DGP: Chapter 2: Writing

 DGP: Chapter 2 

Writing & Power:

Defining World-Views

Writing gave people a way to bind people together through shared cosmology and history. writing seemed to possess a greater power than oral traditions. Written communication was a form of conveying messages as well as expression. Forms of communication (such as cave paintings) are as old as human kind itself. Writing is divided into two systems :: ideographic and phonetic. 


Ideographic writing is symbolic, using pictures to represent objects or thoughts. Takes lots of memorization but can be understood by a wide number of people.


Phonetic writing uses signs that represent sounds that are then put together to create a variety of words.


Whoever mastered the skills of writing wielded great power and respect. Many societies only taught royalty or high class citizens how to read and write. "This was because those in power quickly realized that those who could write possessed the capacity to shape the thoughts of those who could not."


Excerpts from Atra-hasis: 
Notes:Three senior gods (Anu of heaven, Enlil of earth & Enki of water beneath the earth) 
Junior gods revolted, birth goddess decides to create workers to serve the gods
"Let the birth-goddess create offspring,
and let man bear the toil of the gods,"


Themes: Men as servants to Gods.

Excerpts from Book 10 of the Rig Veda:

Excerpts from the First Book of Moses, called Genesis

Notes:God separated the light from the darkness called it "night"

"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on earth."  27.]and God created man in His image, the image of God.

28.]God blessed them and Gd sadi to them, "Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth,"

"Of every tree of the garden you are free to eat; but as for the tree of knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it; for as soon as you eat of it, you shall die," [Or rather, lose your immortality]

Themes: Knowledge causes corruption. Men is the superior being to animals. God is superior over man. 

Excerpts from Yijeng, Commentary on the Appended Judgments

Notes: "Heaven is high, the earth is low; In correspondence with this difference between low and high, inferior and superior places are established."

Reflection: I didn't understand most of this, perhaps the translation was awkward or I needed some further background information on what the hexagrams were exactly.  Common themes from the prior two are shared, such as the high and lows. However, Yijing seems to be more of a explanation for the world's workings rather than a creation story.

From Popol Vuh, "The Book of the People,"

Notes: This is the first account. There was only sky and sea. 

"Thus let it be done!" Let the emptiness be filled!

Animals were made, but could not speak the names of their creators -- thus it was decided that because these creatures could not praise and worship their creators, they would be condemned to be eaten. It was then decided that a man would be created. Earth & mud made human flesh.  However, it failed. They tried again with wood. This did not work well either.  These people were destroyed in a flood and their descendants became monkeys. The few people who survived did praise the gods and became true human beings.

Reflection: Reoccurring theme of sky and sea as a unit, coming before life forms, in an incredible calm. Creation compared to a cloud of dust.

Why did God decide to create humans? What was their purpose? What materials were used? 

God creates humans for a variety of reasons. In some cosmology, it is to serve to Gods, or to worship them. In the case of Genesis it is because God is creating all things good and he creates men in his image. It seems that a reoccurring theme is for people to come from the earth, or else natural substances such as mud, clay or wood.