INTRODUCTION

How are we to interpret or understand the meaning of the Bible? For Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism there are differing approaches, even different Bibles. Within anyone of these faith communities there are disagreements over the meaning of scripture. What are we to turn to as guides, within the Judeo-Christian tradition, to the truth of God?

If you believe in a loving God who has compassion, understanding, and wisdom; and whose fundamental nature is to generate peace and healing, then doesn’t it seem reasonable to interpret the Bible within that framework and, as a corollary, to reject any interpretation which would contradict that understanding? This is a very important discipline for it will challenge the maneuvers of the ego which tends to use God and religion in a self serving and destructive manor. Many people of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths, all of which trace their histories back to Abraham, have been influenced by their beliefs to bring love, compassion and generosity into their lives. I believe these positive qualities have been more the result of people filtering their scriptures through their heart and conscience rather than taking the scriptures too literally. Unfortunately the faith traditions have not had this beneficent effect on all of their followers. When the understanding of scripture is not brought into accord with a purified heart and conscience it can promote and support much unpleasantness in the world. There is an authority greater than the written word and that authority is God. And I believe God speaks to us through our soul. The true heart and conscience are respectively the feminine and masculine aspects of the soul. The purified heart is turned inward to God. It is completely open and receptive to Divine love. The purified conscience is the active aspect of the soul applying the knowledge of the heart to the complex issues of life. This understanding is in accord with the biblical notion that the kingdom of heaven is within, and the statement "be still and know that I am God". This is an instruction to listen to our inner voice, which can be heard with complete accuracy only when the voice of the ego is silenced. This inner voice can lead us to a beneficial understanding of any divinely inspired scripture. There are those who fear that the approach of having each individual rely on their inner divine guidance is dangerous for the unity of their religion. That somehow this approach will lead individuals to serious error and humanity to chaos. But isn’t that the state of the world today. This is a situation which has arisen out of people relying on external authorities one of which is the ego which is external to the inner reality of God. There is constant conflict, strife, destructiveness and unhappiness in the world. Even though this planet earth, a divine gift to us all, has ample resources to satisfy the basic needs of all humanity, millions of people do not have enough to be healthy or even survive. At no time in ego dominated human history has the force of unconditional, selfless, divine love been widely and consistently embraced and expressed by humans. Yet this is what people long for; to be loved and to be able to love, unconditionally and without limits.. And in relation to this universal need almost everyone, to some extent, experiences frustration. Could it be that people have been looking in the wrong direction, outward, rather then inward where the treasure of divine love is to be found?

In different ways everyone strives for meaning, purpose, happiness, a peaceful mind and heart and the removal of all limitations on love, knowledge, and existence. The Bible can be approached as a map showing us the way to achieve these goals thereby reaching liberation from all limitations and suffering. This is the ultimate destination of all spiritual paths. In pursuing any one of the many different expressions of the spiritual path an aspirant moves not only him or herself toward the goal of establishing internal peace and harmony, but also moves the world toward the goal of global peace and harmony.

The story of this perennial path is embedded within historical, tribal, religious, and ethnic contexts. These contexts have been built by the egos of many people. To properly understand the essential message of the path of spiritual development offered in any scripture such as the Tanakh (Jewish Bible or Old Testament) and the Christian Bible, it must be unembedded from its particular context so that its true universal nature can be perceived. Before that happens any scripture including the Tanakh and the Bible serves the ego. It becomes, to some extent, a divisive document that promotes pain and suffering. Once the task of unembedding starts these Scriptures can begin to be documents that increasingly bring peace, harmony, and happiness into the individual and collective life of humanity.

That universe of peace, harmony, and joyfulness within and without is what we are given a glimpse of in the first of the two creation stories in Genesis. Genesis opens with that story and it establishes the goal of the spiritual path. The remainder of the Bible, beginning with the second creation story, weaves the tale of what happens when we separate ourselves from that universe of peace and harmony and provides us with maps of many variations of the journey back to that state of existence which is a state of infinite consciousness.

If we stay on the surface and do not grasp the embedded spiritual message there are problems in trying to understand the Bible. If you read the Bible carefully you will find that there are apparent contradictions and passages that, on the surface, appear morally and ethically flawed. What do we do with the passages in the Bible that depict God as angry, vengeful, treacherous and murderous? What do we do with the depiction of God as a deity that commits mass murder, killing children, women, and men? What do we do with a God who chooses to create eternal suffering for some people who displease him? What do we do with a God who manipulates people into behaving in certain ways and then punishes not only them, but also others associated with them, for behaving according to his manipulation? What do we do with a God who creates and gives power to the evil tempter? What do we do with a God who punishes Adam and Eve’s progeny, and all the innocent animals, for thousands of years with torment suffering and death for what those original forebears did? What do we do with a God who decides that the way to salvation is through suffering? What do we do with a God who condemns his son to death and abandons him, even if it is only for an instant, as he is dying? And most importantly what do we do with a God who does all of the above even though he is omnipotent and omniscient; and therefore not only knows how to do it differently but also has the power to do it differently? If you actually read the Bible in its entirety you will find all of the negative traits mentioned above clearly and unambiguously attributed to God. What are the effects on our behavior if we accept all, or even any of this as true? What are the effects on our ability to listen to our hearts and conscience, our inner voice, if we maintain that these destructive and morally bankrupt qualities are an accurate picture of who God is and how God functions, that in effect it is an accurate picture of God’s psychology? When I consult my heart and conscience I know these passages, when taken as literally true, do not accurately portray God. I believe that these inaccuracies, when taken as truths, help justify and even promote a great amount of suffering and violence in the world.

If this makes sense to you then the task facing you if you choose to understand the Bible is to interpret it in a way that serves the purpose of peace and healing. Your heart and conscience together are your inner voice, the voice of your soul, the dwelling place of God within you, leading you to truth. Developing the capacity to accurately hear our inner voice is part of the spiritual journey toward God. The ultimate function of a spiritual teacher is to help us develop that capacity. When a person has developed that capacity whatever resonates in harmony with their inner voice is their spiritual path and will lead them towards God. Whatever does not will lead them away from God. If we listen to our inner voice the task becomes one of understanding our scriptures in a way that leads to unity. I believe that the growth of true spirituality leads to unity between all people and unity between humans and all of nature. We are also led away from violence, in any form, and towards a love that is selfless, unconditional and all embracing. I believe that when we do that we are aligning ourselves with God’s nature. The ultimate healing is that which heals the separation between each person and God. We are then embraced by and become an expression of God’s infinite unconditional love. As a person gets closer to God there is a growing awareness of joy, serenity, inner security, calm power, clear understanding and radiant love. Just for a moment get quiet, shut down your conditioned analytical mind, become innocent like a child, go within, consult your heart and conscience and feel if this understanding of God finds a sympathetic resonance within you.

I believe our destiny is to achieve union with a loving God, and I believe that I can show that the Bible tells us of this destiny. We can understand our destiny, which is the realization of our unity with God, only if that future destiny in some way is contained within or makes an imprint on the present. What is contained within the present is the presence of God within each and every human being. And our inner voice or inner knowing manifests that presence.

I believe that God’s call to us is to approach these scriptures in a way that both challenges the divisive and destructive side of human nature, and promotes love, peace, healing, and unity within each individual and between all individuals. Unfortunately too often the Tanakh and the Christian Bible have been interpreted in order to rationalize the negative, hostile, and destructive forces of humanity, which arise out of ignorance and fear. These scriptures, however, can be understood as a call to move from a narrow identification with our ego, family, and tribe or community to a universal awareness that embraces all in love, peace and harmony. In order to do that, in order to attenuate or eliminate the destructive, negative influences of the Tanakh and the Christian Bible, it is necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff. The wheat is God’s psychology, a perennial psychology that is the central attractor in the universe drawing everything to itself. The chaff is an ego oriented human psychology that confuses and distorts the message of God and plants the seeds of disharmony, separation and discord. The task of understanding, not only these scriptures, but also any of the world’s other religious scriptures, so that they become one with God’s nature involves untangling God’s psychology from human psychology as expressed in these documents. For one whose commitment is to honor the commandment "Thou shall have no other Gods before me", the task is clearly to allow one’s interpretation to be guided by God’s psychology.

This task of opening yourself to an understanding of the perennial psychology of God is a process of purification and polishing. It involves removing impurities so that what remains is only the gold, or polishing a diamond in the rough so that its intrinsic beauty can be seen. It is a process of removing the impediments to full realization of the universal divine consciousness that is our true nature. Those impediments are part of the lower levels of consciousness.

I believe that anytime a person sincerely reaches out to God they open themselves to Divine inspiration. A loving God responds to sincere efforts. If that is true then all the scriptures of the world’s great religious traditions can be understood to be divinely inspired. A divinely inspired work such as the Tanakh or the Christian Bible is complex and has many different levels of meaning. Therefore it can be interpreted in many different ways. Within this context these scriptures can be viewed as a projective test. How we understand them shows where we are on our spiritual journey from constricted ego dominated --awareness to divine psychology. What we see in the Bible is a function of our level of awareness. Embedded in human psychology we see a tendency to play the game of "mines better than yours" and as a corollary to that game a tendency to judge and categorize. We also see dissatisfaction, fear, conflict, division, jealousy, envy, frustration, anger and depression. All of these distressing experiences are a natural part of the normal human waking state of consciousness that is identified with the ego and thus separated from God. In that state of consciousness we tend to focus more on what separates us from others and what distinguishes us from others. Based on these distinctions we make judgments of better and worse, good and evil, and more desirable and less desirable. Our ability to love equally and unconditionally all of creation is seriously compromised. Based on this way of perceiving we justify hurtful and destructive behavior both towards others and toward ourselves. As we travel on our spiritual journey to union with God we increasingly focus on what unites rather than on what separates. As part of this process we begin to understand that the battles, struggles, intrigues, punishments, and judgments in our scriptures can be understood as depictions of inner processes we go through on our journey from identifying with our ego to reaching union with God. And as we progress on that journey our presence in the world becomes more of a healing presence rather than a divisive one. When we complete our journey home we become one with the healing force of divine unconditional love.

This book is based on a search I undertook to discover the message of God that is present for me in the Bible. In doing this I was guided by the idea that the Bible speaks to me as the voice of God delivering a message of infinite love, taking the role of a wise and compassionate teacher. As I turned inward for divine guidance this is what came to me. "The first and continuing sin is your decision to experience yourself as separate from Me. Out of this sin all of your suffering flows. Your separation from Me however is an illusion, therefore your suffering is based on an illusion and can be healed. The healing will take place when you open your heart to My love, open your mind to clearly hear the voice of your conscience, and open your eyes to see My presence in everyone and everything. Your conscience and heart brought into harmony and balance with each other is Me, your innermost self, speaking to you. In truth this state of separation is an illusion, a form of self-hypnosis, in which you constricted your consciousness by intensely focusing on a specific body and mind, essentially a specific ego, so that awareness of your oneness with Me was lost. In reality I am always with you in the innermost chamber of your being. When through study, purification, and surrender of the illusion of separation to reality of Oneness you enter that Holy of Holies you experience the grace of My being which has always been with you.

The true purpose of any scripture when properly understood is to guide you back home to Me, to aid you in the process of undoing the hypnotic trance you have put yourself in. The true understanding of scripture is aided by keeping this purpose in mind. Reaching a true understanding of scripture can be greatly facilitated by spiritual practice that has as its basis God centered meditation. Combining scripture and meditation will lead not only you, but also the world to peace, healing and unity."

The Bible clearly states that God created the universe. We usually think of a creator as existing outside of and separate from what he/she creates. But the Bible says that God is omnipresent. Therefore God not only exists outside of the universal four-dimensional space-time continuum, but also within it. God is both transcendent and imminent. In her/his imminent temporal aspect God appears to change, forever growing in knowledge or power. God in his/her transcendent eternal aspect is forever complete and unchanging. The ordinary human waking state of consciousness being completely embedded in time is ultimately an illusion. That illusion can exist only when we experience our existence as other than or independent of God. It is only in this illusory state that God can be perceived or understood as growing in knowledge and power. Temporality can be considered as God playing or as part of expressing all aspects of infinity. The illusion of separation is humankind’s creation. It is not God who is growing in knowledge and power but humans who are growing in knowledge and power as they move through illusory barriers that separate them from God.

Not being able to accept all the apparent destructive negativity in the Jewish and Christian scriptures as a basis for spiritual guidance I set out to approach the understanding of the Bible through my heart and conscience and to make my intellect a servant of my inner voice without abandoning the intellects function of critical thought. In the process of moving towards an understanding of the Bible that could overcome what I see as its negative elements, I decided to use my understanding of God as my guidance. The qualities that I understand as belonging to God are peace, unity, joy, calm power, compassion, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence and infinite, unconditional, selfless love. These qualities are infinite and always present. In effect I decided, to the best of my ability, to put God in the driver’s seat as far as understanding these scriptures were concerned. Too often in attempting to uphold some literal or traditional approach to Biblical interpretation the opposite is done. The intellect is used to negate the voice of the heart and conscience in order to uphold socially conditioned patterns of scriptural interpretation as well as other socially conditioned patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. This is unfortunately also true of religious institutions more devoted to survival and power rather than the universal love that is an intrinsic quality of God. In that process the spiritual helpfulness of critical thought is seriously compromised, and we serve individual identity, our ego, thus strengthening that which separates us from God.

