We now begin our second post in the series of Prometheus and Biblical characters. In the first post, we provided some foundational thought on the concept of the Logos. Metaphysically, we concluded it is the life-principle of spirit manifested physically as God’s garments. Mr. W. R. Inge, a professor of Divinity at Cambridge, once summed up this ancient philosophical concept of the Logos as used by Philo of Alexandria:

“It seems to have been a name for the rational self-evolution of the universe, to be apprehended by the human mind which is capable of identifying itself with it….Philo’s Logos is a God who reveals himself, in contrast with a God that hides himself.”

I am providing Mr. Inge’s quote above so that we understand that I am not limiting the idea of the Logos to spirit manifesting in the physical universe only. I mean that the physical universe is it’s outermost expression. Physical matter is the expression of spirit in its most outer form. Put another way, it is God’s most outer garment. But to reflect again on Mr. Inge’s thoughts, it is the self-evolution of the universe from it’s highest to lowest octave in the mind. Remember, the New Testament writer, who identifies Christ with the Logos, also states that all things were made by Him, and the author of Colossians also states that all things both visible (God’s most outer garments) and invisible (God’s inner garments) were created through Christ. Thus, the unfolding Logos is the entire metaphysical and physical universe being expressed through that which we might dub, the self evolution of the divine mind, i.e., the God that reveals himself by himself through us. 

We are now going to switch gears and explore Satan, Lucifer, and the Serpent. We are also going to talk some about Adam and Eve. We have to set a proper foundation here too in order to understand that the Prometheus story allegorically symbolizes the same, culminating in the Christ principle through the suffering even Prometheus endured in the Greek mythologies. So bear with me 🙂

The Serpent

The serpent of scripture is an ancient universal symbol. The allegorical part it plays in the Eden drama reveals the nature of the divine mind involving and evolving from the mind of man. It also brilliantly unveils the psychological state in which most of mankind finds itself today. But we can’t fully understand the symbol of the serpent until we also understand the symbol of Adam and Eve. 

Philo, the ancient Jewish philosopher mentioned above, once stated:

“God, when first of all he made the intellect called it Adam.”

In order to get a true grip on this as it relates to Adam in the Garden of Eden BEFORE Eve was created out of him, let’s imagine what a pure intellect would be like. Along these lines, imagine pure intellect, unimpeded by any kind of emotion or desire (before Eve). What would it be like?

Most importantly, it would experience no internal conflict. Man’s mind today is bombarded in the decision making process by a myriad of sensory input, his or her accumulated emotion, and divergence of thought. But a purely intellectual nature itself would be free, and in direct accordance with divine law. It’s every expression would be less of an individual decision, but more of just an expression of itself unimpeded by anything. In fact, it wouldn’t be very conscious. We could call it something close to perfection, because every action would be in the perfect alignment with God’s law. But it would have no depth or breadth, so in another way, although we might call it perfect, we could also call it very limited in self-experience and true self-consciousness. Although it might act perfectly in accordance with God’s laws, it certainly wouldn’t have much of a personality. In fact, it wouldn’t have anything we could call a personality at all because it would be so purely logical that every expression would be based on what is true to its nature. Almost like a computer program that flawlessly executes it’s programming. Sure, it’s flawless, but it lacks self-awareness and true knowledge of itself, and the wisdom gained through experience in a world of duality. 

So what is it that adds an extra layer of depth and breath of this pure intellect (or logic machine)? It is the emotional nature moved by desire (e – “motion”). 

This is where Eve, the mother of all living, comes into the story. Eve is called woman, because she comes out of man (or mind). There is a hint of separation here in the mind. At first it is untainted. This separation is good. It represents the faintest beginnings of the mind that can begin to explore its greater potential in the act of self-awareness. This dual nature of the mind now has more of an experience to operate in, a potential to draw conclusions about itself in a self-experiential manner which is different then its more undifferentiated aspect. 

The phrase “mother of all living” has a very important esoteric significance, and gives us the understanding of the symbolic nature of Eve, or that which she will become after the fall is complete.

