We humans are blessed with a dual nature, in addition to being human we are also divine. The Divine Spark, present in all humans, embodies both ancient, primal instincts with the capacity for higher understanding and spiritual enlightenment.
The story of our eons-long evolution from the reptiles we once were, to our present mammalian ontological nature, is allegorized in the Garden of Eden drama. The story centers on a woman called Eve, her husband Adam, and an unnamed serpent. You’re likely familiar with what I and many others consider an incorrect interpretation of this story.
The correct version, which you likely have not heard, depicts Eve as a symbolic threshold that separates our reptilian past from our mammalian present. Upon crossing this threshold, Eve became the first authentic human being; the first human to become consciously self-aware; the first to exercise free will and subsequently to experience the consequences and freedom that came with it.
Eve was the first of our kind to be blessed with the Divine Spark. She is the archetypal exemplar of what it means to be fully human and partly divine.
As far back at 300,000 years ago, the human brain was biologically fully evolved. However, complex technology and cultures remained only slightly better than in Neanderthal culture until about 65,000 years ago. That’s about the time the archeological record records advanced projectile weaponry, fish hooks and sewing needles.
More importantly, that’s also the time representational art was developed, e.g. music, cave paintings and lion-headed shaman in the 2-minute video below.
The video doesn’t mention a shaman, per se, but the Lion Man is a therianthrope, a half-human-half-animal, possibly even a shape-shifter, but foremost a representation of a spiritual or mythical being.
Clearly, therianthropes symbolized highly developed thinking and spiritual awareness. Additionally, their arrival in human consciousness hints at an approximate date for the Garden of Eden; the serpent chatting up Eve was a humanoid who existed around 65,000-50,000 years ago.
In most interpretations, Eve is chastised as the individual responsible for “original sin” and “the fall,” neither of which are mentioned in sacred scripture. Personally, I discount this doctrine and instead align my beliefs with those of freethinker Fr. Matthew Fox, the defrocked Dominican now Episcopal priest and theologian who coined the term, “original blessing.” Only in this light are we able to comprehend the true importance of the Garden of Eden story.
To clean up the creation myth theologically, we should first remind ourselves that the etiological tale of Adam and Eve is allegorical, not historical. It was intended to impart holistic spiritual understanding, not to serve as a basis for religious dogma. It is intended to reveal the essence of what it means to be both human and divine, to claim the Holy Spirit dwells within us, regardless of religious belief.
The serpent in the garden was a stand-in for our reptilian ancestors, which included the dinosaurs (and possibly even aliens). The banished serpent provided an eternal symbol for Satan or the Antichrist.
I will put enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers.
[The word 'enmity’ indicates a blood feud, implying the “seed of the woman” refers to humanity.]
Genesis 3:15
Human brains and reptilian brains remain similar even today. The reptilian complex of the human brain, or R-Complex, regulates our basic survival mechanisms: heart rate, temperature, sexual reproduction, etc. It is closely associated with aggressive aspects of the human condition: violence, territoriality, paranoia, etc.
Interestingly, the R-Complex is also associated with a profound lack of empathy and psychopathy. The popular TV series Dexter, about a serial killer who blamed his concupiscent killing on his “reptilian brain,” is an example.
Let’s revisit Eve’s justifications for eating the forbidden fruit and recalling the words of the serpent, “For God knows that when you eat from it [the tree] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Genesis 3:6
And then their eyes were opened and they became consciously self-aware humans and covered themselves. From that point forward, human beings evolved while humanoid reptiles devolved. The tree’s fruit, consumed by both Adam and Eve, symbolizes the Divine Spark, not “a fall,” but rather a “lifting up.”
The evolution of the neocortex from the reptilian brain1 involved a complex process that unfolded over hundreds of millions of years.
The reptilian brain, or the basal ganglia, represents a more ancient part of the brain responsible for basic survival functions - aggression, dominance, territoriality and mating. This part of the brain can be traced back to the early stages of vertebrate evolution over 500-million years ago.
The evolution to a more complex brain, including the development of the neocortex, happened gradually. The neocortex is responsible for higher-order brain functions such as sensory perception, reasoning and complex thoughts, which are characteristics of mammals. This development significantly took shape in the last 100 million years, in primates and, most notably, in humans.
In humans, the neocortex underwent rapid expansion and specialization, especially over the last 2-3 million years, which brought about development of sophisticated cognitive abilities, including language, abstract thinking and an evolved consciousness. It's important to note that the timeline for these developments is based on current understandings of evolutionary biology and paleontology and new discoveries could potentially modify this timeline.
We can assert that the Biblical story of Adam and Eve allegorizes the precise moment in time the Divine Spark made us fully humans whose birthright permits us to share in the divine nature.2 Humankind, with considerable help from religious authorities, has, for the most part, regrettably refused to accept both its divinity and co-creative responsibilities.
Shabbat
On the Jewish sabbath, called Shabbat, the honor of lighting the candles belongs to the woman of the household. However, popular interpretations of this symbolism, for reasons we won’t delve into here, are perverted.
