Day 5 of Creation's Deeper Meaning: Loving the Interconnectivity of Life Brings Abundance

Scripture

Genesis 1:20-23

And God said, “Let the waters cause the creeping animal - a living soul - to creep out. And let the bird flit over the land, over the face of the expanse of the heavens.” And God created the big sea creatures, and every living, creeping soul that the waters caused to creep out, in all their kinds, and every bird on the wing, of every kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Reproduce and multiply and fill the water in the seas, and the birds will multiply on the land.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

Day 5 of Creation's Deeper Meaning: Loving the Interconnectivity of Life Brings Abundance

by Rev. Cory Bradford-Watts

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We continue to step through an interpretation of the inner meaning of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles' creation story today, seeking to understand and feel the invitation toward spiritual growth often viewed as inherent in this and all parables. I think we've found that viewing the Bible through the lens that "Jesus ('God-with-us') only spoke in parable," as it says in the Christian New Testament, seems to open us up to the deeper understanding that often is paired with indigenous and ancient stories. And the fifth day is no different, the "day" when we first encounter "a living soul" in our own personal creation journey toward "wholeness," "realization," "nirvana," and "salvation," no matter our religion.

Yes, no matter our religion! Since Christ (meaning the Savior) has spoken the words of parable and love throughout time in many cultures under many names, all pointing toward the same Divinity and encouraging our development toward a loving justice, health, and peace. This invitation toward the Divine diversity of life is at the root of our message today.

We're told in this tale that after the sun and moon are created on day four, the Lord causes the first living souls to start to appear by speaking them into being: the creatures of the sea and the birds. Following our past exploration of the sun and moon, we can see that a new fruition starts coming into our lives when we have allowed and accepted God's love (which truly warms, centres, and energizes us like the sun) and a faith from love (which reflects love's illumination like the moon, even in some of the darkest of times) to finally be rooted in our solar system - which is our life! Having allowed these to start to truly root in our lives, our hearts and minds become empowered and, on day five, a new type of life starts to emerge from us, one of a "living soul."

Not to hate too much on what we were like before, but this depiction of a living soul finally emerging points to how we were essentially dead before we became rooted in Divinity's love! At least, that's what our namesake, the scientist-turned-Christian-mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, believed and wrote over 250 years ago.

But it makes sense, doesn't it? When we are in a state that isn't rooted in life, understanding, and love, not only are we "relatively dead," but so are our actions and ideas - because they tend to be destructive and are centered on our own erratic, selfish motives and pride. When we realize and start to truly believe and love that we are all created by Divinity and that all of our gifts actively come from him/her, our pride dissipates and our motives turn toward the wholeness of life. Which is why the life of our spirit starts to abound.

In a way this is similar to what many people say happens to them when they've had a (good) trip on psychedelics, like Psilocybin, Ayahuasca, Peyote, and others. These types of substances have been responsibly used by Shamans the world over as a tool to help people start to understand our shared life, eternity, and interconnectivity. But it doesn't take psychedelics to start to feel the warmth of life that comes with seeing our shared roots and illumination from Divinity! And, strangely enough, starting to accept the diversity of how God lovingly shines through all life brings us to a state where we're told our own soulful abundance multiplies.

Meditation and mindfulness practices are other tools to help us further open our hearts to this abundance. Particularly, opening our minds to their intrinsic clarity while letting go of distracted thinking and obsessive thoughts (or feelings) can help Divinity shine through, especially when we center on the idea that we are all empowered by the same Divine Life. Most of our fears and resentments stem from divisive thinking and a lack of acceptance that all things are intrinsically one, empowered by the same Higher Power in every facet. We're told by yogis and buddhas throughout ancient and modern history, that starting to view others as extensions of our own life dissolves our deadened, self-only thinking, and warms us in the full light of love. As Jesus said, love others as yourself (not like yourself!).

It's no coincidence that soulful life starts to abound on the day of creation that corresponds to when we start seeing all things in the light of love and a healthier, more-loving faith. In a way, this is the day we start to see other life as actually living, interconnected beings, instead of relatively dead tools often for our own pleasures and addictive perspectives. It's the day that we start to realize that even the fish of the sea and the birds of the air are a part of us, and so our personal creation story starts to include them. Further, scripture indicates that fish represent truths in its parables and birds represent thoughts, and so it's this state of living from Divine Love and being aware of it that actually allows us to start to embrace the world how it truly is, rather than the deadened, murky way we interpreted everything before.

May we allow God to illuminate our spirit with love of the interconnectivity of life, allowing our spirits to bloom and find abundance on our journey toward a truly humane humanity and the Sabbath already written in our hearts.

Peace and blessings,

Rev. Cory