— The true Genesis, viewed from the perspectives of Spiritual Truth—
THE OLD TESTAMENT, THE BOOK OF GENESIS
Chapter 1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
２And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
３And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
４And God saw the light, that it was good: and for God divided the light from the darkness.
⇒ God created the physical world, the world of polar opposites, of light and dark.
５And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
(parts omitted)
２６And God said, Let us (divine evolved spirits) 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.
２７So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; man and female created he them.
⇒ Human beings are God’s divided spirits.
(parts omitted)
Chapter 2
(parts omitted)
７And the Lord God formed man (physical body) of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (life force, spirit power); and man became a living soul.
８And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden (heaven, spirit world); and there he put the man whom he had formed.
９And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
⇒ Why did God plant the tree, deliberately in the middle of the garden, the tree of the fruits he forbids to eat? The omnipotent God must have done so with divine intention and purpose.
(parts omitted)
１５And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
１６And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
１７but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (⇒ which will create self responsibility), thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (⇒ physical body returns to soil)
(parts omitted)
２１And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
２２and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
⇒ God gave man instinctive mind, in order to protect his physical body
２３And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
２４Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (instinctive mind and physical body)
２５And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. (physical body and ego-mind are completely naked)
Chapter 3
１Now the serpent (symbolizes egoism and selfishness) was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he (selfishness) said unto the woman (instinctive mind), Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
２And the woman (instinctive mind) said unto the serpent (selfishness), We may eat of the fruit of the tree of the garden:
３but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden (tree of the knowledge of good and evil ⇒ self responsibility will occur), God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
４And the serpent (selfishness) said unto the woman (instinctive mind), Ye shall not surely die:
５for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
６And when the woman saw that tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
⇒ Proof that free will is given to humans
７And the eyes of them both were opened, and they know that they ware naked; and they sewed fig leaves together (awakening of ego-consciousness), and made themselves aprons.
８And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the tree of the garden.
⇒ Now with the knowledge of good and evil, they became aware of their sin, disobeying God’s command.
９And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
１０ And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
１１And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded tree that thou shouldest not eat?
１２And the man said, The woman (instinctive mind) whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
⇒ Man blames God for the disobedience, and transfers the responsibility to another (woman). This demonstrates man’s selfishness. Human growth starts from immature selfishness.
１３And the Lord God said unto the woman, what is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent (selfishness) beguiled me, and I did eat.
⇒ The woman also transfers her responsibility, and blames the serpent, that God created. This illustrates selfishness of the woman (instinctive mind).
１４And the Lord God said unto the serpent (selfishness), Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shall thou go, and dust (materialism) shalt thou eat all the days of thy life (⇒ body rules the spirit):
１５and I will put enmity between thee (serpent, selfishness) and the woman (instinctive mind), and between thy seed and her seed; it（altruistic mind, spirituality) shall bruise thy head (egoistic and selfish)(⇒ spiritual emancipation), and thou shalt bruise his（spirituality）heel (to interfere and deter spiritual emancipation),
１６Unto the woman (instinctive mind) he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children (things which belong to the physical world); and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee (spirituality rules instincts ⇒ spirit rules the body),
１７And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife (instinctive mind), 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 (⇒ The path of progress through great difficulties, painful sufferings and adversities in the physical world);
１８thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
１９in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground (physical body returns to soil); for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
２０And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
２１Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins (physical body, the form they take in the physical world), and clothed them.
２２And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us (evolved divine spirits), to know good and evil: and now, (⇒Through birth into physical world with the physical body, the spirit gained ego-consciousness, and the way towards evolved divine spirits has been opened.) lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life (life force, spirit power), and eat, and (remain lazy and immature in heaven) live for ever:
２３therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden (heaven, spirit world), to till the ground from whence he was taken (⇒ Hardships in the physical world, the world of polar opposites).
２４So he drove out the man (to the physical world, for the purpose of spiritual growth); and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden (heaven, spirit world) Cherubims (angel), and a flaming sword（trials, ordeals, difficulties, adversities) which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life (Way towards spiritual awakening).
Is it really a sin for humans to know good and evil ?
We currently occupy earth, the physical world and the world of polar opposites such as light and dark, good and evil, love and hatred, happiness and sorrow, health and illness, and rich and poor. Throughout earth life we must encounter and experience both sides of the polar opposites, whether we like it or not. Courtesy, empathy, and other expressions of an altruist are nurtured by means of reflection and learning, through the turbulence of the world of polar opposites, occupied by human beings of all different levels of spirituality. The self-responsibility rule comes into effect, only because we have the free will, which allows us to make our own choice between good and evil. Evolutional development of a human being is attained after going through all levels of maturity, starting from the most immature, instinctive mind (selfishness) of the physical body, all the way to the divine spirituality (altruistic) of evolved spirits.
