The Supreme Being is the centering force of the world myth, the reason for being.

Usually associated with the sky, with Heaven, the Supreme Being provides the world myth with a sense of the father above, someone who provides rules and order in the larger house which is the universe as well as in the house which is the local culture. Like a worldly father, he can be demanding and arbitrary. The Abrahamic god treats Job somewhat callously, and to many seems cruel when he demands that Abraham sacrifice his son Isaac. Zeus is cruel and a philanderer as well. The Supreme Being exists at a significant distance from us, in a sky that was long ago separated from Mother Earth. Sometimes, as in many African myths, he purposely and even disdainfully ignores us once he has finished his creating. The god above is a being with whom we try to have conversation through prayer or religious ritual, for instance, but who is difficult or impossible to reach. He is the father whose approval we long for but who remains out of our immediate range.