Home
Preface
5 Planes of Existence
Introduction
Five Planes of Manifestation
A to Z
Contact
Related Information
BIBLE VERSES
|
GENESIS 1:18
"And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good."
Inner Meaning
1. “To rule over the day and over the night”
The greater light (spiritual consciousness) governs the day, the periods of clarity, insight, and awakened perception.
The lesser light (reflective mind, or manas) governs the night, the periods of obscurity, reflection, and indirect knowing.
Together they establish the rhythm of consciousness:
- Day → direct illumination from the Higher Self
- Night → reflected illumination through the lower mind
This is the first true governance within the psyche:
the higher and lower lights each ruling their proper domain.
2. “To divide the light from the darkness”
This is the emergence of discernment — the ability to distinguish:
- the real from the unreal
- the eternal from the transient
- the Self from the not‑Self
It is the birth of viveka, the discriminative faculty that allows the soul to navigate incarnation without being swallowed by illusion.
This division is not antagonistic; it is functional.
Darkness is simply the unlit field of potential; light is the awakened field of awareness.
3. “And God saw that it was good”
The harmony of these two rulers — spiritual intuition and reflective mind — is good because it creates the conditions for:
- ordered growth
- balanced evolution
- the soul’s safe descent into matter
- and its eventual ascent back into the higher planes
Without this dual rulership, consciousness would be either:
- blinded by too much light, or
- lost in undifferentiated darkness
The “good” is the equilibrium that makes incarnation workable.
Esoteric Summary
Genesis 1:18 describes the establishment of inner governance:
the higher and lower lights ruling their respective domains and enabling the soul to distinguish between the illuminated and the unilluminated
regions of its own nature. This ordered duality is the foundation
upon which all further evolution rests.
COMPARATIVE RELIGION PERSPECTIVE
Judaism
Jewish mystical tradition (especially in Midrash and Kabbalah) sees the “two lights” as the yetzer tov (inclination toward good) and yetzer hara (inclination toward self).
Their governance over “day and night” reflects the human task of harmonizing inner impulses.
The division of light and darkness echoes the separation of or (light) and choshech (concealment), a necessary structure for free will and moral growth.
Christianity
Christian interpretation often reads the “greater light” as Christ-consciousness, the direct illumination of divine truth, and the “lesser light” as the Church, which reflects that light into the world.
Spiritually, the verse symbolizes the believer’s inner life:
• the day of grace and clarity,
• the night of trial, reflection, and faith.
The division of light and darkness becomes the moral discernment between righteousness and sin, truth and deception.
Hinduism
Hindu cosmology parallels this verse through the dual operation of Purusha (pure consciousness) and Prakriti (manifest nature).
The “greater light” corresponds to buddhi (illumined intelligence), while the “lesser light” corresponds to manas (the reflective mind).
The division of light and darkness mirrors the distinction between vidyā (knowledge) and avidyā (ignorance).
The governance of day and night reflects the rhythmic interplay of guna forces — sattva (clarity) ruling day, tamas (inertia) ruling night, with rajas mediating between them.
|
See Also
|