|
Mysteries of Genesis
Chapter 2
[<- Go back to Chapter 1]
[Mysteries of Genesis]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
Chapter II
Manifest Man
Genesis 2
THE BOOK OF GENESIS gives two accounts of the creation of
man, the first that of the creation by Elohim and the
second that of the creation by Jehovah. A right
understanding of the processes the mind uses in bringing
forth its children (ideas) enables us to perfect harmony
between these apparently conflicting accounts. The first
act of mind is the formation of the idea, and the second is
the expression of that idea. Elohim or God-Mind creates a
spiritual man, in whom are conceived to be present all the
attributes of his source. Next this spiritual man, Jehovah
God, God-Mind indentified as I AM, forms man in spiritual
substance, in the "dust of the ground."
The unfolding man is God's man, or the divine idea of man
in process of construction. The various ideas are being
"clothed upon," that is, made manifest. The manifest man is
an idea until the Elohim mind in its I AM or Jehovah form
begins its process of expression. Then Jehovah God begins
to form or clothe the idea man in substance, which process,
described symbolically in these Scriptures, has been going
on all down the ages.
The manifest man is the man we see, the man we behold with
our senses. Manifest man evolves or makes manifest the
ideas that exist eternally in Being. The spiritual man is
the man we behold in our ideals.
Page 30
"Ye are a temple of God." Eventually the manifest man and
the ideal man merge into one, as Jesus said: "I in them,
and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one."
Many have caught sight of the fact that the true body of
Christ is a state of consciousness in man, but few have
gone so far as to realize that this body is a temple in
which the Christ holds religious services at all times.
"Know ye not that ye are a temple of God and that the
Spirit of God dwelleth in you." Under the direction of the
Christ, a new body is constructed by the thinking faculty
in man; the materials entering into this superior structure
are spiritual substances, and the new creation is the
temple or body of Spirit. It breathes an atmosphere and is
thrilled with a life energy more real than that of the
manifest man. When a person has come into the realization
of his true Christ body, he feels the stirring within him
of this body of the indwelling Spirit or Christ. He knows
what Paul meant when he said: "There is a natural body,
there is also a spiritual body." "If any man is in Christ,
he is a new creature: the old things are passed away;
behold, they are become new."
Jehovah I AM breathes the breath of life into Adam, who
names the animals (the elemental life forms in which he
exists) and becomes cocreator with Jehovah God in bringing
forth his own perfection.
The image-and-likeness man is God's idea of man, a man
spirtually conceived, in whom are implanted the dominion
and power necessary to bring forth the perfection of his
Father, God-Mind. "Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your
heavenly Father is perfect," said Jesus.
Page 31
Gen. 2:1-3. And the heavens and the earth were finished,
and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God
finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the
seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God
blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in
it he rested from all his work which God had created and
made.
The plans of Divine Mind were finished although there was
as yet no outward manifestation. All is finished first in
consciousness and mind then rests, in faith, from further
mental activity. This "rest" precedes manifestation. The
seventh day refers to the mind's realization of
fulfillment, its resting in the assurance that all that has
been imaged in it will come forth in expression.
To hallow the seventh day is to rest in the stillness,
quiet, and peace of the silence of Mind. "Be still, and
know that I am God." To hallow means to keep holy. Holiness
is resting in the conviction that there is no lack in the
absolute law that is the law of God. One creates first in
mind by idealizing the desired object and then resting in
the assurance that the law of manifestation is being
fulfilled. God has finished creating His universe,
including man, and is resting in His perfect idea. God
rested on the seventh day.
Our Sunday is a symbol of the true Sabbath, a time when men
turn away from business and the pleasures of the senses to
seek a day of quiet and holy rest. The great Sabbath, the
rest of God, is for all who will enter it.
It is the state of mind in which we rest from outer work,
cease daily occupation, and give ourselves up to meditation
or the study of things spiritual. The Sabbath
Page 32
also symbolizes an attitude of mind in which we relax the
outer consciousness, let go of all thought about material
things, about the affairs of daily life, and enter into the
stillness of the consciousness and begin to think of God
and His law. This Sabbath is kept any time we enter into
spiritual consciousness and rest from thoughts about
temporal things. Then we let go of the external observance
of days, because every day is a Sabbath on which we retire
into Spirit and worship God.
Gen. 2:4-8. These are the generations of the heavens and of
the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah
God made earth and heaven. And no plant of the field was
yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung
up; for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the
earth: and there was not a man to till the ground; but
there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole
face of the ground. And Jehovah God formed man of the dust
of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life; and man became a living soul. And Jehovah God planted
a garden eastward, in Eden; and there he put the man whom
he had formed.
