Making Origins - Acts of Creation (Draft) by City of London School

MAKING ORIGINS

MAKING ORIGINS ACTS OF CREATION

FOREWORD IMAGINING CREATION Where did everything come from? Why is there something rather than nothing? Can we even imagine true nothingness, the absence of everything including time and space: not just a void, but a complete absence? These are fundamental philosophical questions that arise quite naturally from our condition. Cosmologists tell us that the universe came into existence with the Big Bang approximately 13.8 billion years ago. Before that there was nothing, nothing at all, not even an empty vastness of space, and there was no time before then either (though some dispute this and suggest something was going on even before the Bang). Since that moment the universe has been expanding. That’s the physicists’ consensus. It isn’t exactly a creation ‘myth’ since it purports to give an empirically grounded account of what very probably happened. ‘Myth’ suggests a story made up without concern for truth, perhaps one that gains its force from its metaphorical power. In contrast, the Big Bang theory, like all scientiic accounts is open to refutation by counter-evidence or displacement by a better explanation; those who defend it believe it’s the best explanation we have at the moment of where everything came from, the best and fullest story we can tell given what we know. The evidence in its favour comes from observations of the stars and planets, and from readings of background microwave radiation. Everything else is extrapolated from this. The Big Bang account, then, isn’t just an act of imaginative reconstruction of what might have happened, it’s a scientiic hypothesis, something quite diferent. For those who believe any story of origins, however, creation ‘myths’ aren’t really mythical: they describe how things really unfolded. The Big Bang, like Darwinian evolution, is presented as refutable historical explanation not iction. For religious believers the religious stories of creation can be just as much grounded in reality.

acts of creation

Desire for origin stories, whether hypotheses or myths, is widespread, and stems from our discomfort with the idea of an ininite regress going back in time for ever: there has to be a starting point for everything, we feel, things can’t just recede to ininity without an inciting moment, some irst cause or celestial kick of. But once that style of thinking sets in, the question of what started this huge ball rolling is not easy to answer. We are left with the problem that is raised by Parmenides’s ancient claim, usually given in Latin: nihil it ex nihilo, ‘nothing comes from nothing’. If we feel the force of that assumption, we will always want an answer to the question ‘And what caused the cause?’ and feel that there must be something wrong with the widespread belief that everything has a beginning. A popular answer to the question ‘Where did everything come from?’ has, historically, been that God, in the form of Divine Architect, or Cause of Everything, Prime Mover, (or a team of lesser gods, perhaps), set it all in motion. Most major religions have a version of this creation story. But where God is proposed as the start of it all, there’s still the question ‘And where did God come from?’ We have either to accept that God just always existed, or else was in some sense self-creating, or perhaps remains completely supernatural, outside time and space, so not the sort of thing that ‘exists’ in our sense. These ideas are as hard to stomach for many of us as an ininite regress, and this may nudge us towards the view that God is our own creation, and so any account of God as creator risks escaping the ininite regress by tying us into a no less helpful vicious circle of explanation. Yet, if not always satisfying in their logical underpinnings, creation stories remain compelling and captivating. They are often elaborate, entertaining, and highly creative, embellished with detail and complexity, strange gods, weird beasts, bizarre events, and unlikely chains of causation. They are visually rich, illustrated in sacred texts, the subject of drama, painting, sculpture. Where we lack suicient evidence to be absolutely sure about causes, creative imagination is free to ill the gaps any way it pleases. As the work of the City of London School students shows, they provide an excellent framework for creative story-telling and visual invention, as well as giving a focus for some of the more philosophical questions that lie behind them, questions which have been at the core of both Eastern and Western traditions of both philosophy and religion. These questions are questions that arise for each of us, and it is

appropriate that the project gave scope for generating individual lines of thought and artistic creativity, encouraging students to explore their own ideas rather than simply illustrate and reflect on existing stories. Behind all this fertile speculation and symbolism, though, is a desire to explain fundamental questions about what we really are. ‘How did we get here?’ isn’t an idle question about history. It’s an important aspect of humanity’s attempt to understand itself. Behind this desire to know about origins lurks a further pressing question too, the question of our future: ‘Where are we heading?’ There is a sense that if we can unlock the secrets of the past we will know something about what is in store for us. Creation stories, even creation myths, allow us to explore in literal and metaphorical ways some of the most profound questions we can ask: ‘Where have we come from?’ Who are we now?’, and perhaps most importantly, ‘Where are we going?’ Nigel Warburton www.virtualphilosopher.com

acts of creation

PREFACE The sculptures, myths and the materials library which appear in this book were created for a research project ‘Boys as Makers’ for the International Boys’ Schools Coalition (IBSC) at the City of London School in 2015. A group of eleven year old boys had to respond to the question: “What does it mean for human beings to become aware of the world and of themselves as part of it?” Their response would take shape in the form of a sculpture, myth and a materials library. They would have to interlink the three into their own vision of what it means to be human. We are colleagues in Philosophy, Art and Science and have been working together to cross the boundaries of our subjects and create a fruitful dialogue between them by exploring ways of constructing meaning through a multiple engagement with the world. At the time we began this work in 2013, Alison was excited by the challenges of high energy particle physics as part of her work as Resident Artist with Art@CMS, CERN. This became a catalyst for encouraging collaborations and collisions between our departments, and for nurturing both in us and in our pupils a more open-minded and curious approach to life. The IBSC gave us an opportunity to explore further the potential for co-operation between us. We started from the idea that everything that we see around us (e.g. houses, cars, computers, greenhouses, books, musical instruments, and sculptures) is to a large extent the product of thinking. Thought is the most powerful tool by means of which we transform the world and our lives. It appears to be a current orthodoxy that some subjects are more apt to stimulate and train the faculty of thought, and divisions are thus made between ‘intellectual’ or ‘tough-minded subjects’ and the rest. This results in the current splits between Science and Humanities, between sciences and the arts, which dominate the school curriculum. We thought that training for thinking is not, however, the exclusive province of any one particular subject but is of a certain intellectual climate and culture. This culture is linked with the ability of a school community to stimulate and challenge the mind with problems and open it to the doubt and perplexity that is the trademark of any enquiring mind. This is the reason why our project cannot be deined by a neat pie chart of thirds (Art, Science and Philosophy). The boundaries are flexible and that

