In a beginning, God had created the form Heaven and the form Earth. And when Earth existed as an astonishing-desert, with darkness over a face of abyss . . .
"Darkness was upon the face of the deep." A new source for fables and most impious imaginations if one distorts the sense of these words at the will of one’s fancies. By “darkness” these wicked men do not understand what is meant in reality—air not illumined, the shadow produced by the interposition of a body, or finally a place for some reason deprived of light. [. . .]The word is simple and within the comprehension of all. [. . .] But reason asks, was darkness created with the world? Is it older than light? Why in spite of its inferiority has it preceded it? Darkness, we reply, did not exist in essence; it is a condition produced in the air by the withdrawal of light. (Saint Basil, Hexaemeron, Homily II)What is Darkness?
Darkness lacks form and so refers to a concept. Darkness is a brainwork. In the above quote, this is what Saint Basil was trying to get at. Since darkness is a concept it needs to be defined. Start by saying darkness is a relation of your eyes with all objects of the universe mediated by a fundamental subatomic object from which atoms derive their form, and by which atoms consummate light events and gravity/inertia in relation to all others. An atom is literally a convergence of zillions of these fundamental subatomic objects which have unique properties and are probably liken to a double stranded thread. Atoms constantly impinge upon these fundamental subatomic objects, in a torsion, at various frequencies, and in this we have basic action and reaction events. When atoms or molecules of one's eyes receive certain frequencies from exterior objects the brain relates what we call darkness. Darkness resolves to a lack of certain frequencies which the eyes and brain can utilize in image. Darkness is concept conceived by Man.
In the Sacred Script, this concept is used to describe the object called Earth. In relation to the object called Earth is this relation called darkness. God did not create darkness. Darkness does not exist. Darkness has no nature. We can all go home and sleep well knowing that this word does not refer to some primeval entity, a mythical object, a fallen angel or Hell. Darkness could be used as a figurative concept to refer to other concepts such as evil or disorder, or a weak connection in the mind, etc. Yet here I have firmly established over the course of previous articles that the second verse of Genesis 1 refers to the astronomical object Earth. The sacred author saw the Earth. The Earth is the subject of the sentence. In Gen 1:2 use of the word darkness is not figurative, philosophic, mythical or even theological it is rather descriptive. The sacred author is describing the Earth as he saw it in a vision induced by God, just prior to the main light-event. If you want to read a philosophy or myth or scientific theory or theology or figurative language into this word then in my opinion you depart from the intention of the sacred author which is also the intention of God.
Strictly speaking there is no darkness only lower frequencies that the human eye cannot relay to the brain. If our eyes and brains utilized all frequencies we would literally be blinded by white light. Mother Nature does not care what mode of frequencies your eyes and brain can use. She just keeps signaling at all frequencies from all atoms by way of these fundamental subatomic objects interconnecting all atoms.
No matter where one looks the atoms of our eyes and entire body are being signaled at various frequencies. Light phenomenon is a constant occurrence. Light is a two way phenomenon: to and from all atoms, just as described by Newton's and Einstein's c squared concept. Atoms are constantly torquing the mediators at various frequencies. There is no real atom that is not giving and receiving a torsion signal via the physical mediators of light. Darkness resolves to a lack of certain frequencies stimulating your eyes. It is a subjective and artificial concept. Man made it up. God did not create darkness and the sacred author names it in Genesis 1 to help establish a context for the events happening.
Darkness in Genesis 1:2
In the Genesis 1:2 context, darkness is coupled to a preposition denoting spatial relations. In Hebrew the word is 'al , and can be translated to English as 'over', 'upon', 'against', and so on. Only darkness is not an object it is a concept. Darkness is not literally over, upon, against, the surface of the Earth, but while reading we simply reify (treat a concept as if an object) darkness and perform a contextual grammatical analysis and so understand that this is simply a concept. Put two and two together and the sacred author is clearly referring to Earth and outer space contouring the surface of the Earth, so to speak.
The sacred author was not describing the Earth from her surface, he was rather describing the Earth and surroundings from a bird's as if from a bird's eye view as if from outer space. The sacred author was mystically looking at the Earth and her surroundings and described it as dark. No Sun was lighting up her surface as of yet.
My Interpretive Theory of Darkness in Gen 1:2
The darkness concept in Gen 1:2 is fairly simple. I assume the sacred author experienced a prophetic 3D movie of the events he later described in his Script by Divine Inspiration. He looked at the Earth, saw it's Form as if orbiting her in space. He noticed a few surface features. But it was dark. No Sun or star was lighting up her surface as of yet. This implies that Earth was roaming somewhere in interstellar space and it also necessarily implies that it was cold and inactive. If there were activity happening on the Earth he would have been able to see it just like we can see our cities lit up by satellites.
The sacred author is explaining the face of the Earth as if seeing it from outer space. It is dark. End of story. It is a very simple word just as Saint Basil said. It can be comprehended by all. Earth is dark and is contoured so to speak, by the darkness of space. Once you realize the sacred author was experiencing a prophetic 3D movie the descriptions are easy to visualize. Just imagine yourself in place of the sacred author.
Earth's Location
I believe God showed the sacred author the Earth as it was moving between stars. The Earth’s surface was at the time not stimulated as it is now closer to the Sun. Back then the Earth was swinging around the galactic core on a course near the Sun. She was not yet near the Sun when God first sent forth the Spirit and transformed her surface. So perhaps the sacred author saw Earth’s shape, and some surface features, but at first impression the surface may have been a bit dim by lack the full range of perceptible frequencies coming from the Earth. Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich had a vision similar to the sacred author's and she describes the Earth as a ‘dark globe’. It was a dark star or black dwarf moving between stars i.e. interstellar space. In any case he clearly saw a shape and some surface features since Earth was miraculously spotlighted by the Presence of the Spirit.
In the fourth Divine Day, the God of power and of might moves the Earth into a locked system (an inverse square regime) with the Sun, and He, that is God moved the Moon in a system with the Earth so that these may signal at frequencies in a visible range. However the events of Genesis 1 begin beyond the Sun’s effect on the Earth. So perhaps the sacred author saw something like this:
Like I said in another post these pictures are not to be taken too literally. All I am trying to do is help place one in the mystical eyes of the sacred author. The Earth was between stars. There was darkness beyond her boundary, however the Spirit of God was emitted from Heaven by the Father and the Son. Make no mistake it all happened very fast. The Spirit literally lit up Earth's surface seconds prior to the main event. Perhaps the Spirit had one side of the Earth lit up in a preferential direction connected up to the Heaven of God. Like a ray of light or spotlight.
Imagine being given a side view of God in Heaven as if a star emitting a ray of light down on a dark planet. The light beam connecting God in Heaven to the Earth lighting up one side of the Earth represents the Spirit. The Spirit was present as the Mediator of God's Word. The Father and the Son transformed the face of the Earth via the Spirit who was sent so as to establish a Divine connection. This is crucial to understand.
Spirit of God paralleled with Darkness
Darkness over a face of abyss
Spirit of God oscillating over a face of the waters
In the well-known and well-studied parallel structure of the second verse darkness is set in contrast to the Spirit of God moving over Earth's surface. Spirit of God and darkness are not synonyms or even antonyms. They are contrasted since the sacred author saw the Spirit moving around Earth's boundary. The Spirit is the only object proximate to the Earth. There is just the Earth, and the Spirit moving around the Earth's surface. So perhaps the movements of the Spirit lit up a portion of the Earth’s face when the command is sent and the Spirit stimulates the entire surface to erupt or expand out coinciding with a glow in the dark:
For the Spirit being one, and holding the place of light, was between the water and the Heaven, (Theophilus ad Autolycus, Genesis Commentary)In the prophecy the Spirit is the go between God in Heaven and the Earth. The Spirit is there awaiting the command to stimulate the surface. Prior to the light-event God sent the Spirit to establish a singular unprecedented connection between God and the Earth.
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