“Man’s first and formative conscious experience, according to this Genesis account, is of God’s adoration, God’s blessing, God’s self-giving love. To absorb and reflect this love is to participate in this relationship of likeness. Humanity is all God imagines her to be as she beholds the One who adores her, allowing this adoration to define her as she reflects it back. “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). This is a vision of ideal reflection, ideal mimesis. God’s desire for me awakens my desire for him. His relentless pursuit of me sustains my passion for him. I have found my true reflection. In this place of mutual exchange there is no rivalry. This ‘likeness’ does not create the desire to replace the other but to partake of the other. Intimacy rather than rivalry is the result. Even God’s otherness does not frighten me but entices me to explore.”