The Zohar states that “G-d looked into the letters of the Torah and created the universe.” The Divine act of Creation is referred to by the metaphor of speech, as we say in the beginning of our morning prayer: “Blessed be He who said … and the world came into being.”; The root, “to say,” is an acronym for the first three primary creations: Light, water, firmament. These represent the three stages in the materialization of the creative seed, as taught by the Arizal: the spiritual origin of the seed in the mind – light; physical manifestation of seed – water; the beginning of conception in the womb – firmament.
Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh,The Alef Beit, Jewish Thought Revealed throughout the Hebrew Letters, p. 3