A little girl asked her mother, "How did the human race appear?"
The mother answered, "God made Adam and Eve and they had children and then all mankind got made."
Later, the girl asked her father the same question.
The father answered, "Many, many years ago there were monkeys that roamed the earth and from them, over thousands of years, the human race evolved."
Confused, the girl returned to her mother asking, “Mom, how is it possible that you told me the human race was created by God and Dad said they developed from monkeys?"
The mother answered, "Well, dear, it's very simple: I told you about my side of the family and your father told you about his."
Where did we come from?
Where are we going?
I think it is appropriate to begin this lunar New Year (Rosh Hashanah) with the question:
Where did we come from?
One of them is called the World Parent myth of which there are eight in this type. Basically it tells of a physical separation or splitting of a primeval entity into the components that make the material world, like the sky, ground, and water. It is a myth that is big with the Norse and is very Tolkien-like.
The Hindu Rigveda (the knowledge of Verses) tells of a gigantic being, Purusha, who possessed a thousand heads, eyes, and feet, and, when the gods sacrificed his body, produced clarified butter (ghee - remember that next time you cook), which engendered the birds and animals and the world's elements. Later, the trinity of Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver), and Shiva (the destroyer) gained prominence. This story told how Brahma creates the universe, which lasts for one of his days or 4.32 billion years, which then Shiva destroys and the cycle restarts. Don't worry, the current cycle has a couple billion years left.
A second set of myths, four in all, is called Earth Diver. In them, the earth is a great floating island surrounded by seawater and the Universe is populated by the Sky People. This is an Iroquois creation story:
Long, long ago, there was no land, just water and creatures of the water. Up above, there was The Sky World, where the beings had many powers. For instance, they could make things happen just by thinking about it.
At the center of Sky World, there grew the Tree of Life [Genesis 2.9], which was home to many different kinds of fruit and grew many glowing blossoms that lit Sky World.
The beings in Sky World were told not to disturb that tree. But one day, the pregnant Sky Woman asked for a drink of tea made from the roots of the Tree of Life and her husband started to dig around near the bottom of the tree to get at the roots. The dirt caved in and the tree fell down. The Sky Woman fell into the hole; some say she lost her balance, some say she jumped and some say that she was pushed. Either way, as she fell, the Sky Woman grabbed some seeds from the Tree of Life.
Meanwhile, a flock of water birds -some say they were geese, some say blue heron, others say they were swans- saw Sky Woman falling and made a great blanket, catching her on their backs and then lowering her onto the back of a giant turtle floating on the water. That is the reason some people called North America, Turtle Island [before Amerigo Vespucci].
Sky Woman thanked the creatures, but said that she needed dirt in order to survive. One by one, the animals -some say they were muskrats, others say otters- dove down into the water to get dirt and sand and place it on the back of the turtle. As she danced and sang in celebration, Sky Woman dropped the seeds from the Tree of Life which started to grow right away, becoming plant life as far as she could see.
Soon, Sky Woman gave birth to a baby girl, who grew to fall in love with a powerful being called West Wind. In time she became pregnant with twin sons. One (Bad Mind - ego - ala Cain) had skin as hard as flint and was argumentative. The other (Good Mind - Christ Consciousness - ala Abel) was soft skinned and patient. While Good Mind was being born the natural way, impatient Bad Mind was using his sharp flint-like head to cut his way out of his mother, which killed her.
They buried their mother and from her head grew corn, beans and squash, the staple foods of the traditional Iroquois diet. From her heart grew sacred tobacco, which is used when there is a desire to communicate with the Creator. From her feet grew the wild strawberry. Sky Woman is now called Mother Earth and to this day supports all of the people, animals and plants.
The twin boys grew up and went about the task of creating everything that is found in the natural world. Good Mind made all the beauty on our earth — the rivers, the mountains, the trees; teaching the birds to sing and the water animals to dance. He also made rainbows and soft rains. Bad Mind watched his brother creating beauty and was envious. [Satan?] He set out to create the opposite of all the good his brother had made. He put dangerous rapids in the rivers, created destructive hurricanes and powerful tornadoes. When Good Mind planted medicinal plants, Bad Mind planted poisonous roots and deadly berries.
One day, while Good Mind was away creating more things of beauty, Bad Mind stole all the animals and hid them in a big cave. Good Mind was very angry and a battle raged for many days with Good Mind finally winning. He banished Bad Mind to live in caves beneath the earth where he waits to return to the surface.
Doesn't that sound familiar?
Our third myth, at least 4 that match the qualities of it, is called Emergence. Emergence myths tend to focus on feminine energy as the creative force. It tells of how humanity emerges from another world or universe through that force. Other emergence myths describe the creation of people as a staged ascent or metamorphosis from a subterranean world of noble people from earlier iterations of the planet. Sort of like what Noah and the flood were supposed to do for the planet. But does this subterranean talk mean we come from the mole people, like in Welles' Time Machine novel?
Now our fourth creation story of which I have seen nine different is described as Ex Nihilo (out of nothing). Basically, it is the Genesis story of the Christian, Jewish, and Islam.
Finally, we have the stories, fifteen in all that tell of creation from chaos, order from disorder. It goes something like this: initially there is nothing, a formless, shapeless expanse called the chaos, the void, the abyss which has the consistency of vapor or water and is dimensionless, containing the material(s) to create the world.
