THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF,
GRAPPLING WITH
GRAPPLING WITH
THE COSMIC MYSTERY
& THE POWER OF STORY
& THE POWER OF STORY
Many cultures have their own creation story. It may be best if skeptics thought of these as stories, metaphors, archetypes and universal truths. There should be no conflict between story and science. Both are equally valid. The bible says the earth was created in six days and on the seventh the Creator rested. Six "days" could just as easily have been six epochs. If Genesis would have begun with "once upon a time" many non believers in a Creator and the bible's creation story would be more comfortable. The Garden of Eden archetype is a story of truth since the beginning of time, of the play of light and dark and of our consciousness as Homo sapiens.
Two Trees in the Garden, one of Knowledge (of acquisitiveness, ego and shadow) and one of Life or enlightenment. When we got kicked out of the Garden for eating of the fruit of knowledge we lost our birth right. We can regain Eden by "climbing" up the Tree of Life, subordinating ego, monkey mind and shadow to the higher Self and becoming perfected beings. The challenge is not easy.
The conundrum is that at some stage of evolution, we became conscious humans and this is the puzzle of the story. It should create awe and not conflict.
Why?
When?
How?
The problem is not the story but the fundamentalism of each school's "story." Many scientists believe that only they have the truth as do many religions. There can be no duality - there has to be only one truth! This way of thinking is insinuating itself now into almost every aspect of our lives. Dean Radin, the physicist for Noetic Sciences, states that less than one percent of scientists believe in paranormal phenomena in spite of reproduceable evidence to the contrary. Dogma continues to be pervasive even in the new millennium.
The bible doesn't pretend to begin with Australopithecus or the southern bipedal ape three million years ago or more. This ape was much like our primates of today who though highly intelligent, we believe, did not have our consciousness.
The more advanced Wild Beings have their own awarenesses and social behavior. Elephants have been shown to honor their dead and walk in a procession passing the bone of a deceased elephant with their trunks to the one behind. They visit burial sites. They have incredible memories and a phenomenal ability to love and show distress at loss of family members. Dolphins are highly evolved mammals who every now and then rescue humans in distress. However, they are not the same as us - as the Ancestors say of all the Beings - all one though not the same.
Above all the consciousness of Wild Beings is one of survival which is also embedded in our primitive monkey or narrow minds.
We, the Talking Beings, have other polarities with which to contend
which require we balance the light and the dark. The other three Beings are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing - only we stray because of free will and the allure of the material. They do not know anything about evil or good and are just carrying out their respective tasks assigned to them. They are not plagued with concepts like the law of Cause and Effect or Karma. They do not have monkey minds chattering messages of delusion or a higher or Buddha mind telling them to modulate the monkey on their shoulder with meditative techniques. They do not need to wrestle with the possibilities of reincarnation and the ever turning wheel of samsara.
Two Trees in the Garden, one of Knowledge (of acquisitiveness, ego and shadow) and one of Life or enlightenment. When we got kicked out of the Garden for eating of the fruit of knowledge we lost our birth right. We can regain Eden by "climbing" up the Tree of Life, subordinating ego, monkey mind and shadow to the higher Self and becoming perfected beings. The challenge is not easy.
Kabbalistic rendition of the Tree of Life showing the serpent wound around the central trunk of the Tree which must be subordinated to the higher Self in order to reach Keter - the Crown and regain Eden
The conundrum is that at some stage of evolution, we became conscious humans and this is the puzzle of the story. It should create awe and not conflict.
Why?
When?
How?
The bible doesn't pretend to begin with Australopithecus or the southern bipedal ape three million years ago or more. This ape was much like our primates of today who though highly intelligent, we believe, did not have our consciousness.
The more advanced Wild Beings have their own awarenesses and social behavior. Elephants have been shown to honor their dead and walk in a procession passing the bone of a deceased elephant with their trunks to the one behind. They visit burial sites. They have incredible memories and a phenomenal ability to love and show distress at loss of family members. Dolphins are highly evolved mammals who every now and then rescue humans in distress. However, they are not the same as us - as the Ancestors say of all the Beings - all one though not the same.
Above all the consciousness of Wild Beings is one of survival which is also embedded in our primitive monkey or narrow minds.
We, the Talking Beings, have other polarities with which to contend
which require we balance the light and the dark. The other three Beings are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing - only we stray because of free will and the allure of the material. They do not know anything about evil or good and are just carrying out their respective tasks assigned to them. They are not plagued with concepts like the law of Cause and Effect or Karma. They do not have monkey minds chattering messages of delusion or a higher or Buddha mind telling them to modulate the monkey on their shoulder with meditative techniques. They do not need to wrestle with the possibilities of reincarnation and the ever turning wheel of samsara.
Most neuroscientists still believe that our consciousness is inside the brain whereas it is quantum and non local in time and space. They still consider the evidence for life after death - witnessed by those who have had Near Death Experiences - as chemical hallucinations in the brain due to lack of oxygen.
Bipedal apes had an awareness similar to primates of today but they made tools and could walk upright some of the time like primates.
