Perhaps the essential myth of all those that exist is that of the cosmogony, or the birth of the universe. This myth has taken incredibly many forms in the course of history, but it should be noticed that all of these forms postulate the existence of a divine will behind the creation of the world, be it a single God as in Christian doctrine or many divinities as in the ancient eastern or western mythologies: "Always related to a "creation," it tells how something came into existence, or how a pattern of behavior, an institution, a manner of working were established; this is why myths constitute the paradigms for all significant human acts. (Eliade, 18) the essence of the cosmogonic myth is the fact that it recreates the origins of the universe, explaining its roots: "Myth narrates a sacred history; it relates an event that took place in primordial Time,...
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