Asimov’s Galactic Empire was the first example of one of the eight stages of a “consensus cosmogony”, also called the ”Science Fiction Cosmology”, identified by Donald A. Wollheim in the 1950s, which science fiction writers needed only hint at in their stories for experienced SF readers to slot into their perception of future history and envisage the background to the tale without the writers having to expend time and space explicitly laying it out. These stages are:

#The initial exploration, colonization, and exploitation of the solar system, including plots modelled on the American War of Independence

#The first flights to the stars, with plots similar to those of the preceding stage

#The rise of a Galactic Empire, and contact with empires of alien species

#The Galactic Empire at its height, with exploration occurring at its Rim

#The Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire, as explored by Asimov

#The Dark Ages, an interregnum with worlds reverting to barbarism, as also partially explored by Asimov

#The Renaissance, where a new Galactic Civilization arises, including the restoration of civilization to and communication with worlds that were isolated during the Fall

#The Challenge To God, an effort to solve the last secrets of the universe, the end of time, and the beginnings of new universes

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Galactic Empire (Isaac Asimov), under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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The descriptions of the Basilidian system given by our chief informants, Irenaeus (”Adversus Haereses”) and Hippolytus (”Philosophumena”), are so strongly divergent that they seem to many quite irreconcilable. According to Hippolytus, Basilides was apparently a pantheistic evolutionist; and according to Irenaeus, a dualist and an emanationist.

Historians, such as Philip Shaff, have the opinion that: “Irenaeus described a form of Basilideanism which was not the original, but a later corruption of the system. On the other hand, Clement of Alexandria surely, and Hippolytus, in the fuller account of his Philosophumena, probably drew their knowledge of the system directly from Basilides’ own work, the Exegetica, and hence represent the form of doctrine taught by Basilides himself”.

Creation

According to Hippolytus, Basilides asserted the beginning of all things to have been pure nothing. He uses every device of language to express absolute nonentity. Nothing then being in existence, “not-being God” willed to make a not-being world out of not-being things. This not-being world was only “a single seed containing within itself all the ”seed-mass” of the world,” as the mustard seed contains the branches and leaves of the tree. This Monad, or seed-mass, had three parts, and was consubstantial with the not-being God:

#Part subtle of substance.

#Part coarse of substance.

#Part needing purification.

This was the one origin of all future growths; these future growths did not use pre-existing matter, but rather these future growths came into being out of nothing by the voice of the not-being God. The first part of the Monad burst through and ascended to the not-being God. The second part of the Monad to burst forth could not mount up of itself, but it took to itself as a wing the Holy Spirit, each bearing up the other with mutual benefit. But when it came near the place of the first part of the Monad and the not-being God, it could take the Holy Spirit no further, it not being consubstantial with the Holy Spirit. There the Holy Spirit remained, as a firmament dividing things above the world from the world itself below.

Great Archon

From the third part of the Monad burst forth into being the Great Archon, “the head of the world, a beauty and greatness and power that cannot be uttered.” He too ascended until he reached the firmament which he supposed to be the upward end of all things. There he “made to himself and begat out of the things below a son far better and wiser than himself”. Then he became wiser and every way better than all other cosmical things except the Monad left below. Smitten with wonder at his son’s beauty, he set him at his right hand. “This is what they call the Ogdoad, where the Great Archon is sitting.” Then all the heavenly or ethereal creation, as far down as the moon, was made by the Great Archon, inspired by his wiser son.

Another Archon arose out of the Monad, inferior to the first Archon, but superior to all else below except the Monad; and he likewise made to himself a son wiser than himself, and became the creator and governor of the aerial world. This region is called the Hebdomad. On the other hand, all these events occurred according to the plan of the not-being God.

Gospel

The Basilideans believed in a Gospel much different than what orthodox Christians believe. Hippolytus summed up the Basilidean’s Gospel by saying: “According to them the Gospel is the knowledge of things above the world, which knowledge the Great Archon understood not: when then it was shewn to him that there exists the Holy Spirit, and the [three parts of the Monad] and a God Who is the author of all these things, even the not-being One, he rejoiced at what was told him, and was exceeding glad: this is according to them the Gospel.”