Paleo-anthropologists theorize that it was the evolution of the upright posture that allowed early bipedal apes to free their hands and begin the making of tools and thats when humankind began to evolve. Terence Mckenna postulated that when primitive man started to eat psychedelic mushrooms, consciousness exploded but where was it to begin with?
Bipedal apes had an awareness similar to primates of today but they made tools and could walk upright some of the time like primates.
Paleo-anthropologists theorize that it was the evolution of the upright posture that allowed early bipedal apes to free their hands and begin the making of tools and thats when humankind began to evolve. Terence Mckenna postulated that when primitive man started to eat psychedelic mushrooms, consciousness exploded but where was it to begin with?
So the real question isn't whether the bible story is literally true but when did Homo habilis and Homo erectus become Homo sapiens with our consciousness and even if that is what happened at all? The mysterious truth laid out in the Garden of Eden millennia ago may be telling us about the manifestation of our unique consciousness as Talking Beings.
We know the first people were the Bushmen or Khoi San and that we all have their D.N.A. in our chromosomes. Science has shown that humankind began in Africa. San rock art in the Apollo cave in Namibia shows trance dancing - an advanced form of out of body travel and consciousness still being done by them today - happened at least about 30,000 years ago.
Subtle spiritual truths come in fables, myths, legends and parables which are also at the heart of the archetypes. They were not meant to be literal but to explain to less sophisticated minds the meaning, mystery and wonder of creation. In indigenous cultures these stories have a Creator - a singular omnipotent force who created order out of chaos.
It would be useless to early humans if the creation story began with an exposition of quantum physics, the big bang, black and white holes, matter and anti-matter. Even quantum physicists admit that they do not know what is going on. Why did Jesus teach in parables rather than the laws of mathematics and physics. Poetry and legends, however, have the ability to be embedded with universal truths.
The indigenous mind has no difficulty with paradox and duality - you can have your story and I can have mine - they are both true. There is usually a profound message of truth and beauty in these stories.
We know the first people were the Bushmen or Khoi San and that we all have their D.N.A. in our chromosomes. Science has shown that humankind began in Africa. San rock art in the Apollo cave in Namibia shows trance dancing - an advanced form of out of body travel and consciousness still being done by them today - happened at least about 30,000 years ago.
Subtle spiritual truths come in fables, myths, legends and parables which are also at the heart of the archetypes. They were not meant to be literal but to explain to less sophisticated minds the meaning, mystery and wonder of creation. In indigenous cultures these stories have a Creator - a singular omnipotent force who created order out of chaos.
It would be useless to early humans if the creation story began with an exposition of quantum physics, the big bang, black and white holes, matter and anti-matter. Even quantum physicists admit that they do not know what is going on. Why did Jesus teach in parables rather than the laws of mathematics and physics. Poetry and legends, however, have the ability to be embedded with universal truths.
The indigenous mind has no difficulty with paradox and duality - you can have your story and I can have mine - they are both true. There is usually a profound message of truth and beauty in these stories.
The Ancestors' message to us is to be in awe of the mystery and not necessarily to try and explain it or discount the stories that are there to teach us the lessons of creation rather than the exact details of how it came about. This does not discount the magic and mystery of science which depending on one's attitude, can serve to support spiritual concepts.
Niels Bohr the famous quantum physics, when entertaining one of his colleagues in his home was asked; "You surely don't believe that horseshoe hanging over the door brings luck do you?" Bohr replied; "of course I don't believe it but I know it works whether you believe it or not."
We are discovering that knowing more and more about less and less just opens another pandora's box of deeper mystery. Knowing more does not make it any less mysterious. We need to be extremely humble - science tends to be arrogant.
Einstein said that there were two ways to live one's life, one as if nothing is a miracle and the other that everything is. The latter we will find is much more rewarding and life fulfilling.
An anonymous writer once wrote;
"anyone who isn't confused here, really does not understand what is going on."
Niels Bohr the famous quantum physics, when entertaining one of his colleagues in his home was asked; "You surely don't believe that horseshoe hanging over the door brings luck do you?" Bohr replied; "of course I don't believe it but I know it works whether you believe it or not."
We are discovering that knowing more and more about less and less just opens another pandora's box of deeper mystery. Knowing more does not make it any less mysterious. We need to be extremely humble - science tends to be arrogant.
Einstein said that there were two ways to live one's life, one as if nothing is a miracle and the other that everything is. The latter we will find is much more rewarding and life fulfilling.
An anonymous writer once wrote;
"anyone who isn't confused here, really does not understand what is going on."
and Einstein said;
"Our knowledge is the knowledge of children, we will know a little more than we know now but the real nature of things we will never know, never."
The Ancestors
The San Bushman believe in a single creator God and clearly this story indicates that mantis and bee (powerful mystical archetypes in their culture) preceded creation of the first human as does the bible - Adam and Eve came LAST. Genesis does not discount there was a lot that happened before Adam and Eve and human consciousness.
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This song came in a dream and though stunning was impossible to produce in real time. We tried our best.
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