Re: Conreligion

Sheets, Jeff wrote:
> > from anything else, and everything was nothing.  But then Old Eagle
> > Woman
> > entered through a hole in the nothingness and began beating her drum.
> > The beats of her drum became Light, and the silences between the beats
> > became Darkness, and that's how the Heartbeat of the Universe started.
> > The mythical First Human Being, a character of indeterminate sex
> > named Ahkaion, is credited with inventing most of the institutions of
> > Tokana life (agriculture, animal husbandry, kinship, etc.).  Ahkaion
> > is
> > a prominent figure in Tokana folktales, where s/he is cast sometimes
> > as
> > a trickster character, and sometimes as a tragic hero(ine).
> >
> >
> Wouldn't they worship the Old Eagle Woman as being the creator of
> everything they know of?  Is there a reason why they don't?
>
> > Matt.
>From what I have heard, in several (or many) religions, the supreme
creator of the Universe is not worshipped as are figures closer to
humanity, such as the deity who created humanity or taught humans how to
live, etc.; the original creator is seen as distant and impersonal.
Also, in some religions, such as the ancient Greeks', older deities get
supplanted in mythology by newer ones, such as Ouranos's being
overthrown by his son Kronos, who was then overthrown by his son Zeus as
king of the gods. Then of course there is Christianity, which seems
(from my point of view) to concentrate mostly on Jesus rather than the
other two members of the Trinity.

I have a sketchy outline of a religion that goes with one of my
languages, but it was created before I decided to create the language.
It has several "deities" (tanihat') of varying ranks. The highest deity,
Ulugh, is neither good not evil and is conceived of as the spirit of the
Universe. Ulugh is manifested as two lower deities, somewhat like Hindu
avatars: Ciziamon, the supreme deity of good, and Yaliatset, the supreme
deity of evil. Both of these is again made up of two lower deities
(kunahat') of lesser power. The view of this religion is that the powers
of good and evil forever fight to stay balanced (a la Zoroaster?), until
finally the distinction between good and evil is obliterated and
everything attains a quality which has no name in any language that I
know, but which is seen as the "highest good".