Just as the very process of creation is said to be ongoing, so is our involvement. We are God’s very partners in the process of creation. But what are we creating?
“Why is this happening?” I don’t personally know anyone who has not asked that exact question. And it’s usually for something negative. We don’t tend to question the universe when things are going our way. Often the question is rhetorical and we know the reason, even if we don’t care to admit it. After all, there is a direct correlation to binge-eating and gaining weight, evading taxes and getting audited or worse, committing adultery and getting divorced, etc. Invariably, however, the question goes to the deeper issues of life, for which there is either no easy answer or no answer at all.
The processes of wrestling with such existential dilemmas vary according to the personalities of the questioner. At one end of the spectrum is an approach such as, “The Law of Attraction.” This principle is completely sourced in self and so everything that we experience in our lives is the direct result of what we create, generate and attract into our lives from our will as expressed through our energy and “vibes.” In a nutshell, this is the operational system of the universe and it occurs whether or not we are conscious of the mechanism, and even when we get the opposite of what we think we want.
So, for example, when what we want and what we get are disparate (often the case – right?), we need to look inside for our self-sabotaging behavior and either clean up our act, or we need to uncover what it is we really want. As Wayne Dyer put it so succinctly, “We don’t attract what we want; we attract what we are.” Thus, we are the actual creators of all that shows up (or fails to materialize) in our lives.
A diametrically opposite approach, as evidenced by organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous, Overeater’s Anonymous, etc., is that we control nothing. We are simply not in charge. Our Higher Power is in charge. And the sooner we admit this lack of power not only over ourselves, but over others and the universe, the sooner we can be strengthened and guided by whomever or whatever we understand to be running the show. Paradoxically, it’s getting the ego out of the way and striving for a state of humble dependence that is the first step towards developing personal power.
It should be no surprise that Torah teaches a middle path, which is really a blend of these two approaches. This third approach teaches that we are neither totally in control nor totally out of control, but that we are empowered – in partnership with God – to co-create reality.
We see this in the very story of creation. Tradition teaches us that God created the world with all of the potential of vegetation lying beneath the surface. It was not until Adam prayed for rain that the earth was watered, causing all plant life to burst forth. Thus, the involvement of man was needed for the earth’s potential to actualize itself.
When God created the living things inhabiting the earth, He did so in general categories of species and description: fish, birds, creeping things, wild animals, domesticated animals, etc. There was no specificity and differentiation between the classes of species. It was Adam who named them all. In the Hebrew language, a name is not arbitrary; it goes to the essence of the thing. And so Adam saw the singular essence and potential of each type of creature, he culled out each creature from an indistinguishable mass and raised it to a being with a unique identity and purpose. God spoke and all of the earth’s inhabitants came into existence. Adam, however, provided the finishing touch. Just as the very process of creation is said to be ongoing, so is our involvement in co-creating it. We are God’s very partners in the ongoing process of creation. So what are we creating?
Fast forward to this week’s Torah portion, Beha’alotcha which starts with the command for Aaron to kindle the lights of the Menorah. What menorah? There was no Judaica store nearby and no on line shopping. Furthermore, the description was daunting – it was to be made of one piece of pure gold, consisting of seven branches with each branch looking like an almond tree – with buds, blossoms and flowers. Unable to create that on his own, tradition teaches us that Aaron threw the gold into a fire, and the Menorah emerged, fashioned, as you will, by the Hand of God. And so here, it was man who initiated an act of creation, but it was God who finished it.
The same thing happened with the Golden Calf. Aaron threw gold into a fire, and out walked a golden calf. Same process. (Some say this occurred through Egyptian sorcery, but if you want to play that game, who invented sorcery?) The point is that as partners in creation, there is an on-going dance between the Divine and us.
As “created beings,” we depend on God for our very existence. As “creative beings”, on the other hand, we can create our own heaven or hell. As Erica Jong quipped, “Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing; no one to blame.”
Thus it is the paradox of the middle path that embraces both realities. We are created with infinite potential. Moment by moment, each choice is really the act of casting gold into the fire. What is it that we are hoping to materialize, to create, to become? What do we want to emerge? A Menorah or a Golden Calf? There is a saying that whichever way we want to go, however, God (as our partner) will help make that happen.
When we live in the paradox of this duality, then the dark and depressing “why’s” of life kinda’ fall away, because that question no longer holds power. The better question to ask, thanks to Viktor Frankl is, “Who? “Who am I – in the presence of this?”
Figure out the “who” of who you are in any given situation, and the “what” – meaning the right course of action – will flow as a natural consequence. So, who are you? And what are you co-creating?