acts of creation

is exactly what we need in education and contemporary culture – spaces for people to think freely and critically outside the box, develop interests and be introduced to new ideas. This is perhaps what makes us unique as human beings–the capacity for imagination, creativity and curiosity drawn from questioning our observations and experiences. It is through research and conversations with others who are prepared to bend ridged structures that mature, critical and innovative thinkers can emerge from an education system. Our lives are becoming frenetic and stressful as technology advances, the paradox being that improved technology is designed in part to reduce that stress. But the pace of life ever increases, and people need to ind new ways of coping. Our view on our interdisciplinary collaboration is that it brings more enjoyment and playfulness to a community which is sometimes victim of too much specialisation and routine. Once we had given the boys just enough structure to work with, they could go of on their own journeys. We were the guides, not just teachers but also learners. The results are here to see: astonishing, funny, challenging and thoughtful. It is not exactly what any of us had planned it to be, but that is the point. As one pupil reflected, “I realised that it is better to go away from the plan and be freer with your ideas.” The stars of this project are the pupils, who with their unbounded energy, enthusiasm and sense of fun, threw themselves into it wholeheartedly and made us realise that the future will be full of surprises. Angelina Giannarou Philosophy Alison Gill Art and Design Hugh Jones Science

Think Studio Lab Team ...

CREATION MYTHS

Neelan Gupta Red Bird

Clay, modrock, paint

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Overall, I have learnt that you can make anything if you tryâ&#x20AC;?

n the beginning of time there always was a supreme being. Some force that practically was God. There was ininite cycles of Universesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, each ending and beginning again. But what started it of at the very beginning each time was when the power of God created a rooster-like bird flying around in space. The bird flied around in circles for hundreds of years until suddenly its right leg fell of. This leg changed in to a small ball, which become Earth. After a while, other parts of the rooster started to fall apart. Its head became the grassy ields and stony deserts and its blood became the Oceans, Seas, Rivers and Lakes. Its eyes also became the sun and the moon. Its arms became trees and plants and its beak became mountains, hills and volcanoes. The roosterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ears became craters and holes. Its hair became rain and its spit became snow. The only things that were left now were its bones and its left leg. After falling through the universe, the roosterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bones were scattered around the earth. Slowly as the centuries passed, half of the bones began to form animals, birds, insects and marine- life. These were the irst creatures. The other half of bones became humans. This form of life was more strong and intelligent than the other forms, but was still considered to be equal to all other creatures. They soon started to form families, tribes and settlements. All that was left of the Rooster now was the left leg. Because it had been in the universe for hundreds of millenniums, the left leg was battered and old. This became a huge obstacle to the world or evil. For instance, if someone did something bad, something bad could be turned back on them. Slowly the world began to form to what it is today. People became more intelligent and started to form groups, new species of plants, animals and birds evolved and the climate slowly altered. Finally the world became what it is today.

creation myths : neelan Gupta

Euan Lawrence The Root Of Evil

Modroc, polystyrene, clay, paint

“I like to make sculptures big and try to be really ambitious.”

ong ago there was nothing but huge balls of colossal energy. Eventually they collided, causing a massive explosion of vibrant blue, red and yellow. Nothing could have survived it. The energy was transformed into something physical and compact. After aeons, two mystical creatures were formed. Nothing is known about them, but it is said that they are lurking in the darkest corners of the universe, where no one dare goes. All we know is that they created everything we know today with their magical force which is unstoppable. Before their disappearance, they implanted some of this strange power into nine beings and gave them a place to live. All these beings remember from their childhood is the creatures zooming away like a flash. It is rumoured that there are more supernatural beings but there has been no possible way to ind out. Still people are wondering if they are out there somewhere. But this is the point where true civilisation began. There were few things that the nine gods had to do as there was already gravity and the basics materials such as wood, rock, sand and water. There was also plenty of gold. After a while a great palace in the deep blue sky was made with the help of gravity and the materials; this palace was where the gods lived. However, they could not deny the fact that they were lonely. So they turned the gleaming golden sculptures into animals. Each of them had a certain characteristic and would only do certain things. However there was still a problem that had to be solved. At night there was not a single ray of glittering light. Even after this great amount of time, the gods still hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t discovered the full power of their magical abilities. After a leisurely stroll through the lush, green park, one of the gods discovered the fact that he could make ire by using pieces of rock.

The ire in his hands illuminated everything around him instantly. Amazed, he rushed to the other Gods to show them this gift. One of the female Gods felt a great pain inside her and predicted that ire would bring relief yet destruction. Soon, every god had discovered his or her own special powers. But they were not safe. The God of telekinesis foretold that there was a great beast of destruction threatening their very existent.

creation myths : euan lawrence

Scared beyond their wits, the Gods decided to create a powerful living weapon to protect them. Funnily enough this was the beast that threatened them as it turned against them, driven by the power of ultimate destruction. The very ground below them became misty and no one would even think about going down there. Nobody could sleep at night, having nightmares about the monster breaking through their only entrance and wiping them from existence. Nothing was heard from the monster, which made the Gods suspicious, and they upped the security. Little did they know that the beast was creating his own army. The gods were forced to create the irst humans as a new army to ight the monster and its horrible army. But the time was not right. The humans had to wait until it was most vulnerable which is when it was focusing all its energy on breaking into the palace. Just as it was about to break in, a massive mob of spears were hurled at the thing. A great screech was let out in pain. Bewildered, the monster turned around and decided that you can never, ever trust anything fully. It was an epic war. Carnage raged on for days. This monster had few weaknesses. What made it so hard to destroy was that it had a little bit of power from the Gods that made it. If you could see the damage done, the scale wouldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been enormous. Many lied dead. However the humans devised a plan. Most of them would distract the beast whilst a few others would climb the monster and plant a irebomb that everybody made (with some help from magic) to destroy it. Bravely, the humans marched into battle with the basic weapons and armour that they had. With the monster focusing on the battle, it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t foresee the humans plan. Quickly and skilfully the humans helped each other climb up its legs. The legs were made of rock so they had some advantages, as there were some climbing holes. As a click sounded only then did the monster realised that one of its best weapons was about to kill it. Right beneath the bomb was where all of its energy and life force was stored. This beast was inished for. Even though they had won, they had lost. Thousands were dead and as the dark, hazy mist cleared, the earth around them was wrecked. Nothing could be done with it but there was something even worse. After the beast had been killed, it had released things such as greed, hatred and evil. There was a price to pay for killing something.