Jehovah (I AM) in the Hebrew is written Yahweh. Yah is the
masculine and weh the feminine. The word is made up of
masculine and feminine elements and represents the joining
together of wisdom and love as a procreating nucleus. This
is the Jehovah God who made the visible man, the man of
self-consciousness. God manifest in substance is the Jesus
Christ man. Elohim, universal Mind, creates, but Jehovah
God forms. Being is without beginning or ending. Universal
Mind imaged itself in all that it created, and all its ideas
Page 33
are contained in the divine-idea man, which is Jehovah or
the Christ. Jesus Christ is that perfection made manifest
in man. Spiritual creating is ideation in Truth. The ideas
of Divine Mind are contained potentially in substance, but
until these ideas are consciously recognized by Jehovah
God, the divine-idea man, they are not wholly manifest. All
things exist as ideas, but these ideas are manifested only
as spiritual man, becomes conscious of them. The "rain"
represents the descent of potential ideas into substance.
Spiritual man, in whom all the ideas of Divine Mind are
imaged, is not yet manifest in substance. "There was not a
man to till the ground."
The "face" represents the outward aspect, while "ground"
stands for formed substance, the product of related ideas.
When man begins to focus his mind on a purpose, there
appears at first to be a "mist" or lack of clear
understanding between the earth consciousness and the
spiritual mind. But this "mist" has its place in the divine
economy, for it "waters" or softens the divine radiance.
"Dust" represents the radiant earth or substance. When
spiritual man (I AM) enters into this "dust of the ground"
(substance) and makes use of the God ideas inherent in him,
he brings forth the ideal body in its elemental perfection.
The real body of man is not material but is of the nature
of the universal-dust body, which is the divine-substance
body. Therefore the perfect image-and-likeness man is
perfect in body as well as in mind. We should remember that
the first Adam was perfect as an idea in his elemental soul
and body. "Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual,
but that which is natural; then that which is spiritual."
Page 34
Spiritually, "nostrils" represents openness to the
inspirations of mind. The "breath" is the inner life flow
that pulsates through the soul. The breathing of the
manifest man corresponds to the inspiration of the
spiritual man. When any man is inspired with high ideas, he
breathes "into his nostrils the breath of life." Spiritual
inspiration quickens man to the awareness that he is a
"living soul." The soul is the sum total of consciousness
and its great goal is a consciousness of eternal life.
Through his I AM or Jehovah God man enters into his soul
realm and rebreathes into it the true ideas of Being until
these ideas quicken his consciousness to a response that
harmonizes it with the underlying Christ principles. Man,
spiritually identified, is Jehovah God, co-operating with
Elohim God, divine principle, developing a spiritual being,
the Christ man, to the consciousness of his divinity. "I
speak not from myself: but the Father abiding in me doeth
his works."
The Garden of Eden represents a region of being in which
are provided all primal ideas for the production of the
beautiful. As described in Genesis it represents
allegorically the elemental life and intelligence placed at
the disposal of man, through which he is to evolve a soul
and body.
The Garden of Eden also represents allegorically the
elemental forces named by scientists as composing the
invisible, etheric universe that Jesus referred to as the
"kingdom of the heavens" and "Paradise." It also
comprehends the activity of those forces in man's soul and
body that, when quickened and regenerated, make him a
master of all creation. "The kingdom of God is within you."
"East" represents the within as
Page 35
"west" represents the without. Jesus also said, "Ye who
have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man
shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit
upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
In our analysis of the Garden of Eden we consider it as a
concentration, in man, of all the ideas of God concerned in
the process of unfolding man's soul and body. When man is
expressing the ideas of Divine Mind, bringing forth the
qualities of Being in divine order, he dwells in Eden, a
state of bliss, in a harmonious, productive consciousness
containing all possibilities of growth.
Gen. 2:9. And out of the ground made Jehovah 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 the knowledge of good and evil.
"Ground" represents formed substance: ideas of Truth of
which man is conscious. The "tree" is the substance that
connects mind and body, earth and heaven, represented
physically by the nerves. The "tree that is pleasant to the
sight" represents the pleasure derived from ascending and
descending currents of life over the nerves. The substance
of spiritual thought is the "food" that is good. The "tree
of life also in the midst of the garden" represents the
absolute-life principle established in man's consciousness
by Divine Mind, the very center of his being. The roots of
the "tree of life" are centered in the solar-plexus region,
and they are symbolized in the physical organism by the
nerves of that plexus.
The "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" represents the
sympathetic nervous system whose fruit is
Page 36
sensation. When man controls his feelings and emotions his
sensations are harmonized and all his functions are
supplied with nerve energy. But when man gives way to the
pleasure sensation he consumes or "eats" of that energy and
robs his body of its essential nerve food. Thus excessive
sense pleasure and the pain that follows are designated as
"good and evil."
