World Philosophical Heritage

Wisdom and teachings of
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112 quote(s) | Page 5 / 5

L o dwelt within the breathing-space of immensity.
The Universe was in darkness, with water everywhere.
There was no glimmer of dawn, no clearness, no light.
And he began by saying these words,-
That He might cease remaining inactive -
'Darkness become a light-possessing darkness.'
And at once light appeared.
(He) then repeated those self-same words in this manner.
That He might cease remaining inactive:
'Light, become a darkness-possessing light.'
And again an intense darkness supervened.
Then a third time He spake saying:
'Let there be one darkness above,
Let there be one darkness below.
..........................................
Let there be one light above,
Let there be one light below,
..........................................
A dominion of light,
A bright light.'
And now a great light prevailed.
(lo) then looked to the waters which compassed him about,
and spoke a fourth time, saying:
'Ye waters of Tai-kama, be ye separate.
Heaven, be formed.' Then the sky became suspended.
'Bring forth thou Tupua-horo-nuku.'
And at once the moving earth lay stretched abroad.

quote 3928 | Pacific Islands Culture
Hare Hongi, 'A Maori Cosmogony,' Journal of the Polynesian Society, XVI (1907), PP. 113-114

lo (Iho), the Supreme Being of the Maori of New Zealand, is regarded as eternal, omniscient, and the creator of the universe, of the gods, and of man.

I n the beginning there was nothing but mere appearance, nothing really existed. It was a phantasm, an illusion that our father touched; something mysterious it was that he grasped. Nothing existed. Through the agency of a dream our father, He-who-is-appearance-only, Nainema, pressed the phantasm to his breast and then was sunk in thought.
Not even a tree existed that might have supported this phantasm and only through his breath did Nainema hold this illusion attached to the thread of a dream. He tried to discover what was at the bottom of it, but he found nothing. 'I have attached that which was nonexistent,' be said. There was nothing.
Then our father tried again and investigated the bottom of this something and his fingers sought the empty phantasm. He tied the emptiness to the dream-thread and pressed the magical glue-substance upon it. Thus by means of his dream did be hold it like the fluff of raw cotton.
He seized the bottom of the phantasm and stamped upon it repeatedly, allowing himself finally to rest upon the earth of which be had dreamt.
The earth-phantasm was now his. Then he spat out saliva repeatedly so that the forests might arise. He lay upon the earth and set the covering of heaven above it. He drew from the earth the blue and white heavens and placed them above.

quote 3927 | Native American Culture
Paul Radin, Monotheism among Primitive Peoples (Basel, 1954) pp 13-14; paraphrasing and summarizing K. T.Preuss, Religion und Mythologie der Uitoto, 1 (Gottingen, 1921)pp. 166-8

A belief of the Uitoto of Colombia, South America

A t the beginning.' said the Omaha, 'all things were in the mind of Wakonda. All creatures, including man, were spirits. They moved about in space between the earth and the stars (the heavens). The were seeking a place where they could come into bodily existence. They ascended to the sun, but the sun was not fitted for their abode. They moved on to the moon and found that it also was not good for their home. Then they descended to the earth. They saw it was covered with water. They floated through the air to the north, the east, the south and the west, and found no dry land. They were sorely grieved. Suddenly from the midst of the water uprose a great rock. It burst into flames and the waters floated into the air in clouds. Dry land appeared; the grasses and the trees grew. The hosts of the spirits descended and became flesh and blood. They fed on the seeds of the grasses and the fruits of the trees, and the land vibrated with their expressions of joy and gratitude to Wakonda, the maker of all things

quote 3926 | Native American Culture
Fletcher and La Flesche, 'The Omaha Tribe' in Twenty-seventh Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology (Washington D.C. 1911) pp. 570-1

W hat it was our father lay on when he came to consciousness we do not know. He moved his right arm and then his left arm, his right leg and then his left leg. He began to think of what he should do and finally be began to cry and tears began to flow from his eyes and fall down below him. After a while he looked down below him and saw something bright. The bright objects were his tears that had flowed below and formed the present waters. . . . Earthmaker began to think again. He thought: "It is thus, If I wish anything it will become as I wish, just as my tears have become seas." Thus he thought. So he wished for light and it became light. Then he thought: "It is as I supposed; the things that I have wished for have come into existence as I desired." Then he again thought and wished for the earth and this earth came into existence. Earthmaker looked at the earth and he liked it but it was not quiet. . . . (After the earth had become quiet) he thought again of how things came into existence just as he desired. Then he first began to talk. He said, "As things are just as I wish them I shall make one being like myself." So he took a piece of earth and made it like himself. Then he talked to what he had created but it did not answer. He looked upon it and he saw that it had no mind or thought. So he made a mind for it. Again he talked to it, but it did not answer. So he looked upon it again and saw that it had no tongue. Then he made it a tongue. Then he talked to it again but it did not answer. So he looked upon it again and saw that it had no soul. So he made it a soul. He talked to it again and it. very nearly said something. But it did not make itself intelligible. So Earthmaker breathed into its mouth and talked to it and it answered.

quote 3925 | Native American Culture
Paul Radin, 'The Winnebago Indians,' in Thirty-seventh Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology (Washington, D.C., 1923), pp. 212-13