An important context for understanding these scriptures is to be found if we approach them as manuals for spiritual development; as a map for the journey from bondage to freedom. In order to get to that meaning we have to separate out the sections of the Scriptures that serve that purpose from the sections of the Scriptures that are essentially history, geography, and the expression of ego and tribal consciousness. Even these seemingly non-spiritual sections of the Bible, if approached from the framework of perennial psychology, contain within them a spark of the divine.

There is another more common way of approaching the Jewish and Christian Bibles. The Tanakh can be approached as a history of the Jewish people and their relationship to God. The Christian Bible can be approached as the history of the Messiah, the Christ, and the foundation of the Christian’s understanding of their relationship to God. As documents developing two historic spiritual paths this more common approach has validity. However when these documents are understood to describe an exclusive truth then a fundamental error is made. When these documents are used to justify one tradition as being the valid one and the other as false, or one path being superior to the other for all humans, then the God of love, peace, and unity is not properly understood. That unfortunate error creates destructive misinterpretations that lead to understandings and values that promote intolerance and violence in the world. And to those who hold to these views of exclusivity and superiority it has the unfortunate consequence of leading them, not towards, but away from God. When two God realized people from different religious traditions and cultures meet their hearts sing with the joy of shared recognition as God looks at God. If I listen to my inner voice my understanding remains consistent with the notion of a loving God of peace, harmony, and unity. With this understanding there can be no exceptions to this joy of recognition and no exception to embracing all the paths to God with equal love and acceptance even when focusing on a specific path for oneself.

The above considerations provide the basic guidelines for my understanding of the Bible. Other parts of my approach to interpreting these scriptures come from readings and experiences in various religious and spiritual traditions. I have had the good fortune of meeting and studying with some spiritual teachers from the Yoga and Native American traditions. To Swami Rama I owe the deepest experience of inner silence and peace that has ever come into my life. When I first thought of that experience in relation to writing down my understanding of the spiritual journey, a dim memory from my past floated up to the light of consciousness. I am about ten years old. I have come to the synagogue and I am sitting alone with Rabbi Solomon. Nothing is being said. There is a sense of peace and silence, of love and joy.

Swami Rama was a consummate teacher and almost always when I was in his presence I learned something important about myself. He also taught about the universality of God and truth without the imposition of guilt; and in a way that respected all paths to God. Even though he has left his body he continues to be a major source of inspiration to me. Since he has departed one of his disciples Pandit Rajmani Tigunait has continued to offer encouragement to me in this endeavor. Without that inspiration and encouragement this writing could not be taking place. Chief Luciano Perez who taught within the Lakota tradition introduced me to Native American spiritual practices. The light of love and joy permeated his being and shined through his eyes. In his presence it was hard not to be imbued with the spirit of peace, healing, unity, love, joy, and playfulness. My orientation towards the importance of inner work and listening to the inner voice was strongly influenced by my exposure to these teachers and from my experiences with the practice of meditation which began in 1973 and my teaching of meditation which began in 1977. One of the ideas, which has emerged from these experiences, is that of different levels of consciousness. This idea is present in the world’s major spiritual traditions. On the journey back to God one passes through six major states of consciousness. And when one finally arrives home one enters the seventh state of God consciousness. Revelation 1:19-20 And I saw in the right hand of him who sat on a throne a book, written within and on the back and sealed with seven seals, and also the assertion that God created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh, refer to these seven levels of consciousness. As a psychologist in the practice of psychotherapy since the mid 1960’s I have had a large number of people share with me their struggles to overcome pain and suffering and to find meaning in their lives. All of these experiences have had an influence on my thinking and understanding. I initially sat down to use writing as a way of pulling together my thoughts about the human condition and about personal and spiritual development. I was also prompted to use writing as a spiritual practice because many years ago Swami Rama had told me I would write a book. He told me the title of the book would be "Perennial Psychology". After I finished such a manuscript a publisher told me there were many powerful ideas in the manuscript but it needed extensive editing. I put the manuscript away for a few months planning to get some distance from it so I could view it more objectively.

During that time I happened to see a television program on PBS, hosted by the television journalist Bill Moyers, entitled Genesis. It was part of a series designed as a live and spontaneous dialogue on the book of Genesis. He bought together a group of writers, theologians, clergy, artists and thinkers for the series of discussions. As I listened to the discussion by these people I realized that my understanding was very different from what I was hearing. Some of these people posed problems with the text that I did not see as existing and proposed understandings of God that were very different from mine.

When I returned to my manuscript my mind refused to focus on it. My mind seemed to have a mind of its own. All it could think about was what it had to say about the book of Genesis. All my motivation for writing seemed focused on discovering what the Tanakh and Bible could reveal to me. I now thought of my earlier writing as a preparation for my study of these scriptures. And so this exploration was undertaken. In a sense I had come full circle, back to the obligation of every religious Jew, the study of the Torah.

Here are some additional ideas coming out of my studies and spiritual practices that serve as a framework for my understanding of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. It is important to understand that within the realm of time there are stages of development. For an animal that development is largely determined by its biological nature. Animals do not have conscious creative free will or if they do it is much more limited than in humans. Therefore they live in harmony with their basic biological nature, which is in balance with the natural rhythms and seasons of the earth. And this system of energy, if supported by humankind’s free will, exists in a pleasant, balanced state that is in harmony with God. For humans, life is more complex. Within each individual there are present three levels of being, the animal, the human, and the divine. When a person exercises their free will to consciously tread a path of development that leads to union with God, these three parts eventually assume their rightful place and move into complete harmony with God and balance with each other. An internal trinity is created which is the most complete and undistorted expression of God’s being in the world as expressed by an individual. It is important to understand that this does not mean a denial or rejection of the animal or human part of our nature. It means aligning these parts of our nature so that they are in balance with each other and in harmony with God. The amount of peace and conflict in the external world is a reflection of the degree of development in the internal world. When a critical mass of humanity reaches the level of the internal trinity the world reflects the peace and harmony found in the Garden of Eden before the fall. The final stage of the spiritual journey involves transcending the limits of the animal and human, and of time and space, thus achieving the unity with God reflected in the first creation story in Genesis. The writings in the world’s scriptures reflect to varying degrees these three stages of being, the animal, the human, and the divine.

Just as there are three stages of being there are three major levels of relational consciousness for a person who accepts as true, God’s existence. At each of these levels, perception, motivation, and understanding are different, and the beliefs and experiences related to God are different. At the first level of relational consciousness a person believes that God has him in his power. At this level the person is more like an animal relating to a stronger animal. He can fear God, stay out of his way or live by sensing and responding to what he believes are God’s needs; or failing that, fear being punished, killed or banished. At this level a person experiences himself being controlled by external forces. He is basically in a survival mode and even if he denies the validity of the Darwinian notion of evolution he functions according to the law of the survival of the fittest with its inherent notion of struggle, domination, submission and destruction. At this level of functioning a person is most strongly motivated by the basic needs for food, sex, sleep, and self-preservation. For a human the need for self-preservation includes the preservation of the ego. This is the animal level.

At the second level a person believes or even senses that he has God within himself and is motivated to go on an inner journey of exploration. He assumes more responsibility for himself and his actions. He begins listening to his heart and conscience. Conflicts occur in him as he tries to balance self-interest and pleasure seeking with love, compassion, and wisdom. In effect a person at this level is pulled in two directions. On the one side are self centered gratification and individual survival. This is the animal level. On the other side is the whisper of eternity calling the person to fully actualize their potential and reach union with God. This is the divine level. The motivations from these two levels are most often in conflict. There are two major reactions to these conflicts. One reaction is to honestly acknowledge the internal struggle and accept responsibility for it. From this position spiritual evolution is possible. The other reaction is to run from honest self-exploration and not accept responsibility for the conflict. When this happens a person may project the internal conflict onto the outer world and perceive it as happening there. As a result they get involved in external battles and conflicts. When people experience unacceptable impulses, feelings or thoughts the results of taking this position produces a great deal of mischief in the world. They may even assume that some evil force or entity is influencing them. They identify others as being a carrier of this evil force and set out to defeat these minions of evil. From this position of externalizing the conflict, spiritual evolution is much more difficult if not impossible. This process of externalization leads to the notion of Satan or evil forces and entities in religious scriptures. At the entrance to the third level a person has the understanding that he and God are one. When that understanding is fully realized all separation and suffering cease. Then there is infinite love and there is total compassion for all beings living in the illusion of separation. When this level is fully realized there is no motivation, as we understand it. There is only God with his intrinsic qualities being expressed. This is the divine level.

These three levels of relational consciousness are expressed in the writings of the Tanakh and the Bible. These scriptures contain the teachings for traveling the path from animal to human to divine. This is the spiritual journey, the journey from bondage to freedom.

When people fail to distinguish these three levels in their Scriptures, much misunderstanding arises. Within this framework movement towards God is spiritual development. Those scriptural passages and those understandings of scriptural passages that move us closer to union with God are aids on our spiritual journey. Movement toward God is a process of opening ourselves to universal unconditional love, peace, harmony and unity. To do so takes great courage. But anyone who sincerely sets their feet upon that path will find God there to guide and help them. Such sincerity requires the courage and willingness to be absolutely honest with oneself. Any understanding of scriptural writings that help us travel that path has spiritual merit. Any understanding of scriptural passages, which impedes our movement foreword on that path, does not and is a hindrance to spiritual development. We need to understand that particular ways of interpreting passages in the Tanakh and Bible may be helpful to our spiritual progress at one point on our journey but a hindrance at a point further along. This is so important because many people make a serious error in thinking that because a particular understanding of the Bible had been helpful to them at a certain point in their life that understanding is the only valid understanding. That happens when the ego takes charge to preserve its power by attempting to stop the spiritual journey. And one of the basic games the ego plays with this is "Mines better than yours". There is a wide array of variations on this theme.

In using scripture as a guide to union with God it is important to understand the meaning of being created in God’s image. Whatever arises in God’s mind immediately manifests as an expression of Her-Him. That power of creation, to a more limited extent, also belongs to every person. We create the realities we live in by our desires, thoughts, fantasies, fears, and beliefs. It is from this base that our actions flow. The world as it manifests at any time is the result of the effects of the combined creative power of humanity. Therefore any history can be seen to be a reflection of the internal state of the inhabitants of that historical period. When the historical episodes recounted in scripture are seen this way a great amount of useful understanding can arise. If you approach your personal history in this way you will be challenging your identification with your ego. And if you have the courage to persist in expanding your understanding than your identification with your ego will begin to whither and, combined with other spiritual practices, die. Therefore expect fierce resistance. The ego does not give up its power easily.

It is important to keep in mind that each of us is the nucleus and the universe we live in is our expansion. Therefore there is a great responsibility one undertakes in interpreting and teaching the meaning of scriptures. Interpretations create realities for the person making them. If enough people in a group accept those interpretations then it will manifest as history for that group. As long as a person experiences himself as a separate being who is born and dies, who has needs, desires and fears he cannot fully apprehend God. Therefore even though our attempts to express understanding of scriptures can be very helpful they cannot be free of error. This is important for us to be constantly aware of so we do not fall into the trap of arrogance and pride and join those who in their false certainty of complete truth do violence to themselves and others.

It is very important for all those who study scripture to understand that there are two levels of truth to be found, the universal and the particular. Confusion between these two can lead to many difficulties. Statements concerning God’s nature depict universal truths. The statements that God is infinitely loving and compassionate, omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent are assertions of universal truths. They can be seen as referring to God’s infinite consciousness, which can be referred to as The Perennial Psychology. I understand God to be the ultimate reality, unbounded by space and time, existing before our universe came into being and continuing to exist after our universe ceases to be. God was never born and never dies. God is without physical form, absolutely complete, and fulfilled. Therefore God has no needs and whatever flows from him is an expression of his being and is not an act that is motivated. These statements are assertions of what I believe are universal truths. Universal truths can be partially understood, but not completely apprehended, by a state of consciousness that is bounded by space and time and identifies itself with a limited being. Particular truths are those that refer to finite existence. Any truths we arrive at through the use of concepts that can be fully understood are particular truths. The understandings each of us arrives at, concerning the work we need to do on the spiritual path, and our understanding of scriptures, are particular truths. They are understandings that can be helpful to us on our journey from bondage to freedom. They may, or may not, have wide spread applicability to others. They do not apply universally to all people. Nor does a particular truth that applies to us at one phase of our spiritual journey necessarily apply to us at another phase of that journey. Keep this in mind. It protects against arrogance and doing violence to others in the name of truth. It also helps us understand that, although reading what others have written can be valuable, it does not lift the responsibility we have of undertaking our own study and developing the understandings and ways of being that are necessary for our journey back to God. I believe it is important to again emphasize that we cannot, as individuals, separated in our awareness from God, each other, and the rest of creation, fully apprehend an infinite, unitary, consciousness whose characteristic is absolute, unconditional, infinite, selfless love. But we can, and for the sake of peace and healing in our world, we must learn to discriminate what is not Perennial Psychology. This is important because too often religion promotes ego consciousness and confuses it with Divine consciousness thus promoting division, suffering, and destructiveness in the world.

