Genesis 2:23 · World English Bible
Genesis 2:23 Meaning The Man Said
The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of Man.”
What does Genesis 2:23 mean?
Adam is the human imagination fallen asleep, and the woman drawn from him is his own desire. She is taken out of him because a wish is nothing but a portion of the one who wants it.
From the Manifestation reading below.
Genesis 2:23 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Manifestation
MANIFESTATION
Manifestation
Adam is the human imagination fallen asleep, and the woman drawn from him is his own desire. She is taken out of him because a wish is nothing but a portion of the one who wants it. Bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh means the thing longed for is made of the same substance as the mind that longs. It is no stranger from outside, but the self shaped into a want.
She is called Woman because she was taken out of Man, and this names the whole law. The sleeping imagination takes up the desire it made and holds it, dwelling in it until it lives. The two are a single being. What a person cleaves to in feeling becomes the fact he lives from, because he was never joined to anything but himself.
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Live Genesis 2:23 today
- Write down one thing you want, then read it back as a description of yourself rather than a request. It came out of you, so it is already telling you something about who you are.
- When a friend tells you what they are hoping for, hear the hope as part of them rather than a long shot. Reflect it back that way and watch their shoulders drop.
- In a meeting where you feel small, remember the standard you are judging yourself against came from inside you. You made the measure, so you are not actually short of it.
What does the thing I want most tell me about who I already am?
The same truth in other traditions
Bhagavad Gita
The self is both the seeker and what is sought. There is no treasure waiting outside that was not already your own nature.
Zen · Hakuin
You are like someone standing in water crying out for a drink. The thing longed for is made of the same stuff as the one longing.
Sufism · Rumi
What you are seeking is also seeking you. The longing itself is proof the two were never really apart.
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