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Hey there, I'm Mike Rugnetta, this is Crash Course Mythology,
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And today, we are going-
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spelunking!
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Spelunking in the world of myth!
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Also gardening in the world of myth.
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You know what they say:
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Dress for the job you want- not the one you have.
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Many myths take place outside of time and space,
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remember, "without form and void"?
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But often, myths have specific meaningful settings,
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and over the next few episodes,
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we're going to talk about some of the most important places where myths have happened.
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According to scholars Lenard and McClure,
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there are many location-based tropes that repeat in myths from around the world.
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Sacred waters, caves, mountains, and there are mythic gardens, and forests, too.
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Scholar David Leeming has even added cities and temples to the list.
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Today we're going to look at two mythic settings side-by-side:
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the garden, and the cave,
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which play complementary roles in various stories of creation.
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(Theme music)
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Considering that gods hate weeding, it's surprising how
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many myths involve gardens.
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We've discussed a few already, like the Garden of Eden,
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or the Garden of the Hesperides, where the apples of immortality were kept.
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Gardens come in different shapes, and sizes,
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there are even stories of gardens, inside caves.
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You can see this clearly in the Greek and Roman myths of the Underworld.
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Hades is a vast, underground land.
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Dark and shadowy, but it still has some lush garden features,
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there are pomegranate trees that provide food for Persephone,
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and grapes which tempt Tantalus.
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And yet, when Orpheus attempts to bring Eurydice out of Hades,
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He's described as bringing her up through the dark mouth of a cave.
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Mythic gardens and caves often work as symbols,
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more than literal descriptions.
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And where the meaning of those symbols need to overlap, they do.
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Sometimes in a way that's weird or otherworldly to those of us
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with first-hand experience of actual gardens and caves.
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But this raises a question:
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What symbolic values do we associate with caves and gardens?
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To answer, let's turn to a pair of stories about the origin of humanity.
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First up, the garden.
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We already talked about this story in an earlier episode,
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with Adam, and Eve, and a sneaky serpent.
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Then, we focused on the actions and relationships of these characters,
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and how they set up a social order.
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Now, we'll focus on how heavily rooted this story is in place:
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the idyllic Garden of Eden.
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the idyllic Garden of Eden.
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We can talk about the garden of Eden,
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as both,
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a physical
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setting and a metaphor, as a place
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Eden is described as lush and growing.
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In addition to Adam and Eve, the place is overrun
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with nature and wildlife. Livestock
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and creeping things and bests of the earth
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According to their kinds. Hey! creeping things, we missed you
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we missed you guys. Of all the fruits bearing trees
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in the garden, there are two that matter most.
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The tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree
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of eternal life. Entered the sneaky serpent,
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and attempt to lied to Yahweh and... you know the rest
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but more important than the physical features of Eden, is its position
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as a paradise from which humans are expelled
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because of their disobedience and as hopeful
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state we supposedly want to return to.
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Eden doesn't disappear, but humans
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never find a way past the angel with the flaming sword
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who's stationed at and blocking the entrance.
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So, the perfect image of the garden,
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helps tell the story of humanity's fall from a state of perfection,
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to one of debasement. As mythology
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scholars Lener and McClure put it, after their disobedience
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humans must life "in an ill word,
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marked by disharmony, broken relationships
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suffering and death." We can compare this
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story and the symbolism of the garden with a creating myth
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from the zuni people of the american west which
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involves a very important cave, one inspired
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by the grand canyon. According to the Zuni,
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humanity wasn't expelled from a bright garden,
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but rather emerged from a system of dark
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forbidden caves. Instead of paradise,
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these caves serves as a symbol for chaos.
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Lets go to the thought bubble. Long ago,
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before humanity was fully formed, they all lived
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deep on the ground, in dark caves.
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No one can see could see each other, the humans have horns
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and a tails, they have webbed finger and
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toes and lack some... other... features
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too. You'll see soon enough! The sun, sees
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humanity living in this state and sends his two
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sons, younger brother and elder brother to help
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the people travel off to the bright hills of surface.
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Elder and younger find the people in,
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gross conditions
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stepping and spitting and urinating on each other.
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So, elder and younger plant trees.
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Pines, spruce, silver spruce and aspen.
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Each representing one of the cardinal directions.
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As the brothers rise through the levels of the under realm,
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they drive a prayer stick from one of the trees
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into the earth.
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This creates a sound like thunder,
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that raises the people into each new world.
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The people are now on the surface but they aren't fit for their new home.
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Elder and younger,
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given them corn, only to realize, the
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people have not mouth
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so while the people sleep, the two sneak among them
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and cut mouths into their heads
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so they can eat and luckily, the people love eating.
