Creation and Consciousness

Is this its own story of creation? The language of "barah" implies a subject/object relationship between Creator and created. Chaos precedes creation

First (?) story of creation. Speech brings creation into being, seeing defines it as "tov". This "tov" transcends the moral judgement meaning of good as opposed to bad. It is more of an aesthetic meaning - good as reflective of success in expressing the intent of the maker. Creation is seemingly an orderly and "ascending" process.

The process of the division of the waters is left unfinished and therefore there is no seeing of good.

The earth expresses will through the trees and the grasses. The trees thwart the Divine command by bringing forth fruit bearing trees instead of fruit trees that bear fruit as they were commanded; the grasses express non-commanded Divine will by 'coming forth after its kind.' Separating the tree from the fruit is an alienation of product from process. The grasses achieve the height of purpose by divining the highest way they can express the Divine intention. They do this through noticing what is happening in creation. See Gemara Chullin 60a/b, Orot HaKodesh 97, Orot HaTeshuva 6:7

The moon asserts that 'two kings cannot use one crown' and becomes small. Israel offers a sin offering on behalf of Gd because of the moon's reduction. Does the fact that sun and moon are male and female in Hebrew culture make the midrash in Chullin 60a/b a commentary on gender relationship? Rav Kook calls this the alienation from satisfaction of self. This leads to an experience of a "scarcity of identity" in which I am threatened and limited by other.

First appearance of bracha (blessing) which comes in the context of growth/addition.

Humanity created in the image and likeness of the Creator. This likeness is expressed here as humanity having dominion over creation. Some lack of clarity on whether humanity is created as male and female separtely. The Sages teach we were created as an androgynous with male and female fused back to back and that the story in Genesis 2:21-22 is the description of their separation.

Shabbas! The seventh day represents the emergent principle in creation, as the seventh point in the middle of the six experiential directions (forward, back, left, right, up, down) emerges as their center only after they are defined. Shabbat is characterized as "last in action, primary in intention" (sof ma'aseh b'machshava techila). The first appearance of the word kadosh (holy). What is the link between rest and consciousness?

The second (third?) story of creation. This story is characterized by the 'offspring' which can only result from interaction between two independent entities. The verb form of b'hibaram can be read is 'in their being created,' implying some level of shared action between Creator and created. In the masoretic text the letter hey in b'hibaram is written small and elevated from the line. Our Sages (brought by Rashi) note the first appearance here of the four-lettered name of Gd together with the name Elokim. They say that this teaches that it arose in the mind of Gd to create the world through judgement but it could not stand, therefore Gd placed mercy before it and made them partners in creation.

Creation is in a state of terem, not yet. There is not yet life, because there has not yet been rain and there is not yet humanity to work the ground.Humanity is made of the earth as watered by the mist and shaped by the Creator, life enters through the breath. Through the lens of the midrash brought by Rashi on Genesis 2:5, humanity sees the need for rain, recognizes their good and prayers. This first prayer brings rain (matar) taking creation from potential (terem) to actual. Gd blows in life and humanity exhales creation.

With the appearance of commandment to humanity the word rah (evil) appears, giving birth to the potential for a moral definition of good. We are then told that the ultimate "not good" is being alone, and that humanity needs a help which stands opposite. Gd brings each animal to the first man to call their name.

Man names woman as that which was once unified with him. Relationship between them is characterized by a separation from family and then a cleaving together into one flesh. In light of the Sage's understanding they were attached back to back and now are separate in order to rejoin. What is the difference between a back to back relationship and one which is face to face?

The question of where are you is an opportunity for one to ground their identity and to touch base with their inner state. Fear and shame produce a sense of alienation from self, as if one is looking at himself from the outside. Gd's question 'who told you' introduces both the question word mi (who) and the word atah (you) into our story. The recognition that an other exists beyond the boundary where I draw my selfhood can lead to alienation or relationship.

Are these curses connected to the actions which prompt them, making them more consequence than punishment? Notice the role that etzev (sadness/pain) plays in them and compare to Genesis 5:29 and Rashi there. The curse to the man can be characterized as the advent of dissipation, that most of his efforts would go into producing the non-desired side products of his work.

This is the first exile, and as such may serve as a model for exile and return throughout our story. Note the relationship between the cherubim here and there only other appearance in the Torah as the covering over the Ark of the Covenant. Note also that the sword is guarding the way to the Tree of Life, and not the tree itself.