Eve, by persuading her husband to eat of the tree of knowledge, brought death to the world and extinguished the "candle of God." To atone for this, women kindle the Shabbat candles, reigniting the Godly spark.
Midrash
This is totally backward. Eve accepted the Divine Spark and ushered it into the world, she didn’t extinguish it! But the self-serving interpretation quoted above is telling. This is how patriarchal societies, defined here as ones that evolved a patriarchal imago dei, viewed things. I don’t mean to pick on Judaism. Christianity is similarly guilty of teaching the same, imbalanced lesson.
Eve represents all women. Sure, she is a mother - “the mother of all the living,” as she is called in the biblical narrative - and indeed she represents the maternal potential of adult women. But she is also called a sinner and a seductress, and she is considered secondary and subordinate to man.
Bible Odyssey
In the Bible, Eve never tempts Adam. She simply hands him a piece of fruit. By the way, the Bible says nothing about an apple. That embellishment originated from external sources, as did judging Eve’s action to be a “sin.”
As Bible Odyssey acknowledged, “These later interpretations come from contexts very different from the Iron Age (circa 1200-600 BCE) society of the ancient Israelites, and they convey ideas that resonate with their own cultures.”3
We can assert that in the Garden of Eden, Eve correctly discerned God’s will for herself and all humanity - we are to think for ourselves.
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Genesis 3:6 (New International Version)
The Divine Spark - humanity’s unique divinity - separates human beings from all other species of life on Earth, and perhaps throughout the Universe.
Many in our species chose a different, rebellious route, they chose to reject their divine birthright. They made a “Faustian choice” to barter away their divinity with an agent of Satan, seeking instead the lust for power and material wealth. This is not a metaphor; it’s difficult to conceive of why anyone would enter into such an agreement. In doing so, many embrace psychopathy and repugnant inhuman behaviors.4
The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection, that one is sometimes willing to commit sins for the sake of loyalty, that one does not push asceticism to the point where it makes friendly intercourse impossible, and that one is prepared in the end to be defeated and broken up by life, which is the inevitable price of fastening one's love upon other human individuals.
George Orwell
If Eve is the paragon of Human Essence, who symbolizes her opposite? What archetype represents the serpent in the Garden of Eden allegory, and how are we to ascertain its existential or psychological presence?
The opposite of the essence of being human and Divine Spark is personified as the Antichrist, an agent of Satan. It requires keen discernment to determine if and when this term refers to a person, a collection of persons, or to some abstract concept. It is imperative we make this judgment. We must recognize when our minds are being manipulated or controlled to be able to defend against and neutralize the power of the Antichrist.
The linking of an individual who consistently engages in dishonest rhetoric and displays suspicious motives with the archetype of the Antichrist is a complex and highly symbolic spiritual exercise. Here are three useful, logical steps for discernment.
The Antichrist archetype represents the opposite of the Divine Spark, embodying deception, manipulation, egoism, moral decay and psychopathy. It is often a symbol of that which actively opposes or negates spiritual truth and enlightenment.
In many spiritual traditions, naming a spirit (Antichrist or Satan) is a means of exerting control or influence over it. By naming it, one acknowledges its existence and evil nature, and can then confront it more effectively and drive it out. What’s known as the “Medical Freedom Movement” should be aware of exorcism methodology.
In Jungian psychology, facing and integrating the shadow is crucial for personal growth. The Antichrist archetype can be viewed as a shadow aspect, and by identifying it in another, one might also become more aware of its presence within oneself. This is a truth many of the Useful Idiots in unwitting legion with the Antichrist should take to heart.
Identifying an individual, group of individuals or institution(s) whose behavior resonates with the Antichrist is a process that requires wisdom, empathy and self-awareness to avoid falling into the trap of self-righteousness or simplistic judgment.
That said, we should tune out all purveyors of falsehood, including the mockingbird media, the enemy of the people. We should be wary of all government edicts and pronouncements, particularly those involving disease and treatment, and permit ourselves a persistent degree of healthy cynicism towards the governing Pathocracy,5 quite fitting for these times of spiritual and psychological warfare.
The Divine Spark confers the responsibility to shepherd humanity to safety, urging us to cultivate a world steeped in compassion, understanding and mutual respect. This luminescent kernel of divinity empowers us to steward not only our fellow human beings but also the delicate ecosystems that cradle all life on Earth.
In recognizing and nurturing this Divine Spark within ourselves and others, we can aspire to build a world that mirrors the harmony, wisdom and inherent goodness reflected in the sacred annals of existence.
N.B. In these perilous times, we pray for the increased awareness and success of the Medical Freedom Movement.6
The evolution of modern human brain shape (research article)
A totalitarian form of government in which absolute political power is held by a psychopathic elite, and their effect on the people is such that the entire society is ruled and motivated by purely pathological values. This is the world we live in.
Women have always been the "great Mystery." In them, all beauty resides, all grace, all creation." Man can build, destroy, build again, but only the "Star-Woman" can create life within her, nourish it, birth it, and care for it.
This is why we men put women upon pedestals, why we cherish her, why we protect her, why we don't want her to do our dirty business of war. Woman is our saving grace, for only she can bring us back from our darkness and into the light.