Once the Gods had realised that the humans had just saved them and saw the damage done all agreed that this species had to be rewarded for their eforts. Together, with all their force the Gods reshaped the world so that the humans could live free. But since the humans needed food the Gods set all their animals free into the world and then gave them the basic tools of civilisation. But as the years went on the humans began to disrespect the land and the Gods became angry. Each of them devised a way to punish them. One would cause droughts; another earthquakes and one would cause some tidal waves. But gradually the humans forgot and thought that these were just natural disasters. Next to nobody knew what had happened at the very beginning for humans and there was only a few descendants of those who decided to ight. Eventually this memory became lost like everything will eventually since nothing lasts forever.

creation myths : euan lawrence

Zacky Lipshaw Volcano

Plaster, modroc, clay, paint, plastic box, newspaper, wire

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I learnt that if one puts their mind to it, they can imagine the most amazing things.â&#x20AC;?

t irst, there was nothing but one great mountain in the earth. And in this volcano was a spirit, which had been there together. It was not a human or an animal, for it was a ghostly igure trapped inside the huge mountain. This spirit wanted to come out of this prison so it tried and tried. The spirit was angry. Then, the volcano erupted. A massive invisible hand came out of the volcano, releasing the universe out. The sparks of the volcano became the stars. The ashes became the wind and the lava and mud emerged out of the volcano to become the sea. The rocks tumbled out and made eggs. The spirit exploded and part of the spirit went into two eggs. This gave them evil. One hundred years later the eggs cracked. Out came the dogs, the cats, the frogs, the snakes, the birds and the bees, and there were still two eggs. Fifty years later, the animals were happy and then the spirit exploded again killing all the animals. The ire of the volcano gave them intelligence and taught them how to create ire. Another ive hundred years passed and the eggs hatched. A man  and a woman . These people were evil. However, they were very clever. After one thousand years, the humans had destroyed half of the world, by eating, killing, cutting and burning. Then the volcano erupted once more, wiping out half the animals and the humans. In fact there were eruptions every day from then, and ive hundred years from this date, the humans used their intelligence and evilness. There was yet the last explosion ever to cross the eyes of these people, the volcano was demolished. Showers of rocks and ash fell over the world. It was all worth it, however, for the volcano would never erupt ever again. The spirit of the volcano created hundreds of mountains around the universe and they will all erupt… when you least expect it.

creation myths : Zacky lipshaw

Hasan Mohsin Everything

Modroc, plastic bottle, paint

â&#x20AC;&#x153;What is light without dark? There would never be a balance then. There has to always be two opposites.â&#x20AC;?

n the beginning, there was only the being known as the Food Creator. He made a huge mound of everlasting ice-cream. Even after enormous amounts of time, the ice-cream would never melt. He made a sky by solidifying an enormous slab of blue-coloured chocolate and tossing it into the air. Cloud were made from flying gnomes that cried out rain to help the crops and moved around in packs. Next he put a colossal yellow haribo dummy in the sky to bear light to all of the world and pure ice-cream from the mound which he threw into the sky to give light after the day had inished. After this he furnished the world with exquisitely coloured sweets with edible plants as well. Then Food Creator decorated the ice cream with chocolate buttons (all colours). These made the humans with their diferent skin tones. Food Creator made the world full of happiness Life was beautiful for many years and harmony until Mankind asked the Food Creator to give them equal power to him. Food Creator was disgusted at their request and sensed greed, a new power entering the world. So he sent an evil Dorito to spread some discord among the humans. The power of evil was terrible and corrupted many minds but still there were the resilient who stood up for justice. In the earliest of mankind there were great leaders who made huge empires. The greatest of these leaders was Ilan the Yellow, and Grima the Farter. Ilanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s empire stretched from Iran to Greece. He built himself a palace and had many generals. Grimaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s was from Northern Africa to Italy and the Mediterranean Sea. He lived in luxury and had an indulging lifestyle. They became greedy and selish during their lives and were part of the cause for the removal of the evil Dorito. Minds were infected and became bad by the craving thirst for power and glory. Humankind lived eternally but over the years they became argumentative and stubborn. One day, they were bound to destroy theselves through war and killing.

creation myths : hasan mohsin

Thomas Stuart-Smith The Beastâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hand

Plaster, polystyrene, brass, silver foil, modroc, paint

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Over a period of making the sculpture I think that I developed more concentration and patience as one rash action could destroy the sculpture.â&#x20AC;?

here was a time when the only existing organism was a single cell. Over many millennia, this cell multiplied. When the cell had inished multiplying, a creature was formed. The creature was raging and some people say he was pure evil. This creature was a thing of anger and desire to destroy. Unfortunately for him he had nothing to demolish. Then, he thought of a gruesome way to rectify his problem. He cut of all the ingers of his right hand. Those ingers slowly formed into other beings. When he thought that they had matured enough, he started to kill. Four of these beings were killed mercilessly. One lone survivor. The survivor escaped and set out creating an army to overcome the thing of evil and hate. The Survivor spent eons practising creating life in the knowledge that he could not rest. The beast would probably catch up with him if he did not keep his wits about him. The day came when The Survivor felt he was ready to create his own being. To his delight his attempt had been successful! He made another and then another and another. Creating had become his addiction! For day he just made and made and made. After one week he was inally satisied. There were new beings as far as the eye could see. The Survivor found it easy to conjure weapons to arm each man to the teeth! The Survivor rested the day before the battle. He made every man sleep for 24 hours before the battle. When the survivor felt the time was ripe, every man woke simultaneously. It was not hard to ind the beast. The beasts roar could be heard from a mile away! The survivor summoned his army and told to surround the beast and attacks from all sides. The creations were afraid, selling the fear ever felt in the universe the survivor new that the beast had ive ingers altogether. The main body of his army would attack the right hand side of the beastâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s body. The Survivor made one last battle cry and called for charge. The soldiers didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to be told twice,they charged together from all sides and threw themselves at the beast, who was caught by surprise! The beast could take out 100 soldiers with a single swing of his deadly blade and yet

