Genesis, Chapter 1
Theme: Spiritual creation, the poverty of mortal existence, the incarnation of Truth, deflection of being, Divine Science, separation
Symbols: light, creation, dominion, man/woman... I dunno, etc. More symbols TBD
Primary Interpreter: Mary Baker Eddy, Science & Health, With Key to the Scriptures
Mood: Fertile with Spirit
Highlights
KJV:
Genesis 1:14-16
14 “…Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.”
Science and Health:
Spiritual overture
502:1–8
"It would almost seem, from the preponderance of unreality in the entire narrative, as if reality did not predominate over unreality, the light over the dark, the straight line of Spirit over the mortal deviations and inverted images of the creator and His creation."
502:9–13
"...the book of Genesis is the history of the untrue image of God, named a sinful mortal. This deflection of being, rightly viewed, serves to suggest the proper reflection of God and the spiritual actuality of man."
502:24–2
"The infinite has no beginning. This word beginning is employed to signify the only."
Spiritual Spheres
513:6–10
"Advancing spiritual steps in the teeming universe of Mind lead on to spiritual spheres and exalted beings. To material sense, this divine universe is dim and distant, gray in the sombre hues of twilight; but anon the veil is lifted, and the scene shifts into light."
513:6–7
"Advancing spiritual steps in the teeming universe of Mind lead on to spiritual spheres and exalted beings."
513:8–10
"To material sense, this divine universe is dim and distant, gray in the sombre hues of twilight; but anon the veil is lifted, and the scene shifts into light."
Creation Is Ever Appearing
507:29–30
"Creation is ever appearing, and must ever continue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source."
Mind Is the Multiplier
508:2–5)
"The seed is in itself, only as the divine Mind is All and reproduces all—as Mind is the multiplier, and Mind's infinite idea, man and the universe, is the product."
Mind Is Life, Truth, and Love
508:6–8
"The only intelligence or substance of a thought, a seed, or a flower is God, the creator of it. Mind is the Soul of all. Mind is Life, Truth, and Love which governs all."
The Angels of His Presence
512:8–12
"Spirit is symbolized by strength, presence, and power, and also by holy thoughts, winged with Love. These angels of His presence, which have the holiest charge, abound in the spiritual atmosphere of Mind."
God's Thoughts Are Spiritual Realities
513:27
"God creates all forms of reality. His thoughts are spiritual realities."
Love Imparts Beauty
516:12
"Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light."
(And then she just completely abandons subtlety: )
516:17–19
"The sunlight glints from the church-dome, glances into the prison-cell, glides into the sick-chamber, brightens the flower, beautifies the landscape, blesses the earth."
516:20–23
"Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God."
Insights:
• Let there be what? I guess we just have different boundaries ¯_(ツ)_/¯
• Reading of MBE's "Science and Health..." is akin to staring into a fine and dense mirror—A Reflected Likeness, wielded like an axe to Time. This woman could get me chasing myself around the first chapter of Genesis for weeks. I am in a thither with this tiny companion tome, and require many breaks to digest its stunning Truth.
• I mean, "Science and Health... is way more interesting than the bible itself. This, and the other interpretative works I will be studying with are going to get me through the slog.
• In the beginning
Questions:
• Why the word “dominion”, King James? It’s so icky. Compensation much?
• I must have heard this chapter/book a million times growing up, from various versions. How is there always something new to glean, even when its kind of boring. I like that.
• Why did it take so long to read this, and just sit with it. The bulk of the reading was definitely MBE's S&HwKtTS (like that shortening? I don't think I'll use it again). I thought I could do a few chapters/interpretations a day, LOL. We're really gonna have to take "Bible Completion Round 1" one chapter at a time, at our own leisure.
• When will I have deeper, more poignant insights?