That is, the Basilideans believed from Adam until Moses the Great Archon supposed himself to be God alone, and to have nothing above him. But the Monad thought to enlighten the Great Archon that there were beings above him, so through the Holy Spirit the Gospel was conveyed to the Great Archon. First, the son of the Great Archon received the Gospel, and he in turn instructed the Great Archon himself, by whose side he was sitting. Then the Great Archon learned that he was not God of the universe, but had above him yet higher beings; and confessed his sin in having magnified himself. From him the Gospel had next to pass to the Archon of the Hebdomad. The son of the Great Archon delivered the Gospel to the son of the Archon of the Hebdomad. The son of the Archon of the Hebdomad became enlightened, and declared the Gospel to the Archon of the Hebdomad, and he too feared and confessed.

It remained only that the world should be enlightened. The light came down from the Archon of the Hebdomad upon Jesus both at the Annunciation and at the Baptism so that He “was enlightened, being kindled in union with the light that shone on Him”. Therefore by following Jesus, the world is purified and becomes most subtle, so that it can ascend to the Monad. When every part of the Monad has arrived above the Holy Spirit, “then the creation shall find mercy, for till now it groans and is tormented and awaits the revelation of the sons of God, that all the men of the sonship may ascend from hence”. When this has come to pass, God will bring upon the whole world the Great Ignorance, that everything may like being the way it is, and that nothing may desire anything contrary to its nature. “And in this wise shall be the Restoration, all things according to nature having been founded in the seed of the universe in the beginning, and being restored at their due seasons.”

Christ

As for Jesus, other than a different account of the Nativity, the Basilideans believed in the events of Jesus’ life as they are described in the Gospels. They believed the crucifixion was necessary, because by the destruction of Jesus’ body the world could be restored.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Basilideans, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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Strniša is most renowned for his poetry, based on a highly metaphysical poetic view. His poems express a cosmogony directed against the anthropocentrism of traditional literature. His poems are an exploration of multiple universes, interconnected through a mysterious and magical fate, which man can grasp through imagination and intuition.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Gregor Strniša, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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According to the myth recorded by Juan de Betanzos, Viracocha rose from Lake Titicaca (or sometimes the cave of Pacaritambo) during the time of darkness to bring forth light. He made the sun, moon, and the stars. He made mankind by breathing into stones, but his first creation were brainless giants that displeased him. So he destroyed it with a flood and made a new, better one from smaller stones. Viracocha eventually disappeared across the Pacific Ocean (by walking on the water), and never returned. He wandered the earth disguised as a beggar, teaching his new creations the basics of civilization, as well as working numerous miracles. He wept when he saw the plight of the creatures he had created. It was thought that Viracocha would re-appear in times of trouble. Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa noted that Viracocha was described as “a man of medium height, white and dressed in a white robe like an alb secured round the waist, and that he carried a staff and a book in his hands.”

In one legend he had one son, Inti, and two daughters, Mama Quilla and Pachamama. In this legend, he destroyed the people around Lake Titicaca with a Great Flood called Unu Pachakuti, saving two to bring civilization to the rest of the world, these two beings are Manco Capac, the son of Inti (sometimes taken as the son of Viracocha), which name means “splendid foundation”, and Mama Ocllo, which means “mother fertility”. These two founded the Inca civilization carrying a golden staff, called ‘tapac-yauri’. In another legend, he fathered the first eight civilized human bei

In another legend, Viracocha had two sons, Imahmana Viracocha and Tocapo Virachocha. After the Great Flood and the Creation, Viracocha sent his sons to visit the tribes to the Northeast and Northwest to determine if they still obeyed his commandments. Viracocha himself traveled North. During their journey, Imaymana and Tocapo gave names to all the trees, flowers, fruits and herbs. They also taught the tribes which of these were edible, which had medicinal properties, and which were poisonous. Eventually, Viracocha, Tocapo and Imahmana arrived at Cuzco (in modern day Peru) and the Pacific seacoast where they walked across the water until they disappeared. The word “Viracocha” literally means “Sea Foam.”

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Viracocha, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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Manichaeism presented an elaborate description of the conflict between the spiritual world of light and the material world of darkness. The beings of both the world of darkness and the world of light have names. There are numerous sources for the details of the Manichaean belief. There are two portions of Manichaean scriptures that are probably the closest thing to the original Manichaean writings in their original languages that will ever be available. These are the Syriac-Aramaic quotation by the Nestorian Christian Theodor bar-Konai, in his Syriac “Book of Sects” (eighth century), and the Middle Persian sections of Mani’s Shabuhragan discovered at Turpan (a summary of Mani’s teachings prepared for Shapur I). These two sections are probably the original Syriac and Middle Persian written by Mani.

