Editing Creation myth (section)

==Meaning and function==
[[File:Ba-Gua animated.gif|thumb|left|upright|In [[Chinese creation myth|Daoist creation myth]], "[[Tao|The Way]] gave birth to unity; unity gave birth to duality; duality gave birth to trinity; trinity gave birth to the myriad creatures." (''[[Daodejing]]'', 4th century BCE)<ref>{{harvnb|Mair|1990|page=9}}</ref>]]

Creation myths have been around since [[ancient history]] and have served important societal roles. Over 100 "distinct" ones have been discovered.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bohan |first1=Elise |title=Big History |last2=Dinwiddie |first2=Robert |last3=Challoner |first3=Jack |last4=Stuart |first4=Colin |last5=Harvey |first5=Derek |last6=Wragg-Sykes |first6=Rebecca |last7=Chrisp |first7=Peter |last8=Hubbard |first8=Ben |last9=Parker |first9=Phillip |collaboration=Writers |date=February 2016 |publisher=[[DK (publisher) |DK]] |others=Foreword by [[David Christian (historian) |David Christian]] |isbn=978-1-4654-5443-0 |edition=1st American |location=[[New York City |New York]] |pages=18 |oclc=940282526 |author-link6=Rebecca Wragg Sykes |author-link7=Peter Chrisp |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/940282526}}</ref> All creation myths are in one sense [[etiological]] because they attempt to explain how the world formed and where humanity came from.<ref name=Leeming2005/> Myths attempt to explain the unknown and sometimes teach a lesson.<ref>[https://www.ushistory.org/civ/5c.asp Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes]. ''Ancient Civilizations''. US History.org - Ancient Greece: "Myths were used to help explain the unknown and sometimes teach a lesson."</ref><ref>[https://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/CoursePack/culture.htm Culture, Religion, & Myth: Interdisciplinary Approaches]. Cora Agatucci. Central Oregon Community College. - " A mythology or belief system often concerns supernatural beings/powers of a culture, provides a rationale for a culture's religion and practices, and reflects how people relate to each other in everyday life. "</ref>

[[Ethnologists]] and [[anthropologists]]{{which|date=December 2013}} who study origin myths say that in the modern context theologians try to discern humanity's meaning from [[revelation|revealed truths]] and scientists investigate [[cosmology]] with the tools of [[empiricism]] and [[rationality]], but creation myths define human reality in very different terms. In the past, [[history of religion|historians of religion]] and other students of myth thought of such stories as forms of [[primitive culture|primitive]] or [[protoscience|early-stage science]] or [[origin of religion|religion]] and analyzed them in a [[wikt:literal|literal]] or logical sense. Today, however, they are seen{{by whom|date=October 2021}} as symbolic narratives which must be understood in terms of their own cultural context. [[Charles H. Long|Charles Long]] writes: "The beings referred to in the myth – [[god]]s, animals, plants – are forms of power grasped existentially. The myths should not be understood as attempts to work out a rational explanation of deity."<ref>{{harvnb|Long|1963|page=12}}</ref>

While creation myths are not literal [[explication]]s, they do serve to define an orientation of humanity in the world in terms of a birth story. They provide the basis of a worldview that reaffirms and guides how people relate to [[nature|the natural world]], to any assumed [[astral plane|spiritual world]], and to [[society|each other]]. A creation myth acts as a cornerstone for distinguishing primary reality from [[relativism|relative]] reality, the origin and nature of [[being]] from non-being.<ref>{{harvnb|Sproul|1979|page=6}}</ref> In this sense cosmogonic myths serve as a [[meaning of life|philosophy of life]] – but one expressed and conveyed through [[symbolic anthropology|symbol]] rather than through systematic reason. And in this sense they go beyond [[etiological myth#Mythology|etiological myths]] (which explain specific features in religious rites, natural phenomena, or cultural life). Creation myths also help to orient human beings in the world, giving them a sense of their place in the world and the regard that they must have for humans and nature.<ref name=britannica/>

Historian [[David Christian (historian)|David Christian]] has summarised issues common to multiple creation myths:

{{blockquote|How did everything begin? This is the first question faced by any creation myth and ... answering it remains tricky. ... Each beginning seems to presuppose an earlier beginning. ... Instead of meeting a single starting point, we encounter an infinity of them, each of which poses the same problem. ... There are no entirely satisfactory solutions to this dilemma. What we have to find is not a solution but some way of dealing with the mystery .... And we have to do so using words. The words we reach for, from ''God'' to ''gravity'', are inadequate to the task. So we have to use language poetically or symbolically; and such language, whether used by a scientist, a poet, or a shaman, can easily be misunderstood.<ref>
{{cite book |last1=Christian |first1=David |author1-link=David Christian (historian) |title=Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History |series=California World History Library |volume=2 |date=2004 |publisher=University of California Press |pages=17–18 |isbn=978-0520931923 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VUqZl7RdNtwC |access-date=2013-12-29}}</ref>}}