Gen. 2:10-14. And a river went out of Eden to water the
garden; and from thence it was parted, and became four
heads. The name of the first is Pishon: that is it which
compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
and the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and
the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon:
the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Cush. And
the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which
goeth in front of Assyria. And the fourth river is the
Euphrates.
"River" symbolizes the activity of life in the trees or the
current of life in the organism (garden). The "head" of the
river represents its directive power.
The name Pishon is variously defined as "fully diffused,"
"real existence," "perfect substantiality," "being, carried
to its highest degree." Spiritually interpreted, this
definition is descriptive of Spirit at work in man's
consciousness, Spirit diffusing its ideas of intelligence
and light into man's soul. However this work of Spirit is
not confined to man's body or to the earth but is
everywhere present. It is the activity of divine ideas in
their fullness.
The river Pishon is described as encompassing "the whole
land of Havilah." Havilah represents the struggle of
elemental life, virtue born of trial, travail, or
Page 37
suffering. There is gold in this land and also precious
stones, which means that it is the realm of reality. In
other words, we have locked up in our elemental body all
the treasures of Spirit. All the precious things of life
for which we have been looking are in our body, and it is
through the inflow of this mighty spiritual Pishon that
these precious ideas are released. But there is a struggle
or, as Jesus said, "tribulation" between the spiritual and
the natural.
The name Gihon means variously "formative movement," "a
bursting forth," "whirlpool," "rapid stream." This river
represents the deific breath of God inspiring man and at
the same time purifying his blood in the lungs. Job said
that "there is a spirit in man" and that "the breath of the
Almighty giveth them understanding." The river Gihon
"compasseth the whole land of Cush." The name Cush means
"firelike," "darkness," "impurity"; and the passage refers
to the blood-purifying process of the breath. God is
breathing His breath through man's being, cleansing the
blood stream, and filling his whole being with spiritual
inspiration.
The name Hiddekel means "universal generative fluid,"
"rapid stream," "rapid spiritual influx." The river
Hiddekel symbolizes the spiritual nerve fluid that God is
propelling throughout man's whole being continually, as the
electromagnetic center of every physically expressed atom
and cell, the very elixir of life. This wonderful stream of
nerve fluid finds its way over all the many nerves in man's
body, giving him the invigorating, steadying power of the
Holy Spirit.
Assyria represents the psychic realm or the soul. The nerve
fluid, the most attenuated and volatile fluid of the body,
breaks into flares at the ends of the
Page 38
nerves, giving rise to various kinds of psychical and
mental action, forming character or soul. The mind uses the
nerve flares to express its ideas.
The name of the fourth river, Euphrates, means
"fructifying" or "that which is the fructifying cause."
Metaphysically it represents the blood stream. The
circulatory system receives and distributes the nutrients
contained in the food we eat. The blood stream is charged
with the food substance for bone, muscle, brain, teeth, and
hair. Every part of the organism is supplied with substance
through this wonderful river Euphrates.
Gen. 2:15-17. And Jehovah God took the man, and put him
into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And
Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the
garden thou mayest freely eat: 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.
The Garden of Eden symbolizes the omnipresent, unseen realm
out of which comes the visible universe. Modern science has
named it the cosmic ether. It cannot be described in human
language, because it transcends all the comparisons of
earth. Jesus said that the "mysteries" of the kingdom were
revealed to those who were spiritually awake but to others
must be told in parables.
The human body with its psychical and spiritual attributes
comprises a miniature Garden of Eden, and when man develops
spiritual insight and in thought, word, and act voluntarily
operates in accord with the divine law, then rulership,
authority, and dominion become his in both mind and body.
"The kingdom of God is within you."
Jehovah God, the active representative of Divine
Page 39
Mind in man, places man in the Garden of Eden to "dress it
and to keep it." Man dresses and keeps this garden by
developing, in his consciousness, the original, pure ideas
imparted by Divine Mind. As man establishes ideas of Truth
he calls into manifestation his spiritual body imaged in
substance by Divine Mind.
"Tree" represents the connecting link between the formed
substance (earth) and the formless (heaven). To "eat" is to
appropriate the substance of ideas through thinking about
them. "Evil" represents error thought combinations; that
part of consciousness which has lost sight of true
principles and through sensation becomes enamored of the
thing formed. Form has its place in creation, but it is
subject to the creative idea that begets it. The activity
of an idea in man's mind produces sensation. To become
involved in the sensation of an idea to the exclusion of
control is to eat of the "tree of the knowledge of good and
evil" and die to all consciousness of the original idea.