Mircea Eliade, summarizing bar-Konai’s Syriac narration, describes the Manichaean cosmogony in his ”A History of Religious Ideas”:

In the beginning…the two “natures” or “substances”, light and obscurity, good and evil, God and matter, coexisted, separated by a frontier. In the North reigned the Father of Greatness…in the South, the Prince of Darkness…the “disorderly motion” of matter drove the Prince of Darkness toward the upper frontier of his kingdom. Seeing the splendor of light, he is fired by the desire to conquer it. It is then that the Father decides that he will himself repulse the adversary. He…projects from himself, the Mother of Life, who…projects a new hypostasis, the P

In a second Creation, the Father “evokes” the Living Spirit, which, descending toward obscurity, grasps the hand of the Primordial Man and raises him to his celestial homeland, the Paradise of Lights. Overwhelming the demonic Archontes, the Living Spirit fashions the heavens from their skins, the mountains from their bones, the earth from their flesh and their excretments…In addition, he achieves a first deliverance of light by creating the sun, the moon, and the stars from portions of it that had not suffered too much from contact with obscurity.

Finally, the Father proceeds to a last evocation and projects by emanation the Third Messenger. The latter organizes the cosmos into a kind of machine to collect – and…to deliver – the still-captive particles of light. During the first two weeks of the month, the particles rise to the moon, which becomes a full moon; during the second two weeks, light is transferred from the moon to the sun and, finally, to its celestial homeland. But there were still the particles that had been swallowed by the demons. Then the messenger displays himself to the male demons in the form of a dazzling naked virgin, while the female demons see him as a handsome naked young man…fired by desire, the male demons…give forth their semen, and, with it, the light that they had swallowed. Fallen to the ground, their semen gives birth to all the vegetable species. As for the female devils who were already pregnant, at the sight of the handsome young man they give birth to abortions, which, cast onto the ground, eat the buds of trees, thus assimilating the light that they contained.

Alarmed by the Third Messenger’s tactics, matter, personified as Concupiscence, decides to create a stronger prison around the still-captive particles of light. Two demons, one male, the other female, devour all the abortions in order to absorb the totality of light, and they then couple. Thus Adam and Eve were engendered.

Outline of the Beings and Events in the Manichaean Mythos

Beginning with the time of its creation by Mani, the Manichaean religion had a detailed description of deities and events that took place within the Manichaean scheme of the universe. In every language and region that Manichaeism spread to, these same deities reappear, whether it is in the original Syriac quoted by Theodor bar-Konai, or the Latin terminology given by Saint Augustine from Mani’s ”Epistola Fundamenti”, or the Persian and Chinese translations found as Manichaeism spread eastward. While the original Syriac retained the original description which Mani created, the transformation of the deities through other languages and cultures produced incarnations of the deities not implied in the original Syriac writings. This process began in Mani’s lifetime, with “The Father of Greatness”, for example, being translated into Middle Persian as Zurvan, a Zoroastrian supreme being.

The World of Light

*The Father of Greatness (Syriac: ܐܒܐ ܕܪܒܘܬܐ ”Abbā dəRabbūṯā”; Middle Persian: ”pīd ī wuzurgīh”, or the Zoroastrian deity ”Zurwān”; Parthian: ”Pidar wuzurgift, Pidar roshn”)

*His Five Shekhinas (Syriac: ܚܡܫ ܫܟܝܢܬܗ ”khamesh shkhinatei”; Chinese: 五种大 ”wu zhong da”, “the five great ones”)

**Reason (Syriac: ܗܘܢܐ ”haunâ”; Parthian: ”bâm”; Greek: νοῦς ”Nous”; Chinese: 相)

**Mind (Syriac: ܡܕܥܐ ”madde´â”; Parthian: ”manohmêd”; Chinese: 心)

**Intelligence (Syriac: ܪܥܝܢܐ ”reyana”; Parthian: ”uš”; Chinese: 念)

**Thought (Syriac: ܡܚܫܒܬܐ ”mahšabtâ”; Parthian: ”andêšišn”; Chinese: 思)

**Understanding (Syriac: ܬܪܥܝܬܐ ”tar´îtâ”; Parthian: ”parmânag”; Chinese: 意)

*The Great Spirit (Middle Persian: ”Waxsh zindag, Waxsh yozdahr”; Latin: ”Spiritus Potens”)

