Obscure Mythology Chapter 23: Wu Chi, Chinese,

state of existence.

     Getting down to the wire now! Just three chapters to go and I will actually finish a project, even if it took me a few months longer than expected! I was going through the W’s and realized I had done 22 chapters and failed to get much if any Chinese myth or legends. I had to rectify that problem so I concentrated on searching for an Eastern myth. Easter philosophies and religions were one of the main reasons I minored I Religious studies in college. I know a little bit about Buddhism and Shinto because I have been fascinated by the Japanese culture ever since I was a young kid. I was lucky to have a Buddhist couple who had actually lived and taught In Japan as my neighbors when I was growing up. He happened to be the local college’s professor of religious studies and I babysat for them often so I got to see all their awesome art, literature, etc. That they brought back with them. I don’t know nearly as much about the rich history and culture of the Chinese but do plan on fixing that in the near future as well. I believe this particular entry is from the Taoism. I decided to use this entry because it can easily encompass many of the basic tenants of most Eastern philosophy and as you will see it is the very beginning of everything. The Chinese people can draw their ancient lineage all the way back to some of the first humans to come out of Africa (Homo Erectus), 2 million years ago, so their myths and legends could go that far back! So let me put what the Mythology Dictionary has to say about Wu Chi and then discuss it a tad more afterward.

Wu Chi, Chinese, the unlimited state that arose when the Tao came into existence.

It is said that from this state came Huntun, the state of chaos, from which evolved time and space.

     A few entries after this I came across, Wu Wu, which is the state that was before Wu Chi, a state of nothingness. I think it should be noted that they believe the universe was created not by the Wu Chi but by the Chaos that followed. It was from chaos that our universe and thus we came into being. Many ancient civilizations incorporate a chaotic or primordial state of being before our universal origins. Two well known scientists calculated the odds of life forming by natural processes. They estimated that there is less than 1 chance in 10 to the 40,000power that life could have originated by random trials. 10 to the 40,000power is a 1 with 40,000 zeros after it! (Wikipedia) Those odds are pretty fascinating if you think about how improbable that really is but that is just the tip of the ice berg, if we try to calculate the odds of something like the Big Bang it is impossible to come up with a viable number since the odds of it happening are nil! So if the chances of the Universe being created by a massive explosion of matter that came out of nowhere is so minuscule that a number wouldn’t do it justice and the chances of life forming on this little piece of rock that we live on at around 1 with 40,000 zeroes, you are left with such an infinitesimal percentage that there can be only one fathomable answer.  "When you have eliminated the impossible then what remains, however improbable, must be the truth," Sherlock Holmes. Mr. Holmes never spoke truer words.

So chances are that something or someone would have had to ignite the Big Bang and probably life as well for it to happen at all. Who or what did it and what was their ultimate purpose? Isn’t that what we strive to find out as we grow old and get closer to our own mortality? Don’t all religions and beliefs try to answer this question daily? Scientists from every aspect of academia are still unsure of how our universe really started and they have way more questions than answers. The more of the universe we uncover the more mysteries we come across. It is this yearning for the answer, for the real truth of life, the Universe and everything (a nod to one of my favorite authors), that makes me love this kind of research. The more I learn, the more I lust for more. Every time I open a book or read an article I am diving deeper, opening more doors than I am closing but more importantly expanding my wisdom and knowledge of the true chaos that still swirls around us everyday.

Have a great day, a Happy Halloween (belated) and as always…PEACE!