Crafting a Religion, Crafting a Cosmogony

A few weeks ago I decided to craft my own religion. Not in any real sense, but rather as a thought experiment, tying together all of my central ideals into a set of stories incorporating the styles of my favorite traditions.

This is the first of such stories. I hope you enjoy my work.

The Making of What IS and IS NOT
or
The Divine Blame Game

In the beginning there was the great old ones, He and She the divine architect that made all things. No one knows their names, for a name has power. To name the infinite is to make it finite, and He and She the Divine Architect cannot be made finite.

In the beginning, He and She the Divine Architect named all things, and the name that was given gave form to the thing, and the thing that was given form learned how to be, and all was good. Every God and Spirit and Tree and Stone and Animal and Man and Woman lived and flourished, and in the beginning all were pleased.

And so it was that He and She the Divine Architect sat back and were very pleased with then selves, when Coyote came to them. And upon seeing Coyote, He and She the Diving Architect smiled, for they knew him to be a kind creature, full of laughter. It was then that Clever Coyote said, "Oh how great is your creation, for it is good in every respect. Yet still I wonder if it is too good."

Upon hearing this He and She the Divine Architect was astonished, and asked Coyote what he meant, for though Coyote was a Fool, in true colors he was the wisest of all things, fare wiser then any of the sage Gods and always saw into the heart of things.

Coyote continued with a wry smile. "Pardon my rudeness, grand Architect, but I wonder. In this world you have created, all things are in perfect balance. Every God and Spirit performs their purpose accordingly. Every Tree and Stone and Animal behaves as you have named them. Every Man and Woman understands their role and behaves as such. There exists no such thing that is not good. It makes me wonder, though, as to why one would name a thing if the thing itself could not change and thus finds its own meaning."

And thus He and She the Divine Architect looked at the world and realized the truth of Coyote's words. The world they created was in perfect order and would never change. In that instance, they realized that the magnificence of the world they created was no more then a trinket or trophy by which they can judge their own magnificence. And thus they were troubled, for their world would not grow past what it was, and yet their role as the Creator was over.

It was then that He and She the Divine Architect beseeched Coyote to bring change to their world. To make it whole in and of itself. To unbalance the equation that was all things. It was then the He and She the Divine Architect left the world, for their role as Creator was done.

When Coyote was left alone, he then went down to this place named Earth, where the Divine was manifested in physical form. It was here that the powers of Order was most powerful. As it was, it was here that Coyote decided to bring Change to the world, and create this thing called Chaos.

He drifted down to a nearby girl. A young and pretty lass who sat beneath a tall tree on a summer day. As Coyote came upon her, she hailed him and he came close. It was then that Coyote began to whisper in her ear a short tale of vulgar absurdity. The face of the young lass became quite red, and she belted out of her mouth a sound that had not existed until that moment.

And thus, the young lass went to a healthy young lad, and whispered into his ear the tale of vulgar absurdity, and he too made such a sound. As they saw each other, they realized each others beauty, and became as one.

It was such that similar tales of vulgar absurdity drifted about all the worlds among beings of every type. And things began to happen that were in contrast to order, and people began to do things of their own accord, and each in their own soon began to realize that they could be as they chose, and act as they willed. And they called these tales Jokes, and the sounds they made Laughter.

And as time passed, and people began to develop new contraptions, Coyote would come down and give to the people of the world such other ideas as religion and government and bureaucracy, and thus Chaos was given to the world in its purist form: Laughter.

And so it was, and so it is, and with any luck, so it will be.