creation myths : thomas stuart-smith

more determined soldiers took their place. After hours of bloodshed the beast was on his knees. Soon he was on the ground with soldiers swarming over him like ants. The beast knew his number was up and with his last ounce of strength exploded embedding evil into every soldiersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; heart. This is why, in all mankind, we are fundamentally good but with a slither of evil a dark side we have to ight.

creation myths : thomas stuart-smith

Anson Law Techno

Card, clay, polystyrene, smashed-up mobile phone, wire, wood, clingilm

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The origin of my sculpture is the human mind. It never ceases to amaze me how clever we are. We create technology of the future.â&#x20AC;?

n the beginning were four gods. They are Earth, king of all the gods and god of the sky, Grace, queen of all the gods and goddess of vegetation and food, Oceania, goddess of the water and Hell, god of the underworld. One day the four gods suddenly became desperately bored so Hell decided to make some people and to kill them afterwards for fun. While Hell was making people, Oceania was watching closely by and decided to copy Hell, so soon she started to make her own little people. However what she did diferent to Hell was that she was making her own people as she wanted to care for them and to teach them new things every day. First Oceania crafted the people with water, she then she asked Grace and Earth to blow life into her creation. However while Oceania was sleeping, Hell crept up from the Underworld (full of jealousy) and let out his destruction dragons, dogs of war and demons on to the people. Hearing the people’s cry for help, Oceania woke up only to see her own creation melting away. After days and days of searching for a cure she found a small plant which carried a force called technology. She took the plant and put the force onto her people. In result of this, the humans survived Hell’s attempt to destroy them. But only just. Thanks to technology the humans made massive force ields and weapons to defend themselves from Hell’s destruction dragons, dogs of war and demons. And so everyone that she made grew up peacefully until years later Hell would breathe his breath of death on the humans whenever Oceania wasn’t looking. To speed up the process he also made some people of his own to blend in with the crowd to shoot Oceania’s people which make Oceania angry and so she would make her own armed people to track Hell’ It was because of this that a conflict started to form between them. And to this day Hell creates his humans (terrorists) to get ready for a inal ight between good and evil.

creation myths : anson law

Ameen Hassan The World Is An Egg

Modroc, paint

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The curves are loosely based on the Venus of Willendorfâ&#x20AC;?

t all started with a god, known as Sky, and a goddess, called Sea. After being alone for 40 years, they decided that the universe was too vast to be occupied by only two gods, therefore, they created a baby god called Earth. His parents granted him the two gifts of dedication and determination to help him achieve whatever he wanted without giving up. Earth was also a very creative god for the simple reason that ever since he was born, he had just been creating more and more things with whatever his parents gave him. Then, it happened: Earth’s irst attempt at creating a planet. It was an easy-to-construct cluster of asteroids and dark matter embedded with pure gold and liquid silver. The entire shape was a deformed cube, containing only metal, which Sea and Sky claimed to be only for the wealthy, despite there being no humans, and a barren landscape. This, despite its negative features, seemed to be a very successful project to Earth, considering he was only eight at the time of his creation. With his optimistic view of his project, he decided to show his abysmal design to his parents. Sky and Sea, although they agreed that the project was atrocious, chose to give Earth useful advice, rather than negative and unmeaning criticism. The useful advice that was given to the young god was to ind ive vital ingredients: two eggs, a tree, land and water. These ive ingredients, according to Sea, would be useful when doing his second attempt and Sky told him not to try and create an ‘Earth’ before inding all and every single one of these materials. And so, Earth’s quest began... The struggle for two eggs was the most diicult challenge of all. What he had to do was to ind a planet that had two birds or two eggs on it, which may have seemed quite easy at the time, but it was certainly diicult for Earth to ind an animal anywhere in the universe. Then, just as he was about to abandon his mission for materials, he found a young green and red planet housing everything he needed, excluding water, in a large galaxy known as the ‘Milky Way’. Even though his last item to get was water, it was the easiest to ind. It turned out that Earth had missed a few planets entirely made of water. All Earth had to do was absorb the water and he could start creating a new planet he would call ‘Earth’. But where?

creation myths : ameen hassan

â&#x20AC;&#x153;This sculpture has helped me see that anything is possible, even if it requires multiple attempts.â&#x20AC;?

Earth searched back and forth for a space for his planet, until he realised that there was a space next to the planet housing the materials he needed. His creation was one that could stand out towards every other creation out there. He decided to base his planet on the neighbouring one, except make the landscape a lot more bearable and to slightly increase the size of it. Within three years, Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s planet became like the rest, round, barren, and near impossible to live on. Though this would have been acceptable, Earth chose to improve his design by almost double. So, after two years of relentless working, Earth was born. The hugelyimpressed god decided to bring his parents to the creation of Earth, that included the two newly-hatched birds, a tree, land and water, and, according to Sea and Sky, it only lacked two things: a man (called Adam) and a woman (called Eve). And that is how the world we live on was created.

creation myths : ameen hassan

Alexander Wallop Manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s First Sin

Clay, modroc, polystyrene, scrim

â&#x20AC;&#x153;My sculpture shows the irst sin of man, murder. For every act of love there is some evil and for every sin there is goodness somewhere. We need sin as well as love to survive. Some people think it is love that keeps humans together but I think it is evil as well. Love and evil are what keep us moving which is also why my sculpture can be adjusted.â&#x20AC;?