To approach some degree of understanding of Divine Love we can turn to 1 Cor. 13. which also hints at union with God and of a developmental spiritual psychology. In this verse I understand charity to refer to unconditional selfless love. Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove all mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in inequity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And know abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

The spiritual or inner meaning of the Tanakh and the Bible present a developmental spiritual psychology. The names of people and places that appear in the Tanakh and the Bible have meanings that show a high degree of awareness of the complex conscious and unconscious nature of the human personality at the various levels of spiritual development. I owe the insight that the meaning of the names and places in the Bible have significance for deeper understanding to a good friend Reverend Ross Le Compte. When looking at the genealogies presented in these scriptures a useful concept is that of subpersonalities written about by the psychiatrist Roberto Assagioli. In his book "Psychosynthesis" he writes that if we become aware of the differences in our behavior at our work, at home, in social interplay, in solitude, at church, or as a member of some group such as a political party we can begin to understand the concept of sub-personalities residing within us. Assagioli considered the roles, which includes patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving, of an individual in whom various psychological traits are not integrated, to be sub-personalities. Total integration occurs only when the internal trinity is established. In an individual, who has not achieved that level of integration, very different and often quite antagonistic traits are displayed in different roles. "These differences of traits which are organized around a role justify, in our opinion, the use of the word sub-personality. Ordinary people shift from one to the other without clear awareness and only a thin thread of memory connects them; but for all practical purposes they are different beings – they act differently, they show very different traits." (Psychosynthesis, page 75). I believe that this understanding of human personality was present for some of the authors and compilers of the Judeo-Christian scriptures. Viewed within this context the meanings of the Hebrew names in the genealogies can be understood to involve maps of human development at different stages of spiritual evolution.

Whatever you find in this book that is helpful to you is a gift from the traditions of the spiritual teachers I have been fortunate enough to have had contact with. Whatever error or confusion is present is due to my limitations.

My journey at this period of time involves approaching the Tanakh and Bible as an allegory of the spiritual journey from bondage to freedom; from animal, to human, to divine. If this strikes a chord in you I hope you will join me on this journey and experience the joy of opening to God’s true love and your true destiny.

The meanings of the names of people and places were taken from the following sources:

"The Complete Dictionary of English and Hebrew First Names", Rabbi Alfred J Kolatch, Jonathan David Publishers, 1984

"The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon", Francis Bown et al, Henderson Publishers Inc; New Edition, 1993

"Metaphysical Bible Dictionary" Charles Fillmore Library, Unity Books, 1995

[1] In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Commentary: God created the beginning of time and in the same instant there was also created the seed of the universe containing all the information that was required to unfold the heaven (Spiritual realm) and the earth (material realm). (God created the beginning of the cycle of human time by creating the seed of human life that contained all the information to unfold humanity) Note: The sections in parenthesis in Chapters one and two refer to the creation of man in verse 26 in this Chapter.

"In the very beginning" implies that the heaven and the earth were created in the very first instant that God created time. The first story of creation fills in the details of what occurred in that process of the simultaneous creation of the heaven and the earth and of time. God, being infinite, exists outside the finite limitations of space and time. Therefore all space throughout all time, from the beginning of the universe to the end of the universe exists simultaneously for God. It is impossible for us to think of a process of creation, evolution and dissolution without thinking of it as happening sequentially in time. Therefore any story designed to convey meaning that can be understood on a human level must be written to convey a process happening in time.

This verse indicates that the first step had nothing to do with the creation of gross material form or matter. The first step had to do with the creation of the subtlest delimited energy pattern which was the seed of the entire creation that would unfold. It was void, i.e. – none of its gross material potential had manifested. Therefore it was still in darkness, it had not yet been brought into the light of self-aware existence. Then the spirit of God, which is to say, pure, unbounded, infinite awareness moved over this subtlest level of delimited matter.

[2] And 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.

Commentary: In it’s seed state the objects of the universe had not yet formed. In that very instant in which God created the beginning of time and the seed of the universe, all the potential was present but had not yet been brought to light. And in that same instant God’s creative energy flowed and with that movement space was created. (In humanities seed state the physical being had not yet formed. In that very instant in which God created the seed of humanities being all of human potential was present but had not yet been brought to light. And in that same instant God’s creative energy flowed and with that movement a field of energy was created as a template of human structure.)

[3] And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Commentary: And in the same instant that time, the seed of the universe, and space were created a portion of God’s creative consciousness constricted from infinity to emerge in its finite form as limited consciousness. ( And in the same instant that the seed of humanities being and energy template was created, a portion of God’s creative energy constricted from infinity to emerge as consciousness within that seed)

To say something is to send forth some form of energy or vibration. Words are a manifestation of thought, a movement from a subtler more hidden level to a grosser more perceptible level. For God creation happens the instant he thinks a thought. God is creating the existence of light within time, i.e. - bounded, finite consciousness.

[4] And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Commentary: And God saw that the awareness he created, although finite, was good. It was in balance and in harmony with him and knew of its oneness with its creator. This new awareness was finite, existing within the boundary of time, but was undifferentiated. It had not yet taken on the form of objects that still existed only as potential within the seed of creation. The seed was now complete having within it the potential for all that would exist within space and time.

[5] And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and

the morning were the first day.

Commentary: This first day of creation represents the sixth level of consciousness which is the level closest to God but not identical to him. It is an integrated awareness that is just one step away from him. It can be referred to as the highest spiritual realm. This level of consciousness contains within itself the template for the entire universe. (Thus the state of being and potential that God brought into existence, in a harmonious and balanced way, was the first stage of humanities creation. The state of harmony and balance was an expression of God’s love and humanity’s state of original grace)

This was the first stage of creation. God created the seed of the universe that contained all the potential that could unfold from the beginning to the end of time. What had been manifested was imbued with consciousness (light). What had not yet been manifested was not yet conscious (darkness, night).

[6] ¶ And God said, Let there be a firmament (Heb: expansion) in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

Commentary: God created an expansion of consciousness in the midst of undifferentiated energy that divided the energy into two realms

[7] And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

Commentary: And God penetrated the seed of the universe with the creative energy of light to begin the process of development, the first stage of which was the creation of the material and spiritual realms for this universe. This is indicated by stating the division was along a vertical dimension of above and below. And the plan immediately manifested. Above the firmament means at a subtler level of manifestation and represents the spiritual realm and below is at a denser level of manifestation and represents the material realm. This expansion represents a level of consciousness that is aware of both the spiritual and material realms.

( And God penetrated the seed of humanities being with the creative energy of light to begin the process of humanities development, the first stage of which was the creation of the material and spiritual realms of human existence)

[8] And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Commentary: It is interesting that this second day of creation does not contain the phrase which follows the statement of every other day of creation "and God saw . . . and it was good" This is so because the important creation on the second day was Heaven. We now have the spiritual realm of consciousness and an expansion of consciousness that can be aware of both the spiritual and material realms. By naming it Heaven God designates this as a level of consciousness which is in communion with and therefore harmonious with the divine and hence saying it is good would be redundant. The potential objects in the material realm were still in darkness, not yet manifested. This cycle of time was the second stage of creation. This represents the fifth level of consciousness. This is a level of consciousness separated from the highest spiritual realm but still open to it. This level of consciousness is fully open to guidance from that spiritual realm. Within a person this represents awareness that contains within itself the male and female principals, in perfect balance and harmony with each other and with God..

[9] ¶ And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

Commentary: And from the subtle state of energy God created matter and formed it into suns, planets, solar systems and galaxies. ( And from humanities subtle state he caused patterns of energy to form, and for organic matter to evolve and to be structured by those patterns of energy into bodies.)

[10] And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

Commentary: And God called the dry land earth and the areas of water seas. He imbued the land and water with awareness and the seas and the land knew of their state of balance with all of creation and their harmony with God and therefore were good. ( And the solid and fluid parts of the material body existed in harmony and balance with God and therefore were good)
[11] And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

Commentary: "Let the earth bring forth vegetation" has a different meaning then Gods earlier statements related to creation such as "Let there be light", and "Let there be a firmament". In these earlier statements the act of creation flows directly from Gods thought to manifestation. By saying, "Let the earth bring forth vegetation" the process of creation involves Gods creative consciousness quickening the earth so that the next stage of development is manifested from the consciousness of the earth, not directly from God without an intervening entity. The earth now has awareness and a specific delimited generative capacity.
[12] And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree

yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Commentary: And the entire God created vegetable kingdom was imbued with awareness that was in balance and in harmony with God.
[13] And the evening and the morning were the third day.

Commentary: This is the third level of consciousness. This level of consciousness has to do with a separation of elements that lead to assertive activity and receptive activity. The land asserts itself and the water is receptive to the lands requirement for space. The water asserts itself and the land is receptive to the waters requirement for space. Plants also assert a territoriality to create a space in which to grow and thrive and the surrounding environment is receptive to this need for space. On the level of the individual this stage of consciousness allows for effective and assertive individual behavior so one can provide for their needs to survive and evolve. And in this world where the human level is in balance with all of creation and in harmony with God each person is receptive to the needs of others to survive and evolve.

[14] ¶ And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

Commentary: And God created earth as part of a system of planets circling a radiant body of energy and also another body of matter circling earth and reflecting the light of the radiant body; and these separated the day from the night and provided rhythms that established seasons, days, and years. Up until this point the word "day’ was used to denote those elements of delimited material existence that had been manifested and hence were imbued with awareness; and the word "night" was used to denote the unmanifested potential that had not yet been brought into form and therefore had no corresponding awareness. Here an additional meaning is added to both words. Now "day" can also refer to what we understand as daytime, and "night" to what we understand as nighttime. It is at this point that the one complete revolution of earth that we call a full day is manifested. Now there is regularity, a rhythm to existence on earth. The cycle of seasons, days, and years are established. Within this context heaven refers to the sky.

[15] And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

Commentary: ( And God’s energy flowing between the radiant and receptive poles within the human body imparts life and awareness within it)
[16] And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

Commentary: ( And God made three major energy channels in the human body, one to promote activity, energy, and rationality; another to promote, intuition, creativity, receptivity, calmness and sleep and another to act as a channel of communication to and from God)

The sun, moon and stars are manifested.
[17] And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

Commentary: ( And God created them as channels for his energy that flows through the human body on a person’s breath to give life to the body)
[18] And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

Commentary: ( And to rule over the active and receptive principals in a person. And they existed in balance and in harmony with God and were therefore good)

The cycles of nature thus established were in harmony and balance with God.
[19] And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Commentary: This is the fourth level of consciousness. This level of consciousness is the meeting point of two separate polarities. One polarity is above and below (heaven and earth) and represents the polarity of spiritual and material, and thus our more basic impulses from our more advanced aspirations. The other polarity is right and left and represents the active and receptive or masculine and feminine aspects of being. This level of consciousness represents pure empathy, compassion, and selfless love . It is a level of integration of the two polarities.

This phrase, "And there was evening and there was morning" has a specific meaning. Morning refers to the dawning of delimited consciousness, as a specific aspect of creation is manifested and imbued with awareness. Evening, in this phrase refers to those aspects of delimited material existence that have not yet been manifested and imbued with awareness. Each stage of creation manifests a level of delimited material existence which is imbued with awareness; which goes from evening to morning, darkness to light. Here the fourth stage of creation is completed.
[20] And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

Commentary: Again God uses the medium of an intervening entity for the purposes of creation.
[21] And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Commentary: And through the medium of a conscious entity, which is a finite expression of God, creation continues. And all of creation is in a pleasant state of balance and in harmony with God.

[22] And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

Commentary: And they were naturally blessed, being an aspect of God’s love manifesting within space and time.

[23] And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Commentary: This represents the second level of consciousness. It is a level of consciousness dominated by sexual and sensual desires and pleasures. This assures the reproduction and spreading of life throughout the earth. This level of consciousness is involved with assuring the survival of species
[24] ¶And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

Commentary: ( And God created living creatures within the human body with the power to reproduce themselves and populate the body and become part of a harmonious living system)
[25] And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Commentary: This first level of consciousness is the anchor in the gross material realm. It provides the base for the survival of the individual and a polarity for the energy of God to flow down to. It is also the base from which the ascent up the ladder of consciousness is made.

[26]¶ And God said, Let us 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.

Commentary: Man is the culmination of the process of creation. Then God made man and gave to him his divine awareness of all the levels of delimited consciousness. And God assigned man the task of maintaining harmony and balance on earth.

Here again God is directly creating without an intervening substance. "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness refers for the first time to the notion that the eternal unity of God contains within itself different aspects. To make man in "our likeness" means to create that same condition at the level of delimited material existence. Here man does not refer to the masculine aspect of creation but rather to a level of creation that, like God, contains within itself, in perfect harmony and unity the masculine and feminine aspects but now at a level of delimited material existence. This is the other polarity within the finite realm and it is at the sixth level of consciousness. The next stage of creation of male and female individuals imbued with this level of awareness is given dominion over the entire animal kingdom.
[27] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Commentary: So God created the universal person in his image. And God created the universal person in the form of male and female, both possessed of his divine awareness of all the levels of delimited consciousness. And the man and woman were one in that awareness whose unity was the universal person who was in harmony with God. This is the original trinity, the mystery of the three levels of being which function as One and are One.