I was (the spirit in ?) The Primeval Waters,
he who had no companion when my name came into existence.
The most ancient form in which I came into existence was as a drowned one.
I was (also) he who came into existence as a circle,
he who was the dweller in his egg.
I was the one who began (everything), the dweller in the Primeval Waters.
First Hahu (1) emerged from me
and then I began to move.
I created my limbs in my 'glory'
I was the maker of myself, in that I formed myself according to my desire and in accord with my heart

quote 3911 | Egyptology
'Coffin Texts,' 714, (2) Translated by R.T. Rundle Clark, in his Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt (London 1959) p.74

1. Hahu, the wind which began the separation of the waters and raised the sky. 2. The so-called 'Coffin Texts,' inscribed on the interior of coffins, belong to the middle kingdom (2250-1580 B.C.)

' The white man' said the Kurahus, 'speaks of a heavenly Father; we say Tirawa atius, the Father above, but we do not think of Tirawa as a person. We think of Tirawa as in everything, as the Power which has arranged and thrown down from above everything that man needs. What the Power above, Tirawa atius, is like, no one knows; no one has been there.'

quote 3910 | Native American Culture
TIRAWA, THE SUPREME GOD OF THE PAWNEE, H.B. Alexander, The World's Rim (University of Nebraska Press, 1953) p.132

A ll the Lenape so far questioned, whether followers of the native or of the Christian religion unite in saying that their people have always believed in a chief Mani 'to, a leader of all the gods, in short, in a Great Spirit or Supreme Being, The other mani 'towuk for the greater part being merely agents appointed by him. His name, according to present Unami usage is Gicelemu 'kaong, usually translated 'great spirit,' but meaning literally, 'creator.'

quote 3909 | Native American Culture
THE 'GREAT SPIRIT' OF THE LENAPE, M.R Harrington, Religion and Ceremonies of the Lenape (New York, 1921) pp 18-19

E very object in the world has a spirit and that spirit is wakan. Thus the spirits of the tree or things of that kind, while not like the spirit of man, are also wakan. Wakan comes from the wakan beings. These wakan beings are greater then mankind in the same way that mankind is greater then animals. They are never born and never die. They can do many things that mankind cannot do. Mankind can pray to the wakan beings for help. The word Wakan Tanka means all the wakan beings because they are all as if one. Wakan Tanka Kin signifies the chief or leading Wakan being is Nagi Tanka, the Great Spirit who is also Taku Skanskan. Taku Skanskan signifies the Blue, in other words, the sky.
. . . .Mankind is permitted to pray to Wakan beings. If their prayer is directed to all the good Wakan beings, they should pray to Wakan Tanka; but if a prayer if offered to only one of these beings, then the one addressed should be named. . . . Wakan Tanka is like sixteen different persons but each person is kan. Therefore, they are only the same as one.

quote 3908 | Native American Culture
WAKAN TANKA, THE SUPREME DEITY OF THE DAKOTA, J.R. Walker, The Sun Dance and Other Ceremonies of the Oglala Division of the Teton Dakota (American Museum of Natural History, Anthropological Papers, vol XVI, part II, (1917) pp.152-3

T he conception of a Deity. The Kikuyu believes in one God, Ngai, the creator and giver of all things. He has no Father, Mother or companion of any kind. He loves or hates people according to their behaviour.

quote 3906 | African Culture
Ngai, The High God of the Kikuyu, Jomo Kenyatta, 'Kikuyu Religion, Ancestor-worship, and Sacrificial Practices.' Africa, X (1937) pp. 308-28

The Kikuyu are a Bantu-speaking tribe of East Africa

I soko Religion begins with Cghene the Supreme Being, who is believed to have created the world and all peoples, including the Isoko. He lives in the sky which is a part of him, sends rain and sunshine, and shows his anger through thunder. Cghene is entirely beyond human comprehension, has never been seen, is sexless, and is only known by his actions, which have led men to speak of Cghene as 'him', because he is thought of as the creator and therefore the father of all the Isokos. He is spoken of as Our Father never as My Father. Cghene always punishes evil and rewards good.

quote 3905 | African Culture
The Supreme Being of the Isoko (of Southern Nigeria), James W. Telch, 'The Isoko Tribe,' Africa VII (1934), pp 160-73; quotation from p. 163

N zambi Mpungu is a being, invisible, but very powerful, who made all men and things, […] He intervenes in the creation of every child, he punishes those who violated his prohibitions. They render him no worship, for he has need of none and is inaccessible.

quote 3904 | African Culture
Nzambi, The High God of the Bakongo in Van Wing, Etudes Bakongo (Brussels 1921; pp.170 ff.) as translated by Edwin W. Smith in Smith (ed.), African Ideas of God: A Symposium (2nd ed; London, 1950), p.159

T he High Gods of a great number of African ethnic groups are regarded as creators, all-powerful, benevolent, and so forth; but they play a rather insignificant part in the religious life. Being either too distant or too good to need a real cult, they are invoked only in cases of great crises.

quote 3903 | African Culture
Mircea Eleade, Essential Sacred Writings From Around the World (From Primitive to Zen), HarperSanFrancisco, p.5-6

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Wisdom and teachings ofTradition

Wisdom and teachings of
Tradition