Eve symbolizes the emotion nature united to the mental nature of the lower mind. I will explain the “lower mind” soon, because it is not considered the lower mind until after its fall. But when God states that man (mind) had no help-meet in life (Eve), it means that man (mind) had no depth and breath of life and self consciousness. The mind’s “eyes” were not opened yet. It had no e – “motion.” Emotion is the beginning of the life principle, because it drives experience from desire. It is the attraction and repulsion of opposites. It is, in a metaphysical sense, experience and motion, or life itself in the human body. In its lower (tempted) nature, it draws the mind of mental thought into the Maya of separation and continued unconsciousness, or decision based on desire instead of will. Notice how the serpent tempted Eve, not Adam. Once the serpent tempted Eve, only then could Adam be tempted, because it is only through desire the mental principle is tempted. However, in its higher nature, the higher emotions are positive for the mind, and adds to it true self-consciousness, wisdom, and understanding.

For spirit to create and unfold into man as the first Adam, it must involve into mind and emotion. It must contain the ability to think, but also to feel. It must produce thought, initially with desire, which gives motion to the thought. It gives a deeper sense of self-consciousness and “I” to the thought. It brings more awareness of separateness to thought. The emotional nature united with the mind principle becomes “the mother of all living.” 

But there is a problem. This separateness, this “I,” becomes trapped in the lower aspect of it’s dual nature because of the more separateness it is experiencing. At least at first. How is this shown metaphysically in the first few chapters of Genesis?

It is shown through the allegory of the serpent. 

The serpent causes spiritual death because it symbolically represents the force of desire in the mind. This force of desire is expressed as temptation to the fruit pleasing to the eye. By fruit we mean everything that engages and tempts (attracts) all the lower aspects of mind and emotion. Spiritual death occurs because the mind experiences a separateness of existence from the rest of the universe (i.e. God). It is still one with God, but this separate “I” doesn’t KNOW it through the direct experience it once had when God walked in the cool of the Garden with Adam. And thus we find most of mankind in this spiritual death. However, through the fall of mind by the serpent, mankind achieved a physical body and the temple of the lower nature is now complete.

“And unto Adam also and unto his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21).

This skin is not the skin of animals (that god killed) to give to man as we have been taught. It is symbolic of the flesh itself, all of your physical temple-body. It is a metaphor for the completion of the human-body-temple, in which the indwelling spirit comes to inhabit, evolved by itself as it further differentiated itself. And please understand. This allegory isn’t about an anthropomorphic being clothing Adam, it is the history of how the mind fell into the lowest plane of matter. The story of Prometheus, we will see later, is exactly the same!

More on the Serpent

While the serpent symbolically represents the desire-mind on one level, it also depicts the truth of karma, for the mind must reap what it sows. Spirit’s slow descent into matter reaps a body-temple for this new aspect of self-consciousness to begin exploring in the arena of life (a complicated web of maya, or duality). For spirit to evolve into a more self-conscious being, the mind had to fall (create) a proper vessel for this new kind of expression. The human-body-temple, with its nerve centers, it’s highly advanced brain, and its complex array of endocrine glands allow emotion and thought to express itself in ways that can lead to a greater sense of self-consciousness when thrust in the maya of experiences it is confronted with. 

“…the man is now become as one of us, to KNOW good from evil…” (Gen 3:22).

More accurately expressed, “The mind is now become as one of the Elohim, to KNOW opposites, and the potential for true self-consciousness.”

In other words, the mind, through it’s new temple, now has the ability to choose the path towards Godhood. Yes, mankind will now experience pain and suffering along the way, but he has the ability to choose, for:

“…the eyes of them both were opened…” (Gen 3:7).

Jesus alludes to this in Luke 24:31. The disciples did not know the risen Christ, but after they ate (metaphorically) what Jesus provided their eyes were opened and they recognized him. After Adam and Eve ate what the serpent tempted them with their eyes were also opened. However, Adam and Eve’s eyes were only opened physically, the lower mental and emotional nature, while the disciples eyes were opened spiritually, to the second Adam, or Christ within themselves.

Another way to put it would be that the Mind has now been imbued with the potential for choice, or self-conscious development. To do so, the mind will have to claw its way back to the Tree of Life through tilling the ground (disciplining the body temple of thought, emotion, and sensation) amongst the thorns (the trials of life) of the ground (the body temple) to yield its fruit (it’s potential of newfound self-consciousness). 

The allegory of mankind being kicked out of Eden means through physical suffering he will have to learn how to discipline his lower nature as not to be the servant of it, but rather it’s ruler.

And how does one do this?

Jesus made it clear as day. Please pay very close to attention, as it relates to all that we have discussed:

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up…” (John 3:14).

