Every creation myth from around the world sets out to answer certain
primary questions that human beings ask:
How did the world come to exist?
Why are we here?
What does it mean to be a human being?
What exists beyond the physical world?
What is the underlying meaning of existence?
Each creation myth is a form of spiritual speculation to try to answer
these questions.
The Hebrew Bible contains several very different stories purporting to
describe how the world was created. Why several? Ideas and ideals changed
over the 1500 years during which the Bible developed.
There is, of course, the myth of from the first chapter of Genesis where
God is portrayed as if a powerful king or magician who finds himself in a
world of watery chaos. During six days of creating, God uses his authority
to command the primordial chaos to become an ordered cosmos. On the sixth
day, humanity is formed as a mirror image of the heavenly king and is given t
he task of ruling this planet. And then, on the seventh day the Divine rests.
In another myth in chapter 2 of Genesis, the world is pictured as a vast
desert. In this wilderness, YHVH appears as if the lord of a manor. He
waters the land, plants a pleasure garden and creates the first humans whose
purpose is to serve him as his gardeners.
In the Middle Ages the Jewish mystics produced radically new creation
myths. The kabbalists answered the old questions in new ways and their
creation narratives were far more complex and nuanced than anything in the
Bible. In one of these myths, God creates a somewhat broken universe and
humanity was created for the purpose of healing and repairing God’s work --
what we call tikkun olam.
There are several factors that require us in this age to develop a new
creation narrative. The Bible’s anthropocentric view of humans having the
duty to subdue the earth has gotten us and our planet into quite a bit of
trouble. Moreover, in the last several centuries, physics and cosmology have
permanantly altered our sense of the nature of the universe and our place
within it.
Cosmologist Brian Swimme has written elegantly that the Big Bang theory
needs to be treated as a new sacred story and this story is one that all the
world’s peoples can adopt. Swimme believes that such an undertaking is
absolutely essential for the future of our species and the future of our
earth. In his book The Universe is a Green Dragon, he writes that instead of
seeing human beings as over and against the rest of nature, we need to
reinvent an understanding of ourselves as part of an evolving and emerging
universe.
For our haftarah this morning, I have tried my hand at writing a new
creation myth, borrowing from both kabbalistic imagery and from contemporary
cosmology. My thanks to both Brian Swimme and Rabbi David for their
contributions.
Lif’nei b’rei’shit. . .before the beginning,
before the faces of time and space appeared,
before there was even a before,
all that was
was endless mystery, Ain Sof:
No limitation and no definition. . .
And then, after the
emptiness and timelessness,
Echad,the pregnant oneness emerged,
the all-nourishing giver of birth.
And out of that womb emerged Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey.
Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey, Source of all existence.
And Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey radiated a tiny seed
of energy and mass, and propelled by
Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey, the source of being,
the seed exploded, erupting a universe into being.
Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey brought into being HaVaYaH --
all of time and space, all of existence.
Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey and HVYH:
the Source of being and being itself.
Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey and HVYH:
Not two separate things,
but two faces of the Oneness of All.
YHVH Echad u’sh’mo Echad.
All that would ever be
was already there in that eruption.
Every bit of you and me, and every galaxy,
was there in that expanding seed of HaVaYaH.
Blazing like a furnace for a million years,
that seed of fire became a creative womb
birthing all the simple particles of existence.
Now Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey, the source of everything,
Brought forth a myriad of forms and shapes;
stars and galaxies leapt into being:
a hundred billion galaxies,
each with a hundred billion stars.
All dancing,
All swirling about each other.
And all existence expanded
Ever pushing out with force of all forces,
the force we call Gevurah.
And even as HaVaYaH expanded,
everything was also pulled toward each other,
pulled by an attraction.
The scientists called it Gravity;
a mystic may call it Chesed,
cosmic love, drawing everything in attraction.
It is the allurement which brings
communities into being:
atoms, stars, galaxies, planets,
oceans, forests, ecosystems,
lovers and friends, families and nations.
And all are part of the totality of HaVaYaH,
the body of Being.
Stardust pulled together
and yielded a sun and planets,
and this tiny planet, the planet Earth.
From Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey, the Eternal Source,
Earth unfolded, oceans, continents,
mountains, lakes, rivers, air.
A cauldron of creativity,
fashioning complex forms,
intricate combinations,
until life burst forth, ever evolving,
spreading across the continents,
covering the entire planet,
sprouting, swimming, crawling and flying.
Flowers in fields, forests on the foothills,
herds of roaming mammals, schools of fish.
And then: an ape with a discerning eye,
a primate that could see
the beauty of each creation,
to deeply feel and savor
the wonder of Yod Hey Vav Hey's creativity.
Finally, a creature who could give thanks
for the miracle of existence:
Modeh ani l’fa’necha . . .
A creature, not only self-aware,
But who--with all life--is part
of the self-awareness of Yod Hey Vav Hey,
of the self-knowledge of HaVaYaH
Humanity rising to a planetary dimension,
to a cosmic responsibility,
providing the earth with heart and mind.
In our depths, the universe shivers with wonder.
Our lives can be dedicated
to finding the holiness in every thing and every one,
or we can ignore the sacredness of the reality about us.
Within our hands is the power
to enrich the life of the planet,
and within our hands is the power to destroy.
U’va’char’tem ba’chayim:
Choose life that you and your children may live.
The holiness which we seek and which we find,
we call kadosh.
And our dedication to holiness, our work to enrich the planet,
we call the path of mitzvah.
Ha’me’ir la’aretz u’l’darim ah’leh’ha .
Each morning you awake to the very fire
that created all the stars.
Each day is an occasion to dedicate yourself
to a vision of oneness, harmony and beauty
worthy of our fiery origin.
Sh’ma Yisrael: HaVaYaH Eloheinu, YHVH Echad.
In our work, in our relationships,
We can shape this fire as it has shaped us,
aware of the awesome energy which has provided it.
Or we can waste this fire, and we can use it for destruction.
Our most important mitzvah is to cherish this fire,
the source of our existence,
the power we can use for transformation,
the power to manifest holiness
in our planet, in our species,
in our society, in our community,
in our family, in myself.
V'ahavtah et Yod Hey Vav Hey
Elo'he'chah b'chol l'vav'echa
u'v'chol naf'sheh'cha u'v'chol m'o'decha,
"And you shall love HaVaYaH your fiery power
with all your heart, with all your life, with all that is yours."
This is the fire of the entire cosmos:
We must not waste it on triviality nor on enmity.
We cherish HaVaYaH by standing in awe,
by acting with reverence,
by developing conscience as we use it,
by offering our gratitude.
We have the power to forge cosmic fire.
What can compare with such a destiny?