Be Fruitful & Multiply
Monday, September 16, 2013
“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it…” This is the first commandment of the Holy Torah, but in the Garden of Eden there is also the commandment regarding the tree of knowledge of good and evil, one positive commandment and one negative commandment, one “do” and one “don’t.” On the surface one commandment appears to be material and the other spiritual, one speaking of the propagation of the material form of humankind on earth and mastery of the material dimension or world, the other speaking of the guardianship of the soul, or the preservation of the spiritual essence and being. As such, together they indicate the weave of the material and spiritual dimensions for the development and evolution of souls, and their realization, and indicate the union of earth and heaven in the human one, the fulfillment and completion of creation.
“Be fruitful and multiple, and fill the earth and subdue it…” The surface meaning in ancient times was, in fact, very important. There was a great need to be as “fruitful” as possible in order for humankind to continue and endure upon the earth, and for the development and evolution of human society, and everything that would be actualized and realized through human society. Likewise, through human children comes the opportunity for souls to enter into the human life-wave, and through human incarnations to develop and evolve from material, bestial humankind, to psychic, faithful humankind, and eventually to spiritual humanity, which holds the potential for the realization of a divine and supernal humanity thus fulfilling the Divine imperative which is for “God to behold God” according to the Midrash.
Of course, when joined to the commandment regarding the tree of knowledge, the assumption is an effort, a labor, to engender and raise true human beings, the generation of a spiritual humanity – a humanity that knows how to pray and how to worship in spirit and truth, and so fill the earth with the shefa of the Holy Sefirot, and the glory and power of the Holy Shechinah, drawing in spiritual bounty and drawing out material bounty, understanding the two inseparable from one another. To “fill the earth” implies fulfillment, completion, and to “subdue” implies sublimation and the uplifting of the earth to heaven, in ascension. The “dominion” over all life that follows in this commandment implies drawing out the inner intelligence of all things, the actualization and realization of all living spirits and souls.
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