Meaning, Moses, as the law-giver and symbol of the moral nature in man, which had to come first, begins through correct thought, action, and speech, the process of raising the serpent from the curse of the dust of the ground upwards for healing. In other words, following the universal law of karma (of reaping and sowing), the free will choices that man now has can either lead to a continued sense of separateness and pain, or it can begin to choose the path of liberation from Maya (the illusion of separateness created by the dual mind) through self-conscious liberation.

But that’s not all! The verse spoken by Jesus right before him mentioning the serpent brings the entire meaning of what happened originally in the garden into crystal clarity:

“And no man ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man which is IN heaven” (John 3:13).

In other words, no man can ascend up to heaven (blissful state of peace and unity of mind) until one has first descended down into earth, just as his example shows us!

By son of man, Jesus means son of MIND, the universal divine mind, which “came down from heaven” (the fall of mind into matter), in order to work it’s way back up again. Here we have the allegory of Adam and Eve repeated in these two verses by Jesus. 

Also, remember where Jesus tells the disciples that in the beginning, God made them (separate mankind and minds) both male and female (a unity). This means the state of the mind before Adam and Eve. This unity was just Adam.

When Moses raised the serpent, all the people who were bitten by the fiery serpent (self-consciousness, the spark of the inner immortal thinking principle), became healed. In other words, even though the Israelites had this fiery spark of the immortal thinking principle within them, because of selfishness and being controlled by the lower nature, they were sick! They were utterly lost and separated (sin) from their own indwelling divine nature. 

Jesus also teaches us the same path by alluding to the lawgiver, Moses, who, again, the law of God teaches us that we reap what we sow. Remember, the Torah of God is not very far from you Moses tells the people, it is near to you, it is IN YOU! (Duet. 30:14).

So the path to liberation, to uplifting the mind from the world of Maya, is threefold:

1. Service to humanity…developing the higher emotional qualities that lead to unity, not more separation.
2. Discipline, by developing the unlimited power of will given to the steady mind which has the ability to portray thoughts that are uplifting, noble, loving, peaceful, and intelligent. Meditation is a part of this path to tame the mind and thoughts which run wild by the lower nature. 
3. Study and the further development of the mind, especially upon metaphysical subjects that show the nature of God and reality is Echad (ONE). Studying subjects such as history, math, the sciences, philosophy, etc. is also highly beneficial towards improving one’s mental focus and the intellect. 

In the vast ocean of the reincarnating ego, or the immortal thinking principle within, any individual can be working on all of the above in combination, or focusing on one more in particular. It depends on that soul alone, and at different stages in life a soul will probably oscillate between them. The point is balance. A towering intellect can become prideful and more separate. But a towering intellect that incorporates the first and second principles stated above will use that intellect for good and not evil. There must be a balance brought back to the mind, to achieve an equilibrium. Intellect devoid of the heart remains dead. The heart without the guiding principle of the intellect remains undeveloped. The mind needs to incorporate the heart, and the heart needs to be guided by the higher intellect (combined with intuition), which can only become perfect intuition alongside the heart. 

Remember, the scripture tells us that as a man “thinketh” in his heart, so is he. As he “thinketh,” so IS HE. Let that sink in.

The word man comes from the term manas, which means the thinker. In esoteric doctrine the thinker (not the thoughts themselves, but that which is able to think), is the immortal reincarnating principle. The great will power to do, speak, and think that which is right and pleasing before the Lord comes forth as the Christ (Logos) within when the mind is transformed and renewed. If one does not develop this will power inherent in the Logos, then the mind is carried off by the tempting serpent which is cursed to crawl on the ground, in the dust (remain mired in the mud of the lower nature body temple, swayed only by it’s untrained passional nature). This mind is always barred from the tree of life by the flaming sword which is double-edged, and it crucifies the Christ nature anew.

Scripture also strongly correlates man with trees (Psalms 1:3). Why would man be compared to a tree? The esoteric meaning of the tree is man on all the planes of being. It has its roots in the ground (the lower nature body-temple), it’s trunk above the ground in the air, and its branches higher in the air (towards heaven) that soak up sunlight and convert this light into life-given energy. We can take this idea further and relate the idea of trees to the mind of man, or his very soul, which is a mind, that exists in the same duality that the tree metaphysical does. This is true for the Garden of Eden as well. The two trees in the Garden (although they are really one tree as they both are in the midst of the garden) symbolize which direction the mind of man gravitates towards. The tree of KNOWLEDGE of good and evil, is a tree symbolizing knowledge, or the ability to know, through experience. Why does the spirit incarnate in matter? It is to build and evolve the soul, or the mind, through experience, to which the mind then comes to KNOW. The Tree of Life, which is also in the midst of the Garden, is the mind which KNOWS no longer through good and evil, or the comparison and contrasting of opposites, but comes to KNOW, after its long journey and pilgrimage, the source of life (the Logos) itself. 

