To the question about the creation and Greek myth: Looking through Robert Graves's compendium of myths, and he counts at least five different tellings of how the world began, some of which do not involve a "creator" god per se. And these are not arguably minor discrepancies, like the day when the crucifixion occurred—they are wholesale different accounts.
In the Timaeus, Plato speaks of a Demiurge, a divine Craftsman who fashions the universe, including a strata of "younger" gods who fashion the natural world. It's not clear, to me, that this Demiurge is equivalent to "The One" as spoken of in Neoplatonic terms (I would argue they are not one and the same), nor is he given a specific name. In other versions, the universe seems to simply arise.
Alternately, the Orphic hymns seem to celebrate different gods as having overarching control over the universe. In 20, Astrapaios Zeus is acclaimed as "the begetter of all," Apollon holds "the master seal to the cosmos," Kronos is "the progenitor." And so on.
As with many things in the Greek myths, there seem to be multiple versions of things with no obvious agreement. So, how to resolve these apparent contradictions?
One way of approaching this, per the "henadological" approach of endymions_bower, as far as I understand it, to say that each of these tellings emphasize different aspects of the gods (each of whom, in the end, have sort of "non-dual" natures, encompassing all things). Sorry for the continuous reference to Butler, but his reading of this material shaped my thinking. Adopting the same "prismatic" approach, it can be argued that the demiurgic function could be extended to each god, each of whom is self-perfect, superessential, and supervital (Proclus, Elements, CXIV)—that is, each god is a Demiurge unto itself, giving rise to the things "below" it.
Happy Thanksgiving to all who partake in it, and a cornucopia of blessings on this day of Sommo Giove.
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Date: 2021-11-25 12:26 pm (UTC)In the Timaeus, Plato speaks of a Demiurge, a divine Craftsman who fashions the universe, including a strata of "younger" gods who fashion the natural world. It's not clear, to me, that this Demiurge is equivalent to "The One" as spoken of in Neoplatonic terms (I would argue they are not one and the same), nor is he given a specific name. In other versions, the universe seems to simply arise.
Alternately, the Orphic hymns seem to celebrate different gods as having overarching control over the universe. In 20, Astrapaios Zeus is acclaimed as "the begetter of all," Apollon holds "the master seal to the cosmos," Kronos is "the progenitor." And so on.
As with many things in the Greek myths, there seem to be multiple versions of things with no obvious agreement. So, how to resolve these apparent contradictions?
One way of approaching this, per the "henadological" approach of
Happy Thanksgiving to all who partake in it, and a cornucopia of blessings on this day of Sommo Giove.