“Where did I come from?”

Humans have an apparent need to explain critical questions such as “Where did I come from?”, “How was I created?“, “What happens to me after I die?”.

Different peoples have a variety of creation stories/myths to answer the question, “How were humans created?”

Australian indigenous people say, “The Earth was asleep and only the Father of All Spirits was awake. He awoke the Sun Mother and commanded her to go down and give the spirits of the earth forms. She awoke everything. The Sun Mother gave birth to 2 children, the Morning Star, and the Moon. These 2 gave birth to the children who later became all humanity’s ancestors.

Ancient Egyptians’ story states, “In the beginning, there was only chaotic water called Nun. The sun god Ra appeared from a lotus flower and gave light to the universe. Ra created Shu, the air god, and Tefnut the goddess of moisture. These 2 gave birth to the sky goddess Nut and the earth god Geb. From them, the physical universe was formed.

Mayan culture says, “Tepeu the maker and Gucmatz the feathered spirit created the world with their thoughts. These 2 created all beings to care for their creation: animals of the sky and land, and a being that could communicate which was mankind. Their first attempt to create man was from wood, but he was empty-headed and hearted. Finally, they made him from corn and he was empathetic and intelligent.

North American stories are as numerous and varied as the number of tribal peoples. They include a great flood; twins; humans emerged from the womb of a Mother Earth; a creator; ancestors in the spirit world or animal spirits are midwives to humanity; the Sunfather who inhabits a land above (heaven?). The appears to be a tolerant acceptance by native Americans that different peoples have a variety of creation myths and origins, and that human beings were created on North American soil.

Natives of the Eastern Woodland say the present world began in the Sky World.

Several Iroquoian groups tell variations of how a woman living above the Skydome was either thrown down by her husband or fell through a hole toward earth. She was caught by seabirds or swans to slow her fall with their wings until she landed on a turtle’s back in the midst of a water world. Animal people were summoned to help this woman. Beavers, toads or a muskrat brought some soil from the seafloor to place on the turtle’s back. The soil grew and became the world where the Sky-woman could live with her descendants.

The Cherokee say the earth was a mere island floating in a big ocean. It hung from 4 cords and the sky formed the ground, but the darkness made it impossible for the animals to see, so the sun appeared to help them find their way. There were 7 days and 7 nights and God instructed the animals to stay awake. Some fell asleep. but those who stayed awake were given the ability to see in the dark by God.

Christians have a story that God created all things in 6 days adding a man and a woman at the end. On the 7th day, God rested and still keeps a watch on his creation.

Agnostics say that humans 1) can only be unsure of the existence of a creator God, 2) cannot know of the existence of anything beyond the phenomena of their experience, are skeptical of ‘religious’ questions and ‘reject traditional Christian beliefs under the impact of modern scientific thought’.

Atheists lack a belief in a creator God, i.e., “It is what it is?”