Cosmogonic Myth Through Systemic Functional Linguistics [16]

Genesis (1:26-7):

26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 

27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic theory, this symbolism from Abrahamic mythology can be interpreted as further construing the genesis of construing experience as meaning through language.

In verse 26, the creator of meaning verbally projects a proposal for humanity to serve the rôle of the creators of meaning:

and	God	said		let	us	make	man	in our image, after our likeness
1			"	2
	Sayer	Process: verbal		Process:	Actor	material: creative	Goal	Rôle: guise

That is to say, humanity itself is here unmasked as the creators of meaning, and this is itself construed as a linguistic construal of experience, made by the creator of meaning.

Verse 27 then confirms that the result of the proposed identity relation in verse 26 is humanity as a (linguistic) creation of the creator of meaning:

so	God	created	man	in his own image
	Actor	Process: material: creative	Goal	Rôle: guise

in the image of God	created	he	him
Rôle: guise	Process: material: creative	Actor	Goal

male and female	created	he	them
Rôle: guise	Process: material: creative	Actor	Goal

Moreover, identifying humanity as the last act of creation construes self-consciousness as the last aspect of consciousness to arise.