Genesis, Chapters 2-4: Adam and Eve and Creation

Genesis, Chapters 2-4: Adam and Eve and Creation

Comment:

Adam and Eve are—along with the Lord and the serpent—the central characters in the second story of creation with which the Bible begins (Genesis, chapters 2-4). In traditional Christian belief they are the perpetrators (especially Eve) of the “original sin” of disobedience that causes God to expel them (and us, as their descendents) from the Garden of Eden into the separation and suffering of this human experience. Metaphysically, in terms of universal spiritual principles, we understand the allegory differently.   We don't see this human experience as a kind of global penitentiary, the purpose of which is to punish us. We are as intimately connected with, and embraced by, the omnipresent energy we call God here in human form as we were in the Garden—and as we will be in the next spiritual dimension, which Jesus describes as the kingdom of heaven. We are not here to be punished, but to be creative—to make the choices that allow the Presence and Power of God to express through us to create the consciousness of that next dimension.   To be the spiritual creators we are here to be requires an interaction of the aspects of divine Power working in and through us. The initial Adam—created, in this particular story, on the first day of creation—is neither male nor female. Adam is created in the image and likeness of God, which means Adam contains all the attributes of masculinity and femininity. In order to work more comfortably and clearly with the creative Power of God, the initial Adam energy is separated into two distinct beings—the masculine Adam and the feminine Eve.   This is an important point, I think, given how much subjugation of the feminine has been justified through history because Eve was created second, and anyway she's the one who ate the apple! What happens here is not that a different being to be called Eve is created as an afterthought. No, what happens is that the Allness of Adam is separated into two distinct energies. In physical form, this is depicted as man and woman. But in fact, since each of us is an expression of the Christ, which contains all aspects of God, what this means is that the Power of God in us is expressing as two complementary entities. We all contain both; our physical forms simply express the spiritual force that is expressing most strongly in us in this particular life experience.   Why? It's hard to describe, but I think, as Genesis suggests, we were “lonely” as the Allness. The creative process that we are about to undertake requires a sense of duality, an interplay between different energies—all aspects of the one Source.   So although misunderstandings of this particular creation story have caused great harm through the millennia since the story first took shape, it remains expressive of a powerful and important spiritual truth. You can't blame the book for the blindness of the reader. There's a profound metaphysical truth, helpful if we are to understand our spiritual purpose and how it's meant to express, in the image of a loving, intimate and profoundly creative interplay among different aspects of one divine Source.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed