Cosmic egg

Thecosmic egg,world eggormundane eggis amythologicalmotiffound in thecosmogoniesof manyculturesandcivilizations, including inProto-Indo-European mythology.Typically, there is aneggwhich, upon "hatching", either gives rise to theuniverseitself or gives rise to a primordial being who, in turn, creates the universe. The egg is sometimes lain on theprimordialwaters of theEarth.Typically, the upper half of the egg, or its outer shell, becomes theheaven (firmament)and the lower half, or the inner yolk, becomes the Earth.The motif likely stems from simple elements of an egg, including its ability to offer nourishment and give rise to new life, as is reflected by theLatin proverbomne vivum ex ovo('all life comes from an egg').
The term "cosmic egg" is also used in the modern study ofcosmologyin the context ofemergent Universescenarios.
Various versions of the cosmic egg myth are related to the creator, Pangu. Heaven and earth are said to have originally existed in a formless state, like the egg of a chicken. The egg opens and unfolds after 18,000 years: the light part rose to become heaven and the heavy part sank to become the earth. A version of this myth deriving from theZhejiang Provinceholds that Pangu, experiencing discomfort in being contained in a dark and stuffy egg, shatters it into pieces, after which heaven and earth form by the same process (with the addition that parts of the shell then form the sun, moon, and stars).
InDogonmythology fromBurkina Faso, the creator-godAmmatakes the form of an egg. The egg is divided into four sections representing the four elements: air, fire, water, and earth. This also establishes the four cardinal directions. Failing to create the Earth on her first attempt, Amma plants a seed in herself that forms two placentas, each containing a pair of twins. One twin, Ogo, breaks out and unsuccessfully tries to create a universe. Amma however is able to create the Earth now from a part of Ogo's placenta. Ogo's twin, Nommo, is killed by Amma and parts of the body are scattered across the world to give it order. The parts were then reconstituted to revive Nommo. Nommo creates four spirits that become the ancestors of the Dogon people. These spirits are sent with Nommo into an ark to populate the world.
The creation account proceeds as follows:
Theancient Egyptiansaccepted multiple creation myths as valid, including those of theHermopolitan,Heliopolitan, andMemphitetheologies. The cosmic egg myth can be found from Hermopolitus. Although the site, located inMiddle Egypt, currently sports a name deriving from the name of the godHermes, the ancient Egyptians called it Khemnu, or “Eight-Town.” The number eight, in turn, refers to theOgdoad, a group of eight gods who are the main characters in the Hermopolitan creation myth. Four of these gods are male, and have the heads of frogs, and the other four are female with the heads of serpents. These eight existed in the primordial, chaotic water that pre-existed the rest of creation. At some point these eight gods, in one way or another, bring about the formation of a cosmic egg, although variants of the myth describe the origins of the egg in different ways. In any case, the egg in turn gives rise to the deity who forms the rest of the world as well as the first land to arise out of the primordial waters, called the primeval mound. When the mound appeared, a lotus blossom bloomed to signal the birth of the sun god, after which the formation of the rest of creation could finally proceed.
Ideas similar to the cosmic egg myth are mentioned in two different sources from Greek and Roman mythology. One is in the Roman authorMarcus Terentius Varro, living in the 1st century BC. According to Varro, heaven and earth can respectively be likened to an egg shell and its yolk. The air, in turn, is represented by the moisture functioning as a form of humidity between the shell and yolk.The second mention is found in thePseudo-Clementine Recognitions10:17,although from an oppositional standpoint, insofar as Clement is presented as summarizing a ridiculous cosmological belief found among pagans: according to the description given, there is a primordial chaos which, over time, solidified into an egg. As is with an egg, a creature began to grow inside, until at some point it broke open to produce a human that was both male and female (i.e. androgynous) named Phanetas. When Phanetas appeared, a light shone forth that resulted in "substance, prudence, motion, and coition," and these in turn resulted in the creation of the heavens and the earth. The Recognitions 10:30 presents, then, a second summary of the idea, this time attributed to the cosmogony ofOrpheusas described by a "good pagan" named Niceta. This summary, in contrast to the first one, is presented in a serious manner.This myth appears to have had occasional influence, insofar as a manuscript of it is associated with the reappearance of the idea at a library ofSaint Gallin a 9th-century commentary onBoethius. Another three appearances occur again in the twelfth century.
In one Vedic myth recorded in theJaiminīya Brāhmaṇa, the earliest phase of the cosmos involves a primordial ocean out of which an egg arose. Once the egg split, it began the process of forming heaven (out of the upper part) and earth (out of the lower part) over the course of one hundred divine years. Another text, theŚatapatha Brāhmaṇa, also has the sequence of a primordial ocean and then an egg, but this time, the godPrajapatiemerges from the egg after one year. He creates the cosmos and then the gods and antigods from his speech and breath. TheRigvedaspeaks of a golden embryo (called thehiraṇyagarbha) which is located on a "high waters" out of which all else develops. Finally, a version of the story appears in theChāndogya Upaniṣad.
In theKalevala, thenational epicofFinland, there is a myth of the world being created from the fragments of an egg. Thegoddessof the air,Ilmatar, longed to have a son. To achieve this, she and the East Wind make love until she conceivesVäinämöinen, the child of the wind. However, she was not able to give birth to her child. A pochard swooped down and impregnated her: as a result, six golden cosmic eggs were birthed or laid, as well as an iron egg. The pochard took these eggs for himself and protected them by sitting on them, but this came with sitting on Ilmatar as well. Upon the movement of the air goddess, they rolled into the sea and the shell broke: the fragments formed heaven, earth, the sun, moon, stars, and (from the iron egg) a thundercloud.
The following is thetranslationof the part of the text describing the formation of the cosmos from the fragments of the egg, published byWilliam Forsell Kirbyin 1906:
In Zoroastrian cosmography, the sky was considered to be spherical with an outer boundary (called aparkān), an idea that likely goes back to Sumerians. The Earth is also spherical and exists within the spherical sky. To help convey this cosmology, a number of ancient writers, includingEmpedocles, came up with the analogy of an egg: the outer spherical and bounded sky is like the outer shell, whereas the Earth is represented by the inner round yolk within. This analogy, in turn, is found in a number of Zoroastrian texts, including theSelections of Zadspram.
In 1955 poet and writer Robert Graves published the mythographyThe Greek Myths, a compendium of Greek mythology normally published in two volumes. Within this work Graves' imaginatively reconstructed "Pelasgian creation myth" features a supremecreatrix,Eurynome, "The Goddess of All Things",who arose naked fromChaosto part sea from sky so that she could dance upon the waves. Catching thenorth windat her back and, rubbing it between her hands, she warms thepneumaandspontaneously generatesthe serpentOphion, who mates with her. In the form of a dove upon the waves, she lays the Cosmic Egg and bids Ophion to incubate it by coiling seven times around until it splits in two and hatches "all things that exist... sun, moon, planets, stars, the earth with its mountains and rivers, its trees, herbs, and living creatures".
The ending ofStanley Kubrick’s film2001: A Space Odysseydepicts the rebirth of humanity as a journey from beyond infinity back to earth in the form of a cosmic human embryo (or “Star Child”).
As the concept of a truesingularitycame under increasing criticism, alternative nonsingular "cosmic egg" (emergent Universe) scenarios started being developed.