I
sometimes wonder: what is the fascination with a view of creation that
involves a creator - anthropomorphically conceived - who speaks each
species of micro-organism, plant and animal into existence at a given
moment in time? This kind of view seems contrived, and - for me at
least - excises a sizable amount of the mystery out of creation.
On the other hand, I do indeed believe in a personal Creator-God. I also believe that creation is founded on divine love. But I like to think of each species that evolves as a sort of ECHO of a word that the Creator was just about to speak - but never had a chance to - because "he" lost himself in joyful ecstasy just before that word could ever be spoken. Somehow - and here is the amazing part - echoes of that never-spoken word still are able to appear, ANYWAY! In this model, each species on earth exists as one of these echoes. Here, I base this sort of creation "account" on meditation experience, where I - and anyone - can watch spellbound as all thoughts, perceptions, sensations and emotions arise - as though from nowhere - out of the seamless spaciousness of consciousness itself.
Of course this is a mythical way of describing creation - but so is the Genesis story! Anything so magnificent and mysterious as the process of creation HAS to be described using myth. As Joseph Campbell so often said, the most important function of myth "is that of eliciting and supporting a sense of awe before the mystery of being." Because the origins of life are so paradoxical, they cannot be described merely by using logic and literalistic concepts, whether scientific or religious. Only myth is capable of maintaining the sense of paradox necessary to describe something so fundamental and awe-inspiring!
Photo: A bush of mountain-mahoghany seems to appear out of a seamless expanse of snow; Lumpy Ridge, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; January 7, 2014
On the other hand, I do indeed believe in a personal Creator-God. I also believe that creation is founded on divine love. But I like to think of each species that evolves as a sort of ECHO of a word that the Creator was just about to speak - but never had a chance to - because "he" lost himself in joyful ecstasy just before that word could ever be spoken. Somehow - and here is the amazing part - echoes of that never-spoken word still are able to appear, ANYWAY! In this model, each species on earth exists as one of these echoes. Here, I base this sort of creation "account" on meditation experience, where I - and anyone - can watch spellbound as all thoughts, perceptions, sensations and emotions arise - as though from nowhere - out of the seamless spaciousness of consciousness itself.
Of course this is a mythical way of describing creation - but so is the Genesis story! Anything so magnificent and mysterious as the process of creation HAS to be described using myth. As Joseph Campbell so often said, the most important function of myth "is that of eliciting and supporting a sense of awe before the mystery of being." Because the origins of life are so paradoxical, they cannot be described merely by using logic and literalistic concepts, whether scientific or religious. Only myth is capable of maintaining the sense of paradox necessary to describe something so fundamental and awe-inspiring!
Photo: A bush of mountain-mahoghany seems to appear out of a seamless expanse of snow; Lumpy Ridge, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; January 7, 2014
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