n the beginning there were the heavens. Bellow the heavens there was a void, a deep, dark, lonely void. One day the god in the heavens decided to plant a seed in the void because he was lonely. Gradually over time a small brown ball grew from the seed. Over more time it slowly grew until it was as large as the god himself. The god then created a force ield that he called the atmosphere and he scattered light to make stars. The god however was still lonely. He cried with disappointment and his tears flooded the land. And as the tears rolled down his cheeks onto the earth, seas and vegetation were created. Out of a plant that had been growing came a human; he was formed from the leaf of a plant. But because of the force ield the human and the god couldn’t communicate and the human was left to be lonely. Out of pity for the human the god created animals But after a while, the human grew hungry and cold, he saw how the animals survived and one day he went up to an animal and killed it. He used its fur as a coat and its meat, he ate. This was mans irst sin and the god wasn’t happy. Maybe, the god thought, it’s the human’s diferences that made him kill the animal. So out of more plants came more humans but because they all came from diferent plants they were all diferent. They then fought because of their diferences and over things like land. Countries were then made. The god had had it. And it was only then that he realised what the humans were missing, love. It is such a powerful force and it bound the humans together. But evil was still there and evil and love battled. They still do now but for as long as we live there will still be evil in everything we do.

creation myths : alexander wallop

Tom Davies Watching

Tinfoil, polystyrene, clay, modroc, paint

“The cracking of the eye of ‘Watching’ symbolizes age and the world splitting as diferent people have diferent ideas on life.”

n the beginning there was an eye. It sat alone on top of a peak rising from darkness. Nothing stirred in the world but the small pupil movements of the eye. He had just feelings to keep him company, but he had the power to control the universe, though nothing lived. He patrolled his mountain with the eye of an eagle, inspecting the vast landscape that was all his. But with every passing minute he became more and more lonely, and with loneliness comes anger, and his anger grew and grew till he could hold it in no longer. The eye was angry. He had been living for over four billion years in his universe, and yet still he had no power to create new life forms. He was growing old and weary and he needed somebody to be his heir. This is why he was angry. This is why he had to have company, had to have somebody to supply him with happiness. This is why he began to create a universe. He began to roll down his peak, over the rocks and boulders, over the mud and dirt, and with him came these rocks and boulders, this mud and dirt. He rolled right to the bottom, stopping only to sleep. It took just three days, and by the end of those three days, a thick layer of rocks and mud had formed below the peak, where the darkness had once lay. This foundation was the irst stepping stone into building the universe he wanted, building the happiness he needed. However, he still had no company, and still he was lonely. Out of his mighty eye dropped a small; a small tear of loneliness, and thus with it came all of our water: our streams, our rivers, our lakes and our oceans. And with his tear came tiny amounts of DNA, forming minute creatures, not visible by the naked eye. The rivers were high, the springs were bursting, but the eye still had no creature to communicate with; no creature to talk to, to play with. So he began to rip small pieces of his eye and form them into living beings. After forming a creature, he would hurl the beings of the edge of his peak; some of them became deformed, and others resisted the impact. These people became beautiful, but the ones who were not strong enough to resist the impact became ugly, and therefore jealousy spread.

creation myths : tom davies

But the eye loved the creatures. However, he did not have much time before he was to pass away, and very soon he did, his pupil formed the sun, his eyebrows the grass and the trees and his blink created the darkness of night. But very soon after he passed away, his beings began to lose control. Not one of them could take charge, or else another would revolt. Food was not shared equally, and the water was wasted. They began to want more from the world, so they made discoveries so they would not have to work. Very soon, sounds of industrial machines echoed throughout the universe, and the only quiet was from up on the top of the eyeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s peak, standing high above those he had created, at that time of loneliness. Sometimes, people would walk up there and feel great power, yet great peace.

creation myths : tom davies

Isaac Saunders Grasping the Earth

Plaster, modroc, paint

â&#x20AC;&#x153;There were many possibilities in relation to the materials; if you wanted to include ine detail easily, you could use alginate, as the moulds created capture the tiniest details in the sculpture, (for example the folds of skin in the knuckles of the hand). However, if you wanted it to be a bit more abstract you could use materials like clay, (because otherwise it would take far longer to add in equivalent details). The direct elements in the process of making sculpture were in deciding the form in which to interpret my myth into a sculpture and in choosing the surface decoration. There were so many possible ideas to choose from but I thought my sculpture of a hand grasping the earth really gave impact to my myth.â&#x20AC;?

he universe was an inky black void. Filled with nothing, and without time, the darkness and silence were undisturbed. No-one knew how the universe started; in fact, there was no-one to know how it began. The universe, still and plain as nothing, might have stayed like that forever. But, from no-where, and without apparent reason, a spectacular event occurred. An eruption of light rippled through the darkness. No-one was there to know where it started, or to experience the miracle. The light spread for miles around and suddenly three voices were heard. “Where are we?” said the irst voice. “What are we?” asked the second; and “Why are we here?” enquired the third. Their voices were carried through the darkness, reverberating around the beginning of space and time. As each being spoke, he began to generate ideas, which answered their questions. They were in the middle of a massive universe, they were giants who had the power to create, and they were here to ill the universe with beauty and life. Together they discussed what they wanted to construct. The irst giant had the inspiration to create the skies; he raised his clenched ist and hurled his ideas into the black void. An explosion of iridescent light rained down, creating the planets, huge solar systems, moons, skies and stars. The universe was beginning to ill up. He saw what he had made and he felt over the moon. The second giant thought with all his might about what he wanted to add to the universe. Without warning, sparks izzed in a giant ball of light and the dry earth was formed. The land was covered in colossal mountains and low valleys, dense forests and lush, rolling grasslands, parched deserts, great cities and small villages. He looked at what he’d created and he felt pleased. The third giant reflected carefully on his contribution to the design of creation. As he thought, the heat from the sun caused silvery beads of sweat to run down his face, causing pools of water to form on the surface of the Earth. He wept with joy and the oceans, seas, rivers and lakes were formed. He gazed at what he’d produced and felt delighted. creation myths : isaac saunders

Isaac has also contributed the Epilogue, which appears at the back of this book.

All three giants looked upon what they had all formed together and they watched it for some time. They felt excited by their creation but they realised that something was missing. Each of them blamed the others, for doing something wrong, even though they didn’t know what it was. Just then, a fourth voice was heard. It was the wisest voice of all, that of Mother Earth. She whispered quietly: “The element missing from your wonderful creation is Life. All you have made so far is fabulous but we need living creatures to inhabit the land, the waters and the skies, if this creation is to be truly excellent.” She explained that all living things needed all of the ideas of the giants together, working in harmony. “Plants on the land need the sun and water to grow, animals on land need food from the earth to eat and water to drink. Insects and birds get food from plants but fly in the air, the creatures of the sea need nutrients from the earth and energy from the sun to allow sea plants to grow, on which the ishes and crustaceans feed. We must therefore all work together to add living creatures to our planet.” And so, from the imagination of the giants and Mother Earth, working together, life was added to the Earth. Fishes, sharks and jellyish swam in the oceans; eagles, ravens, doves and sparrows flew through the skies; and rhinos, zebras, cats and possums roamed the land. Spiders, scorpions and caterpillars crept along the ground; and monkeys swung through the canopies of trees. Finally, the giants and Mother Earth remembered the cities and villages they had built. They did not think that any of the animals they had already created would be suitable to live there, and look after the planet, so they crafted a inal type of living creature – human beings. They made an important decision: they would make humans unique and give them the gift of language. The group named their new creation “Planet Earth” and they thought it was very good. The End.

creation myths : isaac saunders

Youma Nijo The World In A Spiral

Armature wire, plasticine, paint

“Nothing can be perfect.”

ver since the universe came into existence, Chaos was there. Here was all alone, where there was nothing but a pitiless void. Forgotten centuries swept by until Chaos decided he wanted a thing to grow. Then his irst thought of creating a world presented itself to Chaos’s mind. The irst deed he did was bring Earth (Gaia) into existence. She was beautiful beyond imagination. She grew and spread and enfolded huge expanses within her embrace. Immediately after he made radiant Day, he made pitch black Night and fearsome Tartarus. The expanse of the Underworld was so immense that it would take nine days and nine nights to get to the floor. In this region, that’s where Night lurks around in the sky of Tartarus. Now Chaos had his turn, Gaia gave life to love, Aphrodite, and she gave beauty to all living beings on Gaia. Gaia gave birth to many children, but the mightiest god there was Uranus, so she married him and bored him many children. They were the Titans. Another Titan, Hyperon, and his wife, the Titaness Theia, brought three more deities into existence; rosy-ingered down, the bright Sun and the silvery Moon. And that is how the world came into existence out of formless Chaos – a place of wonder.

creation myths : youma nijo

Lewis Bookatz Morph

Modroc, armature wire, tape, polystyrene, fabric, leather, wood

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The key to art was fantasising (and, in my case, lots of modroc*) *modroc is plaster of paris modellinG bandaGe

n the future, human will know this planet by the name ‘Hebron’, and we will not be using fossil fuels, but something called ‘freezing cold fusion’. Also, of course, Homo Sapiens Sapiens will have devolved back to Homo Sapiens Neandathalus. But one thing will make them diferent from our ancestors. They will have time-travel boxes that will look something like this: The myth starts on new-year’s eve 99ATT (after time travel). As a special anniversary for the time machine, the Hebronic government will decide to take every species on Hebron back to one second before Hebron was created. So all goes well–until they need to land. One of the drivers has the idea of using time-travel power to create a planet and call it ‘Earth’. This is done, and only after it has happened, does anyone realise that they are stranded on Earth. This is how the world and its inhabitants are created.

creation myths : lewis bookatZ

MATERIALS LIBRARY

MATERIAL SCIENCE No subject knowledge deines the stages of human development like materials science does. Human history has been deined by the ability to master materials, and although all materials are elegant, some have their names given to periods of civilisation. Stone Age man used stuf around him to do useful things, and natural inquisitive behaviour led to developments into alloying metals. Bronze, copper and iron (at diferent times) were â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;discoveredâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and with them, their diferent properties became fully appreciated. Today we have a vast choice of materials to use in all sorts of situations, yet all materials are made of the same basic building blocks - atoms. What makes the diferent atoms form diferent materials with diferent properties was not on the agenda for this project; rather an appreciation of applications for the diferent properties. This was an important choice because it would not have been appropriate to go into atomic and nuclear theory to determine how all the diferent elements came into existence. Creation myths and particle physics are not necessarily compatible in such a project! Making a sculpture involves decision taking based on knowledge of the creative potential of materials and a vision of a inal efect. Studying materials and their properties is not necessarily the most stimulating topic in science lessons and so the objective was to celebrate the culture of matter by creating a Materials Library based on each individual having a material to research, to display and then to label. Our inspiration was the old Royal College of Art Materials Library and the Institute of Making at University College London. The stuf of this world is exciting, more so when you can see and touch it. The objective of course was to get only a snapshot of materials that were interesting, not only concentrating on materials to be used in sculpting, but including the marvels and innovations of the material world, like aerogel. We deinitely tried to encourage the boys to have some opinion

materials library

of their chosen material for study because this kind of personal involvement would make the task more memorable. For example, PAPER is special because it has developed over centuries and is an example of how man can produce something so important to all parts of life. Associated with communication between all types of people, it has an immediate impact. Magazines of the shelf smell so sweet, yet old books smell musty. It can carry good news or news of disasters. It is vital to the school pupil or student and encourages the development of handwriting, the style of which may be closely linked to personality. So an emphasis on such a wide treatment of aspects to do with materials and society was encouraged so as to make subjective judgments and interpretations which would be more memorable than the strict study of materialsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; general properties. The Materials Library was made transportable by using a tape covered customised trolley. Collaboration between boys in the group meant that tasks were shared by them. Jars or transparent containers (with the samples having been put inside) were placed on the trolley, and the plan was that the trolley would be put in the School Library for general observation and research. With increasing collaboration in the ields of design (including architecture and fashion as well as product design) and materials science (embracing nanotechnology, synthetic biology and other emerging areas of research) we believe it is important that young people are able to explore cross-disciplinary dialogues early on. Who knows where curiosity will take them? Hugh Jones Science Teacher

links http://materialshub.rca.ac.uk/inspirinGmatter-report http://www.instituteofmakinG.orG.uk/materials-library