Materiality as the obverse of spirituality was set up when
man became involved in thoughts of the external, in
sensation, and lost sight of the true creative idea.
Because of this, man gradually became separated from the
realm of divine ideas; in other words, from God. Death is
the result of this separation from God. Jesus restored the
broken life current between God and man and so became the
"Saviour" for those who follow Him.
Gen. 2:18-25. And Jehovah God said, It is not good that the
man should be alone; I will make him a help mate for him.
And out of the ground Jehovah God formed every beast of the
field, and every bird of the heavens; and brought them unto
the man to see what he would call them: and whatsoever the
man
Page 40
called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
And the man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of
the heavens, and to every beast of the field; but for man
there was not found a help meet for him. And Jehovah God
caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and
he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead
thereof: and the rib, which Jehovah God had taken from the
man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And the
man 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. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his
mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be
one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife,
and were not ashamed.
Man must have avenues through which to express himself.
These avenues are the "help meet" designed by Jehovah God.
Man represents wisdom. It is not good for wisdom to act
alone; it must be joined with love if harmony is to be
brought forth. Both the soul and the body are helpmeets to
man (spirit), avenues through which he expresses the ideas
of Mind.
It is on the soul or substance side of consciousness that
ideas are "identified," that is, "named." Whatever we
recognize a thing to be, that it becomes to us because of
the naming power vested in man (wisdom). "Every beast of
the field" and the "cattle" represent ideas of strength,
power, vitality, and life. These ideas must be recognized
by the I AM before they can be formed. "The birds of the
heavens" represent free thoughts and the interchange
between the subconscious and the conscious activities of
mind. Man has power to name all ideas that are presented to
his conscious mind, whether they come from within or
without.
Page 41
Wisdom, the masculine phase of man, needs a helpmeet or
balance. Love in the soul (woman) has not yet been
developed and established in substance.
A limited concept of Jehovah God caused a deep sleep
(mesmeric state) to fall on the man (Adam). Nowhere in
Scripture is there any record to show that Adam was ever
fully awakened; and he (man) is still partly in this
dreamlike state of consciousness. In this state he creates
a world of his own and peoples it with ideas corresponding
to his own sleep-benumbed consciousness.
Paul said, "As in Adam all die [fall asleep, lose spiritual
consciousness], so also in Christ shall all be made alive
[awaken from coma or lethargy into the awareness of Spirit
life]."
Awakening cannot be associated with dying. The idea that
man awakens to spiritual or any kind of consciousness
immediately after "death," whether in heaven, hell,
purgatory, or elsewhere, is opposed to Truth. His awakening
must take place here, during the time of "life," at least
while he is partially awake and before he sinks into that
deeper sleep or coma that we call death.
The Scripture admonishes us: "Awake, thou that sleepest,
and arise from the dead [the mortal dream of life], and
Christ [Truth] shall shine upon thee." David, sensing this,
said, "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with beholding
thy form."
The soul is here coming into the positive development of
divine love (the woman). Love is the passive quality of
mind and must become active through man's volition, before
it can be brought forth; and man must enter into the
passive side of Being and
Page 42
cease from outer mental activity. This state is symbolized
by "deep sleep"; the outer consciousness is quiet, allowing
the spiritual to express itself fully.
Man evolves, attains consciousness in mind and body, as he
becomes aware of the divine ideas implanted in his being.
In this chapter Adam "names"--calls to consciousness in
life's activities--the beasts of the field and the birds of
the heavens (animal and intellectual realms). Then in
moments of meditation, when the outer mind is still, he
makes contact with the subconscious.
The Hebrew word from which "rib" is translated means
"curved surface," not specifically one of Adam's ribs;
rather, the curves of beauty innate in Adam. The
development of Eve is a refining process that helps man to
bring forth his divine feminine nature. The rib or bone
that became woman is symbolical of the very substantial
character of the love that she represents.
Adam is the objective and Eve the subjective in primal man,
both in the same body. As man evolves Eve becomes
objective. "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my
flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out
of Man."
If the ego or will that is man has adhered to the guiding
light of Spiritual faithfully and has carried out in its
work the plans that are ideated in wisdom, it has created a
harmonious consciousness. The original Adam in Eden is
symbolical of such a consciousness.
The "deep sleep" into which the intellect is plunged when
true love is experienced still prevails in human relations.
Love is the great mystery of life. The spiritually wise see
love as the force that enfolds with mathematical precision
the galaxies in space as well as the tiniest atom. Science
names it gravity.
Page 43
[Go forward to Chapter 3 ->]
[Mysteries of Genesis]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
|