Once a day, the planet I live on twirls on its axis and makes a complete revolution. That, for me, is a day. The planet itself has made approximately 1,658,235,000,000 such revolutions, and in that time, it's made approximately 4,540,000,000 trips around the sun, which it orbits. The sun in turn has made about 20.17 orbits around the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, at which point in space resides a supermassive black hole (what a great calculation to finish off 2017).
Prior to this, at roughly the distance that the Earth orbits the sun, there were two planetary bodies formed of the rocks, gases, and metals that made up the nebular cloud from which our sun was also born, 20.44 orbits around the galactic center ago ("galactic years"). One of them was called Theia, the other is (as far as I know) not yet named. Theia was either slightly smaller than Earth or slightly larger than the moon. It crashed into the mass that was the other planet, and out of the collision of those two bodies came the scorching matter that formed the Earth-Moon system.
I feel that there is something awe-inspiring about planetary bodies, and for me that awe inspires a form of deference. I refer to objects for which I have respect by proper names. I feel that the Moon (preceded by a definite article in English, but not a proper name; a "moon" can be any such body) is more accurately referred to as Luna, its Latin name. It has many names; "moon," for me, is not one of them.
At first, these balls of rock and other materials were liquefied by the force of the impact. Over time, Luna and Earth formed crusts covering their molten core. Earth retained a thick, gaseous atmosphere because of its mass; Luna did not. At first, that atmosphere was filled with vaporized rock. It rained mineral pellets onto a molten surface. In addition to this constant heating and cooling process, asteroids from the early solar system (which had many more such bodies) continued to crash into the molten planetary mass that was Earth.
Over time, under great pressure, large plates of basaltic rock began to form the lithosphere as a result of this cooling process. These plates were gigantic, and perforated to different degrees by the pressure of magma rising to Earth's surface. These were the first volcanos. Vulcanism was born.
Carbon dioxide released by the process of vulcanism formed the majority of Earth's atmosphere at that point; water vapor was also present in these emissions. It would have been hot, dense, and inhospitable, with surface temperatures similar to that of Venus.
It's somewhat unclear what happened next.
Earth had a good deal of water; some of that was vapor held in the atmosphere, some was trapped inside the core and mantle (also presumably in gaseous form), and some became part of Earth's crust, with more and more of it covering the surface of Earth as it cooled. Somehow, portions of the surface of the Earth cooled to below 100º. In this inhospitable hell, formed of thick black rock, covered by sulfuric ash, and "cooled" by boiling water, the oceans were born. Water combined with flowing lava to form granite, and with sulfuric ash to form mud.
Somewhere in that warm bath, life was born of different combinations of amino acids formed by minerals present within Earth at the time of its formation. Single-celled organisms breathed in carbon dioxide and breathed out oxygen, much as plants do today. The atmosphere was changed, and the Earth as we know it today came to support many kinds of life.
The name Chaim (חַיִּים, IPA: [ˈχa.im]), means "life" in Hebrew. Understanding life, for me, is part of the process of self-discovery; yet, I think all living things share in that process, to one degree or another. I think for me it is a pronounced characteristic because of my name.
This is my creation story.
The impacts of the asteroids can be seen with the naked eye on the moon. The oceans, now ancient, can be seen with the naked eye. The mountains and valleys that form the continental plates can be seen with the naked eye. Their age can be determined through radiometric analysis or by a process of deducing the effects of weather patterns on the surface of the rock.
These are indisputable facts.
Why, then, are so many of us told a different story? Why do the wisps of Indo-European patriarchal mythology still dominate the political and juridical structures that form the very molds which form the pathways of our lives?
In plain English: Why do we lie to our children?
My father (whose beliefs were a combination of the Christianity he must have been raised with, the Mormonism he later came to embrace, the Judaism that somehow significantly influenced his life in later years, and hippism) believed that a female goddess gave birth to a son, became his wife, that together they had a son named Jesus, and they went on to form three orders of angels (he named them as Ooman, D'ooman, and D'c'ooman, and their functions in his story were similar to those of seraphim, cherubim and thrones in Catholic doctrine), the universe, the world, and human beings. This was sort of a "pre-Genesis" take on things, as the bible I was given said nothing on the subject (it was the Jerusalem translation, widely used by Catholics and Christians who claim a deeper understanding of theology and desire a translation "closer to the original" [viz., simply with different political influences than other Christian translations have had]). It was part of his identity as a messianic; the fact that it said "Jerusalem" on the cover appealed to him. I digress.