CAN SOMETHINGâ&#x20AC;Ś A PHILOSOPHICAL ENQUIRY The question arose out of our examination of the Greek and Chinese myths. Both myths explain the world as emerging out of the void or of nothingness. This makes them sound strikingly modern. We tried to igure out what could humans mean when they talk about something coming out of nothing. We noted that the famous Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle found philosophically absurd the idea that some thing could come out of nothing. T Perhaps nothing is just the place where the whole world shrinks to a tiny point and then it starts again. In this sense there is always something there potentially capable of becoming a new world. I

If the universe has no boundaries, then it cannot shrink or expand. So the world could not come out of nothing. Maybe there is nothing after all and the world is just some big dream.

L The nothing must be some thing, only not something material as the universe. It has to be something non-material or spiritual. Z There cannot be nothing. There must always be something there even though we may not be able to perceive it. M Maybe the whole universe is a computer game and we are like characters in the game. T If we are characters in the game, then the maker of the game is God for us. However God may also be part of another game which is itself part of another game and so on. J

We cannot know whether something or nothing was in the beginning of the universe because we cannot think so far back.

H Maybe our idea of nothing is just the start of a new series of worlds. We cannot see this start as we are far from the starting point.

COME OUT OF NOTHING? A Maybe what we call nothing is just an invisible universe. So there is another universe outside our universe. K Nothing is all the ‘things’ that we cannot see as things. Even though these invisible ‘things’ are not really things in our sense, they are something. L The nothing that we ind in the beginning of everything is just the beginning of another reality that has to do with God or spirit or with something that is not material. S We need an intelligent God in the beginning because if everything came out of nothing, then there would be only randomness but no order and harmony. X Nothing must be some kind of emptiness or void. W Maybe nothing is just the absence of some thing but there is still something there only that this something is not a thing in the usual sense. O The existence of nothing cannot be described as some thing. The existence of nothing is not anything that can be described. E Maybe nothing is like a blank void, some sort of whiteness. C The existence of nothing cannot be the presence of some colour. This is something. D Maybe nothing is just the possibility of something coming into existence at some point. Maybe nothing is just a number of possibilities not yet realised. K Nothing makes no sense. There must always be something. P You could say that nothing means that there is nothing physical but there is something theoretical. However a theory is logic applied to the facts. If there are no facts, then logic cannot work by itself. Nothing is the absence of facts and theory but not necessarily of logic

materials library

THE MEANING OF LIFE YEAR 7 DISCUSSION This is a sample of a philosophical enquiry that we undertook in class regarding the meaning of life at the end of our ‘Creation Myths’ unit. We irst agreed on what the meaning of life is for the people and cultures that we examined in class, i.e. the Greeks, Chinese and Buddhists. We then discussed our own views regarding the meaning of life and concluded that it is perhaps impossible to capture in a sentence what the meaning of life is and that there may be a variety of ways to approach this problem.

For the purpose of preserving anonymity we have chosen random initials for the boys’ contribution to our discussion.

What is the meaning of life?

For the Greeks: •

Humans are the playthings of Gods.

•

Humans must try to rid the world of the evil that came into the world with Pandora’s Box.

•

Prometheus’ gift to humanity shows that the meaning of life for humans is to make progress and to advance civilization. To be curious, inventive and always hopeful.

•

Humans must worship Gods and make sacriices to them even though Gods do not particularly care for them.

•

Humans are an essential part of the world and need to be there in order for life to be complete.

•

Life is full of hardship but do not give up. There is always hope.

•

To create life as life has always been present since the beginning of the world, irst in the form of gods and titans but later on in the form of humans as well.

•

Humans must share ideas, talk to one another and love other beings.

•

For everybody to know their place in society and act accordingly.

•

To fulil God’s wish which is for humans to populate the earth.

•

To know that you have a place in the order of life and to respect this order.

•

To entertain and love the God who created you.

For Buddhists: •

Humans must try to stop being selish and greedy in order to reach a state which is free of all selishness and greediness. The purpose of life is to be in this selfless state called nirvana.

•

To get rid of the circle of life this is dominated by the struggle for survival, a struggle which is of necessity full of selishness and greediness.

•

Nirvana takes you to an outwardly realm which is very spiritual.

•

Humans must escape all the qualities that drag them down and do not let them become enlightened beings.

•

Life is a cycle and you are always into it unless you become enlightened.

For the Chinese: •

Humans must be with others, be social and try to avoid loneliness.

materials library

For our City of London Year ď&#x153;ˇ pupils: E: There is no meaning to life. Things just happen and you just live.

J: To improve the world for the people who come after you.

A: Try to make the world a better place than it is at present.

Z: We are bound to destroy the world because life is a force of environmental destruction.

Y: Live your life the way you want and then accept the fact that you die.

M: To live a good life and stop the circle of reincarnations. To become enlightened.

L: To just live as good a life as possible and then die.

F: Be the best person you can be and try to make the world a better place.

T: To make the world happy and not a place of loneliness. To make the world a peaceful place.

D: To reproduce and continue life. To enjoy life while you have it.

Z: Enjoy life and take care of yourself. If everybody took care of themselves, the world would be a better place. J: Everyone writes with their life their own story. Try to make your story as interesting and exciting as possible and be grateful about your life. C: To enjoy life while you have it and to have no regrets at the end. I: To be happy and try to make life better for everyone.

S: Enjoy life and make the most of it. A: Life is like a game. Play the game of life well. K: Life is a gift. Try to use it in the best possible way. A: Life is like a jigsaw puzzle and you have to ind a way to put all the pieces together. R: The world has created you in order to understand itself. X: To be helpful and good to people around you. W: To please your creator and gain good points for the next life.