God contains within himself, in eternal harmony and balance, the masculine and feminine principals. Therefore man created in Gods image, contains within himself both male and female in harmony and balance. The word "man" as used here does not refer to a male individual but to a level of finite existence containing equally and harmoniously both the masculine and feminine aspects of being. This can be appropriately referred to as the universal person. Also created was another level of finite existence in which the masculine and feminine energies were each incorporated in different proportions within two created Beings. The masculine energy was given dominance within a male individual and the feminine energy was given dominance within a female individual. This is the level of individual existence. To be created in Gods image means to be created with consciousness, creative powers and free will. But the image of something is not the same as that of which it is an image. God’s consciousness, creative power and free will is ("is" used deliberately to indicate one unity) infinite and exists outside the bounds of any limitations or qualifications. However the universal person’s consciousness, creative powers and free will are finite. This is also true for the male and female creations. They exist within the bounds and limitations of the laws of the created universe. As long as one identifies with any aspect of the delimited material universe they limit themselves to finite existence. However this passage "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them", indicates something entirely different then a limiting individual identification. It indicates three levels of awareness that function as one. The first level, eternal and infinite is God, the second level is the universal person that contains both the male and female energies equally and in harmony and balance, the third level is that of the individual man and woman. This is the original trinity. It is a state of consciousness in which the other two levels exist, both knowing of their relationship with God and each other, hence although finite, in constant communication and dialogue with each other and with God.
[28] And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Commentary: And they were blessed with continuous communion with God and thus were in harmony with him. Being blessed with communion their power and freedom to knowingly create, guide, and direct is in harmony with God. God created man in the physical forms of male and female so that they could celebrate their oneness in joyous physical union and with joy multiply and fill the earth with physical forms, as an expression of his active awareness within space and time, and to maintain the harmony and balance of the earth and all its living creatures. The man and woman were created with the ability to travel through all the levels of delimited consciousness while maintaining communion with God. The consciousness of man, both male and female, operated with an intuition free from personal identification and the personal unconscious. Their intuition came without distortion directly from God, the highest source of knowledge.

In this state of awareness in which there is communication and dialogue with God, God’s blessing flows constantly and uninterruptedly down the ladder of consciousness to the universal person and to individual men and woman. However this is not a one way flow. Gods blessing can flow uninterruptedly only to those who are open to the knowledge of their relationship with God. In this state an individual’s awareness can embrace all levels of delimited consciousness and easily ascends and descends the ladder of consciousness while maintaining constant communion with God. In this state of being men and woman have dominion over the animal kingdom effortlessly fulfilling their role of maintaining the harmony and balance of God throughout the earthly manifestation.
[29]¶ And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

Commentary: In this state of communion with God men and women have everything they need in the way of food from the plant kingdom to maintain their life and health. There is no need or desire to kill and eat anything from the animal kingdom.
[30] And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

Commentary: In this state of communion with God, where men and women have dominion over the animal kingdom, there is a harmony and balance in nature so that even the animals will not have to, or have a desire to kill and eat other animals or humans to sustain their life and health.
[31] And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Commentary: For the first time the phrase, "and it was very good" is used. This was the completion of creation. Everything in creation existed in perfect and pleasant balance and in harmony with God. At the beginning of this sixth stage of creation part of the creation was still in the darkness of potential that had not yet been brought into self-aware existence. At the end of this stage of creation all the potential had been made manifest and was imbued with awareness.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST CREATION STORY

This first creation story tells of the creation by God of a world in which everything is in perfect and pleasant balance because it is in complete harmony with Him. It is therefore a finite reflection of infinite perfection, of eternal balance and harmony. In this finite creation there is no suffering or death in the animal and human kingdoms. Humans know of their relationship to God and therefore maintain harmony and peace for all of life on the planet. It is a world that allows for the easy, natural, and full expression of selfless love and happiness.

The six stages of creation involve not only creation of different material forms and substances but also different levels of consciousness. All these levels are, unlike God, finite and not eternal. Therefore at some point they must all come to an end. And just as the entire finite universe comes into existence by a constricting of consciousness, from the infinite to the finite, a kind of devolution of consciousness; it comes to an end by a reversal of that process. It comes to an end by the expansion of consciousness until consciousness expands beyond all limits and becomes infinite and eternal. It is then one with God and at that point all else ceases. This coming to an end does not involve death and destruction as we know it but rather a conscious transformation to increasingly higher, vaster levels of consciousness. That ultimate state of infinite consciousness is the seventh level of consciousness referred to in the second creation story as the seventh day.

As beings with finite consciousness all we can say is that we come from the unfathomable unknown and by having the courage to listen to and follow our heart and conscience we come to the conviction that it is our destiny to return to the unfathomable unknown, and that the most perfect human experience of joyous love is but an indiscernible shadow of that ultimate reality. Listen to God’s voice, your heart and conscience, strain to hear it as it whispers to you through all your layers of resistance. Your finite ego dominated mind shouts to you, "This is childish nonsense, its time to grow up and live in the real world, stop running to fantasy, face up to reality". Our inner voice however gives us a different perspective. " What is darkness to the ignorant is light to the wise". The inner voice is God’s blessing to each and every human being. If you open to that voice God’s grace easily flows to you, and you will be treading a path that will lead you out of the mire of illusion with its inherent suffering.

What does it mean when a young child says, "Its not fair"? That child is experiencing a limitation on its spontaneity, comfort, fulfillment, happiness, creativity or freedom. That child knows that this limitation is somehow not right. It is less then God. In order to travel back to God we must become like young children knowing that it is somehow wrong to be limited. We have to stop being so grown up and realistic in order to regain that recognition of our potential for infinity. Then, and only then, will we be ready to take the next step toward the kingdom of heaven. When this desire to go beyond limits is dominated by the ego the result is selfishness, suffering and destruction. When this desire is put in the service of God; peace, love, and joy are established.

Allow God to lead you from darkness to light, from illusion to reality, from mortality to immortality. For however long it takes God will be waiting to greet you and be your guide on this wondrous journey back to your true home where you will finally realize that all along you, in your essential nature, have been the guide, the traveler, the path, and the destination.

In the beginning "darkness was upon the face of the deep" ---- "And God said let there be light; and there was light". God constricts a portion of his consciousness and it manifests as the subtlest level of creation, as the light of finite universal consciousness. In doing so he does not become less. When something is taken out of infinity, infinity still remains. Then through further constrictions of consciousness all the levels of the manifested universe are formed. At the end of each of the six stages of creation it is written, "And there was evening and there was morning". Each day of creation represents the manifestation of a different level of consciousness with its concomitant expression of material existence. First there is evening (a lack of manifestation) and then there is morning (the beginning of a level of manifestation). By the end of the sixth day all the finite realms of existence, from the subtlest to the grossest level had been manifested. All these levels are realms that consciousness could play in. All these levels are also the play of consciousness. Man and woman could joyously create and play at all levels of delimited consciousness while maintaining their harmony with God. In this first creation story no names are given to the man and woman. This indicates that this level of awareness had not separated itself out into an individual identity not knowing of its oneness in God. On the seventh day there is no statement that, "there was evening and there was morning, the seventh day", because on the sixth day all the finite potential inherent in the initial act of creation had been manifested and the seventh level is God consciousness which has no beginning or end.

The understanding of the first creation story that is set forth here has definite implications for the spiritual path. This story represents God’s creation in which all levels of consciousness exist in harmony with God and hence with each other. Therefore all behaviors, beliefs, and codes of ethics and morals must be measured against the criteria established here. Do they lead toward love, peace, harmony, creative play, happiness, and unity or do they emphasize differences and lead to constriction, judgment, rigidity, separation, conflict, fear, and suffering. Another way of looking at every situation to see if it is in harmony with God is to see if a situation involves a win-win or win-lose scenario. To turn every situation into a win-win scenario requires that we listen to our heart and conscience.

In this first creation story the nature of the first and last stage of the entire manifested universe is depicted. This story also illumines that state of consciousness, which is at the very threshold of enlightenment. Beyond this point nothing can be said because infinity cannot be contained within finite words and concepts. Become like a child again and be open to the sense of infinity, of existence beyond limits. Open to your inner voice and you too will say, "Its not right that I should be confined to a limited existence". But now it takes on a new meaning, "Its not right that I confine myself to an existence separated from God".

Think about the times in your life that you have experienced love (from a spiritual standpoint the purest form of love is selfless love), a deep sense of contentment, or joy. In each of these situations what have been your patterns of thinking and behaving that have promoted and supported these positive experiences? In these exercises the important emphasis is on self examination and taking responsibility for your thoughts, feelings and behavior rather than focusing on what others do for or to you.

Think about the times in your life where rather than experiencing love you experienced fear, worry, anxiety, or anger. What were your patterns of thinking and behaving that promoted and supported these negative experiences?

Think about the times in your life where rather than experiencing contentment you experienced discontent, disappointment, unhappiness, or frustration. What were your patterns of thinking and behaving that promoted and supported these negative experiences?

Think about the times in your life where rather than experiencing joy you experienced unhappiness, gloom, pessimism, negativity, or sadness. What were your patterns of thinking and behaving that promoted and supported these negative experiences?

Think of what you wrote down in Exercises 2 through 4 as representing your prison. They are habit patterns that you have developed over the course of your life that keep you trapped in your identification with your ego. The spiritual journey involves a path of purification which means eliminating these negative habit patterns from your life. When all of your negative patterns are completely replaced by positive patterns then selfless love, contentment and joy as your state of being is established. The prison walls tumble down and undistorted communication with God begins. If you are a sincere student on a spiritual path of purification, whether you are aware of it or not, God will be with you and guiding you.

An understanding of the dynamics of habit patterns is important. Habit patterns are strengthened by repetition. One systematic way to change an undesired habit pattern is to build up an incompatible habit until it becomes strong enough to replace the undesired pattern. The goal is to replace the patterns of thinking and behaving that you noted in exercises 2 through 4 which promote negative experiences with the patterns of thinking and behaving that you noted in exercise 1 which promotes positive experiences.

One approach to doing this is to think of your life as a play which you have written and which you direct and star in. As the writer you can change the script of the star actor and as the director you can help the actor skillfully play the new role. Following are the steps for systematically working to modify your script:

1. Pick one pattern of negative thoughts and related behaviors that you want to change.

2. Do a daily review. Review your days thinking and behavior to see if the pattern you wish to change occurred. If it occurred go on to step 3. If it did not occur you can pick another negative pattern you wish to change. Once you find a pattern to follow through on it is important to stay working with that one pattern until you can successfully act out the more positive role.

3. Rewrite the script so that the role reflects a positive pattern of thinking and behaving on the part of the star actor that promotes and expresses experiences of love, contentment and joy. Remember you are focusing on what the actor can do not what others do.

4. Mentally rehearse the new role. The rehearsal is best done with closed eyes using the imagination.

5 Acting rehearsal - you can practice the new role with the appropriate speech and body language.

It is best to do this exercise once a day. Trying to do this more than once a day may become a burden and then you are more likely to stop. Doing steps 4 and 5 help to establish a new pattern in the brain. Repetition which strengthens the new habit pattern can be achieved by doing this exercise once a day.

EXERCISE 6. If you have a religious orientation or religious beliefs examine them. What in your religious orientation or beliefs promotes the qualities and experiences you wrote about in exercise 1? What in your religious orientation or beliefs acts as the prison you examined in exercises 2 through 4? What in your religious orientation or beliefs interferes with what you need to do to get out of your prison?

[1] Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

Commentary: There are many different levels of consciousness. The ordinary waking state of consciousness is that level of consciousness that is viewed by most people as normal. There are a whole host of levels of consciousness, each one embracing a different realm. Just as a day contains hours, and hours contain minutes, and minutes contain seconds each day (level) of consciousness contains many sublevels.

[2] And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

Commentary: All of creation was finished being composed of six levels of

consciousness and all their sublevels.
[3] And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Commentary: This is the seventh level of consciousness, which is who God is. It is a vast awareness that knows no limits. All distinctions of ordinary limited consciousness break down. At this level of divine consciousness the differentiation between the experiencer and the experienced, the knower and the known ceases. Awareness is expanded beyond the point that can be explained in verbal terms or grasped by finite consciousness. This is God’s eternal state that existed before creation, during creation, and will exist after this universe ceases. From this we came, within this we reside as this also resides within us, and to this we shall return. This is God’s blessing to us, our original blessing. As long as a person remains open to their heart and conscience and heeds this voice of God within, they shall experience joy, happiness, peace, beauty, and harmony. If they cease to both listen and heed then they create a reality to live in that, coming from their finite consciousness, will have elements of separation, loneliness, pain, and suffering.

These first three verses of chapter two, in a certain sense, do not relate to the process of creation in the two creation stories. In a sense it represents a completion. The seventh day is not a day of creation but, from the perspective of the finite manifested universe, it is a day of dissolution. From the perspective of divine awareness it is a day of homecoming. It is the day when God rests within himself. This is the final goal of the spiritual path. At this point all of creation not only knows of its oneness with God but also crosses the threshold from knowing of the oneness to being the oneness. The universe emerges from God and flows back into God. Because God is eternal, infinite, unbounded and always God, in his state as God he never changes. In that ultimate state of consciousness, which is God, there is only One, there is no other. This is the state that exists when all sentient beings have traveled up the ladder of consciousness back to union with God. For an individual this is the final stage of the spiritual path that represents the culmination of the journey from bondage to ultimate freedom. This state of union with God is by its very nature sanctified, it is purified of all limitations, all darkness, all ignorance, all mortality, all pain and suffering. This is the eternal ultimate state of consciousness.