The First Creation

*The Mother of Life (Syriac: ܐܡܐ ܕܚܝܐ ”ima de-khaye”)

*The First Man (Syriac: ܐܢܫܐ ܩܕܡܝܐ ”Nāšā Qaḏmāyā”; Middle Persian: ”Ohrmazd Bay”, the Zoroastrian god of light and goodness; Latin: ”Primus Homo”)

*His five Sons (the Five Light Elements; Middle Persian: ”Amahrāspandan”; Parthian: ”panj rošn”)

**Ether (Middle Persian: ”frâwahr”, Parthian: ”ardâw”)

**Wind (Middle Persian and Parthian: ”wâd”)

**Light (Middle Persian and Parthian: ”rôšn”)

**Water (Middle Persian and Parthian: ”âb”)

**Fire (Middle Persian and Parthian: ”âdur”)

**His sixth Son, the Answer-God (Syriac: ܥܢܝܐ ”ania”; Middle Persian: ”khroshtag”; Chinese: 勢至 ”Shì Zhì” “The Power of Wisdom”, a Chinese Bodhisattva). The answer sent by the ”First Man” to the ”Call” from the World of Light.

*The Living Self (made up of the five Elements; Middle Persian: ”Griw zindag, Griw roshn”)

The Second Creation

*The Friend of the Lights (Syriac: ܚܒܝܒ ܢܗܝܖܐ ”khaviv nehirei”). Calls to:

*The Great Builder (Syriac: ܒܢ ܖܒܐ ”ban raba”). In charge of creating the new world which will separate the darkness from the light. He calls to:

*The Living Spirit (Syriac: ܪܘܚܐ ܚܝܐ ”rūḥā ḥayyā”; Middle Persian: ”Mihryazd”; Chinese: 净活风 ”jing huo feng”; Latin: ”Spiritus Vivens”)

*His five Sons (Syriac: ܚܡܫܐ ܒܢܘܗܝ ”khamsha benauhi”)

**The Keeper of the Splendour (Syriac: ܨܦܬ ܙܝܘܐ ”tzefat ziwa”; Latin: ”Splenditenens”). Holds up the ten heavens from above.

**The King of Honour (Syriac: ܡܠܟ ܫܘܒܚܐ ”melekh shubkha”; Latin: ”Rex Honoris”)

**The Adamas of Light (Syriac: ܐܕܡܘܣ ܢܘܗܪܐ ”adamus nuhra”; Latin: ”Adamas”). Fights with and overcomes an evil being in the image of the King of Darkness.

**The Great King of Glory (Syriac: ܡܠܟܐ ܪܒܐ ܕܐܝܩܪܐ ”malka raba de-ikara”; Dead Sea Scrolls Aramaic: מלכא רבא דאיקרא ”malka raba de-ikara”; Latin: ”Rex Gloriosus”). A being which plays a central role in the Book of Enoch (originally written in Aramaic), as well as Mani’s Syriac version of it, the Book of Giants. Sits in the seventh heaven of the ten heavens and guards the entrance to the world of light.

**Atlas (Syriac: ܣܒܠܐ ”sabala”; Latin: ”Atlas”). Supports the eight worlds from below.

**His sixth Son, the Call-God (Syriac: ܩܪܝܐ ”karia”; Middle Persian: ”padvakhtag”; Chinese: 觀音 ”Guan Yin” “watching/perceiving sounds [of the world]“, the Chinese Bodhisattva of Compassion). Sent from the Living Spirit to awaken the First Man from his battle with the forces of darkness.

The Third Creation

*The Third Messenger (Syriac: ܐܝܙܓܕܐ ”īzgaddā”)

*Jesus the Splendour (Syriac: ܝܫܘܥ ܙܝܘܐ ”Yisho Ziwa”). Sent to awaken Adam and Eve to the source of the spiritual light trapped within their physical bodies.

*The Maiden of Light

*The Twelve Virgins of Light. Correspond to the twelve constellations of the Zodiac.

