| Prefatory Note It is variously spoken of a primordial fall, a fall from grace, of an expulsion from paradise and of original sin. While these and cognate phrases are not strictly scriptural, they refer to certain doctrines as principally derived from the third chapter of Genesis. Scripture does however state that “in Adam all die”, and Isaiah wrote, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer”. (1 Corinthians 15:22, Isaiah 14:12) The generic concept is thus valid and I shall abide by common usage and speak simply of a fall. Quoted scriptures, unless otherwise stated, are taken from the first three chapters of Genesis, which may be read in conjunction with this essay. One prevalent misconception needs to be cleared at the outset. Whereas it is spoken in this context of original sin, it is held among certain groups that this concept is spiritually regressive and so should not be taught. The error, my esteemed friends, is that of viewing the biblical concept of sin in an ethical / moral frame of reference, which takes it far indeed from its intended purport. Sin is essentially the state of separation from God, by which humanity is subject to the passage of time, to illness and death, along with its manifold other afflictions. There is, I take it, no question that humanity is thus afflicted, wherefore the attribution of ‘original sin’ amounts to a simple statement of fact. There is, I repeat, no ethical or moral judgement implied (1). What the relevant doctrines do however tell us, is that the condition is not permanent. Sin and its attendant ills are vanquished in the salvation that is revealed in Christ. It is only for illuminating this salvation that we refer to the problem of sin. The Primordial Fall It is written Elohim created man (Adam) in his own image – “in the image of Elohim created he him; male and female created he them”. The emphasis is added to make a point as follows. The man referred to in the singular is the archetypal or cosmic man – Christ, the logos or creative Word – of which the biblical Adam is the first manifestation in the flesh. From the original man, made in the image of God, the plurality of souls – male and female – derives, even as Eve, the first woman and type of the body and bride of Christ, was taken out of Adam. The first man and his wife led a idyllic existence in the garden of Eden, where they were free from death and affliction. It is stated that they were naked and not ashamed, suggesting a primal innocence by which the were veiled. They were veiled indeed from knowledge. For the directive issuing from the Elohim expressly forbade intercourse of a certain kind. “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”. Of two mysterious trees in the midst of Eden, one is the said tree of knowledge. The other is the tree of life. Who or what are these trees? Owing to the revelation unfolding in these last days, the mystery may be disclosed. The tree of life, of course, is Christ – as it is written, to know him is life. (John 17:3) In the present context it is Adam, the first man and the “I Am” that is at the centre – in the midst – of the human experience. Woman is the tree of knowledge which ought not to be touched – for, as it is further written, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble”. (Job 14:1) The knowledge of Christ then is life, whereas the knowledge of the woman is death (2). By analogy, the archetypal pair of Adam and Eve is spirit and nature, creator and creation. Thus, to reiterate – knowledge of God, the creator, is life; the knowledge of nature, the creation, is death (3). As this sounds strange to the modern ear, it must be understood that the “knowledge” and “eating”, of which it is spoken, refer to a partaking in the profound sense. The soul is identified with the image or object embraced. (Wherefore the scriptural injunctions against idolatry.) The carnal embrace of man and woman, while but a specific instance of this knowing, is its most essential expression in the natural sphere. It is that which brings forth ecstasy and new life after the manner of natural generation. Does this mean that Adam and Eve are not intended to have sexual intercourse? Then how should they relate? And how is offspring to be produced? Did not the Elohim enjoin that the pair “be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth”? We shall leave this a mystery. We shall note for now that catalytic in the fall is the intrusion of a third entity – that of the serpent. This creature, to cut a long story short, seduced the woman, as a result of which she brought forth her firstborn, Cain. Cain, the scriptures are unequivocal, is of the evil one. (1 John 3:12) He is not mentioned in the genealogy of Adam’s descendants. It is the incursion of a alien seed which thus occasions the fall, and this spiritually as well as physically. For before Eve conceived the physical seed of the serpent, she accepted his teaching – his doctrine or theology – which is at variance with the Word of God. As to the serpent’s pedigree and purpose, this is a subject unto itself. Here we shall focus on the consequences for humanity. It is written that their eyes were opened and they perceived their nakedness. Fear ensued, along with shame, and the man hid himself from the God with whom he had previously walked. God drove the man from the garden of Eden. The profound existential shift is summarised in Genesis 3:14-24, as here reproduced. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them. And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. Much of this is quite prosaic in meaning, but what of the expulsion from the garden, the cherubim and the flaming sword. Can we translate these iconic phrases into experiential terms? I believe we can. For simplicity we shall take only on the broadest conceivable angle. The essential faculty lost in the fall is what the scriptures designate as faith. Faith, as the primary cognitive stance, gave way to knowledge – the intuitive, all-embracing mode of apprehension to the more partial mode of the rational intellect – the Neshama and Chiah, in cabalistic terminology, to the Ruach. Intrinsic to the sexual gnosis, of course, is a narrowing or focussing of consciousness upon the specific object of desire. This, I propose, is archetypal as well as catalytic of the more general narrowing of consciousness that is the rational, analytical stance (4). In this sense all intellectual knowledge is carnal, and the carnal mind, as we are informed, is enmity against God. (Romans 8:7) And this is the matter in a nutshell. At the core of the contentious events in Eden – I wish to emphasise in conclusion – lies the incursion of an alien seed. Spiritually, this seed denotes another teaching or doctrine, whereby the serpent lured humanity from the original seed, which is the Word of God. Salvation is the restoration of that Word as embodied in Christ, wherefore – and I want to emphasise this point above all – it is the integrity of the Word which is at question. This should not surprise us, even from a secular perspective. For humanity is defined, and its destiny determined, by what it ultimately holds as true. For some six thousand years, by biblical reckoning, the serpent doctrine ruled on earth, with results that are doubtful at best. That we should, however, also have among us Christ, the Word of God is, of course, something utterly astounding and incommensurate with even the most exalted of humane conceptions. As to that Word in its written form, let the spiritual mind preserve its integrity and contend for the authentic faith, in order to perceive its meaning. Notes to the Text 1. Such agencies as promote the ethical / moral angle concerning the concept of sin do not (necessarily) have humanity’s spiritual welfare at heart. 2. There is a false church, pretending to the faith, which perceives nature – or woman – as spiritual enemy. It heads that supramundane global entity which presides over the destruction of nature – as of the nature tribes – and the torture of women. This, of course, is a perversion of the biblical revelation, which latter provides for redemption of the woman – of nature – not her destruction. 3. This conclusively shows that paganism, even in its most exalted form, cannot produce the spiritual redemption. For paganism is the worship of the woman – to whit, of nature or the personified forces of nature. By contrast, the spiritual soul, while a part of creation, is bidden to partake with the Creator. 4. We note as an example of this narrowed focus the obsession in science with the smallest of measurable effects in nature – with the idea that the most fundamental of particles will yield the most profound of nature’s secrets. The search, of course, is an unending one, for as the prophet Isaiah states, of God’s understanding (as is expressed in nature) there is no searching. The analytical stance rather leads to – indeed is identical with – the abyss of outer darkness. |