With these perspectives in mind, let’s closely examine and verify the contents of “The Book of Genesis.”
In Christianity “serpent” symbolizes the devil (Satan) that stands against God; and the story of Adam and Eve of the Paradise Lost is considered as the grounds for the “original sin,” the curse on human being.
However, from the perspective of spiritual truth, what we see is a completely different story. We see it as a very blessed fable that demonstrates how human beings are no marionettes (robots), and instead, they decide and choose for themselves among good and evil using their free will (self-responsibility). Adam and Eve themselves chose the paths of human evolution toward the most highly evolved spirits.
It is also God who created the serpent, as a symbol of evil (selfishness, instinctive mind). God had given it to us as an expedient and an instrument for evolutional development. This important fact must not be ignored.
Do we take the worldly perspective, and consider God as a humanlike God of wrath? Or, do we adopt the spiritual perspective, and see in the Book of Genesis the way of evolutional development for human beings? We can see that these two perspectives are the complete opposite of each other.
[Important points of The Book of Genesis]
• God divided the light from the darkness（１：４）
⇒ Prior to creating humans and before any others, the omnipotent God created the physical world, the world of polar opposites, of light and dark. What is the God’s intention and purpose in this?
• So God created man in his own image （１：２７）
⇒ Then he created human beings as God’s divided spirits.
• And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden. . . . the tree of life also in the midst of garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. （２：８，９）
⇒ The purpose and intent of God, for planting the two trees, of the fruits which he forbids to eat, deliberately in the middle of the garden? These trees exhibit free will endowed to human beings.
• God created woman from the rib, taken from Adam（２：２２）
⇒ God gave man instinctive mind, in order to protect his physical body.
• God created serpent （３：１）
⇒ The “serpent” here symbolizes selfishness (self-centred); and it must be made clear that God did not create the devil, of fallen angel (Satan). Angels are different from humans in that they lack evil mind, thus there is no way for angels to fall.
• Adam and Eve hid themselves among the trees（３：８）
⇒ Proves that they became aware of good and evil, and thus felt guilty for disobeying God’s command.
• She gave me of the tree, and I did eat（３：１２）
⇒ Man claims that woman, created by God, is responsible for eating the forbidden fruit. He tried to transfer his responsibility to God and woman (wife).
This demonstrates humans are born egoistic (selfish).
• The serpent beguiled me （３：１３）
⇒ The woman blames the serpent, a wild being created by God, for eating the forbidden fruit; thus she indirectly puts the blame on God. This again illustrates selfishness of human being. Both man and woman put the blame of their own responsibility unto others. Shows that human growth starts at immature selfishness.
• And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil. （３：２２）
⇒ Man learns good and evil in the physical world. He uses the free will to choose between good and evil, and assumes self-responsibility through the causality law.
The way of evolutional development by means of man’s own efforts has been opened before him. Note that this “way of man” is different from the way of evolutional development for angels.
• He may put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life (power of the spirit), and eat, and live forever. （３：２２）
⇒ He may remain in The Garden of Eden (heaven, spirit world), and live there forever as lazy and immature being, therefore, God drove him off to the physical world, where he will have chances to evolve and grow. (The purpose of repeating reincarnations)
• So he drove out the man; and placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims (angel), and a flaming sword (ordeals, difficulties, setbacks) which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life (the way of spiritual awakening).（３：２４）
⇒ He drove man off to the physical world, for his spiritual growth. Through ordeals, difficulties, hardships, spiritual awakening will be attained, then he would evolve and progress spiritually. . . The law of human evolution.
The serpent and woman symbolize egoism and instinctive mind; and God created a stage set (school) called physical world, consisting of polar opposites such as good and evil, light and dark, love and hatred, and contrasting levels of spirituality, all are part of God’s scheme for human evolution and progress. Hence, immaturity of a selfish mind (instinctive mind), is considered evil because it is farthest away from God’s providence, whereas altruism is considered good, as it is in accord with the providence (God’s mind). It is with this comparison of contrasting opposites that human beings are able to comprehend good and evil; and we attain growth by deepening our understanding of good.
Once again, let’s summarize the story from the Book of Genesis, quoted above:
1. God created the physical world, the world of duality such as good and evil, love and hatred, health and illness, happiness and sorrow, rich and poor.
“Life moves through comparison. Light and dark are servants of the Great Spirit. If there were no light and dark, then dark and light would be the same.
If there were no morning and night, then night and morning would be the same. If there were no love and hatred, then hatred and love would be the same. It is the comparison that enables you to understand the difference, but they are only opposite ends of the one pole. You cannot go through earthly life with a monotone.