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Until... another problem pops up.
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All that digested corn has no where to go. Younger
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realizes that none of these people have anuses. [fart sound]
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So, another round of sleepy top surgery and everyone
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fells much...relieved. Over the next days
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elder and younger keep tweaking the humans,
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slicing their webbed hands so they can cook, chopping off
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their horns and tails, until at long last, humans...
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are complete. Thanks thought bubble! there are other versions of
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the Zuni myth where, after emerging from a spot at the grand
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canyon, the Zuni people set off in search of the "idiwan'a"
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or "Middle place", where they can achieve
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balance. On their journey, they stopped
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at a number of sites that become sacred to the Zuni, until finally
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settling at a spot near the head waters of the
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Zuni river. All the sacred places are tied together
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by the river of the region. But, we're going to talk about the sacred waters
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in a later episode, whats important for now, is the role that
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caves play in the symbolism of this
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creation story. As a place of confusion,
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out of which humanity is guided. Before,
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comparing this cave of creation with the garden of Genesis,
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it's interesting to look at another image of the cave that has had
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profound influence on the western thinking,
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and echos
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the association of caves, with immaturity
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or under development. Plato's
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allegory of the cave. In his Republic, Plato describes
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a great cave as a way to explain, why people wouldn't
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readily accept the wisdom of
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awesome philosophers? like himself.
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It asks us to imagine a world in which humans are sitting in
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a dark cage, chained up so they can only face forward.
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Behind them, out of view, unseen agents parade
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a series of objects, in front of a great light,
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from where humanity sits, they can only see
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the shadow that flicker across the wall, cast
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by the real objects
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behind them.
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The shadows, are
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their reality. Plato says
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imagine that one of the chained viewers
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breaks free and makes his way out of the cave.
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Just like the Zinies, Plato's imaginary escapee is
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blinded by the brightness of the world outside the
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cave. Eventually, his eyes adjust
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and things come into focus but, he still has difficulties
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believing that what he sees, is real but
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knowing about whats outside the cave, he runs back in
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to tell the others. When he tries to explain to them that what they
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think is really is only a projection,
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people in the cave don't believe him. Plato
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suggests that those chained up might even try to kill,
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who ever got free. That person, who escape
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the cave is, you guest it a philosopher.
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Point out to the rest of us that our reality
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its actually a pale reflection of a more
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true world. Plato's cave and the Zuni
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emergence story are obviously very different but
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we want to involve the creation of the anus, for instance. But in both
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cases, the world of the cave is both physically
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and metaphorically dark, The cave is a
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position of ignorance or inability and the surface
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represents represents enlightenment figuratively and
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literately. One can even say that, the emergence
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leads to humanity reaching a more perfect state.
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As Lener and McClure put it: "In the Zuni tale...
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humans existed in a dark, imperfect world...
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At the calling of father , they emerged from this
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dark chaos into a world of light and
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healthy relationships and harmony with
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their fellow inhabitants...." This is a stark
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contrast to the creation story of Genesis,
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where human beings, having being created by God,
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begin as perfect beings and then are
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forced into a state of imperfection, when
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ejected from the garden, like the heaveness revelers they are.
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The story of humanity, isn't only a story of a
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fall but a quest to return, to
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reenter paradise. Obviously, in the Zinies story,
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none is clamoring to get back into the cave of
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no anus. We can ask then, whether this
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inverted orientations regarding creation make a difference
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in their respect to cultures. Do you go
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about your day differently, depending upon whether you think of earth
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as a place of punishment for leaving
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a perfect garden versus
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the garden itself? A reward
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for making it out of the dark cave of chaos. Next week,
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we are going to stick with our mythical settings and head for the hills
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to talk about, magical mountains. Thank for watching,
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well see you next time.
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Check out our Crash Course mythology Thoth,
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Thoth bag and poster
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Available now
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at datdf.com
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[Theme song]
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Crash Course mythology is filmed in Chad & Stacey Emigholz Studios,
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in Indianapolis, Indiana and is produced with the help of
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all of this very nice people.
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Our animation team is
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Thought Cafe. Crash
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Course exists, thanks to the generous
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support of our patrons at patron.
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Patron is a voluntary subscription
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the content you love,
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through a monthly donation,
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you can help keep Crash Course
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free for everyone,
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forever. Crash Couse is
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made with Adobe Creative Cloud.
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Check the description for a link
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to a free trial.
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Thanks for watching and
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while you might thing endless soups, salads
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and bread-sticks
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must be a myth!
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That garden, is for real
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That garden, is for real
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19280
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