THE GARDEN OF EDEN

We have already explored why God created the universe. Since God is Love and Truth, to realize His essence perfectly, He had to create a being from His own substance. This being must be in God's image in order to be able to freely return Love to God. That being is Man. Man has the power to freely understand Truth and realize Love.

Now, if God wanted, He could have created a robot that would do exactly whatever He wished. But this robot would not be able to realize Love because, in order to realize Love, a being must have the freedom of will.

Love is synonymous with freedom. And freedom is the cause of all the problems in the human world.

The whole story of man's evolution is told in the Bible in the form of an allegory. Since the souls of humanity come from God's substance, in the beginning they are still in innocence and united in Love and Truth.

The souls are in the Garden of Eden and they only eat from the tree of life. In other words, they are in a state of union with God so they get all the joys and benefits of being in Love and Truth. This is analogous to the state of an innocent child who is still united with his mother.

PARADISE LOST

Now, in order to freely realize Love, these souls must first be given freedom. This is what happens next. We are told that God puts Adam to sleep and creates Eve from Adam's rib. So, from then on, Adam or the souls of humanity are dreaming. In this dream, they have lost their innocence and Truth. A rib is a dead bone. So their knowledge becomes sensual and they think they are separated from their source or God.

So, human souls (Adam)  were united in Love and Truth and they were self-sufficient. Their joy and needs were automatically fulfilled through their inner spiritual substance. The Love of God was continually flowing through their being and manifesting as all they required for a harmonious existence.  But Adam was then put to sleep and Eve was created from Adam's rib [dead matter].  This is the fall of humanity (Adam) into matter. Now, Adam has forgotten that his joy and self-sufficiency come from God or inner Love and Truth. He is hypnotized by the outer world; he desires Eve or what he sees through his physical senses.  In the dream of Adam, the souls falsely believe that their happiness comes from their outer circumstances.

The souls of humanity have been chased out of the Garden of Eden and are now eating from the tree of good and evil. In other words, they are now in ignorance, fear, selfishness, self-love, self-intelligence and self-righteousness.

This was a necessary stage in the evolution of man. This is how man creates a true individuality or acquires freedom. But, we all know that this is also the beginning of all troubles and misery. This stage is analogous to adolescence, when we rebel against our parents and we want our own freedom to do as we please. But, since we have no wisdom, all we do is get in trouble.

If man remains stuck at this stage of evolution, he creates his own hell. In other words, if you continue to believe that your happiness comes from your outer circumstances, you remain stuck in the vicious cycle of desire and fear. Everytime you fulfill a desire, you think the joy you experience originates from the outer thing. So, you crave the outer thing more and more because you falsely believe that the joy is in it. And, as desire increases, fear increases and suffering increases.

But, if we understand what happened when we left paradise, we will also uncover how to advance to the next phase of evolution and return to Paradise.

So, man is dreaming that he is separated from God and that he has been left all alone. He is also eating from the tree of good and evil. What does this mean exactly? Remember, he used to be in Oneness, Love and Truth. He knew that God was the ONE and only power. But since he fell into the sensual or mortal mind, he falsely believes there are powers other than God [consciousness/Love]. He falsely believes that outer effects have power. He is giving away his power through sleep, imagination, self-deception and false belief.

He used to be in Truth and Love but now he is in ignorance, confusion, fear and desire. He is in the world of mental duality where he labels everything as good or bad [evil].

He desires what he personally believes is good and he fears what he believes is bad. But all these labels and beliefs came from his own dual mind, a state of sleep. He is in a state of hypnosis and illusion and he has lost touch with Reality or Heaven.

In this state, he also projects his happiness outside himself and he is on the roller-coaster of good and evil or fear and desire. He desires happiness, health and wealth and he fears sadness, disease and poverty. But the very things which he fears are the manifested results of his dual or sensual mind. Since the creator is still within his own being, whatever man believes in his imagination, he manifests in his outer world. This is the price of freedom. This is how man gains wisdom and liberty and enters the stage of maturity. Man has acquired the freedom to create through thought and feeling or belief.

PARADISE REGAINED

So, how do we move on to the next phase of evolution, how do we become wise, loving and regain paradise?

In the New Testament, in many places, we read, " Awake!" " Awake, repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!"

What does it mean to awaken? It means that we must remember that we are still connected to our source or God [consciousness/love]. God never abandoned us; we abandoned Him.

So, what do we do now? We must stop blaming the world and others for our misery and realize that all our misery is self-created through false belief. We must freely choose to Love God and all beings and reject selfishness. The only way we can generate joy within our own being is by being loving, creative and useful.

Selfishness, self-love, desire and fear are the cause of all suffering. And, if God [consciousness/love] is the ONE and ONLY cause and power within us, then all our suffering must be self-created through ignorance, fear and desire.

Fear and desire are related. The way we eliminate fear and return to love is by giving up all selfish desires. When we no longer desire control, security, happiness, health and wealth, we indirectly no longer fear sorrow, disease and poverty. This is how we leave the land of mortal duality and return to the Garden of Oneness, Love and Truth. Joy, Love and Truth are already within us and we were seeking them outside of us.

But, of course, we must also undo all the false beliefs that we have accumulated throughout our spiritual journey. We do this through repentance, forgiveness and compassion.

We are then free to return Love to God. And this was the purpose of the whole spiritual journey. We are now self-aware, individual, free and reunited with God and all other beings in the Oneness of Love.