Beginning (again)

THE BIG QUESTION

Now that the year's spiritual capital has been allocated, how would you like to spend it?

According to the Torah Omens this is a favorable time to put yourself back in the beginning 

Try your best to release any ideas of who you thought you were, or what you thought you knew about yourself or the origin of the world. 

This week’s recommendation for inner contemplation, self adjustment, and optimal healing invites us to sit with the most essential of questions : how was the world created? And where do we humans (and everything else in our reality) come from? 

DEEPER DIVE (click links to access the reference text)

The way we hold the question of origin unconsciously shapes our lives, so take your time with it.

Notice the interconnected balanced and perfection of all of existence in the first account of creation; the way grass grows, the way the sun shines, the way the birds fly, the way animals roam. Take special note of the creation of the ADAM, the first being, both male and female, created in God’s image, from which we all supposedly originate.

This is an essential time to acknowledge the very goodness of the planet and our perfect, balanced, interconnected place within it.

Second take special note of the creation of ADAM in the second account of creation, and secondary way  woman was brought into physical form. Notice of any places in yourself, your community, or society at large where you/we/people in general give in to temptation or outside influence and suffer the shame and consequences of those actions.

Consider this story less as a way to understand creation (which was already explained in the first story) but, perhaps, the creation of our original ideas about blame, shame, gender, eternal suffering and oppression originate.

Third, try to see the ancestral unfolding that affect your life and all life (including intergenerational trauma, willful ignorance, denial, jealousy and hate). Take special note that in the Genealogy of humanity all comes from the ADAM, the being that is both male and female.

As you contemplate the events of human unfolding, do your best to assess yourself and the general wellness of the planet at this moment in time. How do we treat people, plants, animals, birds, fish and the air that we breathe?

Note which aspects of life and the way we/you live and think displease, and what parts find favor in your eyes. Follow God’s example, be honest.

INNER WORK GUIDE

Bring the contemplation of creation into the awareness of your mental, emotional and spiritual bodies and see if any conflicting feelings or thoughts arise. Journal them, discuss them with a teacher or friend, or post comments below.

MENTAL Exercise

Consider:

What is creation?

What do you believe you know about it?

How do your thoughts about a creation story effect your daily life?

Which version of the creation of humans feels more accurate? A being that is both masculine and feminine or the ADAM that had a piece removed which generated an independent female being?

How are the two related or reconciled in your mind? 

EMOTIONAL excercise

Sense:

How might the character of God feel in each story of creation?

How would you feel if you gave two people the entire world (except the fruit of two trees) - and then they take the fruit from one of them. What would you do to them?

How do you feel about the punishment, and the impact on our culture and world (especially for snakes and women).

What about Cain and Abel? How would you feel if one of the people you created killed the other one because they got insulted? How do you feel about Cain’s punishment? Have you ever felt a guilt so deeply that you found no rest?

SPIRITUAL excercise

What are the implications of all human ancestry originating from a masculine and feminine being?

What is in a name? Consider that Noah, the (only) one who found favor with God was given a name specifically to accomplish that task.

How do you relate to your name?

note — Please leave questions, comments, thoughts or opinions below! Looking forward to moving through this new cycle together.

shabbat shalom and happy new year!

love,

HAVA