What’s really behind the story of Adam and Eve? We answered many of these questions in the post entitled, Adam and Eve: The Story of Human Consciousness, but there’s so much more about the human condition packed in this brilliant little story that many more blog posts should and will be devoted to it. Today we will review more about the fractured subconscious and conscious mind, as well as the need for unity consciousness in order to become whole and healed. We will also discuss why life is the one opportunity for this to happen!
It is important to realize that the subconscious mind represents your “inner” world. To most of us this world is unknown. True power resides here. It is like the generator running in the basement of someone’s house powering the entire structure and making everything happen. The subconscious is the powerhouse of our thoughts and emotions that govern what we will experience as reality. What’s in the subconscious is important because it is the reason your reality is the way it is.
The subconscious is also what Jesus referred to as the kingdom “within” you. The key word is “within.” In order to have a true kingdom of peace and tranquility, the subconscious and the conscious must be integrated. That means we must become aware of what our waking consciousness is dwelling on. In order to understand this more and to get a better understanding of the Adam and Eve story, let’s briefly define the conscious
The conscious side of you represents the “outer” world. It is what you seemingly experience as separate from your self. It is what we refer to in our modern day as the material world, and it gives rise to the ego.
In many ancient religions and philosophies the conscious experience is explained as being an illusion. In many aspects, the famous Cave Allegory of Plato is an example of this. This is also why the Bible repeatedly expresses that we are not to walk by “sight.” In other words, our lives should not be governed by what we experience through our waking conscious or the material world. For most people, this is exactly what governs them. That is why there is so much suffering in the world. This illusion of separation that our waking conscious gives rise to is so believable, but is it the ultimate truth? The ego says it is. Ultimately it doesn’t matter, because whether the material world is real or not, we still experience it, and it is the experience that we must focus on.
The subconscious and conscious mind as separate concepts make up consciousness fracture, which is what the fall from Paradise in the literal Adam and Eve story is all about. That is addressed in the blog post mentioned in the first paragraph of this article, so I will not go into more detail here. But what I didn’t mention in that article is why in the literal story God would put us in a Garden with the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the first place. Why would God tempt us where consciousness fracture would happen? Before Eve was created in the literal story, Adam and Even were one. Essentially the human condition had not been truly born yet and Adam was a spiritual being living in bliss. So why would God set up an arena for failure?
The story has nothing to do with failure. And of course God didn’t tempt them. In fact, the issue of God tempting them is has nothing to do with it. The fall was necessary! It is part of our conscious evolutionary development. Because of the fall, you now have the opportunity to become a “son” of God (achieving Christ consciousness) and enjoying this new benefit because you are aware of it, whereas before the fall you awareness was of a lesser degree. That’s why experience is necessary. Experience is the reason we are here. The physical world is about experiencing life in all its diversity so that the opportunity for conscious growth is possible.
Let’s briefly return to the fall from Paradise. In Genesis 2:17 God tells Adam and Eve:
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Did they really die? As you already know, of course they didn’t. Instead they were immersed in the physical, bodily experience (expulsion from Paradise).
Death, or separation (consciousness fracture) from God, gives rise to a conscious experience in the physical world. This is why the Bible refers to it as “death.”
Did you know that “death” for the ancients actually meant having a conscious experience of being in a physical body?! The body was a tomb! This tomb provided an opportunity to achieve a higher state of awareness! In other words, the physical body is a vehicle that can enable spirit to go through an awareness transformation! Could this be the true resurrection experience the Bible talks about? Thus Jesus’ parable that states:
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.“
Botanically, a seed isn’t “dead” physically; it is alive but serves as a physical tomb that houses the potential for abundant life when it is germinated. In the same way your consciousness needs to be germinated. Jesus is teaching us something very important here. Now consider the Gnostic scripture from Philip:
“Those who say they will die first and then rise are in error. If they do not first receive the resurrection while they live, when they die they will receive nothing.”
In the above scripture you can see how it is the experience on the physical plane that is so important because it provides the opportunity to achieve Christ consciousness. You can also see why it is important to realize this consciousness in this life! And that’s also why Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden was necessary. Consider this: it is the physical experience that allows the ego room to function. And while the ego is necessary in our consciousness evolutionary journey, it is also necessary that we crucify it.
