Finding the Common Ground Between Science and Spirituality “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.”(59) Just like God has dominion over all He created, He offered humans dominion over all life forms and over the earth itself Dominion means authority, territory, domain, province, power, control, responsibility, and protectorate As the Governor of God’s creation, man has authority as well as responsibility for its protection, sustenance, and renewal Having made humans in His image, God offers to share with them His dominion A question arises What did He mean in offering His dominion to humans? There is no authority without responsibility; even God is not exempt from this law of His He offers humankind dominion over the entire creation in the full sense of the word including both responsibility and authority Humankind has the authority to use God’s creation for sustenance while it assumes the responsibility for looking after, protecting, and sustaining the creation Since God is purely a spiritual being, it is not concrete at all Humans are made in the image of God, so the configuration of principles that make up a human being is such that total concreteness of them is minimized What then is the third faculty of the human mind? The capacity to share in the divine dominion over the divine creation It is the divine consciousness that enables us to discharge this responsibility This faculty is that of the intellect through which conscious operates: light of the mind created to enable differentiability in the diverse universe Intellect can be used for our own selfish purpose or for discharging our responsibility to exercise our dominion over divine creation In the former role, it becomes akin to our rational mind In the 103