A question that emerges is, "Why do these verses appear at the beginning of the second chapter rather than at the end of the first?" These verses serve to link the two stories, to show that they are to be understood in relation to one another and not as two totally separate accounts. The relationship is one of contrast. The first story represents a joyous harmony devoid of pain, suffering, conflict, and death. The link of communion with God is intact. In the second story there is pain, suffering, fear, conflict and the recognition of death. These beginning verses can be seen to emphasize this contrast between perennial psychology and human psychology. It therefore sets the framework for a difference that is going to emerge between God’s creation and humanities creation. It also points to the goal of bringing the kingdom of man into harmony with the kingdom of God. A universe in perfect harmony with God can be considered a playful and loving expression of God’s consciousness. That can also be considered as part of God’s unity, which therefore has no beginning and no end. That is the reality. What humankind has created always has an end and therefore death is a product of human creation.
[4]¶ These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

Commentary: In the Bible, Genesis Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 verses 1 through 3 above, comprising the first creation story, contain the most accurate understanding of God’s being. In the second creation story in Genesis beginning with verse 5, below, of Chapter 2 we have a heavier influence of human psychology, of constricted awareness. In the first creation story we have a purer expression of God’s awareness, of perennial psychology. Although God inspires all scripture the inspiration is filtered through different levels of consciousness. This verse is a transition between the two worlds of God and human. This story recognizes only one day of creation. Thus it recognizes only one level of consciousness. The level of consciousness that is recognized is given by the phrase "the Lord God". In the first creation story he is referred to simply as "God" whereas in this second creation story he is referred to as "Lord God". In the first creation story there is not a hierarchy, there is harmony and unity. In this second creation story there is a hierarchy as seen from the ordinary waking state of consciousness. Therefore God is given the title "Lord". The link of communion has been broken. Very soon the Bible will tell the story of what it is like to be in the bondage of mortality, ignorance, fear, and suffering; and to experience being under the control of a Lord, a powerful superior, who holds the power of life and death over one. This level of consciousness is different from God’s. With the link of communion broken there is an unbridgeable gap between divine consciousness and human consciousness. This is the clue that it is from that level of consciousness, which can be called the ordinary waking state of consciousness that this story is written. It also, as a valid scripture, when properly understood provides knowledge of how to travel back to union with God. It provides a map to travel the path of consciousness from the position of "God has me in his power" to the position that "I have God within me" and finally to the highest level of consciousness where "God and I are one". Proper understanding also provides something else which is an essential element of each person’s journey to union with God. When the two creation stories are properly understood they help to light the fire and fan the flames of desire to return to God. As such it represents one of Gods many gifts to humanity.

[5] And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

Commentary: Here there is recognition that in order to exist and properly function creation needs all its elements existing within some degree of relationship and harmony. It also recognizes that humankind is meant to play an important role in maintaining that balance and harmony. At a deeper level this verse refers to the fact that human life had not yet begun because the energy of God had not yet descended to form that life
[6] But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

Commentary: God’s energy is depicted as rising up out of the earth and descending back to the earth making all life possible. All of God’s creation including Man is a creation of the descending and ascending energy of God.
[7] And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Commentary: In the first creation story men and women are simultaneously created as two aspects of a larger whole. They are created directly by God, in the image of his masculine and feminine energy. They are at a higher level of consciousness then the being of Adam, who is more closely bound to gross matter. Here man is formed out of the soil of the earth. Thus as in the first creation story the sacred life force emanates from God. But there is a critical difference. Here the depiction of God is already being shaped or molded to human understanding. God is depicted anthropomorphically working like a potter with clay. Perennial Psychology is being contaminated by human psychology. In the first story God, the universal person and the man and women function as one. In that story the man and woman can travel through all the levels and aspects of delimited consciousness always maintaining their communion with God. The second creation story begins with man being bound more firmly to the material realm and hence represents a more limited awareness.
[8]¶ And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Commentary: At this lower level of consciousness where man is no longer aware of his unity with God, but is aware that he has God within himself, man can still live in a state of harmony with God. He can do this by listening to and following the voice of his heart and conscience, which is God’s voice within him. This state of harmony is referred to here as the garden planted eastward in Eden. From the east comes either divine wisdom or human cunning. Listening to our inner voice allows us to be guided by God and hence to have deep understanding and sound judgment.
[9] And 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 the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Commentary: At the center of our being is the source of eternal life. This source, which is who God is, also knows the difference of the real from the unreal. As long as we listen to and heed our inner voice that burden of discrimination is not ours to bear without guidance. If we close ourselves off from that guidance we become confused and lost.

In this state of consciousness where man listens to the voice of God within, man is freely nourished by God, i.e. - open to his continuously flowing grace. Therefore his mind, open to God’s grace, is in a state of pleasantness.
[10] And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

Commentary: Eden (delight, luxuriate). And the river of God’s grace flowed continuously through man to maintain a pleasant and harmonious state between within (the heart and conscience, i.e. – the voice of God within the individual.) and without (all action in the outer world), and above (the divine or spiritual in a person) and below (the material or animal in a person). This represents a state of consciousness that is in harmony with God and exists when the individual at the human level puts God before everything else.
[11] The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

Commentary: Havila (soft mud, encompassed, virtue born of trial). Pishon (to increase). The human body with its animal nature is like a soft mud within which the gold of divine guidance can sink and be buried. However when we open to God’s grace which is constantly flowing all around and through us, when we consciously acknowledged, honor, and respect it, on all levels of thinking, feeling, and behaving, there is an increase of harmony, joy, love, peace, playfulness, and creativity. That grace will wash away the mud and uncover the Gold of the divine spark within us. That is every person’s inevitable destiny.
[12] And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

Commentary: Bdellium is an aromatic gum resin similar to myrrh obtained from various trees. Onyx is translucent quartz in parallel layers of different colors. This Gold is good. It is not the material metal being referred to. An outward materialistic orientation leads humans to hoard gold, fight over it, and even kill for it. However turning inward to discover spiritual gold brings peace and harmony through all the levels (onyx) of our being. All levels become translucent to the light of divine consciousness and life is infused with a pleasant fragrance..
[13] And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.

Commentary on an internal level: Gihon (determing impulse, a bursting forth). Ethiopia is the Greek name. The Hebrew name is Cush (firelike, burned, combustible). That gold, the gold of the divine presence within us, pulls us toward our destiny of union with God. It is the determining impulse of our destiny, which can temporarily be buried in the mud of our ego, but never vanquished. And when it bursts forth it burns away all the dross and leaves only the pure gold of the divine presence of God.
[14] And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

Commentary: Assyria is Greek. The Hebrew word is Asshur. Asshur( a step, level ongoing, straightforward, observation of laws). Euphrates ((bursting forth, breaking out, fructifying). Haddekel (rapid). When we honor God by patiently, sincerely and continuously following the laws of divine guidance appropriate for our particular level of spiritual development there is a rapid bursting forth of spiritual evolution.
[15] And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Commentary: Man has an important role to play in this creation. By listening to his inner voice a man becomes a vehicle for the flowing of God’s grace, which maintains the harmony and balance of creation. .
[16] And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
[17] 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.

Commentary: But the nourishment from one tree is forbidden. Man is not to infuse his being with the knowledge of good and evil. And God tells man that if he does he will die. But as we will see later that when man partakes of the forbidden knowledge he does not immediately die. Adam however does become mortal and something in Adam does immediately die. It is important to note that at this point in creation man can partake of the nourishment of the tree of life and experience a joyous harmony with Gods creation.. In this pleasant state where he is open to the continuous flow of God’s grace he need not die. God was informing Adam that only by maintaining his focus on the unity that flows from God thus not infusing his awareness with the knowledge of the duality of good and evil could he avoid a constriction of consciousness that would lead to the experience of mortality. Only God, and those in total and perfect communion with him, who is the pure infinite, unbounded, can partake of that knowledge of opposites and remain whole. At more constricted levels of consciousness the knowledge of opposites is transformed into good and evil. This is so because at lower levels of consciousness, where we cease to listen to God opposites are not experienced within the context of God’s unity but are perceived as having real separate and opposing existence. And when opposites are seen this way than judgment of their relative merit is the natural outcome. What occurs is devolution of consciousness from a state of open communion with God to a state of greater separation. In the resulting constricted state of consciousness people will experience themselves as existing within the field of opposites and being effected by them. This constriction of consciousness amounts to the death of the higher levels of consciousness for a person and the consequent birth of a separate ego.
[18]¶ And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

Commentary: Now the difficult task of sorting the wheat from the chaff, of discriminating the real from the unreal must begin. Notice that the writer of these passages uses the phrase "the Lord God". As noted earlier this is indicative of a level of consciousness in which God is experienced, as separate, all-powerful, and existing entirely outside of ones-self with all the implications mentioned in the introduction. And is there any question that the writer of this passage is a man whose mind has been shaped by a patriarchal society. A woman is to be man’s helper. Just as God came before Adam and is his Lord, Adam comes before the women and is to be her Lord. This is not the voice of the divine. This is the voice of the ego. Here the harmony and balance of the masculine and feminine energies has been disrupted. When there is balance and harmony no person is anyone’s Lord. One is not created as a helper for the other. Both are created as helpers to each other, as equal partners in the divine dance of love and joy. Also this verse, when it is understood to imply either incompleteness or loneliness, is in serious error. It represents a distortion of true knowledge by a consciousness that is so constricted that it is not in constant communion with God. When a person experiences communion with God they are not alone nor can they experience loneliness or incompleteness. The more limited view is a projection of the pain of separation onto a reality marked by continuous communion with God. Thus the veil of illusion covers reality, the mud has covered the gold. God is hidden behind an alluring and bright curtain that is the embodiment of the deep personal attachments of the ego to this world or any finite level of existence (the heavens)
[19] And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

Commentary: We have further evidence that the writer of this passage is coming from the level of consciousness in which God and man are separate; and where God exists as the powerful other. If this were written from the level of consciousness that experiences God as within then this passage would be written differently. Functioning together in harmony God and Adam in joyous companionship would do the naming. There is another weakness in this passage. It implies that God does not know what Adam will name the animals. Therefore God is limited in his knowledge and is not infinite, is not omniscient. Here we again see that deviation from an existence that is in harmony with God to one which is experienced as separate from God.
[20] And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

Commentary: This is a curious passage. It is as if God only now comes to the realization that none of the animals he has created are equal to Adam. It is as if God now realizes, but did not before, that animal consciousness and human consciousness are not equal. Here again we see an error created by a writer who is not aware of the unity of all creation with God. In verses 19 and 20 of this chapter Adam is portrayed as operating independently from internal communion with God. But the constriction of consciousness from ‘God within’ to ‘god without’ does not occur until verse 6 of the next chapter. Therefore this can be understood as a projection of the author's state of consciousness. For a more accurate understanding of this and verses 21 through 23 go back to Chapter 1 verses 27 and 28.

Another way of understanding this verse is that it alerts us to the three levels within man, the animal, the human, and the divine, and to the granting of creative power to man by God. This second understanding can exist along with the first understanding in the above paragraph. For even though the writers and compilers of scripture operated within the distorting confines of a culturally conditioned finite consciousness they were still inspired and guided by divine inspiration which is expressed in their work.
[21] And 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;

Commentary: Here sleep refers to a constriction of awareness which allows for there to be two separated beings.
[22] And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

Commentary: Here we again see the patriarchal bias subtly but egotistically expressed. The woman comes from man, after man completes the important task of naming the animals; a task that God assigned to him. So God has put man in charge and the women is to be his helper, but not his equal in authority or responsibility.

From the standpoint of spiritual development this is a backward step. It represents the unity of the male and female energies being split into two separate subpersonalities. This is what happens when we are no longer, in our awareness, united with God.
[23] And 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.

Commentary: There is recognition in these passages that the masculine and feminine aspects have been separated. In this deep sleep of illusion there is created two separated beings dominated by the masculine and feminine energies respectively.

[24] Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Commentary: Here an aspect of the spiritual path is delineated. The task of the spiritual aspirant is to leave behind his/her attachments to maintaining a separate masculinity or femininity and merge them into a unity. This is the deeper meaning that refers to an internal spiritual process. It is mirrored by and can be helped by an individual identified with masculine energy and an individual identified with feminine energy forming a sustained relationship based on caring which evolves into true selfless love thus creating in the external relationship that balance and harmony that was destroyed by the devolution of consciousness into two separated beings. This healing of external separation and internal separation happens simultaneously with each level helping the other. And both separated individuals share equally in bringing this balance and harmony into existence. For marriage to serve its spiritual purpose masculine and feminine individuals must experience themselves as equals bringing their full personalities and capacities to the task of creating unity. For this to be successful the motivation for unity must override all other attachments or desires.
[25] And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Commentary: These two were not yet in a level of consciousness that divided the world into good and bad, acceptable and unacceptable. They could therefore be completely comfortable with their natural state. They had a level of consciousness which, being in balance with all of creation and in harmony with God, was pleasant and knew not of any negativity. This is another task on the spiritual path. The task is to reach a level of consciousness where shame is not possible because one is in communion and harmony with God.