How is this done? By quieting the mind (waking conscious), and relying less on the “outer” world. When we do this we began to awaken the true power of the subconscious and begin the journey to enlightenment. We also begin to integrate the subconscious and conscious as one again with a higher awareness. In activities like meditation, the waking conscious detaches itself from the outer world and we begin to explore the inner world. Here the subconscious and conscious are beginning to blend and this leads to a higher awareness because the experience of dissolving the ego will automatically and eventually give rise to it.
In the literal Adam and Eve story, think of it this way: they are meant to be in union, to become “One Flesh.” This simply means that the conscious and subconscious mind must become whole again. This is part of the key to becoming spiritually whole. Then man will truly have “dominion” over all the animals (physical plane) of the earth because man doesn’t become dependent on it anymore. There is a detachment that resolves fear, worry, and expectation. These things make us live by our egos in the past and future. And by doing that, we sacrifice living in the NOW, where true conscious living takes place.
Thus Jesus stated in Luke 12:22:
“…Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.”
By first seeking the kingdom of God by exploring the inner mysteries of who you are, then these others things will be added.
Enlightenment or Christ consciousness is simply the point of arrival of “knowing thyself.” Another way of knowing thyself is to understand and know that the mind, body, and spirit are all intimately linked and interconnected. This is why the Bible is so much about the mind and body. Even the temples in the Bible are metaphors for the mind. Think about the veil of separation. This veil represents the fragmentation of our mind. Again, this is why Christ was crucified at Golgotha, meaning the place of the skull. We must all be crucified at Golgotha! Christ didn’t do it for us; he simply showed us the way! In unity or Christ consciousness, we experience interconnectedness between the body, mind and spirit (and subconscious and conscious) in a way that raises conscious awareness and far exceeds the waking conscious experience that most of us function in. In fact, this is why many are aware of the spirit world in ways most humans never experience except maybe in their dreams.
While some people may experience a profound and dramatic change in conscious awareness in a mere instant, such as a dramatic life experience, most of us have to work at it. I suggest the same thing as I do in most of my other articles: meditation. Meditation helps quiet the mind. It is a way to crucify your egoistic mind at Golgotha like Jesus did.
Didn’t Jesus say follow me? You didn’t think he literally meant to hang on a cross did you? By the way, the cross is an ancient metaphorical symbol that stands for spirit being crucified on the physical plane! Hence, the fall from paradise and your physical experience!
If you don’t have any experience with meditation, research it on the web. There are some excellent sites. You can also sign up by e-mail for my blog updates in the upper left hand corner of this site and get information in a few weeks or so about a new meditation page I am going to develop. It’s that important!
Stay tuned for the next blog post which will continue on the above topic from some scriptures in Ephesians. In that blog post we will be dealing with some of the mystery of the church, why the scripture really tells women to submit to the men (and no is doesn’t mean the man is supposed to dominate!), and eventually what the Bride of Christ is all about. As you already probably guessed, it will be a continuation on the subject of consciousness.
In the meantime please remember that someone who interprets the story of Adam and Eve correctly realizes that metaphorically they represent the “human condition,” not “human history.” This is the key that unlocks the mysteries of this mysterious story! This is also the key that unlocks much of the Bible! The human condition and the human mind are the two important components, and by seeing the Biblical characters and stories as literal history instead of the human condition, the real power of the Bible remains…well, a mystery!
More to come soon! And if you liked the article, don’t forget to spread the love on social networks like Facebook, Stumbleupon, Twitter, Reddit, etc.
Joshua, your articles are explaining these beautiful hidden truths so very well. They are easy to share as they present truth without belittling the reader who may have not thought through these things for themselves before. Thankyou, I look forward to your updates.
Rhonda,
Thank you for your comment.
Being aware is the best thing that we could do if we want to live a satisfied life. Just think about it, how much do you actually remember from the things that you do everyday? Aren’t what you are doing more like a habit than an actual task? By being aware of everything we do not only will we be able to remember everything we do, we could also do it at our best.
Hi Josh,
Thanks for this post! I view the subconscious as the higher self/soul, and the conscious as the “lower mind.”
I agree that we all chose to experience the “fall” for very noble reasons–to learn spiritual lessons through firsthand experiences of the light and dark (“duality”). Our souls knew that this was the fastest way to spiritual growth. We also knew that we had to “separate” (shatter)– the knowing of the soul (that we had planned this experiment) from the lower self, as this was the only way the experiment would be successful. (Of course, we were never really separated from our soul, it just appeared that way to our minds.) What will be the result of this experiment? We’re going through the end stages now–great spiritual and personal growth, discovering who we really are, what we’re truly cpable of, gratitude, more appreciation that we ever thought possible… These are the noble reasons for experiencing the dark.
