The Beginning of the World
Before the world was, there was a dream of the world.
This dream was a speck in the universe and the universe was a whirlpool, made up of infinite elements and particles.
As the speck grew it became an oyster.
After a while, the oyster stretched open its mouth in the face of the sun and revealed a brilliant pearl.
The pearl was a silver drop that floated up out of the oyster's mouth and became the moon.
In admiration of the moon the sun shone brighter,
and the were in love.
A second pearl emerged and spilled out of the mouth
of the oyster into the universe, becoming an ocean.
And the two were sisters, the moon and the ocean.
Surrounded by ocean, the oyster became the land.
Its heart became the fiery core of the world,
its gills the source of air and its shell the outer crust.
Its contours formed the mountains and lands, and
its crevices formed the waters, from which other life
eventually emerged.
First the plants and then the animal creatures crept onto land, making it a home.
Not long after, the first people came from the ocean waters and found home among the land creatures who taught them how to survive.
But soon the people became greedy and forgot to honour their counterparts.
They horded resources and wounded other life to extend their own, thinking themselves separate and confusing themselves for divine.
This made the land weep and the waters rage, slowly inundating all of the world and
washing away many.
The sun and moon grieved their lost family, and soon ceased to rise.
These were dark days.
The few that remained learned an important lesson.
They remembered to care for one another.
Slowly the waters settled.
And the sun and moon returned, one by one,
taking turns watching over their family.
Once again, life began to thrive.
But the land and the waters never forgot the tragedy of those dark days.
To ensure that future generations honour their relationships with each other and other life,
the sisters, moon and ocean, agreed to be guides.
Sending memories, messages and dreams to remind them of the beginning of the world,
and teachers to show them how to listen.