*The Column of Glory

*The Great Nous

*His five Limbs

**Reason

**Mind

**Intelligence

**Thought

**Understanding

*The Just Justice

*The Last God

The World of Darkness

*The King of Darkness (Syriac: ܡܠܟ ܚܫܘܟܐ ”melech kheshokha”; Middle Persian: ”Ahriman”, the Zoroastrian supreme evil being)

*His five evil kingdoms Evil counterparts of the five elements of light, the lowest being the kingdom of Darkness.

*His son (Syriac: ܐܫܩܠܘܢ ”Ashaklun”; Middle Persian: ”Az”, the Zoroastrian demon of greed)

*His son’s mate (Syriac: ܢܒܪܘܐܠ ”Nebroel”)

**Their offspring – Adam and Eve (Middle Persian: ”Gehmurd” and ”Murdiyanag”)

*Giants (Fallen Angels, also Abortions): (Syriac: ܝܚܛܐ ”yakhte”, “abortions” or “those that fell”; also: ܐܪܟܘܢܬܐ ”arkhonata”, the Gnostic ”archons”; Greek, Coptic: ’Εγρήγοροι ”Egrēgoroi”, “Giants”). Related to the story of the fallen angels in the Book of Enoch (which Mani used extensively in his Book of Giants), and the נפילים ”nephilim” described in Genesis (6:1-4), on which the story is based.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Manichaeism, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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The ”pneuma” of the Stoics is the primitive substance which existed before the universe. It is the everlasting presupposition of particular things; the totality of all existence; out of it the whole visible universe proceeds, eventually to be consumed by it. It is the creative force (God) which develops and shapes the universal order (cosmos). God is everything that exists.

In the original state, the ”pneuma-God” and the universe are absolutely identical; but even then tension, the essential attribute of matter, is at work. In the primitive ”pneuma” there resides the utmost heat and tension, within which there is a pressure, an expansive and dispersive tendency. The pneuma cannot long withstand this intense pressure. Motion backwards and forwards once set up cools the glowing mass of fiery vapour and weakens the tension. Thus follows the first differentiation of primitive substance – the separation of force from matter, the emanation of the world from God. The ”seminal Logos” which, in virtue of its tension, slumbered in ”pneuma”, now proceeds upon its creative task. The primitive substance is not Heraclitus’s fire, but rather it is a fiery breath or ”aether”, a spiritualized element. The cycle of its transformations and successive condensations constitutes the life of the universe. The universe and all its parts are only different embodiments and stages in the change of primitive being which Heraclitus had called a progress up and down. Out of it is separated, first, elemental fire, the fire which we kn

The influence of Heraclitus upon Stoicism is a matter of dispute, but the earliest Stoics, such as Cleanthes, Aristo and Sphaerus all wrote commentaries on the writings of Heraclitus, which point to a common study of these writings under Zeno. In Heraclitus the constant flux is a metaphysical notion replaced by the interchange of material elements which Chrysippus stated as a simple proposition of physics. Heraclitus offers no analogy to the doctrine of four elements as different grades of tension; to the conception of “fire” and “air” as the “form” of particulars; nor to the function of organizing fire which works by methodic plan to produce and preserve the world. Nor, again, is there any analogy to the peculiar Stoic doctrine of universal intermingling.

In Stoicism every character and property of a particular thing is determined solely by the tension in it of a current of ”pneuma”, and ”pneuma”, though present in all things, varies indefinitely in quantity and intensity. So condensed and coarsened is the indwelling ”pneuma” of inorganic bodies that no trace of elasticity or life remains; it cannot even afford them the power of motion; all it can do is to hold them together, ”pneuma” is present in stone or metal as a retaining principle. In plants it is manifested as something far purer and possessing greater tension, called a “nature,” or principle of growth. A distinction was drawn between irrational animals, and the rational, i.e. gods and humans, leaving room for a divergence, or rather development, of Stoic opinion. The older authorities conceded a vital principle, but denied a soul, to the animals. Later on it was a Stoic tenet to concede a soul, though not a rational soul, throughout the animal kingdom. The universal presence of ”pneuma” was confirmed by observation. A certain warmth, akin to the vital heat of organic being, seems to be found in inorganic nature: vapours from the earth, hot springs, sparks from the flint, were claimed as the last remnant of ”pneuma” not yet utterly slackened and cold. They appealed also to the speed and expansion of gaseous bodies, to whirlwinds and inflated balloons.