EXERCISE 1. Assume that truth lies within you and speaks to you through your conscience and heart. Now look at some decisions you have made recently, and also some of your behaviors involving other people. What were these based on. Here are some choices:

A. Material gain

B. Personal comfort

C. Personal gratification

D. Safety or security

E. Power and control

F. Guidance from your conscience and heart

EXERCISE 2. If any of your decisions or behaviors were based on something other than guidance from your conscience and heart rethink them in terms of such guidance and write down what they would have been under that guidance.

EXERCISE 3. Weekly and daily review. Once a week review some of your decisions and behaviors applying Exercises 1 and 2. If you can, set aside the time do this as a daily rather than weekly review. If done as a daily review, pick only one decision or one behavior. If you take on too much you are likely to abandon this practice.

EXERCISE 4. When you are planning some future decisions or behaviors consult your heart and conscience and observe what emerges for you.

[1] Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Commentary: To understand this section of the Bible we have to go back to the first creation story where God states that man and woman are created in his image. But God does not have a form. To have a specific form is to be limited and not infinite. Therefore this does not refer to the physical form and structure but rather to the existence within a human of the powers of consciousness, creativity, and free will. However if God interferes with humankind’s free will then it will no longer exist and hence humankind would no longer be created in the image of God but would be relegated to the level of an animal bound to its biological programming. But the Bible is in part a story of the unfolding of humankind’s use of free will and the world created by the choices made. This creative free will imparts a subtlety and shrewdness to human consciousness that can lead a person away from God. One way of understanding the Bible is as a map that shows us the consequences of our choices, and how to return to union with God where all suffering ceases. As such this scripture is a gift from God to us. It is our responsibility to understand it and use it properly.

What then is the meaning of the serpent? It is more subtle then the wild beasts. This indicates that the serpent represents consciousness that is above the animal level; that it is an aspect of human consciousness. But what aspect? It is that part of us that doubts the heart and conscience; the voice of God within. It is the limited ego defending itself against what it experiences as submission to an outside force. A more common understanding is that the serpent represents Satan or the devil. There is a real problem with this idea. Satan is understood to be a fallen angel who was thrown out of heaven after directly challenging God. Before his fall he was an angel of the highest rank. He was therefore a being of immense intelligence who knew from direct personal experience that God not only exists but also is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. Furthermore while retaining his awareness of God he actively rebels and attempts to defeat Gods plan for humankind. Such an angel would know for certain that an insurrection against an omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God is doomed to failure. Would a being of that level of intelligence and with that direct knowledge revolt against God? I believe that what we have is a projection of human psychology onto a being operating in harmony with divine psychology. Remember it is the ego’s goal to block the path to God in order to preserve its survival as a separate and independent entity. The believe in the existence of the devil is such a block.

[2] And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
[3] But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
[4] And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

Commentary: Here is the internal conflict that each person faces numerous times in his or her life. It is a conflict over which voice to follow, the voice of the ego or the voice of God. Once the internal harmony of the male and female energies is broken and placed into two separate beings there is incompleteness in each. Each yearns to be whole, to be holy. One can go inward to search for the fulfillment of this need. When consciously pursued this is called the spiritual path. If pursued sincerely it will lead one back to God and total fulfillment. One can also go outward to search for fulfillment. This outward path can bring momentary satisfaction but fails to bring the permanent inner peace and joy that can come from constant communion with God. The outward seeking is a habit of the ego
[5] For 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.

Commentary: In this passage the doubter creates a serious error by beginning to heed the voice of the ego. And we are about to see the consequences of that shift in which voice is listened to. What is not understood by the ego is that the knowledge arising from its way of perceiving opposites creates the perception of good and evil. This way of perceiving opposites does not exist within God. For God that knowledge of opposites exists within a unity whose qualities are those of infinite compassion, wisdom and love. Therefore it is knowledge of opposites that are harmoniously related to one another through their harmony of the unity within which they exist. They are therefore not really opposites but different finite expressions of the infinite unity of God. At the human level that knowledge exists isolated from the direct experience of that unity of infinite love, compassion, and wisdom. Therefore rather than knowledge of two harmonious aspects of a unity, what is perceived and understood are two separate and opposing forces in constant struggle with one another. And whichever side your on, to win tends to mean effectively destroying the other or something that is vitally important to the other. Thus is good and evil created. It is an invention of a constricted consciousness that no longer knows of its unity and harmony with God, and through God with all of creation.
[6] And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the 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.

Commentary: A critical transformation has taken place. Rather than being guided by the voice of God within the guidance is now coming from the ego. Identification has shifted so that the individuals experience themselves as totally separate beings. In this state of consciousness a person identifies with their body, their senses, and their constricted mind; and their behavior is guided from this limited and limiting perspective. The critical fact is not that the senses are being enjoyed but that the enjoyment of the senses is the motivating factor that is determining behavior.
[7] And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Commentary: Their eyes were opened to a new level of consciousness that is more constricted. The exercise of their free will created this constriction. A consequence of this is the constriction of love so that an individual can now experience uncomfortable and negative feelings about themselves. This is the consequence of choosing not to listen to the voice of God, but rather to the voice of the ego, hence falling out of harmony with God. Free will has been exercised and consequences of the choice made must now be experienced. This constriction in consciousness, which opens a person’s eyes to this lower level of awareness, is not directly created by God but is created by the exercise of the person’s free will. This level of consciousness, which involves a person identifying themselves with their ego, introduces fear and is related to basic survival instincts for self-preservation. This is a jungle mentality of fear related to the roles of hunter and hunted. Therefore this level has as one of it’s intrinsic qualities the primitive fear of being attacked, injured, or captured for the hunted, and for the hunter the fear of losing the prey, and of not establishing ones supremacy in a situation. Another of its intrinsic qualities is the complete separation from God. God is no longer experienced as within but rather as completely separate and outside. And the perception of this separate God is a projection of the qualities of the first two levels of consciousness.
[8] And 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 trees of the garden

Commentary: And they now experienced God as a separate being from them. And God knew their consciousness had constricted and withdrawn from a state of communion with him. Therefore within their awareness they were now completely separated from God and therefore could experience shame and fear. They now attempt to hide behaving like little children who know they have done something wrong and try to hide from their parents. In this new state of consciousness they experience God as a powerful, authoritarian figure that exists completely outside of them.

[9] And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

Commentary: God now related to them in an illusory way as a separate being with whom they were not in communion. They had exercised their free will. Now in shame and fear they thought they were hiding from God. So He reached out to them in the only way that they could now understand. God called to Adam saying, "Where are you?" To do otherwise would be to destroy the reality they chose to create and hence to destroy their free will. God will not do that. God is not destructive.
[10] And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

Commentary: Adam now experiences God as an external authority figure imbued with the qualities of his constricted state of consciousness, and hence something to be feared. In this constricted state he experiences himself as imperfect. This is the outcome of this exercise of free will. It is vitally important for a person to understand the qualities of the constricted state of consciousness they are in. This is so important because whenever you experience any of these qualities you are distancing yourself from God. It is also important because in the Bible whenever any of these qualities are attributed to God an error has occurred and it is of the nature of a more limited state of consciousness projecting its experience onto God. God would never have imposed this constricted state of consciousness on anyone but once chosen by a person God will honor that choice. To do otherwise would be to destroy the person and their creation. By so doing God would be destroying the man and women made in his image.

[11] And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

Commentary: If God is omniscient then he already knew the answers to the questions he asked. Anything less then omniscience would mean that God was a limited being and hence there could be something greater then God. These questions are part of a lesson that God is teaching. These questions are for each of us who no longer reside in complete harmony and communion with God. They are designed to help us become aware that we have embarked on a path in which pain and suffering are inherent. The basic question is, "who told you that you are not perfect?" That question can be amplified into, "Who told you that you are not my child, that you are not a child of infinite, unconditional, and selfless love?" One eats of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil by elevating the ego over God. That which is created by God is perfect and in reality is an expression of God. These questions give us an opportunity to turn inward and consult our heart and conscience.
[12] And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

Commentary: We are being shown a difficulty we encounter on the spiritual path. When asked to look honestly at ourselves and the role we have played in creating our suffering we tend to become defensive and shift the responsibility to something external to ourselves. The ultimate external shift is to view God as the source of pain and suffering. By choosing to shift our attention from looking inward to looking outward we reject God’s offer of help and guidance.
[13] And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Commentary: Again the opportunity for self-examination and self-understanding is given. This embodies the significance of the passage for our spiritual journey to our true home. Again it is rejected. How many times have we ignored our inner voice and given up the awareness of our sovereignty to the illusion of external influences or control? How many times have we allowed our ego to silence our conscience? Both the receptive and active aspects of our being are capable of deluding themselves.
[14] 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:

Commentary: God does not curse. Humans curse. God does not inflict pain and suffering. Humans inflict pain and suffering on themselves and others. If we chose to put our finger into a flame it will burn and there will be pain. God does not put our finger into the flame nor would we if we had not separated ourselves from him. But even if we put our finger into the flame, if our identity resides with God rather than with our body there would be no suffering. However we can bring pain and suffering on ourselves through the choices we make. Although you may blame outside forces for your suffering it is important to know it to be your creation. If you wish to stop your pain and suffering you must come to this knowledge. I know some of you are protesting that this is not fair. It was Adam and Eve who made the choice not you. However each one of us who experiences pain and suffering did make this choice. Is it not true that we often make the choice to listen to our ego rather than our inner voice? The first time we make the choice to turn outward and ignore the inner reality there is a constriction of consciousness that propels us into an existence as a separate individual. In that state of consciousness a person identifies with their body, senses, and mind. Once we do that we forget that we made the choice. The more constricted state of consciousness we enter by making that choice cannot contain a clear memory of what took place at a higher state of consciousness. If we did not make that choice then we would exist at a level of consciousness that knew of its communion with God.

If we take this verse at face value think of what it implies. It implies that God not only cursed the snake but the innocent cattle and beasts of the field. Even from a limited state of consciousness this cannot be seen to be an expression of a loving, wise, and compassionate being. Consult your heart and conscience, where God’s loving grace resides, and you will know that this is not God but rather a projection from a limited human mind. God is not cursing but showing us the consequences of the choices we make. If that understanding becomes deeply embedded in our minds it will be of great help to us.

Truth resides within everything if properly understood. The snake is a symbol of ones identification with the ego and that identification restricts consciousness and puts the ego in the drivers seat. But it is human consciousness and hence at a higher level then animal consciousness. By falling out of harmony with God man can no longer fulfill his function of maintaining that harmony throughout the animal kingdom. Therefore the animals are now cursed by man’s act. But man, now identifying with his ego, will bear the brunt of the suffering. This is what is meant by the phrase, "cursed are you above all cattle and above all beasts of the field". With this constriction of consciousness a person can no longer soar on the wings of divine bliss all the days of his life. His existence, after the constriction will be marked by varying degrees of dissatisfaction, strife, fear, and suffering
[15] 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.

Commentary: This verse refers to the natural outcome of the exercise of human free will to worship the ego rather than God. By putting ego desires before God, suffering is created within an individual and between that individual and others. A situation is created where the individual can no longer walk comfortably or consistently with God
[16] 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.

Commentary: Here is another maneuver for the justification of power. It is an expression of an ego conditioned by the patriarchal culture in which the writer of this passage lived. It also shows a lack of understanding of the proper relationship of the active and receptive modes of consciousness. In order for the world and individuals to be in balance and harmony within and without the masculine and feminine modes of consciousness must be in harmony and balance with each other. Domination and submission however is the wrong model to understand this relationship. Domination and submission are roles the ego takes that lead to conflict and strife. It is not conducive to peace, harmony, and real love. A more appropriate model is the dance in which both partners move to the same music, each sensing and harmonizing with the other until the two dancing together become one with each other and with the music.

The comment on the pain of childbirth needs to be put into a proper context. It is not God punishing the women. It is the natural outcome of identifying with the body. Interestingly the Lamaze technique, in those cases in which it reduces pain, does so by a shift of consciousness based on dissociation from the body through intense, focused concentration on the breath.
[17] 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;

Commentary: Again let me state that a loving, wise, and compassionate God does not curse. This is meant to be a teaching to all who read it; a teaching about the consequence of not being in harmony with God. In addition it is a teaching about what one must let go of to end suffering. The proper understanding of this, and many other passages in the Bible, rests on the understanding that we have free will and create our own realities. But it is more complex than that. We create our individual realities within the context of the realities created by the family, group, community, national, and planetary consciousness. What humanity must do to let go of suffering is to listen to only one voice, the voice of God. Here Adam listened to and was influenced by the desires of another person without consulting his inner voice.
[18] Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

Commentary: The teaching of consequences continues.
[19] 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.