N: Make the world a happy place and improve it. A: To achieve your goals in life and to avoid doing evil things.

K: Life is pointless if you look at it from the point of view of the universe. E: To make something worthwhile for the future.

B: Enjoy life and do what you think is best H: Life is like a test. You either do well or bad. T: To succeed with your life and to live as if there is no God.

B: The meaning of life is progress

YEAR 7 ASKS THE BIG QUESTIONS Since the dawn of civilisation humankind has used myths in an attempt to ofer answers to the puzzle of existence. Year 7 has created a list of the fundamental questions that humans have posed and continue to pose to the world. The list is by no means exhaustive. Indeed we kept adding questions as we went along studying the Greek, Chinese and Buddhist myths of creation and the ways in which they attempt to solve the riddle of existence.

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THE WORLD 1.

How big is the universe?

Is this the only universe? Are there more than one?

Why did the world start when it did?

Is love a force of the universe like gravity?

What colour is the universe and why?

Why did the world start when it did?

Is there another universe beyond our own? What could it look like?

What is beauty?

Where does goodness come from?

10. Can something come out of nothing? 11. What is nothing? 12. What is light? 13. Does the universe grow like a living being? 14. What was there before the Big Bang? 15. Why did the Big Bang happen? 16. What is the purpose of the universe? 17. What happens on the edge of the universe? 18. How many other planets have life on them? 19. What is the universe expanding into? 20. Can this universe come into existence and out of it an ininite number of times? 21. What is number? 22. What is time? 23. What is ininity? 24. Is the universe inite or ininite?

LIFE 1.

What is the point of life?

What other forms of life are there in the universe?

Is all life conscious?

Do plants have feelings?

Do animals have thoughts?

Do plants have a mind?

How did the irst person come about?

Is there a unique meaning to life?

What happens when we die?

10. What is talent? 11. What is death? 12. How did civilization begin? 13. Why do people have feelings? 14. How diferent are humans from animals and plants? 15. Could there be forms of intelligence that we cannot understand? 16. Could we come across beings that have a language that we could never understand no matter how much we tried? 17. Do we have souls that never die? 18. Where do our souls go when we die? 19. Why do we grow? 20. Where do thoughts go when we stop thinking them? 21. How is it possible for humans to communicate thoughts? 22. Does technology make man diferent from all other animals? 23. Can we think without language?

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GOD 1.

If God/Spirit is good, why does it allow evil?

What thoughts does God have?

Can you feel lonely when you are God?

Why did God create human beings?

If God created space and time, then where is God now?

If God created the world, then who created God?

How big is God?

What does God look like?

Did God create humans or did humans create God?

10. Could God die if he wanted to? 11. Why didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t God create a better world? 12. If God has no eyes, can he see colours? 13. If God has no ears, can he listen to our prayers? 14. If God has no heart, can he love? 15. If God has no brain, can he think? 16. If God is full of truth and kindness, then why is there so much greed and ignorance in the world?

EPILOGUE

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Isaac Sanders and I’m from 1C. Our class has been participating in Boys as Makers where R.E, science and art have been working together to create something extraordinary. Following, will be my thoughts on this project. Since I started at City of London, in R.E we have been working on creation myths from diferent cultures and making our own one. Over time, we have looked at the Greek, Chinese and Buddhist myths which each have their unique moral. The Greek myth was to do with getting rid of the evil catered by Pandora’s box, to make progress and to advance in civilisation and to be curious. The Chinese myth, explained that everyone should be social and love each other therefore avoiding loneliness and for everybody to know their place in society. Lastly, the Buddhist myth had a moral of not to be selish and greedy, reaching a state free of these sins, to gain nirvana–sort of what we call heaven. It’s the inal goal of Buddhism. Also to get an outwardly realm which is very spiritual. During our RE lessons, we were asked countless questions, which art irst seemed to be a bit random, like “What’s talent? and “Why do we grow?” however, in the end they actually made up parts of our myths, directly and indirectly. The questions helped me understand the types of questions that we should be asking ourselves throughout the myths, all rhetorical, letting there be space to answer the question from our own opinion, However the answers being neither right or wrong. This gave our myths a sort of theme about ‘unexplained answers”. The next part of the project was the sculptures. These took a lot of time and efort to make especially interpreting our myths into sculptures. The sculpture making was a bit, to be honest random for myself in the sense of what part of the myth to choose from. However, there is still a relation between my sculpture and my myth, where the 3 giants are about to

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create the universe and one of the giants holds the earth. However, soon after, a hard part of the sculpture making had arisen. What materials should we use? I researched a bit in what materials capture the detail and I found my answer, algenate. It was really fascinating how at irst, this was a liquid and that it dried so quickly capturing every piece of detail. From then on I had this in the bag. The materials I used were: Algenate, plaster, clay, mod rock and paint. Sadly, our project had inished but the outcome was amazing. I now know about diferent culturesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; beliefs in creation, the sort of questions we should all ourselves in the making of our myths, how to interpret myths into sculptures, the best materials to use to it best purposes and much more. In my opinion, the project had been a success!! Thank you for listening.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We wish to thank City of London School for supporting this research, especially Tom Kelly, Steve Lewington, Nadine Schoield, Jef Easingwood, Jamie Clayton, Avi Khadaroo, Russell Broderick, Mike Paternott and David Rose. We are grateful to the International Boys School Coalition and the pupils of 1C and who made this endeavour possible and the Institute of Making at UCL for inspiring us. A number of friends and colleagues were kind enough to get involved through giving talks and helping us in other ways. They are: Annie Cattrell, artist; Dr Lewney, Physicist and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Rock Doctorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;; Dr Paul Thompson, Rector of the Royal College of Art; Richard Maynard, artist blacksmith and Antonella Surfaro, web content manager. They gave the project an extra dimension. Finally, we would like to thank warmly the dynamic team of students who contributed in many ways to Think Studio Lab during the project: Fergus Horan, Adam Hussain, Leo Reich, Adam Jones. Thanks also go to Sam Glass and Itimar Mor.

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