I have no idea where that myth came from. It's entirely possible that he invented it. It's possible it was an acid trip. It's possible he received it from a gypsy seer. Really, given his life, anything is possible. It most closely mirrors, from what I know, the Egyptian story of creation of Isis and Osiris (see, for example, Pinch 2004, pp. 78-81). It was also loosely based on his interpretation of the Gospel of John. Nevertheless, I've never found a single modern human being who believed as he did.
My father (whose beliefs were a combination of the Christianity he must have been raised with, the Mormonism he later came to embrace, the Judaism that somehow significantly influenced his life in later years, and hippism) believed that a female goddess gave birth to a son, became his wife, that together they had a son named Jesus, and they went on to form three orders of angels (he named them as Ooman, D'ooman, and D'c'ooman, and their functions in his story were similar to those of seraphim, cherubim and thrones in Catholic doctrine), the universe, the world, and human beings. This was sort of a "pre-Genesis" take on things, as the bible I was given said nothing on the subject (it was the Jerusalem translation, widely used by Catholics and Christians who claim a deeper understanding of theology and desire a translation "closer to the original" [viz., simply with different political influences than other Christian translations have had]). It was part of his identity as a messianic; the fact that it said "Jerusalem" on the cover appealed to him. I digress.
I have no idea where that myth came from. It's entirely possible that he invented it. It's possible it was an acid trip. It's possible he received it from a gypsy seer. Really, given his life, anything is possible. It most closely mirrors, from what I know, the Egyptian story of creation of Isis and Osiris (see, for example, Pinch 2004, pp. 78-81). It was also loosely based on his interpretation of the Gospel of John. Nevertheless, I've never found a single modern human being who believed as he did.
When explaining my name I'll often jokingly say that my parents were hippies. The irony being, it's not really a joke. This kind of stuff was rampant in the counterculture of the 60s and 70s. But I do find a number of things weird about my father's metaphysical views.
1. He was clearly off the deep end with some of these beliefs, and yet nobody ever treated him as such. He even held a ministry with other hippie types called "The Way of the Messiah" in Denver in the early 80s. I was too young to know why it fell apart, but he proudly made the claim of its existence to me several times.
2. Despite the fact that he named me in Hebrew, he didn't have a great grasp of Hebrew. He didn't know the Hebrew alphabet, and as I got older and more and more curious about Judaism, it became obvious to me that he knew precious little about Jewish culture at all.
3. The timing of his self-discovery is pretty strange also. Strange as in predictable, sure, I mean, he was on the run. That much is clear now. But the depth of his transformation is really fascinating. He really became a whole other person. As near as I could tell, he wasn't faking it.
As for me, I came into the world with a Hebrew name. I'm in the process of discarding part of it, but it has led me to contend with an identity that borders on Jewishness. I do the extra dance with words ("Jewish-ish") because of the lack of a conversion. Hopefully I'll get that done in the next few years.
However, part of me feels like I shouldn't have to. This is my soul, this is the life and the name that I chose. I have never felt like a Christian. I don't particularly believe Christian stories or myths, I care very little for Christmas and other Christian holidays, and I have a nearly pathological obsession with the history of the Jewish people, which I have learned is as profound as it is eclectic.
In any case, I'll just say it. I have a Jewish soul. I feel I can say this because to me it has always been true. It caused problems with a lot of people growing up. I didn't want to hear their opinions on the bible; most of what Christians say about the bible has to do with proving their messiah was who they claim him to be. I have been reading Tanach since a young age. Always in English, as my Hebrew isn't that great (though I fully expect Duolingo will change that forever...).
Skipping ahead-- In my later teenage years, I began to explore Judaism, in earnest and I chose to explore the latter because I could not bring myself to believe that Jesus existed, or if he did, that he was the messiah described in Isaiah. The Jewish people I met with supported this view, and thus my indoctrination to creationism started in a Jewish home.
Sidebar: I don't embrace creationism as such. That's more or less the theme of this document; a lifelong struggle with these concepts that surround us but are clearly made from the stuff of legend. Myths.
Campfire stories, really. And that's one thing I love about Judaism. They've been telling these stories so long that everyone and their brother has had a stab at them. Two Jews, three opinions, et cetera.
Put another way: "If you believe a Jewish story, you are a complete idiot. If you don't believe a Jewish story, you are also a complete idiot." Thanks to R.El.Es. for that one.
