CONSCIOUSNESS & CREATION

“Consciousness is the ground of all being; everything is consciousness.”
-Dr. Amit Goswami 

Probably one of my favorite things to do is wrestle with the unanswerable questions. How we came into being has baffled humankind since the beginning of recorded history. Various experts, sages, religious zealots and mystical dorks with computers have pondered the how and why of existence and offered us a myriad of explanations. Of course, none of us actually know so we tend to accept our answers based on faith and choose to believe what we believe.

I am no different. I look through my cultural lenses of mystic Christianity and slide into meditation after meditation on the unknowable mind of God. I allow that light to fill my being and chant the Hebrew scriptures over and over engraving the letters upon the altar of my heart.

בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ‎

Transliterated: Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve’et ha’aretz – This mantra has carried me into deep contemplation no words could ever actually describe. I fall into a simplified Bereshit bara Elohim until I feel the words pulsing within me. It’s a profound experience I highly recommend to anyone with a desire of deepening their understanding of Genesis.

Elohim is the first utterance of God. “And God said” isn’t written here but it is most definitely implied by the syntax. This understanding is absolutely vital because of the mystical implications that come along with it.

“In the beginning G-d created the Heaven and the Earth”

-Genesis 1:1

Or more accurately…

“In the beginning He (Ein Soph) created the Elohim”

-direct translation from Hebrew

Ein Soph translates into “infinite” or “without end” in it’s most literal form. Kabbalah is very clear on what God actually is or how God existed before the self-manifestation chronicled in Genesis 1:1 is beyond our comprehension. The Zohar explains this tzimtzum– self limitation – in relatively clear terms:

“That is, when the King desired to emanate and create the world, a hard spark made an engraving upon the supernal light. This hard spark, which emanated from the most concealed of all concealed things from the secret of the Endlessness Light took a shapeless form.” 

-Zohar Volume 1, 15a

This is why the first utterance of the creation epoch is Elohim.

Elohim is the feminine and masculine aspects we think of as God. Anyone familiar with the beliefs of the Hellenist Jewish community could easily ascertain the concepts of Sophia and Logos at work here. What we’re seeing is light from light, true God from true God becoming the very fabric of the multiverse itself. It’s through this polarity, this positive and negative energy, that everything exists. Much like the Hebrew language itself represents form stretched between two poles creation is a result of vibration; everything vibrates. Think about it.

• separated light from darkness
• separated water above from the water below
• separated earth from water
• separated day from night
• separated fish from birds
• separated man from woman

Now, this isn’t to be confused with the duality of our black and white thinking. God is not divided. Adonai echod- Our God is one. Once again, the Zohar really drives this point home:

“If one contemplates things in mystical meditation, everything is revealed as one.”

-The Zohar

What creates this alma de-peruda, or world of separation, is our belief. We think in terms of black and white, hot and cold, heaven and earth, failing to realize that what lies behind or sensory understanding of heaven and earth there is only Ein Soph- the unlimited mind of God.

Consider Dionysus a moment:

“It (consciousness- the ground of all being) is within our intellects, souls and bodies, in heaven, on earth, & whilst remaining the same in itself. It is at once in, around & above the world, super-celestial, super-essential, a sun, a star, fire, water, spirit, dew, cloud, stone, rock, ALL THAT IS.”

-Pseudo-Dionysus, Divine Names

Now think back to the quote I led into this post with- “Consciousness is the ground of all being; our self-consciousness is that consciousness.” Dr. Goswami may be a dreamer. His quantum renegade theory may be difficult for some to digest but I felt that sentiment. For the first time in my life I could see a clear and concise connection between Hinduism, Judaism, and quantum physics.

See, in the classical worldview of Kabbalah we humans are seen as a microcosm- a small scale model of the macrocosm- the entire universe. We are these interconnected pieces in a much larger puzzle. Everything is everything and we… are physical Temples that house the Divine. That I sense within us all is the great I AM!

Look, I’m not trying to win anyone over to my way of thinking. Quite the opposite actually. This is a challenge presented to spiritually minded people. Can you find the common threads in the belief systems of others without losing your own? It’s been my experience that one can discuss philosophy, science, and religion with people from all walks of life and grow together in spite of doctrinal differences. Especially those of us who meditate. Something about diving deep into the sacred space within our hearts removes the desire for rightness from us. We can simply just be. Together.

So, regardless of how challenging an idea is to accept, examine it, contemplate it and pick it apart. you just might surprise yourself with what you learn.

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