One in Being - One in Substance

"And God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ " Genesis 1:26

I’m not sure the “dominion” thing is working too well for us is it? Look at how busy we are destroying the resources we need to stay alive: food, water, air. Any thoughts?

I’ve always found that verse in Genesis intriguing, the plural “us” and “our image.” It seems to reflect a time when the Jews were caught between polytheism and monotheism, which was true for a long time, even after Moses tried to straighten things out.

But exegesis aside, what do I think? I think whoever wrote that was letting the uniqueness of the human race overwhelm their understanding of the more obvious shared nature of all living things. And, for clarity’s sake, it is better translated as humankind not man because it says “male and female” in the next verse. (Although I should point out that the Hebrew word for earth used here is adamah, which actually is the feminine form of the word. So if you are going to translate the word in the singular it should be feminine! )

Something that modern science has made very clear is that we all come from the same “stuff.” Talk about “one in being!” I like that phrase, but we shouldn’t limit it to talking about the nature of God; it describes the nature of all “nature.” Something the Council of Nicea couldn’t possibly have known, because it is about the foundational elements of life, the atoms and molecules that we share. And being or substance? Pointless semantics. Who is better the Greek speakers or the Latin speakers? Come on, it’s a bit more important than that. It all boils down to “stuff.” “One in stuffness.” Doesn’t have quite the academic ring to it but it gets the point across.

If you think about it just a little you realize that the stuff you pollute eventually becomes the stuff we are made of, not us individually but us as humans. And of course vice versa. What goes around comes around in a very tangible way on this planet. But it is easy to get short-sighted.
So what if there are other planets with life on, I don’t know, but it shouldn’t affect how we treat this one. You shouldn’t give in to the creators of science fiction and imagine making planets the dumping grounds of your effluent and excess.
We don’t even think about the next generation, let alone the distant future. And it’s time we did.

What you’re saying sounds very Circle of Life/ Hakuna Matata to me. Have you been watching my videos again?

The truth is the truth, whether it is found in a cartoon movie or in a CNN special about the oil spill polluting the gulf of Mexico.
Point taken!