In any case, the creation story that I will discuss here is the Jewish story of creation.
Here's the original (taken from Chabad):
1 In the beginning of God's creation of the heavens and the earth.אבְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ:2 Now the earth was astonishingly empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water.בוְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָֽיְתָ֥ה תֹ֨הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְח֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם:3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.גוַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִי־א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר:4 And God saw the light that it was good, and God separated between the light and between the darkness.דוַיַּ֧רְא אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הָא֖וֹר כִּי־ט֑וֹב וַיַּבְדֵּ֣ל אֱלֹהִ֔ים בֵּ֥ין הָא֖וֹר וּבֵ֥ין הַחֽשֶׁךְ:5 And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night, and it was evening and it was morning, one day.הוַיִּקְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים | לָאוֹר֙ י֔וֹם וְלַח֖שֶׁךְ קָ֣רָא לָ֑יְלָה וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם אֶחָֽד:6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the water, and let it be a separation between water and water."ווַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים יְהִ֥י רָקִ֖יעַ בְּת֣וֹךְ הַמָּ֑יִם וִיהִ֣י מַבְדִּ֔יל בֵּ֥ין מַ֖יִם לָמָֽיִם:7 And God made the expanse and it separated between the water that was below the expanse and the water that was above the expanse, and it was so.זוַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִים֘ אֶת־הָֽרָקִיעַ֒ וַיַּבְדֵּ֗ל בֵּ֤ין הַמַּ֨יִם֙ אֲשֶׁר֙ מִתַּ֣חַת לָֽרָקִ֔יעַ וּבֵ֣ין הַמַּ֔יִם אֲשֶׁ֖ר מֵעַ֣ל לָֽרָקִ֑יעַ וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן:8 And God called the expanse Heaven, and it was evening, and it was morning, a second day.חוַיִּקְרָ֧א אֱלֹהִ֛ים לָֽרָקִ֖יעַ שָׁמָ֑יִם וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם שֵׁנִֽי:9 And God said, "Let the water that is beneath the heavens gather into one place, and let the dry land appear," and it was so.טוַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים יִקָּו֨וּ הַמַּ֜יִם מִתַּ֤חַת הַשָּׁמַ֨יִם֙ אֶל־מָק֣וֹם אֶחָ֔ד וְתֵֽרָאֶ֖ה הַיַּבָּשָׁ֑ה וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן:10 And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas, and God saw that it was good.יוַיִּקְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים | לַיַּבָּשָׁה֙ אֶ֔רֶץ וּלְמִקְוֵ֥ה הַמַּ֖יִם קָרָ֣א יַמִּ֑ים וַיַּ֥רְא אֱלֹהִ֖ים כִּי־טֽוֹב:11 And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, seed yielding herbs and fruit trees producing fruit according to its kind in which its seed is found, on the earth," and it was so.יאוַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים תַּדְשֵׁ֤א הָאָ֨רֶץ֙ דֶּ֗שֶׁא עֵ֚שֶׂב מַזְרִ֣יעַ זֶ֔רַע עֵ֣ץפְּרִ֞י עֹ֤שֶׂה פְּרִי֙ לְמִינ֔וֹ אֲשֶׁ֥ר זַרְעוֹ־ב֖וֹ עַל־הָאָ֑רֶץ וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן:
Creationism verbatim. The brainwashing begins, right?
Except, the Jewish story of creation is no stranger to interpretation. It's been interpreted and re-interpreted for thousands of years. Questioned by agnostics and adversaries alike.
Some people compare this story to the Enuma Elish story of creation from ancient Babylon. That story actually appeared several centuries earlier, and there's a number of differences I won't go into here, but remind me to put a link in the comments. The biggest criticisms boil down to monotheism and the separateness of this G-d entity from the fallible, anthropomorphic gods in Enuma Elish.
This story, along with most of the rest of Torah, was likely written down in the early 6th century BCE as buildings were burning and neighbors were being dragged out of (or, suffice it to say, into) their houses, and sold into slavery. It was likely centuries after the events it described. What later became the Talmud probably predates this account. A Talmudic scholar I'm not, and I won't go into any accounts there, here. But my point is, it was a tumultuous time for the Jews of that era, a time that they likely equated with the end of the world. On par with, say, a flood; certainly the flood is a recurring theme in ancient mythology, and living a stone's throw from the Indian Ocean, certainly the ancient peoples would have known about flooding and the devastation it could cause. (There's a great article on this, maybe I'll link it. Again, not the topic here.)