“Experience is the reason we are here. The physical world is about experiencing life in all its diversity so that the opportunity for conscious growth is possible.” —so true.
Thanks for your work and for expanding consciousness! Christine
Great post, Josh. Thank you for these explanations. Jesus was a master (the most well known in the west because he came back to teach) and, like all masters, went through the process of death and resurrection, but he did it in record time! He used the scenario of ancient scriptures calling for a messiah to his advantage to wake up the people. Too bad his original teachings have been lost with the church and all and we need to really search to find them which is what led me to your blog!
There is a whole other world of spitiruality out there which I have always felt existed but it is up to us to seek and practice.
Kat,
I’m glad you found the Spirit of the Scripture. And what you say about Jesus is so true. In order to find out what Jesus truly meant in his parables sometimes we have to look outside of our traditional Bibles. I have found that the gnostic scriptures are of great value. Personally, I believe Paul understood the gospel message from a gnostic viewpoint, but many years of tampering with the New Testament texts makes this hard to realize. At any rate, thanks for your comments and I look forward to hearing more from you!
@Josh: John Todd, an Illuminati defector, blew the whistle and explained that meditation is dangerous as it opens the door for demonic spirits or something like that. I can’t remember the exact wording but they were to that effect. Of all the things he explained these particular words were the one that stayed with me. How do you explain Todd’s words?
tChron,
I have read similar superstitious beliefs about meditation from others, especially from the fundamentalists camp. My personal opinion is that you don’t have to worry about it. I believe this is a scare tactic used by misinformed people who don’t really understand the mind nor their own limiting belief systems. Meditation is completely safe and is proven to have many health benefits. Meditation is practiced as a way to get control over you mind and thoughts, not a way to let them be taken over. Most people live unconsciously daily and react to situations emotionally. Why? Their minds are misinformed and unstable. Meditation disciplines the mind by enabling one to focus. If you have ever tried meditation then you already know how easily the mind wanders. Most people give up meditation practice simply because they get so frustrated with their wondering minds! If you can’t control your mind for more than a few minutes, then who really has the demons?
This reminds me of Daoist teachings quite a bit. The male and female dichotomy (the yin and yang), the essence of one being in the other. I like the idea of them both representing different aspects of the mind, including the Serpent. I also like how it completely gets rid of the sexist and discriminatory elements, which I agree were never intended in the first place.
John,
I have found that all of the great religions have more in common than most realize, especially when you get rid of any literal interpretations.
Hi Joshua, Again a very interesting post which tells me a story I already know from a completely different angle. I love it. I got to exactly the same conclusion as far as dying after eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is concerned. The root of the Hebrew verb to die is ‘met’, 40-400. The character/number 40 is called mem which is ‘maim’, water (both time and the realm of emotions/ego) and 400 is the last character/number, called tav. From the story of the slavery in Egypt which lasted ‘400’ years you can already infer that it means slavery/addiction with all the suffering involved. The tav used to be written as a cross originally, so it means everything the cross stands for. It being the last character also means the end of time and the turning point. After the crucifixion of the ego there is resurrection.
Anny,
Your interpretation of the 400 years in slavery is right on. I wanted to do a blog post about this, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. If you count the years up literally in the Bible, it doesn’t add up from the time of Abraham to the exodus. Instead of 400, its more like 200 + I had a discussion about this once with a Christian friend who got stumped on it. Back then I hadn’t read any esoteric literature so I was at a loss as well. It was things like that that led me to the conclusion there was more hidden knowledge.
Anyway, hopefully I’ll get to blog on this more soon. Thanks for reminding me! Blessings.
Hi Joshua,
Do you remember the story, told in Genesis 15, in which then still Abram complained to God that he still did not have any children (still was one)? God then told him to go get certain animals and birds and to divide the animals into two pieces, except the birds? In verse 12 and 13 it says: ‘And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years.’ and verse 16 continues: ‘But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again ..’
The delivery out of a slavery of 400 years during the 4th generation should make it obvious that this cannot possibly be taken literally. In fact I think that this is another version of the story of man descending out of the state of oneness into the material world. Again there is this word tardema, deep sleep, just like when Adam became two instead of one, also here is spoken about the many, the diversity, and also here no waking up is mentioned.
