MYTHS OF CREATION
|
16. Forthcoming
Future Ages |
The belief that additional sequences of cosmological eras preceding the current round of Ages extended not only backward in time, but also projected forward ongoingly into the future was also considerably common among most of these same cosmovisions.
Common eschatological expectations of a forthcoming cataclysmic end of this present world often included: — a universal conflagration, with a final battle and defeat of the gods; — the extinguishing of the sun, the destruction of the moon, and the shattering of the other planets; — and the general expectation that, as this world goes down to destruction, so too will all that live upon it. Furthermore, these assertions of a future catastrophe were often paired with the familiar doctrine that after this long-anticipated annihilation unfolds, there will be a new world born yet again, where everything is to be remade anew once more. |