Commentary: This is a commentary on the isolated ego state which identifies with gross material existence. In this constricted state of consciousness an individual loses the awareness of their state of oneness with God. And from dust to dust is the destiny of this isolated ego state.
[20] And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

Commentary: In the previous passages we are told what happens when Eve places the desire for something finite ahead of her allegiance to God. This is what gives birth to the level of the ordinary waking state of consciousness, which involves identifying with the ego and leads to suffering. From this perspective we can see that this type of desire, which separates us from union with God, is the root of suffering. However in the human being there is another type of desire that springs from unconditional selfless love. That is God, the creative force that is the mother of all living.
[21] Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

Commentary Proper understanding will help to avoid attributing to God destructive emotions and behavior. Whatever a person does God will do whatever he can to protect that person without violating their free will. Now that the desire for finite things has become more important than God the subtler state of existence that is in harmony with God cannot be maintained. Rather than allowing the complete destruction of Adam and Eve God provides a more concrete material existence (bodies) that can contain this new state of constricted consciousness.
[22]¶ 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:

Commentary: In an ego dominated constricted state of consciousness knowledge of opposites produces the experience of good and evil. If, in that state of consciousness, we were to gain immortality it would establish an eternal battle between good and evil with its consequent drama and suffering. See Genesis 1:27 to understand the phrase, "like one of us".
[23] Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

Commentary: It is not God who banishes people from the level of consciousness that is in balance and harmony with him. People banish themselves by the exercise of their free will. We live within the realities we create.

[24] So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Commentary: God has never driven any person away from a level of consciousness marked by peace and harmony and which is devoid of suffering. The lower level of consciousness in which a person experiences conflict, fear, and suffering is of their creation. In that lower state of consciousness immortality is not possible. Can you believe that an infinitely loving and compassionate God could directly create eternal conflict, fear, and suffering? Although we have free will there are limits to what we can create. We cannot create an eternity of existence that would be out of balance and harmony with God. The Cherubim represent a different level of existence, a different level of consciousness. At this level the flaming sword of inner discrimination has cut the intuition free from personal identification and free from the personal unconscious. The fire has burnt up forever, the identification of Being with ego. It is only at this point in your journey that you can travel the final part of the path to union with God and attain immortality and regain a life in the Garden of Eden.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY ON THE CREATION STORIES

One of the interesting differences between the first and second creation story is the sequence of created life. In the first creation story the sequence goes from plant to animal to human. In the second creation story the sequence goes from man to plant to animal. The first creation story is more in accord with the scientific understanding of the evolution of life. In the second story the ego is subtly inserting its distorting influence by placing man as separate and somehow superior to the other aspects of created life. There is a lack of harmony and balance in created life. Man rather then expressing and maintaining Gods unity is expressing an assertion of ego dominance and bringing disharmony and conflict into existence.

The first creation story in Genesis was written at a later date than the second creation story. This is a hint that we are not to take these stories or the rest of the Bible as representing an accurate flow of history but rather as symbolic. The younger being placed before the older is also a theme we will see repeated throughout Genesis. The meaning of this is set in these two stories. The younger story represents a state of union and/or communion with God. Here the Perennial Psychology of God is the sole guiding principal. In the older story human psychology assumes the dominant position in how men and woman understand and experience life. In many instances in Genesis the younger son is favored over the older son. This arises from the fact that in the stories in Genesis where this occurs the younger son is closer to God, to their divine nature, and therefore the one to promote and carry the spiritual tradition. The older son is closer to their animal nature communion with God and his offering is an expression of the joy of that communion. This repeated pattern is significant because it deviates from the tradition, which existed when these stories were written, of the inheritance and the family tradition being passed on to the eldest son. Tradition always proceeds from that which comes before or is older. Here is a clear indication that following God, listening to our inner voice breaks with tradition. This is so because all human traditions and institutions are dominated by human psychology and represent to some degree the dominance of the ego. In effect all traditions are to a greater or lesser extent in the service of the ego rather than in the service of the divine. This is the disharmony that is represented in the second creation story. And only by breaking with tradition can this disharmony, this separation from God be healed. But there is an important caveat here. If the breaking of tradition is based on judgementalism, frustration, anger, or individual need it will have a destructive outcome and be a process that continues the separation from God. Only if the break from tradition comes out of selfless love and compassion can it bring us closer to God. The most significant detachment from tradition is the one that takes place internally when we put God first. When that occurs a person can externally adhere to societal traditions while internally remaining free.

EXERCISE 1. Reducing separation: Make a list of the qualities in others that you admire and the qualities in others that you detest or that annoy you. Accept as a working hypothesis that those qualities in others that most attract or repel you are projections of qualities you posses. Search yourself to find what it is in yourself you are projecting. This is a very important exercise. Your ego is likely to rebel against it. You are likely to find it difficult to discover what it is you are projecting. With persistent application you will be able to discover some interesting things about yourself and over time this exercise will become easier to do. We usually justify our emotional reactions to others. This exercise asks you to use your emotional reactions to others as a means of discovering aspects of yourself. Write down any insights or conclusions you come to. If you do not write them down you are likely to quickly forget them.

EXERCISE 2. Were there times in your life where you felt completely in harmony and at one with another? What are the common characteristics of those times?

EXERCISE 3. Were there times in your life where you felt completely in harmony and at one with the environment you were in? What are the common characteristics of those times?

EXERCISE 4. Are there common themes shared by what you have written for exercise 2 and exercise 3?

EXERCISE 5. Is there any emotional suffering, frustration, or discomfort in your life? When there is think about what changes you can make not in other people or the world around you, but rather with yourself, with your habitual ways of thinking (including beliefs), feeling, and behaving that can bring about an internal healing.

EXERCISE 6. Focusing on the concept of unity review your daily activities. In what ways do they express unity and in what ways do they express separation?

EXERCISE 7. In what ways do your religious and personal belief systems promote internal, interpersonal, and global peace and unity?

EXERCISE 8. In what way do your religious and personal belief systems promote internal, interpersonal, and global separation, judgmentalness, and conflict?

EXERCISE 9. We all have a tendency to create conflicting dichotomies and make judgments based on them. These judgments are usually in accord with the way we think about ourselves and therefore promotes our view of ourselves. When you have been judgmental of someone analyze in what way does your judgment support the way you see yourself or would like to see yourself. If your judgment of the person has been positive ask yourself how that person supports the way you view yourself or would like to view yourself? If your judgment of the person has been negative ask yourself how that person threatens your view of yourself or how you would like to think of yourself?

EXERCISE 10. If the judgment in exercise 4 was negative, work to understand the other person in a way that promotes empathy and compassion. See if you can solve any conflicts in a way that promotes cooperation and the healing of conflict through the triumph of love.

[1] And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have

gotten a man from the LORD.

Commentary: This statement is extremely important. It denotes the level of relational consciousness of Cain. It is one of a subject to a lord. It is the first level of relational consciousness (See page 16). Cain (possession, acquisition, centralization, selfishness) represents the selfish desires for positions and power.
[2] And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

Commentary: This denotes a difference in the personalities and levels of consciousness of the two brothers. Abel’s personality is symbolized by the sheep, which are meek and gentle. Able places his ego in a subordinate position to the divine within himself, in a state of meekness and gentleness in relation to God and experiences communion with God. Abel (breath) denotes the vital energy of God. Cain is characterized as a tiller of the soil. If we go back to 3:17 of Genesis God spells out one of the consequences to Adam of eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God says, "… cursed is the ground for your sake; in sorrow shall you eat the fruits of it all the days of your life." So the tiller of the ground can be seen in this verse to be one who by the exercise of their free will has separated themselves from God and put their ego in the drivers seat.
[3] And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
[4] And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

Commentary: God has never asked for nor is he ever pleased with an offering based on taking a life. This misunderstanding of God is a seed of violence in the world and a projection of fear. This story of Cain and Able is a parable that has different levels of meaning. At the time this was written it was understood that in order to be sincere the offering to God had to be of something important to the person making the offering and hence a sacrifice. For a shepherd it was thought that the best of his flock would be the greatest sacrifice for him. What a terrible misunderstanding. God never wanted life to be forcefully sacrificed to him, nor did he want people to make "sacrifices". What he wants is for people to experience the joy of moving closer to him, and to express in their life that joy. However that understanding of the internal nature of the spiritual path was, perhaps, beyond the author’s comprehension. Or perhaps the author did comprehend but in his divinely guided wisdom knew the level of discourse needed to assure the survival of this scripture. Then let us approach this as a parable. Notice that the Lord was pleased with Abel first and with his offering second. The emphasis is on the state of Being, the state of consciousness, represented by Abel. Able being the younger is representative of the first creation story. Able continually experiences a state of consciousness that is a pleasing one. As a person moves closer to God happiness increases. And when one achieves unity there is unbounded joy and bliss.
[5] But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

Commentary: There is many a human parent who is wise enough not to play favorites with their children, knowing the pain, jealousy, and violence such a course of behavior can engender. Do you know what you are not only saying about God if you maintain that he did this, but also what destructive forces you are unleashing by this misunderstanding of him. Able knew of his deep and abiding relationship with God and his offering was brought as a celebration of the joy of that relationship. Cain was not in communion with God and his offering was brought to obtain God’s approval so that his sense of incompleteness could at least temporarily be overcome. Approaching God as a separate Being existing outside of himself created a barrier to the complete and open sharing of the joy of communion. God honored Cain’s free will to experience him as a totally separate being, but also reflected back to Cain the reality he had created for himself so that he could, if he chose to, understand clearly the consequences of his will to experience the illusion of being separate from God. This parable also has meaning on another level. Within most of us there is a conflict between the ego (Cain) and our heart and conscience (Able). But Cain was coming from the first relational level. He was reaching out as a totally separated being, who in his separation needs the approval of the important other to feel safe and lovable. Therefore he was trying to bribe God for his approval in a misguided attempt to heal the incompleteness that he created by separating himself from God. In coming from that place of identification with his ego he cannot experience the joy of communing with God. That can only happen by going within. One who is not in communion has five possible reactions when he observes the joy and love that flows from one who is: disbelief and cynicism, jealousy and anger, sadness and depression, the false searching for an external truth or experience that can give one that love and joy, or happiness for the person who has achieved this high state. By sensing the openness and joy that flowed between God and Able and contrasting it with his fear based tension and separation from God he becomes displeased and sad. He makes the mistake of looking outside himself for the source of his pain rather then looking inward where he can gain an understanding of what internal work is needed. In doing so he engenders jealousy and destructive forces. The external drama that Cain finds himself in is a reflection of his internal drama and is one he himself has created.
[6] And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?

Commentary: If God is omniscient he knows the answer. Then why question? The question is being used here as a lesson. It is to alert us to the importance of turning inward and through inner exploration coming to an understanding of why we suffer. That is a way to completely end external violence and internal suffering. The path of inner exploration, self-understanding, and transformation of consciousness is a valid path back to God.
[7] If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Commentary: If a person stops identifying with their ego and accepts God as their essential being then they will find the acceptance they are looking for. If they do not do that, then the sin of separation lies at their door. Yet each of us has the potential to overcome this sin of separation. If we listen to our inner voice (Able), that internal voice of God will show us the way. God is telling Cain to return to Able (to listen to his inner voice) and he, who is close to God, shall dedicate himself to fulfilling our true need by being our guide and teacher on our path to union with God. It is important that we clearly understand what is being offered to us. God is offering himself, as our inner voice, to guide us back to him. And he will be with each of us in this way for as long as it takes us to return to our true home. I cannot conceive of any other understanding that would be compatible with a God of infinite, unconditional, selfless love. When you consult your heart and conscience, isn’t this the God you are led to believe in?

[8] And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

Commentary: Being in communion with God, Able knew, as God knew, exactly what Cain would do once Cain’s inner voice was temporarily silenced by his identification with his ego. Able becoming one with eternal existence, eternal bliss, was in his essential being, unaffected by Cain’s destructive behavior.

When a person identifies with their ego they are controlled by it and become lost in the illusion of separation. The internal process that happens, once that identification is made, is that the ego, out of fear, rises up and silences or destructively distorts the voice of the heart and conscience. On the interpersonal level what occurs is jealousy and competition, and sometimes, even murder.
[9] And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?

Commentary: And wishing Cain to contemplate and become more fully aware of what he had done God asked him, "Where is your brother?" Cain then became aware of the clash between his inner voice and his behavior and in that awareness there was guilt and defensiveness.

Here we see a picture of how complex and convoluted existence becomes for us as beings separated from God. When we do not listen to and follow our inner voice we begin the process of lying to others and ourselves. When confronted we become uncomfortable and defensive and we try to avoid the understanding of what we have done. And to the extent that our defensive maneuvers are successful we fool ourselves and block our own spiritual development.
[10] And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

Commentary: Wanting him to learn from what he had done and not escape from the awareness that he had gone against his inner voice, God asked this question.

You cannot permanently silence your heart and conscience. From the level of identifying with material existence (the ground) your vital essence (your brothers blood), which is the voice of God within (your heart and conscience, feminine and masculine energies, brought into harmony and union) cries out for communion with God.
[11] And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;

Commentary: We cannot be rooted in peace and harmony when we stop listening to our inner voice. When we identify with the material world, our body and its processes, communion with God and the resultant inner peace, harmony, and joy is blocked.
[12] When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

Commentary: Now because you have not listened to your inner voice you shall not be able to stay in, nor receive sustenance from this land you occupy. Your restlessness shall drive you and you shall become a fugitive and wanderer until you have learned what you need to from this drama that you have created by the exercise of your free will.