Prof. Weinreb, the one whose books got me started on all this, mentions that according to Jewish bible scholars this message is given to Abram 30 years before the birth of Isaac and that they counted 400 years from the birth of Isaac to the end of the slavery. So this message was delivered 430 years before the end of the slavery. 430 is the numerical value of the word nefesh, which more or less stands for the emotional body. This implies that that was the point that Abram, man, started his descent into the world of emotions and ego (40) which would lead to the period of slavery thirty years later.
At the time of the exodus from Egypt it is said that the people went from Raämses to Succot.
Raämses was the city they had to build as slaves. It is written as 200-70-40-60-60. It contains the word ra which means bad or evil, it contains the forty of the ego and the sixty = six from the descent. It meant man had created his own slavery. The total numerical value of the name is 430. Raämses equals the nefesh but now ‘430’ years have passed and the people start leaving the nefesh and the land of slavery. They slowly start ascending again through the desert and the promised land where they will digest all of their pent up emotions and learn to manage and finally crucify their ego.
Reading this article once again my attention this time was drawn to: Did you know that “death” for the ancients actually meant having a conscious experience of being in a physical body?! The body was a tomb! This tomb provided an opportunity to achieve a higher state of awareness! In other words, the physical body is a vehicle that can enable spirit to go through an awareness transformation! Could this be the true resurrection experience the Bible talks about?
I think you are right but of course this experience comes up again and again in a different way. That makes it so exciting to discover the same all over again and to find an ever deeper meaning in it. Of course there is also the image of resurrection on the cross which is already more specific. But I think that even the idea of resurrection of the physical body might have some merit. For what about the activation of all 12 strands of DNA in the human body and the activation of the pituitary and pineal glands after the kundalini experience? I think that might also be called resurrection as it definitely transforms the physical body. Of course again, you do not have to die for it.
Just need clarity on a few things: So on the one hand you are saying as you go along what Jesus taught which is an indication that you believe Jesus was an actual person on the earth; is that correct?
Then on the other hand you provide what Jesus actually ment in His teaching which is the esoteric underlying meaning which undermines the literal meaning which would in my mind indicate that the literal never happened thus Jesus wasn’t a real person. So do you believe both?
And lastly: ” the body is a vehicle that can enable spirit to go through an awareness transformation.”
From experiencing the Spirit within me – it is aware/ it discerns. Is your thinking that the Spirit cannot discern or be aware without the physical body? I do understand your meaning since as I bear witness to my own physical body and the Spirit within me starring through my eyes it discerns however the discenment seems to be there aside from the physical body.
I can say that the Spirit observes the environment outside of the physical body.
Hi Betty,
Jesus was a real, literal person who taught using stories and metaphor and deeper meanings. The deeper meanings do not undermine the literal meanings, rather, the deeper meanings are on a higher level, the level of firsthand, deeper, experiential understanding as compared with a shallow, surface level one that one receives from a classroom, say. In my mind this in no way indicates that Jesus never happened (I just don’t get your conclusion.) He did happen, just not exactly as the Bible states.
Anyway, I’m sure Joshua will provide a much more scholarly answer compared to my more intuitive one.
Peace,
Christine
All prophets were real just like all humans are on earth real..but ther realities are nor seen by physical sense eyes…the holy books of prophets and Christ have literal meanings and spiritual meanings and huge secrets..but yes Jesus was real very real .he came and he for sure will come again..
Mark,
Thanks for the comment. We can agree to disagree on some things and I’m sure we agree on much.
Josh I’m not commenting on any particular blog but just wanted to say that I hope that we have an opportunity to meet sometime. I live in Mount Olive, NC. I know you said you were moving to Wake Forest, NC. Probably about 2 hours from where I am. I have been sharing in the word for 40 some years now. Evolved from the “pentecostal idea through many different groups searching for “real” truth till today. I have learned to be very open to spiritual development. I no longer am looking for a “group” because I have come to realize that “groups” usually require you to be fenced in. I greatly enjoy your subjects as well as the others that contribute to the blogs. Maybe our paths will cross in the near future.
Thanks for writing, Coy.
Great article but an added understanding for me.
We were sons of God before the So Call Fall. there wasn’t Consciosness bebeforethis.
Tree of good and Evil is Consciousness/Duality and the Ego.
We are still and always will be because of Chrit and Holy Spirit.
Keep up the Great work!
Love, love, love this site!!!! Would love for you to get more in depth with each book of the bible, but am loving what I’m finding now.
Christy, I will get back to writing about allegorical scripture interpretation as soon as I am finished with my Orthodox Christianity series.
Another amazing breakdown. You are truly a blessing. Thank you!