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In this paper, I offer a close comparative reading of a creation myth from chapter 1 of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka-Upaniṣad , which opens with the startling statement “ātmaivedam agra āsīt”, “in the beginning there was the self (ātman)”. I read this classical text with Śaṅkara, its foremost commentator, in dialogue with an ensemble of Indologists (Wilhelm Halbfass, Greg Bailey and Frederick Smith) and theorists (Walter Benjamin, Ramchandra Gandhi and Hélène Cixous), and vis-à-vis, the creation myth narrated in chapter 1 of the Book of Genesis . My aim is to decipher the intrinsic relation between identity, difference and diversity underlying the Upaniṣadic myth, and the ambivalent relationship (fear and desire) between self and other depicted here. The Upaniṣad presents a narrative of “the self first”, and implied is the aspiration to retrieve and rediscover this first self, the ātman, which precedes and encompasses everything else. I challenge this narrative drawing on Mukund Lath’s paper (J World Philos 4:6–23, 2003/2018). According to Lath, being is becoming, and change is a precondition of identity-formation. Identity, he argues, does not only accommodate but also invites change and plurality. Identity for Lath is a matter of creation, not restoration. It is pregnant with the future, not obsessed with premordiality. Lath’s unique case study for his counter-Upaniṣadic discussion of identity and self is classical Indian music, rāga music.

The main scheme of creation in Zoroastrian Pahlavi literature is adopted from the Young Avesta. In this scheme Ohrmazd creates the world in the manner of a skillful craftsman who conceives of the form of his product and then fashions it in matter. The number of the constituents of the world and the sequence in which they are created are already fixed in the Avesta. Pahlavi authors draw on Greek philosophical tradition to rationalise their account of the creation of the world. The article also explores some of the complications that their philosophical elaboration of the Avestan scheme occasions.

The prediction defended in this paper is that over the next fifty years we will see a return of the ancient tradition of \"universal history\"; but this will be a new form of universal history that is global in its practice and scientific in its spirit and methods. Until the end of the nineteenth century, universal history of some kind seems to have been present in most historiographical traditions. Then it vanished as historians became disillusioned with the search for grand historical narratives and began to focus instead on getting the details right through document-based research. Today, however, there are many signs of a return to universal history. This has been made possible, at least in part, by the detailed empirical research undertaken in the last century in many different fields, and also by the creation of new methods of absolute dating that do not rely on the presence of written documents. The last part of the paper explores some of the possible consequences for historical scholarship of a return to a new, scientific form of universal history. These may include a closer integration of historical scholarship with the more historically oriented of the sciences, including cosmology, geology, and biology. Finally, the paper raises the possibility that universal history may eventually be taught in high schools, where it will provide a powerful new way of integrating knowledge from the humanities and the sciences.

The right film can work wonders for helping students understand difficult concepts in religion. Disney’s Pinocchio at once provides a visual metaphor for the gnostic version of the creation of humanity and conveys the anxiety that must have been felt by prospective Gnostics as they came to the realization that their well-known and beloved traditions could yield such disconcerting interpretations. But to what extent are the apparent gnostic elements in the film intended? And do they naturally emerge from the sources (Carlo Collodi’s 1881–1883 series of short stories) used to make the film? The same questions can be applied to the sources of gnostic texts and thus open up avenues of discussion about the creation, transmission, and interpretation of ancient Christian literature.

This article endeavours to prove that there were creation myths of human beings or certain things, but there were seldom creation myths of ontological cosmology in ancient China. This will be warranted through the distinction between the concepts of ‘to create’ and ‘to beget’, the distinction between ‘Cosmology I of creationism’ and ‘Cosmology II of begetting’, and the relationship between the One and Many. The only exception is the myth of Nüwa 女娲 as the creator of human beings, but not the creator of the cosmos. Therefore, in ancient Chinese tradition, there were mainly myths of begetting rather than myths of complete creation in the sense similar to creatio ex nihilo.ContributionPrevious research frequently underscores the profound differences between ‘Cosmology I of creationism’ and ‘Cosmology II of begetting’. Based on the discussion of concepts of ‘to create’ [zao 造] and ‘to beget’ [sheng 生], this article argues that, there were mainly myths of begetting rather than myths of complete creation in the sense similar to creatio ex nihilo.

This article adopts a comparative mythology framework in order to situate creation myths within a broad cultural context. It examines how different societies conceptualize the emergence of the universe through the interconnected notions of thought and word. The study demonstrates that, despite cultural diversity, these narratives articulate shared principles concerning the mental and linguistic foundations of existence while preserving tradition-specific expressions. The analysis is based on qualitative content analysis of primary mythological texts drawn from Hindu, Maori, Maya, Maiana, Dogon, Polynesian, Ancient Egyptian, and Turkish traditions, encompassing sources ranging from the Rig Veda and the Popol Vuh to the theology of Ptah and Dogon doctrines of word-based creation. These materials were examined through hermeneutic reading practices and comparatively evaluated using concept-oriented analytical categories. The findings indicate that cosmogonic myths operate beyond mere narrative description by structuring coherent models of creation in which cognitive intention and verbal articulation play constitutive roles.

In the Saint-Sage debate1 in IV.1, archdruid Balkelly likens space to “zoantholitic furniture,” suggesting an evolutionary progression “from mineral through vegetal to animal” (Joyce 611.14-15). This passage, informed by Irish philosopher George Berkeley and enacted by his intertextual counterpart – the “archdruid of islish chinchinjoss” – is multifaceted and evinces, inter alia, James Joyce’s intricate treatment of both real and dream spaces. For the mythical archdruid, space transcends mere physicality, becoming a “Photoreflection and Iridals Gradationes” – a play on light and perception (Joyce 611.05). By echoing Berkeley’s esse est percipi philosophy, the archdruid provides a key insight into James Joyce’s construction of the dreamscape in Finnegans Wake. This conceptualization of space as perception is aptly applied to the dream-spaces in Finnegans Wake, where spatiality is fluid and ever-changing, reflecting the fragmentation of the dreaming mind. This study explores the spatial poetics of Finnegans Wake through the lens of spatial studies, focusing on the interplay between real and dream spaces. The Wakean dreamscape emerges as fluid, recursive and inherently tied to language, facilitating a volatile type of intertextuality, shaped by cultural memory and mythos.

The sociological approach to the concept of creativity lacks some accuracy, since it is addressed from an a priori perspective and admitted without reflecting on what it means socially and culturally. In this connection, the present article tries to provide a specific description of the term from its genealogy and on the basis of the socio-cultural-historical context where it arises. More precisely, it deals with the idea conveyed by western myths, the narrative about the identification of the instituting generatrix forces or the procreative divinities that lie behind the birth of the cosmos, of the world, of society, of the earth, of gods, of humans, of animals, and of plants. Thus, from an interpretative examination of the myths about Mother Goddess, those about Biblical Genesis, as well as of Greek creation myths, an attempt will be made to draw a conceptual map that delimits the most defining features of creativity (1). The ultimate goal is to check whether such characters have survived to the present day (2).

The architectural press is an essential component of architecture's mythmaking. Magazines offer the potential for regular exposure and rapid turnover of ideas: while publication in a magazine validates the work, being consistently published over a period of time normalizes the ideas and their authors into the collective unconscious. If myths are the narratives by which we navigate the world-collective tales and values embedded in each unconscious that help everyone generate meaning-then the architectural press is one of the--if not the--most influential instruments for architects and their works to become naturalized and embodied in architectural culture.