I once read the most beautiful and profound, yet simple creation myth, yet what I read, I forgot. From what I remember there was some objects traveling to Earth, they were made of glass. The glass objects were shattered and scattered all over the Earth. It is the human’s job to gather all of the broken pieces and bring them together to make the objects complete again. I had totally forgot what the story was. Everything I searched for was to no avail, I thought I had lost this story, until tonight. I had even written a story that was inspired from this creation story called “The Stain of the Sky”. I swear though that the vessels were glass! Here is the story I wrote inspired from Tohu’s Creation Story, dealing with some relevant issues, and then after the story, there is further information of the Tohu story. Yay! I’m so excited I found this story again!
The Stain Of The Sky
There was once a person who lived in the Sky.
He was a bad man, a stain of the Sky.
He was a predator and he would stalk some Earth people.
The Earth people would be his victims. He would steal from them.
He was a murderer.
He would rape Earth people’s women and wives.
All of the Earth people feared the stain of the Sky.
The Earth people knew he was doing wrongs to them, and they prayed.
The Spirits of the Sky heard the Earth people’s prayers.
After they saw the stain of the Sky doing wrongs, the Spirits of the Sky
said to the stain “You are making the Earth people fear the Sky,
when they once loved looking up at the Sky. Now, because of you,
the Earth people don’t want to look up. All they think of is
the wrongs from you, the stain of the Sky.”
The Spirits of the Sky consulted with Mother Sun.
Mother Sun and the Spirits of the Sky decided
to forever ban the stain of the Sky from flying and from living in the Sky.
They turned him into a light blue plastic object and threw him
to the Earth. The light blue plastic object broke when it hit the ground
and shards of broken plastic were spread and lost around the entire Earth.
The stain of the Sky is lost and will be forever trying to put itself back together
and to find itself.
Maybe, if you find a piece of light blue broken plastic,
you can help the stain of the Sky heal and find itself.
When you find pieces of broken light blue plastic: recycle or throw away the plastic
so that one day the stain will be put back together, will find itself,
and will be whole again. Recycle the artwork and create a pretty artwork by gluing the broken light blue plastic together.
Then, you can create a new happy story, from a sad sad story.
This will make the Spirits of the Sky and Mother Sun very pleased.
The Fallen Sparks of Tohu:
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3593030/jewish/The-Fallen-Sparks-of-Tohu.htm
From Google’s A.I. Summary:
The story of creation from Tohu comes from Kabbalistic Judaism, a form of Jewish mysticism. The story, known as the “Shattering of the Vessels,” or Shevirat HaKeilim, explains the existence of a seemingly flawed, scattered world by describing a primal cosmic accident. The word tohu refers to the primordial chaotic void that existed at the beginning of creation.
The process of creation and shattering
- Divine Contraction (Tzimtzum): In the beginning, there was only God’s infinite, limitless light, known as the Ein Sof. To make room for creation, God had to withdraw and contract His presence, creating a vacant space.
- The Ten Vessels (Sefirot): To fill this void, God emanated ten vessels, or Sefirot, to contain the divine light. Each vessel was meant to contain a different aspect of God’s energy.
- The Breaking of the Vessels: The light was too powerful for the vessels to contain, especially the lower seven, which represented more finite qualities. The vessels shattered, and the divine light was scattered into billions of holy sparks.
- The Fallen Sparks (Nitzotzot): The shards of the broken vessels and the sparks of light fell into the abyss, becoming the basis of our material reality. Our flawed world is understood as a composite of these divine fragments.
The meaning of the scattered story
- Explaining Imperfection: The story offers a theological answer to the problem of evil and imperfection in a world supposedly created by a perfect God. It posits that flaws are an inherent result of a cosmic accident rather than an intentional part of the design.
- Repairing the World (Tikkun Olam): The ultimate purpose of humanity is to gather the scattered sparks of divine light and restore the primordial vessels. This process is known as Tikkun Olam, or “Repairing the World”.
- Human Purpose: By performing righteous acts and observing the commandments (mitzvot), humanity elevates the holy sparks found throughout creation. This ongoing process hastens the Messianic era, when the world will finally be repaired.
- Reconciling Chaos and Order: The Kabbalistic myth explains the tension between the chaotic, empty state (tohu va-bohu) mentioned in Genesis 1:2 and the divine spirit “hovering over the waters”. The darkness and chaos represent the shattered vessels, while the divine spirit symbolizes the potential for repair.
Shevirat HaKeilim
From Google’s A.I. Summary:
“Shevirat HaKeilim,” also known as the “Breaking of the Vessels,” is a central concept in Lurianic Kabbalah, a school of Jewish mysticism. It describes a primordial event where the initial divine emanations, or sefirot, shattered due to the intensity of God’s light, creating a state of disharmony and scattering “sparks of holiness” throughout the universe. The Zohar refers to this as “the death of the kings”. Humanity’s task is to repair this broken world through Tikkun Olam, a process of spiritual restoration.
Elaboration:
- The Initial Creation: In Kabbalah, God, known as Ein Sof (the infinite), contracts to create space for creation. He then emanates ten sefirot, which are vessels meant to contain divine light.
- The Shattering: The vessels, representing the sefirot, were not strong enough to contain the immense light of Ein Sof and shattered. This shattering is the “breaking of the vessels”.
- Scattered Sparks: The shattered fragments of the vessels are believed to contain sparks of holiness, scattered throughout the universe.
- Human Role: The concept of Shevirat HaKeilim emphasizes humanity’s role in spiritual restoration or Tikkun Olam. Through our actions and intentions, we can gather these scattered sparks and elevate them, contributing to the repair of the world.
- Tohu and Tikkun: The shattering of the vessels is associated with the “world of Tohu” (chaos), while the process of repair is linked to the “world of Tikkun” (repair).