1 Primordial Myths: Narrative Construals of the Cosmos

Before philosophical abstraction and formalised science, human understanding of the cosmos was mediated through mythic narrative, in which possibility was apprehended relationally rather than mechanistically. Early myths constitute symbolic fields in which the cosmos, human beings, and divine forces are interwoven networks of potential. These narratives do not merely describe events; they structure what could occur, delineating constraints, affordances, and relational alignments within a shared symbolic horizon.

In Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and early Greek traditions, creation myths articulate cosmic ordering through symbolic actors. Chaos, primordial waters, or elemental deities function not as inert matter but as relational nodes whose interactions generate structured potentialities. Possibility is understood through the dynamics of these interactions: which outcomes can arise, how relational tensions resolve, and what patterns of causality shape the unfolding of the cosmos.

Greek sources such as Hesiod’s Theogony illustrate the genealogical structuring of the cosmos: deities, titans, and primordial forces are arrayed in hierarchies and networks, each with distinct capacities to act and influence. These mythic genealogies are construal strategies: they organise potential, map relational dependencies, and provide a horizon within which human action and interpretation are intelligible. Possibility is bounded by narrative roles, symbolic functions, and cosmological regularities, yet it remains open to variation, transformation, and reinterpretation.

Early mythic cosmology also foregrounds temporal and relational rhythm. Cycles of creation, destruction, and renewal convey that potential is not static; it unfolds according to relational dynamics among symbolic actors. Human beings are simultaneously observers, participants, and narrators, enmeshed in the symbolic structures that render the cosmos intelligible. The act of construal is therefore inseparable from the relational field of myth itself.

In sum, primordial myths establish the first historically traceable symbolic orders of possibility. They demonstrate that human understanding of potentiality emerges within relationally structured, historically situated, and narratively mediated fields. These mythic frameworks set the stage for later philosophical abstraction, religious cosmology, and modern symbolic universes: they reveal the foundational insight that possibility is always constructed within a symbolic order, one that both conditions and exceeds the human capacity to comprehend it.