Once Before Time - Martin Bojowald [127]
Primary and secondary creation are identical for linear worldviews, which start with a moment of creation and progress continuously from then on, possibly to culminate in an apocalyptic endpoint. This scenario is well known from the Christian tradition, but it can also be found in the cultures of China.
More widespread is a separation of the concepts of primary and secondary creation, usually resulting in cyclic worldviews. This is realized especially in Hinduism: The world was primarily created by Brahma, an event followed by several cycles of destruction and re-creation. Destruction and creation are inseparably tied to each other, and combined in the gods’ powers. An example is the explanation of why the god Ganesha has an elephant’s head (figure 33).1 Ganesha is the son of Shiva and Parvati, both gods, making for a rather unusual family life. One day, while Shiva is away for an extended period, Parvati delivers Ganesha, who quickly grows up into a strong young god. Returning home, Shiva sees this unknown youth, who has been entrusted by Parvati with safeguarding the house. Ganesha courageously blocks Shiva’s way to his own house, only to be beheaded in the ensuing struggle. Having arrived on the scene too late, Parvati can do nothing but tell Shiva that he has just mutilated his own son and will not be allowed to enter the house before correcting the mistake. Shiva looks around and the first creature he sees is an elephant, whose head he puts on Ganesha’s shoulders. (Even as a god, Shiva can apparently not travel back in time to avoid the fight; this may perhaps be taken as supporting evidence for our discussions in the context of time’s arrow.)
32. Primary and secondary creation: The act of primary creation is the artist’s idea as well as its realization. Once primary creation is achieved, secondary creation takes place much more easily and almost automatically (here, by scraping the white wall above a judiciously placed black marble plate), which leads to the formation of structure as in the universe. (Dispositivo per creare spazio [Device to create space], 2007. Idea and realization: Gianni Caravaggio. Photograph: Paul Andriesse.)
33. Ganesha with one intact and one broken tusk.
In addition to such picturesque illustrations of godlike powers, one can find extremely detailed descriptions of the temporal progress of cycles as they occur between one secondary creation and the subsequent destruction. Even quantitative durations of cycles are given in years, whose basis is unfortunately unknown. In contrast to such ornamentations typical of the Indian culture, one symbol, the swastika, is distinguished by its simplicity and even abstractness. As the stylized form of a wheel, it symbolizes the cyclic progress of the world and also the arrow of time by the direction of the hooks.
The connection between a cyclic worldview and reincarnation or, more generally, an earthly existence after death is well-known. The following anecdote is illustrative: After a conference near the town of Roorkee, about a hundred kilometers north of Delhi, two Indian students and I had decided to use the remaining three days before our departure for a trip into the near Himalayas. After some inquiries among the local scientists familiar with the region, we started with a vague idea of a route along the Ganges. With the rudimentary public transportation, on a mountain road often only roughly built, the tour did not proceed very smoothly. But eventually we reached, after a day and a half, the hill station called Joshimath, not far from Gangotri, the glacier that sources the Ganges. At first, we took a ropeway up to where one has a view of the gigantic surrounding mountain ridges. But before the day ended, we also wanted to climb down the valley to the Ganges, which here—compared to its form beyond the Himalayas—is but a small though sometimes wild mountain creek.
We returned to the village and crossed it on a trail snaking down the slope. We