Creation

“Our kinship with all earth creatures is global, linking us to the whole living Gaia today. It also spans the ages, linking our material substance with all the beings that have gone before us on earth and even to the dust of exploding stars. We need new psalms and meditations to make this kinship vivid in our communal and personal devotions…At this moment we can encounter the matrix of energy of the universe that sustains the dissolution and recomposition of matter as also a heart that knows us even as we are known.”

— Rosemary Radford Ruether

Creation

In the beginning was One.

And One was complete

And One was whole.

And when One could no longer contain its own ripe fullness

One let go, bursting forth into waves of pure energy

That moved across the vast expanse of time and space

Like streams of living water.

And as One flowed in every direction, swirling and redoubling

The waves began to intersect and interact,

Creating new vibrational fields that coalesced as particles of matter.

And over the aeons these particles of matter, longing to know and be known, 

Were drawn together in attraction.

Giving and receiving energy one to another, they began to take shape,

Forming new bonds, new structures, new relationships,

Growing worlds within worlds within worlds

The likes of which had never been known.

One gazed in delight and wonder at the multiplicity it contained,

And the rapturous flow of energy in relationship that allowed these parts to dance as a whole.

And One knew that it was Love.

One knew

As it swung in orbit round the massive burning orb,

     clouds and oceans roiling in turbulent motion,

     keeping time with its sister planets;

As its flames flared and flickered,

     flinging white hot rays to farthest galaxies

     the brightest star in a distant southern sky;

And as it sailed in multitude through an ocean of heavenly bodies

     colliding and exploding with one here and one there

     bringing news of distant lands.

One knew

As its thin filaments quivered with excitement,

     unzipping, duplicating, in intricate choreography,

     readying the birth of a new twin cell;

As it unfurled magenta petals to greet the sun,

     swaying in rhythm with the hum of the bees

     who were drawn to its intoxicating scent;

And as it blew across the face of the earth,

     carrying seeds of life to new territory

     like a messenger of hope.

One knew

As he ran through the jungle

     feeling the joy of raw energy

     powering his haunches, his jaws, and his roar;

As she trilled a new song

     in gratitude for the gift of flight

     and benediction to all the creatures of the meadow;

And as it rushed in ripples and rivulets

     over sticks and stones, carrying new-spawned fish

     to the wide and waiting arms of the mother sea.

One knew

As his heart pounded with anticipation,

     flesh ablaze, drawn to deeper union,

     leaning in in for that first kiss;

As she turned her head, having felt

     the supple firmness of her mother’s breast,

     to draw the willing nourishment forth;

And as it flowed through the hearts and heads of all the people

     in exultant ingenuity, astounded and amazed

     at all the words of their mouths and works of their hands.

One knew

As he sat in perfect stillness under the tree,

     chest and shoulders aching with compassion for the suffering

     of all asleep to the knowledge of One;

As she trembled in shock at the voice

     of the angel of truth deep within, saying, Fear not.

     For in your womb will grow a Revolution;

And as they marched the long weary road to justice,

     stones and slurs hurling toward their bodies

     as they demanded repentance for the ancient blasphemy, 

           violation of original Oneness.

One knew even

As he fell to forest floor with a thundering crash,

     having stood witness some two thousand years

     to the turning of the ages, of birth and death and rebirth;

As she drove across the burning desert 

     aching with the loss of the life she had known

     yet knowing that it no longer fed her;

And as he gasped in slow, ragged breaths,

     watching tears running down his daughter’s cheek

     as she clasped his hand, keeping vigil to the end.

One knew, pondering these things in the warm and steady thrum of the One Heart,

That all were movements in the dance of giving and receiving, emptying and filling, discovering and letting go.

All were movements in the dance called Love.

And there was only the dance.

And there was only Love.

AND ONE SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD.