta: On Knowledge of Beginnings Of Humankind. California: n.p, n.d. Web.

“The Poison Arrow.” That Buddha Guy. The Buddha Guy, n.d. Web. 11 Jul 2015.