The ”Logos” is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. Tension itself Cleanthes defined as a fiery stroke; in his ”Hymn to Zeus” lightning is the symbol of divine activity. As to the fundamental properties of body, extension and resistance, extension results from distance; but distances, or dimensions, are straight lines, i.e. lines of greatest tension. Tension produces expansion, or increase in distance. Resistance, again, is explained by cohesion, which implies binding force. Again, the primary substance has rectilinear motion in two directions, backwards and forwards, at once a condensation, which produces cohesion and substance, and an expansion, the cause of extension and qualities.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Stoic physics, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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The Rig Veda is adored by Hindus as the most sacred scripture, and the Vedas have traditionally been lauded as containing the secrets of cosmogenesis. The knowledge of cosmology, of physical processes and particles, of the creative-destructive interplay of matter and energy contained in the Vedas is very abstruse, and thus is well beyond what the uninitiated will comprehend. Therefore, Vedic sages coded their knowledge in a simple form in which the underlying principles and processes could be taught and understood. The sacred words of Vedas are a representation of the creation and unfolding of the universe, the process of cosmogony. The nature of atomic and subatomic particles, gravity, electromagnetism, the cohesive forces of the universe, the wave function and entropy have all been anticipated and described in the words of the Rig Veda.

“The Vedic mantras are in the never-decaying remotest sky, wherein the devas reside. One who does not know that, what will he do with the Vedic mantras? One who knows that, the devas stay with him.” (Rig Veda 1.164.39)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Esoteric cosmology, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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In briefly sketching this version of Basilidianism, which most likely rests on later or corrupt accounts, our authorities are fundamentally two, Irenaeus and the lost early treatise of Hippolytus; both having much in common, and both being interwoven together in the report of Epiphanius. The other relics of the Hippolytean Compendium are the accounts of Philaster (32), and the supplement to Tertullian (4).

Creation

At the head of this theology stood the Unbegotten, the Only Father. From Him was born or put forth Nûs, and from Nûs Logos, from Logos Phronesis, from Phronesis Sophia and Dynamis, from Sophia and Dynamis principalities, powers, and angels. This first set of angels first made the first heaven, and then gave birth to a second set of angels who made a second heaven, and so on till 365 heavens had been made by 365 generations of angels, each heaven being apparently ruled by an Archon to whom a name was given, and these names being used in magic arts. The angels of the lowest or visible heaven made the earth and man. They were the authors of the prophecies; and the Law in particular was given by their Archon, the God of the Jews. He being more petulant and wilful than the other angels (ἰταμώτερον καὶ αὐθαδέστερον), in his desire to secure empire for his people, provoked the rebellion of the other angels and their respective peoples.

Christ

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Basilideans, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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right

The (ca. 4th century BCE) ”Daodejing” suggests a less mythical Chinese cosmogony and has some of the earliest allusions to creation.

There was something featureless yet complete, born before heaven and earth; Silent – amorphous – it stood alone and unchanging. We may regard it as the mother of heaven and earth. Not knowing its name, I style it the “Way.” (tr. Mair 1990:90)

The Way gave birth to unity, Unity gave birth to duality, Duality gave birth to trinity, Trinity gave birth to the myriad creatures. The myriad creatures bear yin on their back and embrace yang in their bosoms. They neutralize these vapors and thereby achieve harmony. (tr. Mair 1990:9)

Later Daoists interpreted this sequence to mean the Dao “Way”, formless Wuji “Without Ultimate”, unitary Taiji “Great Ultimate”, and binary yin and yang or Heaven and Earth.

The (ca. 4th-3rd centuries BCE) ”Taiyi Shengshui” “Great One gave birth to water”, a Daoist text recently excavated in the Guodian Chu Slips, offers an alternate creation myth, but analysis remains uncertain.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Chinese creation myth, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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A Babylonian deity associated with cosmogony, represented as stripping the father of the gods of umsimi, usually translated “crown” but, as it was on the seat of Bel it was actually the “ideal creative organ.” “Ham is the Chaldean Zu, and both are cursed for the same allegorically described crime,” which parallels the mutilation of Uranos by Kronos and of Set by Horus.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Zu (mythology), under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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