Therefore this can be seen not as a punishment from God, but a natural consequence created by Cain. What is the land that Cain can no longer receive sustenance from? Cain has banished himself from inner peace and harmony.
[13] And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

Commentary: Cain recognizes what he has done but does not understand the unitary oneness of God’s omnipresent Being and its quality of unbounded, infinite, unconditional selfless love. Therefore in his guilt he condemns himself. By dwelling in guilt he erects more barriers between himself and God. Whenever we condemn others or ourselves we are not honoring God’s true nature. Guilt serves a purpose. It is there to grab our attention, when we violate our heart and conscience, for the purpose of having us examine ourselves and come to an understanding of our behavior so we need not repeat it. Using guilt as a club to beat others or ourselves creates unnecessary suffering and in fact slows our spiritual development.

14] Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

Commentary: We have an unfortunate tendency to attribute to God what belongs to us. God hides himself from no one, ever. People however can refuse, for a time, to open to God. Here we see the common tendency to project onto someone else our own feelings and thoughts.
[15] And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

Commentary: And God’s love expressed itself by assuring Cain that, although he would have to experience the consequences of his behavior and constricted awareness, his vision of irredeemable suffering and destruction was not true. Cain in his constricted state of individual consciousness could not understand that God was reaching out to protect him. From a higher state of consciousness the awareness and understanding changes and you then realize that God is your lover and each and everyone of you, including Cain, is the beloved, God is the teacher and each and everyone of you, including Cain, is the student, God is your destination and each and everyone of you, including Cain, is the traveler on the path to God. As a lover God reaches out and embraces each separated being in the arms of love until love can be experienced as the fundamental reality of ones identity. As the teacher God’s role is to teach all separated beings what they need to know to travel back to Unity. As the Goal God’s role is to constantly be present in us and to us in whatever way we can receive him. What we need to learn is that we are God’s beloved, God’s student, and the traveler whose destination is God, and that there are no exceptions. We also have to understand that we will be given all the time we need to complete this journey. This I believe is necessary if we are to understand God as infinitely and unconditionally loving. We have to be given sufficient time and opportunities. God continually gave to Cain the option of choosing a life where he could begin to learn the things he needed to know to begin his journey back to God. It is important for each of us to know that this story as it pertains to Cain describes the relationship that exists for us with God, when we silence, even partially, our inner voice. In order to experience ourselves as a separate being from God that silencing has had to take place. The more you open to God’s love the more you will become his sincere and dedicated student. The more you open to God’s love the further along the spiritual path you will travel. The more you open to God’s love the closer you will get to your true destiny which is union with God. And God expresses his love in an infinite variety of ways. I believe it is important to understand that vengeance is not something that can accurately be attributed to God. It is a human trait to feel the need for and to seek vengeance. A serious mistake has been made here of projecting onto God a destructive quality of a constricted and limited state of consciousness.

What does it mean to be given "sufficient time and opportunities"? I have seen others die without knowing of their unity with God. And if you are like me you have a strong suspicion that you may reach the end of your life not fully realizing that unity. Therefore if God’s love were truly infinite then we would be given as many lifetimes as we need to obtain the spiritual goal of union with God. And if we are collectively truly the creators of the universe we live in then we would be given as many lifetimes as we need to bring our universe ( the second creation story and all that flows from it) into harmony and balance with God’s universe ( the first creation story).

There is another important understanding that is embedded within this verse. A person will increase their suffering if out of anger, hatred, or righteous self-condemnation they try to kill their ego. The path to end suffering involves embracing the ego with love until it understands it has nothing to fear in approaching God.
[16] And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

Commentary: Cain, in dwelling on his guilt and self-condemnation, increases his separation from God. He has now completely fallen asleep to reality and has fully awakened to illusion. Even in this state the inner voice cannot be totally or irrevocably silenced. Therefore there will still be flashes of wisdom.

From the east comes wisdom. When we fall asleep we dream. And in our dreams, however convoluted and strange, there is woven the thread of wisdom. If this thread is firmly grasped and followed it will lead us out of the illusory dream back to reality.
[17] And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

Commentary: Enoch in Hebrew means dedicated or educated. Enoch represents those subpersonalities involved in human advancement that are motivated by ego. This is to alert us to the fact that much of what we value is not of God but of man.

[18] And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.

Commentary: The Hebrew meanings of the names in this verse are as follows: Irad (wild ox), Mehujael (physical demonstration of strength and power, smitten by God), Methusael (man of God, extremity of death) and Lamach (a strong young man, power). Here are the qualities that arise both internally and externally in a world created by humans who have broken their communion with God. Irad represents the animal level of existence in which physical strength and power are the main determinants of what happens, i.e.- might makes right. However this is a world of tension, stress and suffering (smitten by God). It is important to again point out that attributing to God the suffering that man has created is incorrect. In this state there can be no lasting internal or external peace and harmony due to the conflict that humans have created between divine and human creation (man of God and extremity of death). This line of development produces ascendancy based on the exercise of strength and power in the service of the ego

[19] And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

Commentary: Adah (adorned, beautiful), Zillah (shade, shadow). In this creation dedicated to ego gratification there can be beauty, pleasure even love (Adah) because the spark of God within each individual can never be completely hidden. But the expressions of these divine qualities are finite and imperfect. Ever present in this creation is the shadow, the dark side of dissatisfaction, frustration and suffering (Zillah).
[20] And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.

Commentary: Jabal (stream, flowing). Dwelling in tents refers to a transitory existence not rooted in the stability of communion with God but rather rooted in the animal level of consciousness (cattle). This is the stream that flows through and nourishes this level of existence.
[21] And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.

Commentary: Jubal (principal of sound, a constant stream, source of joy). Even at the animal level of existence when there is harmony (music), evidenced by beauty of thought and character, and sound health there can be the temporary experience of joy.
[22] And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-cain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

Commentary: Tubal-cain (diffusion of Cain, diffusion of worldly possessions), Naamah (pleasant, social harmony). At the lowest, densest level of animal consciousness (Cain) there is an intense selfish focus by the individual on his/her survival and satisfaction of needs. The next step in evolution of consciousness is a diffusion of this intense selfish focus so that it broadens out to include family and tribe and this evolution can produce a certain amount of social harmony and pleasantness.
[23] And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.

Commentary: This is the natural outcome of choosing to separate ourselves from God. In this separated state the energy, the power that creates and builds civilization becomes simultaneously the power that brings suffering and destruction. In this state of consciousness we cannot do either good or evil without doing its opposite. Thus we become confused and wonder off the spiritual path of selfless love. This is the result of elevating our ego over God.
[24] If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

Commentary: And Lamech, like Cain, refuses to learn. Rather then learning the lesson of love, his ego uses Cain’s survival and success in building the first city as justification for destructive behavior. This is a pattern of behavior that is all too familiar to most of us. We do something that goes against our inner voice, and rather then facing that discomfort and heeding the lesson our heart and conscience has for us, we seek the silencing of that inner voice and a justification for our behavior. We turn away from the voice of God and we listen to the serpent. Thus over and over again we reject the world of God and create instead the world of man. From the perspective of the ego it would just cost us too much to follow our inner voice. The worst tragedy of all is that the ego, through misunderstanding, uses the inspired scriptures, such as the Bible, to silence the voice of God, which is the call to selfless, unconditional love and instead focuses on justifying its destructive behavior.
[25]¶ And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

Commentary: Commentary: Seth(appointed, determined). God’s infinite love creates a new beginning. Even when people refuse to listen to God he continues speaking to them. Because God is always present within every person there are always some who can hear him and receive his guidance. From them will come many blessings that will sustain the world of humans until the day of reunion with God’s world. Thus God’s voice will not only continue to speak to all humankind as their heart and conscience, but also when people fail to heed his voice he will send beings that will carry his message out into the world. It is appointed to or determined for humankind that a spiritual evolution will take place leading to a reunion with God. The exercise of human free will cannot change this destiny. What it can do is determine how long and how rocky the path back to union with God will be. In the final analysis the ego is no match for God’s love.

[26] And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

Commentary: Seth, who is a replacement for Able represents the ability to listen to God. This has both an internal and external meaning. Externally it means that the voice of God will always be available in the world through those who have the ability to understand universal love and the courage to speak it and live it. Internally it means that the inner voice cannot permanently be killed, it can only be temporarily silenced. Again and again it will be reborn and knock at the door of our awareness until we let it in as our honored guest. This is an expression of God’s infinite love. Enosh (mortal man, suffering man) indicates that the motivation, at the animal level of consciousness, to turn inward and hear the voice of God is prompted by our mortality and suffering.

Exercise 1. When you are comfortable and secure both within yourself and in a relationship with another, what experiences and feelings occur?

Exercise 2. When you are insecure both within yourself and in a relationship with another, what experiences and feelings occur.

Exercise 3. Reread verse 5 and relate the commentary to yourself; especially the five possible reactions

Exercise 4. If you are sincerely on a spiritual path then your goal is to be close to God, in effect to be somewhat Godlike. Now contemplate the significance of a God of infinite, unconditional, selfless love; who by virtue of these qualities accepts all and excludes none.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY ON CHAPTERS 1 THROUGH 4 OF GENESIS

God gave us the freedom to create our own realities; this is our free will, just as God creates realities according to his free will. This is what is meant by God creating man in his image. God is the creative nucleus and the universe of peace, harmony, and unity flowing out of infinite, unconditional love is his expansion. That is what the first creation story is about. When we separate ourselves from God by identifying with our ego we still maintain that creative ability. We are the creative nucleus and the universe we live in is our expansion. That is what this second creation story is about. While living in perfect harmony and oneness with God that level of awareness called man and woman lived in a universe of peace, harmony and unity. While living in that state of awareness they exercised their creative free will to experience what it would be like to become separate individuals. The essential reality did not change but with that decision, to become separate individuals, awareness was altered by constriction so that man and woman no longer directly apprehended the oneness of all creation. They no longer knew of their oneness with God. In this state of separation we can no longer completely understand or directly experience the bliss of continuous communion with God. As an expression of God’s infinite and unconditional love he provided a number of road maps for our journey back through the illusion of separation to an expanded awareness of communion and ultimately union with him. One of the ways God did this was by reaching through that illusory barrier of separation to inspire the scriptural writings of the world’s religions. It is important to believe that our destiny is to return to that state of blissful union with God. Such a belief will act as a helpful guide to our understanding of scripture and for our behavior, and aid us in bringing our creation into harmony with God’s creation. And that is a steppingstone into union with God. In the state of union, of oneness with God, the illusion of pain, change, suffering and mortality ceases. However because we have shown a disharmonious tendency to interpret scripture as favoring one group over another it is important to clearly and unambiguously understand that God DOES NOT PLAY THE GAME OF FAVORITES. Humans play the game of favorites with its destructive consequences. His love is universal and unconditional and embraces all of humanity. God does not give love and withhold love. God’s expression of love is not motivated by desire or by what we do. Rather it is an intrinsic expression of his Being. Infinite love embraces each of us, through whatever way will work, without violating our free will, to guide us back to itself until every one of us returns safely home. God is that infinite love given equally to all. It is up to us as to how open we our to God’s love. The more we purify ourselves of our attachment to our ego the more selfless we become and the more we can give and receive pure unconditional love. In effect the closer we come to God. The closer we come to God the less fear we have because we identify less with the ego and more with God. The ego fears closeness to God because that closeness removes the ego from the driver’s seat and subordinates it to love. When we identify with the ego we are focused on need gratification and survival. Anything, which we view as helping us achieve those goals we label as good, and anything that stands in the way of achieving those goals we label as evil. The more we focus on good and evil the more we strengthen our identification with our ego and the further we distance ourselves from God’s love. If we are to progress spiritually we need to shift our focus from good and evil to love and fear. Fear blocks us from experiencing infinite, unconditional, selfless love. Fear is the enemy of the spiritual aspirant and fear in all its forms and expressions must be vanquished on the path back to God.

It is important for us to know that the scriptural road maps are not entirely accurate because God’s communication to the writers and compilers of scripture had to be filtered through their level of awareness and the cultural conditioning of their minds. If it were not it would have been incomprehensible to the people of their time and therefore ignored and lost. Finite consciousness cannot fully contain nor understand, nor accurately communicate what resides in infinite consciousness. Unity is a dream that our hearts long for, our conscience confirms as right, but our limited minds cannot fully understand or bring about. Because of our inability to fully apprehend this state of unity we may view the promptings of our inner voice as childishly idealistic, give up what we view as naive notions of perfection, and become "realistic". We fall from grace and accept illusion as reality and promote our own and others suffering. From God’s perspective there is only unity, there is only One, although expressed in a myriad of ways. In that state, even though there is absolute knowledge, there is no knowledge in the way we can understand. In our understanding of knowledge there are always two, one who knows and an object of knowledge. From Gods perspective the knower and the object of knowledge are merged in unity. That unity is the basis of unchanging truth, which expresses itself through perfect harmony and balance. There is only this one God though there are hundreds of paths to the One. There is only one God though there are thousands of incomplete and imperfect understandings of the One. It is an arrogant and false assumption for any group to assume that their scriptures contain absolute truth and the scriptures of others are in total error and that their God is the only true God. Such arrogance only serves to perpetuate separation from God and does much unpleasant mischief in the world. Even though there is this difficulty of error in scriptures, God’s unbounded awareness resides within every person and speaks to them as their heart and conscience. It is through this pure inner voice that we gain our most accurate understanding of scripture. This is the Rosetta stone that unlocks the hidden meaning of any scripture.