You must have light and dark; you must have warmth and cold; you must have happiness and sorrow; you must have the variety of experiences to enable the soul to come into its own.”
(p.46 Guidance from Silver Birch)
2. He planted the tree of knowledge of good and evil ⇒ Whether or not the fruit of the tree be picked and eaten, God left it to man’s free will (self-responsibility).
3. Man ate the fruit of knowledge of good and evil ⇒ He knew good and evil
⇒ He gained ego-consciousness ⇒ Felt sense of guilt and disguised himself from God ⇒ He put the blame of his responsibility onto another (selfishness)
4. God created the way of spiritual awakening (coming to know one’s true self, thus the spirit), to be attained after extensive suffering through the rotating sword of flames (series of hardships, illnesses) of the world of polarity. After knowing “one’s true self,” he enabled man to take the fruits (life force, spirit power) from the tree of life and eat it (inflow of spirit power).
5. By repeating reincarnations into the world of polarity (physical world), man of selfish immaturity attempts evolutional progress towards divinity of altruism. This is the way of human evolution toward divine evolved spirits, created by God.
This is the “Law of evolution for humans,” which is different from “Law of evolution for angels.”
“There is part of the hierarchy that has never incarnated into matter because it has a purpose to serve in helping the governance of the universe. There are celestial beings who have never taken earthly form. It is not necessary for them to endure earth expression to attain a growth essential for their larger life. They are inherently part of the higher reaches of the spiritual realms. Some of these are what you call masters of the shining ones. There are these beings in existence.”
(p.59 Lift Up Your Hearts)
Evil means immaturity, and the “original sin” that Christian doctrines claim, is a fictional story; there is no such thing as the “original sin” in reality. This means that the tale of redemption, where Jesus of Nazareth sacrificed himself for the sake of saving humankind from the “original sin,” is also a made-up story, and a completely meaningless one.
Human beings, evil or good, differ only in the location of their current step on the eternal stairway of spiritual development. All of us, no exceptions, are God’s divided spirits with eternal life, in the midst of pilgrimage. The Atonement on the cross, as an act of sacrifice opposes entirely of the principle of self-responsibility, which is based on the causality law (law of cause and effect), the fundamental principle of the universe that governs all of the physical world and the spirit world. The theology of redemption is an artificial dogma itself, created in order to preserve the organization of Christian Churches.
“The natural law (causality law) ensures justice always prevails. It may not work immediately in your earthly existence, but it will operate in our world because it must do so.”
(p.85-86 Light from Silver Birch)
Before we conclude, we must clarify this very important fact about Jesus of Nazareth, stated as follows by Silver Birch:
“The Nazarene is the guiding intelligence behind all the work we try to do.”
(p.126 More Philosophy of Silver Birch)
— Conclusions —
First of all, God created the world of light and dark, namely the physical world, the world of good and evil, the polar opposites. He then had the spirit obtain ego-consciousness through incarnation into the physical world, dressed in a physical body. He gave man free will, the freedom to choose between good and evil, and attached self-responsibility for his own choices.
The soul is at its most immature and selfish state when it begins life as a human being. Divinity within the soul gradually starts to express itself, as the soul slowly shifts from selfish towards altruistic. The eternal journey of gradual progress toward divine, highly evolved spirits; this is the law of human evolution.
“In order to gain consciousness it must incarnate through matter and have the experiences of matter. It evolves from matter into spirit. That means that its association with a body of matter enables it to express itself as an individual working through the personality of the physical. Spirit becomes aware of itself after it has incarnated into matter.”
(p.74 Teachings of Silver Birch)
Note: The term “woman” here does not refer to the female sex as opposed to the male sex, of the earthly world. It is a metaphoric term, used to symbolize the instinctive mind (egoistic, selfishness).
The physical sexual difference makes no difference in spiritual growth of human beings; and we have actually changed sexes several times as we repeat the process of reincarnation. We have had several reincarnations as a woman, and as well, several earthly lives as a man.
References:
Guidance from Silver Birch, edited by Anne Dooley, edition 2006. The Spiritual Truth Press, Oxshott, Surrey. First published in 1966.
Lift Up Your Hearts, compiled by Tony Ortzen, edition 2009. The Spiritual Truth Press, Oxshott, Surrey. First published in 1990.
Light from Silver Birch, compiled by Pam Riva. Edition 2009. The Spiritual Truth Press, Oxshott, Surrey. First published in 1983.
More Philosophy of Silver Birch, compiled by Tony Ortzen. Edition 2008. The Spiritual Truth Press, Oxshott, Surrey. First published in 1979.
Teachings of Silver Birch, edited by A.W. Austen. Edition 2010. The Spiritual Truth Press, Oxshott, Surrey. First published in 1938.