How I Used Truth - Lesson 9 - Annotation 2
Name the days or steps (giving the metaphysical meaning of each) in the creative process as given in Genesis I, and the first three verses of Genesis II, culminating in the seventh day (step) or Sabbath. What follows these seven days or steps?
2. 1st day or step: "And God said, Let there be light" (Gen. 1:3).
This light is the intelligence that moves throughout all creation, through every atom. In man it is the awakening that comes to him of his true nature.
"The first step in creation is the awakening of man to spiritual consciousness, the dawning of light in his mind, his perception of Truth through the quickening of his spirit. Light is wisdom; and the first day's work is the calling of light or wisdom into expression" (Mysteries of Genesis, page 14).
2d day or step: "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters" (Gen. 1:6).
This firmament represents faith, the perceiving power; faith in God as the starting point of all creation.
"The second step in creation is the development of faith or the 'firmament.' The 'waters' represent the unestablished elements of the mind. . . .
"There must be a 'firm' starting point or foundation established" (Mysteries of Genesis, pages 16, 17).
3d day or step: "And God said, Let the waters ... be gathered together . . . and let the dry land appear . . . Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit-trees (Gen. 1:9, 11).
The dry land represents the faculty of imagination and the vegetation represents the mental images formed by imagination (which is the picture-forming idea of Divine Mind).
"The third step in creation is the beginning of the formative activity of the mind called imagination. . . . the imagination begins a great multiplication of forms and shapes in the mind" (Mysteries of Genesis, page 18).
4th day or step: "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament . . . the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night . . . the stars also (Gen. 1:14, 16).
This step covers understanding (greater light), will (lesser light), and the perceptive faculties (the stars).
"The fourth step in creation is the development of . . . the will and the understanding . . . These are but reflectors of the true light; for God had said, 'Let there be light: and there was light'—before the sun and moon were created.
. . .
"The 'stars' represent man's perceptive faculties, including his ability to perceive weight, size, color, sound, and the like" (Mysteries of Genesis, pages 19, 20).
5th day or step; "And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth" (Gen. 1:20).
In this step we have the unfolding of discrimination, discernment, sensation.
"The fifth step in creation is the bringing forth of sensation and discrimination. The 'creatures' are thoughts. The 'birds' . . . are ideas approaching spiritual understanding . . .
"Ideas of discrimination and judgment are developed" (Mysteries of Genesis, pages 22, 23).
6th day or step; "And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts . . . And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Gen. 1:24, 26).
In this step we have ideas fulfilling their purpose.
"The sixth step in creation is the bringing forth of ideas after their kind. When man approaches the creative level in his thought, he is getting close to God in his 
consciousness. . . .
"On the sixth day of creation ideas of life are set into activity" (Mysteries of Genesis, page 24).
7th day or step; "And on the seventh day God finished his work . . . and he rested on the seventh day . . . And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it" (Gen. 2:2, 3) .
This is the period of rest after the idea is conceived through the six steps of activity. In this step God has finished His work as Creator. He has imaged a complete plan of operation for His son, man, His seed or Word, and He rests. For man the seventh step is the time of the silence, the Sabbath.
"The plans of Divine Mind were finished although there was as yet no outward manifestation. All is finished first in consciousness and mind then rests, in faith, from further mental activity. This 'rest' precedes manifestation. The seventh day refers to the mind's realization of fulfillment, its resting in the assurance that all that has been imaged in It will come forth in expression" (Mysteries of Genesis, page 31).
Demonstration or manifestation in the world of form follows the seven steps in the creative process. It is logical and inevitable, when it is according to the law of mind action, that is: mind, idea, expression. In other words, we are to work in mind for some good to be brought forth; then, when we have rested in the assurance that God's laws never fail, the demonstration will follow in mind, body, or affairs.
For example, if we have held the idea of life, then the light or inspiration that life is our inheritance from God will come first to consciousness. We need then to have faith that life will manifest as health of body. Imagination pictures the body as healthy, radiant, vibrant, energetic. Next our understanding is quickened, and through the will faculty and the perceptive faculties we are moved to do all that is necessary on our part to enable our body to manifest health. Good judgment (discrimination) in the use of our body follows. Inevitably the idea we have been holding in mind begins to come alive in our consciousness. Though there may at first be no recognizable change in the physical body itself, we rest" In the assurance that God's law of life is doing its perfect work. In divine order the body will manifest wholeness when every step or "day" has been completed.
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Preceding Entry: What is a "word"? To what do we refer when we write "Word" with a capital "W"?
Following Entry: Read John I and relate it to God's spoken word, "Let there be," in Genesis I. To what particular phase of the creative process does each chapter refer?
