In Genesis, humankind falls into consciousness when we realize our propensity to create in the same manner that God created the macrocosm of the universe. By becoming conscious, the psyche incurs the ability to judge paradoxes in a manner that supersedes simpler forms of consciousness. However, to perceive humans as capable of a superordinate form of consciousness Self versus self also projects a view that the propensity human consciousness has to transcend itself is somehow greater than that of lesser forms of consciousness.
Consciousness builds upon itself, much like contemporary ideals are built upon the foundation of history that proceeds them. Thomas Nagel simply defined consciousness as the ability an organism has to experience “that there is something it is like to be that organism—something it is like for the organism”(Freeman, 2003, p. 301). If integral consciousness exists, it is simply the ability any organism has to realize it’s divine nature as being a whole construct within and of itself. This operates that the microcosmic level of the quark and the macrocosmic level of the universe. Wholes are made of parts, and parts are within themselves holonic structures in this delicate divinity of creation. If all forms of consciousness are themselves a holistic state of consciousness while remaining an individual part of ever evolving complex systems of consciousness, then each individual part must also be capable of integral states. Therefore, any theory that is integral in nature must utilize preceding explanations of the phenomenon studied.
Integral consciousness needs the paradoxical nature of consciousness to realize its ultimate aim. Humanity must fall from the grace of God in order to start the journey of consciousness that ultimately leads us back to the holistic state of being made in God’s image. In Buddhism, this form of integral consciousness is termed Nirvana, yet in Christianity, we have no such ideal that mirrors the ideal of “blown out” of existence (Consciousness).
A similar construct in Christianity is the matter of the Holy Spirit. This entity Crosses between the Being of the Father and Son in the construct of the Holy Trinity. It is also very evident in the first chapter of Genesis.
1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
Genesis 1
In this essence, the spirit (wind) sweeps over a formless void, and gives presence to the creation beginning. Maybe this is what it means to be Blown Out, in the Buddhist Term Nirvana.
By working the tensions common to consciousness, a third entity arises that Buddhist’s call the middle path. Jung (1950/1969) called this form of consciousness the individuated psyche. These processes, although labeled differently, represent an integral state of a holotropic consciousness that allows an individual to step beyond the split nature of paradoxical consciousness that would utilize ego to separate itself from the creative aspects of the macrocosmic level of God’s creative plan. We are created in God’s image to realize our image as it exists in the identity of God. As Genesis reminds us:
26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Genesis 1
This is the divine path of God’s light. We are created in the image of God, fall from Grace, only one day to return to the presence of this omnipotent divinity. Consciousness arises from the fall, and the divine light of God’s creative plan renews itself with each new life that is conceived.
I hope you enjoyed this psychoanalysis of the Creation Story. I look forward to your comments.
References:
Freeman, A. (2003). Consciousness: A guide to the debates. Santa Barbara, CA, USA: ABC CLIO.
Jung, C. G. (1950/1969). A study in the process of individuation. In C. G. Jung, H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. Hull, Trans., Vols. 9-1, pp. 290-354). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Jung, C. G. (1969). Aion: Researches into the phenomonology of the self. In C. G. Jung, H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. Hull, Trans., Vols. 9-2). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Koestler, A. (1967). The ghost in the machine. New York, New York, USA: Macmillan.