The Greatest Stories Ever Told

In many cultures, ancestors are looked upon with such respect that it's not uncommon to worship them. Ancestors are said to be more knowledgeable because they, unlike younger generation, had direct access to the Supreme Power, or gods, or the Creator, and thus, had received the ultimate wisdom from Him or they, which was to be the society's guidelines on living and perceiving life.

Nowadays, in the so-called modern society, the teachings of ancestors have become a thing of the past. Many people choose rationalism instead and laughed at "old teachings" that they considered as full-of-non-sense myth. They're clearly lacking imagination, I say. Can't they see that our ancestors were insightful visionaries and master storytellers?

Doesn't it amaze you that even today, God-knows how many years after our ancestors started inventing their stories, everyone still love to learn about them? And it's not just the scholars either; commoners who know nothing about anthropology and classics enjoy reading creation myths, tales of the underworld, and folklore too. These stories, whether they're created by a single person or developed for generations until taking their current forms that we know of today, still retain their magic, despite not being able to retain their power as means of social control anymore.

Nevertheless, I can't help marveling at the comprehensiveness of these ancestors-created stories, be it a myth, legend, or folklore. Maybe that's why everyone likes them. They tell you everything: about how the world and men (and women) were created, why animals can't talk, what actually happens when a volcano erupts, what happens after a person dies, and so on.

Even though to us they are but amusements, they're certainly believable enough that there was a time when people actually based their lives on them. If a myth told them to sacrifice humans as to avoid the wrath of a goddess, they would obey it unquestioningly. If a legend said that a malevolent spirit lived in a particular area and better be left alone, they would never come near that place.

And if you still thought that such stories could only come out of ignorant minds that were incapable of seeing beyond the supernatural, you'd better think twice. Haven't it occurred to you that the ones creating these stories--the sages or shamans or priests or whoever they were--were in fact really intelligent? Maybe they posed a restriction in order to protect their natural resource, or maybe they presented such logic to evoke fear and submission. Talk about a visionary. Or a tyrant.

One thing's for sure, though. I wish I can have one tenth of their creativity so that I can come up with a bestseller book. Ha, keep on dreaming, mate!