The Beauty Myth

“The life of man is a struggle on earth. But without a cross, without a struggle, we get nowhere. The victory will be ours if we continue our efforts courageously, even when at times they appear futile.” This quote by Boniface Wimmer, a German monk, perfectly sums up the capabilities of the human soul and what is necessary to happen in one’s life to ensure happiness of any kind, which is to surpass struggle. For that reason, the human soul is, by its very nature, designed to fight on despite any…

Punishment can only be conquered through pride and rebellion. The myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, describes a comical hero who is happy in the face of terrible and eternal punishment in the underworld. Camus explains Sisyphus’s happiness in that “There is no fate that cannot…

two accounts exemplify two unique questions that the Hebrew people sought an answer to; why did they exist and why was there death and suffering? Although both myths are classified as stories of creation, the two narratives target different aspects of the beginning of Earth, the heavens, and mankind. There are several aspects of these myths that highlight their differences. First, the first account (Gn 1:1-2:4a) of creation focused the creation of physical and godly things, including humans. …

For thousands of years, humans have wondered what controlled their lives and determined their future—was there a god that set out our paths before we were alive, or perhaps were we the only ones to explore the roads of life? Do we control how our existence plays out, or are we played by the hand of luck or a greater power from the start? Authors Malcolm Gladwell and William Ernest Henley toyed with their beliefs on this subject. Gladwell, writer of the short non-fiction titled Outliers: The…

For thousands of years, humans have wondered what controlled their lives and determined their futures—was there a god that set out our paths before we were alive, or perhaps were we the only ones to explore the roads of life? Do we control how our existence is to be played out, or are we played by the hand of luck or a greater power from the start? Authors Malcolm Gladwell and William Ernest Henley toyed with their beliefs on this subject. Gladwell, writer of the short non-fiction titled…

Creation myths can tell us a lot about the way humans picture their place in their place in the universe. In each story, humans associate themselves with a defined set of characteristics –sometimes positive ones, sometimes negative ones. Many creation myths also attempt to explain the origin and purpose of human beings on earth, in addition to defining the power dynamics underlining the relationships humans have with nature and with each other. In many creation myths humans seem to be depicted…

A creation myth is a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how the people first came to inhabit it. For example, two of them are the Genesis story and the Chinese story. Although the two stories have a great deal of dissimilarities they also have a number of indistinguishable elements. Both creation stories have some things in common. First, in both stories humans were made from the earth. The Chinese story states that Nu Wa sculpted humans from the mud. “From the edge of the pond she…

Giving purpose to life is valuable and eases the mind of many questions. However, how is a creation story to be interpreted? The creation story in the Old Testament is a story that has many meanings behind the text. The meanings of the text strongly convey their messages, and possibly impact future cultures. The story seems to go back and forth between what existed before this creation. The very first verse states “God created the heavens and the earth” then the story moves to state “Let us…

In the plot of the story, the rising action was when the river has been born or created as it says “I came from the edge of the sky. I descended from the sky and now I creep on the surface of the earth” (Kargar 33). It grabs the reader’s attention that something has been happening. For example, the extended clouds, nothing was visible, rain was pouring down, the drops were gathered, and tears began to flow, are the action words which develop a conflict or rising action in the story. After that…

will still be left with an egg, regardless of how it was prepared or looked. The myths related to the creation of the world are very similar to the concept the various preparations of an egg. The basic components are similar; however the specific way that it is attained differs. Specific differences are found in the creation myths of the Iroquois, the Igbo, and the Christian faith; however the similarities between the myths may perhaps be greater than coincidence and still continue to influence…