The creation from chaos and the common ex nihilo (Genesis) creation stories got me thinking about their parallels. Is there really a difference between what was written in the Genesis story versus the scientific explanation, The Big Bang? And does Divine Intelligence fit in both stories?
The Big Bang Genesis of Our Origin
In the beginning there was nothing. And then appeared an extreme and intense hot, dense point of mass, infinitesimally small and infinitely dense, with no form or structure, which was called a "singularity:" a single energy, an idea, a consciousness...Mind
Soon that mass, that Divine idea, that conscious energy, became so powerful it could no longer contain itself and underwent an expansion or inflation, which began to cool down this singularity and create large amounts of matter, energy and ideas. These ideas of expansive mass, this inflated singularity developed into quarks (subatomic particles carrying a fractional electric charge), which began to clump together into various hadrons - protons and neutrons - the makings of the atom....all in the first second after the expansion. This heat was so intense, not even light could shine.
After a mere 300,00 years, these clumps of protons, neutrons and now including electrons, crashed together with enough force to break up into a dense, opaque plasma. This plasma soon began to cool in a phase known as "recombination." The absorption of these freed electrons caused the universe to become transparent and the light (the inspiration of Spirit) began to unleash Itself. Yes, then there was light but this energy of luminosity, the era of recombination was followed by a period of darkness.
And there was evening and there was morning — the first day.
Soon the gravitas of the singularity's force caused these cooling clumps of gases and atoms to collapse enough to form stars and galaxies. It churned and churned for another 12 billion years, filling the Universe, dividing the firmament with galaxies, stars and planets.
And there was evening, another completion of the idea, and there was morning, with the activity of new ideas arising — the second day.
And in this churning of matter and gravity, through the energy of this idea of creation, this Divine Mind, this conscious energy, this expression of imagination came the production our planet... Earth.
And there was evening and there was morning — the third day.
It is here the Universe continued to evolve in the wake of the energy and idea of the creation. And from the The Big Bang, the Divine Intelligence, produced the two great lights of day and night – the sun illumination of the I AM consciousness and the moon's glow of the intellect.
And there was evening (an unfoldment in consciousness) and there was morning — the fourth day.
With a swarm of living creatures developing on Earth and elsewhere, Divine Mind begins to express Itself and Its ideas into the thoughts and spiritual understanding of these creatures; discrimination and judgment are manifested through the One Mind and Its expression evolves, in both conscious and subconscious mind of these creatures.
And there was evening and there was morning — the fifth day.
On the final recorded day of creation, called the sixth day, ever continuing from The Big Bang of our origin and expanded and evolving at all times came the incarnation of Humankind, both male and female.
This humankind, going through an evolution, a revelation, a metamorphosis of perfection, wholeness and completeness, came to mirror the Power of that Creative Force. Humankind, both male and female, were created in the image of this energy, this Divine Intelligence, this One Mind, able to use Its Creative Force to put thought into form, using the unconditional Love of their creator and Its Law of Cause and Effect. For ever action in Mind is a reaction in form. In their purest sense, they expressed the Christ consciousness: the awakened, highest expression of and connection with the singularity, the Divine Mind.
And after there was evening and there was morning — the sixth day
We continue .... from that singular idea - an energy, a consciousness - from that expansion, illuminating Itself by expressing Life, Light, Love, Beauty, Joy, Power and Wisdom in all Its creations.
And so it is and so It continues and so we are that singularity, the I AM.
~~~~~
You might ask how long did all this really take? Well in 2 Peter 3:8, it says:
But, my beloved, do not forget this one thing, that one day is with the LORD as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Whether it took seven Earth people days as it claims in Genesis, 6000 years as per Peter, 100 God days of some sort or the other or 4 trillion, 986 billion, 800 million universal days as the physicists may claim, we are of that singularity, the Thing Itself - call It what you will- we are of that stuff, that Force, that energy. We come from a Big Bang ... that is the Genesis, the Creation ... our origin.
Creation is God making something out of Itself by becoming the thing It creates. (atoms, gases, stars, planets, plants, animals, people). … We must understand the Creation does not mean making something out of nothing, but means passing the substance into form, through a Law (called gravity in science, Cause and Effect to us), which is set into motion by the Word of Spirit. ~Ernest Holmes
THERE IS but one hand in the universe. It is God's hand. Whenever you have felt that your hand was empty, it has been because you have believed yourself something separate from God. … Your hand is God's hand. My hand is God's hand. Our Father reaches out through these, (Its) only hands, to give (Its) gifts. ~Emilie Cady, HOW I USED TRUTH, God's Hand
Whatever myth or story you choose, know that we are the gift.
And God said, Let us make Man in our image, after our likeness ... And God created Man in Its own image, in the image of God created them It; male and female created It them. And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth ... And God saw everything that It had made, and, behold, it was very good.
~Genesis 1:26-31
That's where we come from, that's who we are. We are the singularity energized and individualized in Its creative power in human form, using our conscious and subconscious mind, to express It.
The other question I posited was, Where are we going? Well that's for another blog...
Suffice it to say, with our Divine likeness comes choice or volition. And with that, we have the ability to reach into the infinite possibilities of the Universe and pick what fits to the liking of our lives by being in the belief of the having-ness of it, the consciousness of it, in heart, mind and spirit, and in imagination, thought, feeling and declaration.
That is a Power from our origins, from where we come from, from who we are and it is Spirit, that singularity, expressing Itself through you, as you and for you!
Affirm it, live it, be it and prosper through and as It.
An intention for you to plant in your consciousness and prosper from:
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