So, we might see this as one of the two accounts of creation (the one not involving a bone) in the book of Genesis, which might be a priestly collection of some ancient and revered stories about human origins and survival, thrown together in the time frame that it takes to bake a matzah, while the world was, as far as anyone there could see, ending.
(Fallible. Made by humans. G-d as far as I know has not written anything. Divine inspiration? Well, maybe we'll get to that in another post.)
Anyways. So it is an excited utterance. I don't think there's any question whether they believed these stories. But why do we believe them? Why do they continue to permeate our culture?
I'd like to sidebar to geology. Which will be great because it'll give us a chance to introduce geologic time.
Now the earth was astonishingly empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water.
Now look, I realize I'm not the first person to do this. And I'm probably not even the most capable. So cut me some slack. But let's start at the Hadean period.
The earth is astonishingly empty. As the young earth was bombarded by comets, asteroids, and other planets, oceans formed, covering the whole earth. Because of the temperatures involved, we're talking liquid water. Okay, great, there's one more clause. The spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water.
I'd like to sidebar to the afterlife. I don't believe in one. I do not believe in a heaven or a hell. I believe that modern Judaism has used these concepts metaphorically, but I've read the Tanach several times, maybe not cover to cover each time, but it's happened; and, I don't really see any justification there for any concept of a hell, or a heaven. What the people in Torah are struggling with, as far as I can tell, is how we should shape and govern society on this earth, in this time, with the guidance we can muster. Sure, there's a lot of talking to G-d, and then relaying those conversations to kings and so forth.
But that's metaphorical too, right? Right? The examples I can think of involving the actual physical presence of G-d are the pillar of fire in the desert, and the burning bush. Only at that time, and for that one prophet, was G-d so close. Every other encounter, including the "hand of G-d" closing the ark, is taken to be metaphorical.
So why not this as well?
What metaphor could be meant by: The spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water?
Fog comes to mind. It's hot, there's a lot of water. But, I need to close the sidebar, and for me I'm going to say that I think Genesis is saying that the earth itself is alive at this time.
One quick note about celestial bodies, and this story. The stars and planets are mentioned in Job, in Psalms, and nowhere else that I can think of. So again, we're talking about an entity that exists in this time, in this place.
I think it's the planet. I think it's water. I think it's the kinetic energy of our planetary core. I think it's the moon, and the tides, and the oceans. Our placement relative to the sun. The sheer number of coincidences that had to occur for all of that to be set in motion at the right time and place to create Life.
I can't cover Exodus here. Future post. But isn't our world that which causes Life to be?
On this world. At this time. In this place. Between the deep magma oceans, and the ones gathered in one place, on a bunch of mossy rocks sliding around on a hot sphere of thick mud. It's comical if you think about it. And it's all there!
I'd like to pause at this point to say my interpretation sucks. That these are just words, and they're ancient, and they were written with haste, and maybe we'll never know what they mean. I'm not trying to make it too easy.
In fact, I'm trying to be skeptical. But I'm being skeptical from a mossy rock moving around on an ocean of thick mud. That's all I'm saying.
Let's continue.
3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
Just to make it easy (not too easy) I'm going to go with the early sun. Until the sun had already converged, however, you don't have a bunch of planetary bodies slamming into each other, so it's a bit of an anachronism. Maybe it's the moon.
One thing that strikes me here is that we're already supposed to be familiar with this God figure. He's speaking. His words have effect. The gospel of John (forgive me if I'm wrong) tried to use the same effect, regarding words. But I'd like to reiterate that these words are metaphorical, that G-d has no physical being, that the events being described are being influenced by some "spirit," some force.
One thing that drives me nuts, however, is equating this with the big bang. We're on "earth." This world. This time. This place. Enough said.
I'd like to sidebar about timeline.
The Hadean was 4.6 billion years ago. Clearly the planet is not 5,785 years old. So maybe the light is a much younger light. Really, what it is, is a light that someone who wrote it down nearly 3,000 years ago would understand. A light in the darkness. A simple light. First there's darkness, then there's water, then there's a spirit, then the spirit talks and now there's light.
I think people put too much into this verse, really. In the story, there's some water, and there's some light. There's not even land yet. I'm going to move on.
6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the water, and let it be a separation between water and water."...