The serpent is more cunning than any “beast” of the field. Desire is just that. It is not more cunning because it is smarter, it is more cunning because it is the grand trickster, the grand illusionists, that convinces the mind to participate with it. It tricks the mind into separation from its parent source, so that it melds (and identifies) with desire instead of being the ruler (WILL POWER) of desire. Thus the great truth. God tells Adam to rule over his wife. Esoterically, this means that the intellectual principle must guide the lower passionate nature of man, and when done properly, the emotional aspect returns an emotional maturity to the intellect. It is the mother life principle in action upon the intellect. The intellect can only sacrifice itself by being the guiding principle by loving the emotional nature which came out of it, and then the emotional nature provides true life back to the intellectual nature. 

It is obvious that Genesis is telling us an allegory of how the mind received an addition to its potential, i.e., the ability to reason by comparing and contrasting opposites, or the ability to choose this or that. Before the fall, the soul wasn’t in a physical temple or body with a physical brain organ containing the prefrontal cortex that can reason. The soul had a different kind of intelligence, an intelligence that wasn’t choosing this or that, but worked with an intelligence that wasn’t so differentiated. The soul didn’t have to make choices because it walked with the spirit of God in the Garden, meaning, the soul, or mind, had not yet evolved it’s most outer garment. 

Lucifer

Lucifer is a bit of a tricky subject because of the emotions the name alone itself can invoke in religiously-steeped doctrine and dogmatism. To a certain extent we have all been socially conditioned in this way. So it is understandable. I do not have the time to write about how the concept of Lucifer has been wrongly interpreted, so I will give only some brief revelations. 

Jesus tells us that he saw Lucifer, the great dragon, kicked out from heaven…as lightning! He is alluding to the same story which the allegory of the Garden of Eden teaches us, again!

Heaven is a state of bliss and unity of mind. Lucifer, which means the “light bearer,” which is the immortal thinker aspect, was kicked out of union or bliss, and cast to the earth. In a sense, Lucifer is the first Adam as expressed through his son Cain, our lower nature as opposed to Abel. Cain and Abel are allegories of the two natures within man, or the offspring of mind and emotion expressed through the desire principle with a hint of aspiration for higher thoughts and love (Abel) which can be pleasing still to god. God tells Cain, you have the choice to do right, but sin is at thy door. In other words, separation from me, through the mind, is before you. What will you choose? 

Lightning, when hitting wood, sparks fire. This fire or flame symbolizes the thinking principle of man, which is a potential in unity, but burns bright when cast into a body temple. This is what the serpent metaphysically understood also gave to man. “Their eyes were opened, and they became as the Elohim.” But at first it is still in a fallen state. But it now has the ability to gain true self-consciousness and awareness. Lucifer is also called the bright and morning star, curiously, just as Jesus is alluded to in Revelation. 

Lucifer becomes the Satan (adversary) principle when the mind is not disciplined and expressed through will, but subject to desire. It is then an enmity with God, and subject to the serpent cursed to crawl on the ground. It can then and does manifest itself as an adversary to God and our higher God-given nature. Religion has chosen to cast these allegories as two anthropomorphic beings outside of us instead of realizing the inherent meanings within us. 

Even Jesus, after he was filled with the spirit, was driven into the wilderness to be tempted by this adversary, or principle that is at enmity with God. Notice something important here. Jesus had no choice. Even after being filled with the very spirit of life, he was DRIVEN, as if by force, to face the temptations of the adversarial mind. He overcomes the adversarial nature within him through strict discipline of the mind, which all of his temptations symbolize when studied carefully. Remember, the moment of the crucifixion happens at Golgotha, which means place of the skull. The battle ultimately culminates in the area of grey matter underneath your skull 🙂

This is all I will say for Lucifer, Satan, and the Serpent now. While I originally intended to get to Prometheus in this second post of the series, I realize it would be better to end part two here and continue with Prometheus in part three. Please feel free to share any thoughts you have in the comment section below for further engagement of what was discussed above. Oftentimes you at the SOS community bring so much more clarity through your comments. 

Blessings. 

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