Universe

=== Mythologies ===
{{Main|Creation myth|Cosmogony|Religious cosmology}}
Many cultures have [[List of creation myths|stories describing the origin of the world and universe]]. Cultures generally regard these stories as having some [[truth]]. There are however many differing beliefs in how these stories apply amongst those believing in a supernatural origin, ranging from a god directly creating the universe as it is now to a god just setting the "wheels in motion" (for example via mechanisms such as the big bang and evolution).<ref>{{cite book |quote="In common usage the word 'myth' refers to narratives or beliefs that are untrue or merely fanciful; the stories that make up national or ethnic mythologies describe characters and events that common sense and experience tell us are impossible. Nevertheless, all cultures celebrate such myths and attribute to them various degrees of literal or symbolic ''truth''." |last=Leeming |first=David A. |isbn=978-1-59884-174-9 |date=2010|page=xvii |title=Creation Myths of the World |publisher=ABC-CLIO}}</ref>

Ethnologists and anthropologists who study myths have developed various classification schemes for the various themes that appear in creation stories.<ref name=Eliade1964>{{cite book|last1=Eliade|first1=Mircea|title=Myth and Reality (Religious Traditions of the World)|date=1964|publisher=Allen & Unwin|isbn=978-0-04-291001-7}}</ref><ref name=Leonard2004>{{cite book|last1=Leonard|first1=Scott A.|last2=McClure|first2=Michael|title=Myth and Knowing: An Introduction to World Mythology|date=2004|publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=978-0-7674-1957-4|edition=}}</ref> For example, in one type of story, the world is born from a [[world egg]]; such stories include the [[Finnish people|Finnish]] [[epic poetry|epic poem]] ''[[Kalevala]]'', the [[China|Chinese]] story of [[Pangu]] or the [[History of India|Indian]] [[Brahmanda Purana]]. In related stories, the universe is created by a single entity emanating or producing something by him- or herself, as in the [[Tibetan Buddhism]] concept of [[Adi-Buddha]], the [[ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] story of [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] (Mother Earth), the [[Aztec mythology|Aztec]] goddess [[Coatlicue]] myth, the [[ancient Egyptian religion|ancient Egyptian]] [[Ennead|god]] [[Atum]] story, and the [[Judeo-Christian]] [[Genesis creation narrative]] in which the [[God in Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic God]] created the universe. In another type of story, the universe is created from the union of male and female deities, as in the [[Maori mythology|Maori story]] of [[Rangi and Papa]]. In other stories, the universe is created by crafting it from pre-existing materials, such as the corpse of a dead god—as from [[Tiamat]] in the [[Babylon]]ian epic ''[[Enuma Elish]]'' or from the giant [[Ymir]] in [[Norse mythology]]—or from chaotic materials, as in [[Izanagi]] and [[Izanami]] in [[Japanese mythology]]. In other stories, the universe emanates from fundamental principles, such as [[Brahman]] and [[Prakrti]], the [[Serer creation myth|creation myth]] of the [[Serer people|Serers]],<ref>([[Henry Gravrand]], "La civilisation Sereer -Pangool") [in] [[Universität Frankfurt am Main]], Frobenius-Institut, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kulturmorphologie, Frobenius Gesellschaft, "Paideuma: Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde, Volumes 43–44", F. Steiner (1997), pp. 144–145, {{ISBN|3-515-02842-0}}</ref> or the [[yin and yang]] of the [[Tao]].