7 And God made the expanse and it separated between the water that was below the expanse and the water that was above the expanse, and it was so.
Alright, now there's a land mass. A rock. It's not mossy yet. We're metaphorically creating it with a booming voice, but we know it's not really a voice. It just happens. This stuff just... happened. That's what the story is really saying. Not that anyone was speaking, because there's no one to speak to. I mean, maybe someone was speaking. Nobody would know, because there's no one to listen.
An expanse appeared. Now one thing that's really interesting to me here is the significance of "below" and "above". And really, just what is meant by expanse. We could be geologists again and assume that this is a continent of some sort. The primordial continent. But I'm pretty sure we've figured out by now that's a bit of sophistry. This is not a geological story. It doesn't happen in geological time.
Perhaps there was a flood before Noah's flood. Bear with me here. Maybe this whole story is describing a flood of some sort, and the expanse is dry land.
8 And God called the expanse Heaven, and it was evening, and it was morning, a second day.
So, something else must be meant here by Heaven.
I can imagine a cave. A wet, damp cave, like the ones our most ancient ancestors lived in on the coast of southern Africa. Caves have well-regulated temperatures. Sometimes you can poke a light in the top. They have a ceiling (cielo) that's just, well, heavenly, if you want to avoid the elements.
One thing that's certain is that a very ancient period is being discussed here, by very ancient peoples. At that point in human history, I'm not even sure that they collectively understood the myths that had already been handed down for thousands of years. I'm reasonably sure they didn't. Egypt was in decline, Greece was just learning how to float armies across ponds. So this was, to them, the story of creation, and perhaps they accepted it. But I think it's an interesting piece in a much larger puzzle.
The story feels simultaneously like it is describing a pre-prehistoric home, and describing coming out of the Hadean. It has a sort of eternal quality. I suppose all myths do; that's what makes them myths. They're open to interpretation, so they survive to be interpreted and re-interpreted.
9 And God said, "Let the water that is beneath the heavens gather into one place, and let the dry land appear," and it was so....10 And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas, and God saw that it was good....11 And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, seed yielding herbs and fruit trees producing fruit according to its kind in which its seed is found, on the earth," and it was so.
Taken in this context, it could be our mythical spirit, hovering over the face of the waters, creating the atmosphere to separate the icy clouds from the oceans and seas below. Clearly the authors were familiar with multiple bodies of water. But what's even more fascinating to me is that we still haven't really strayed from the geological script, either. The primordial continent has sunken, and volcanism has caused early tectonic rifts to appear. Land appears here and there.
Now... vegetation, well, yeah. We most definitely should have started with cyanobacteria. But go ahead, in our time machine, go back to the dawn of Babylonian captivity and tell our Semitic friends about cyanobacteria while they're packing their prized belongings.
Vegetation, herbs, and fruit trees. I suppose I could accept that order. Like the five degrees of forestation, sort of. And after the fruit trees, evergreens. And then rainforests.
Anyways, so we have mossy rocks. It doesn't really explain humans. And of course you can go through the whole story doing this and maybe not discover anything of consequence.
It's not particularly wrong, it's just not particularly right either. It is in some ways an abridged introduction to how walking, talking, reasoning, thinking, conniving humans came to control the world we know today. And it proceeds to describe some rather interesting adventures these humans of mixed moral alignment embark upon. But they are definitely Mesopotamian and Near Eastern stories; closer to Arabian Nights than to Homer. Closer to hieroglyphs than phonetic alphabets; those alphabets in use now for several generations, in a land shared with the Phoenicians themselves.
The Hebrews never referred to themselves as Hebrews until modern times. It's a Greek word, denoting the people from the other side; whom they hated, along with the Phoenicians, despite having received their own alphabets from the latter group. The Phoenicians also didn't refer to themselves as such.
Everyone hated the Semitic peoples. Rome burned Carthage to the ground, and slaughtered all inhabitants. Other related groups fared better, but often not by much. Before they left Judea, they all but scattered the Judeans to the wind; Tyre and her neighbors by then long-forgotten.
My point is, sometimes fragments of a story are all we have left. Maybe this isn't the full story. Or maybe it is, and people at that time just had a wildly different opinion of what a well-reasoned and detailed text looked like.
Or maybe they were masters of invention and imagination, capable of spinning a tale so intentionally vague that no matter how our understanding of reality changed, it could still kind of fit.
Edits made 1/10/2024. I'm going to bed, darnit.
