A Releasing Your Unlimited Creativity discussion topic

Copyright 2008 by K. Ferlic,   All Rights Reserved

Since the dawn of humanity, humanity has longed and looked for a place of everlasting happiness. Many traditions tend to look to finding a place often called Heaven. Others look to finding more of a state of being called Nirvana. In either case, they look to escape pain and seek to live without pain.

One story at to how and why human experience a life of pain is told in the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It is interesting to revisit this story to see what is says about pain and a few other conditions we face as human. Whether or not you believe it is a true story is your choice. But it is recommended it not be dismissed and at least viewed as a pedagogical device to realize truths about the nature of man.

The Story of the Garden of Eden

"The Garden of Eden" as reported in the New American Bible, Genesis 3 verses 1-24.

"Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the Lord God has made. The serpent asked the woman, "Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the Garden?" The woman answered the serpent: "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘you shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.’"

But the serpent said to the woman: "You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be open and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad." The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate it.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. When they heard the sound of the Lord God moving about the in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

The Lord God then called to the man and asked him, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself." Then He asked, "Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!"

The man replied, "The woman whom you put here with me - she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it." The Lord God then asked the woman, "Why did you do such a thing" The woman answered, "The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it."

Then the Lord God said to the serpent "Because you have done this, you shall be banned from all the animals and from all the wild creatures; on your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life; I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your off spring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel." To the woman he said; "I will intensify the pangs of your childbearing; in pain shall you bring forth children; yet your urge shall be for your husband and he shall be your master." To the man he said: "Because you listened to your wife, and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat, ‘cursed be the ground because of you! In toil shall you eat its yield all the days of your life; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you; as you eat of the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat, until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; for you are dirt and to dirt you shall return."

The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living. For the man and his wife the Lord God made leather garments, with which he clothed them. Then the Lord God said: "See! The man has become like one of us, knowing what is good and what is bad! Therefore, he must not be allowed to put out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life also, and thus eat of it and live forever." The Lord God therefore banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he had been taken. When he expelled the man, he settled him east of the garden of Eden; and he stationed the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword, to guard the way to the tree of life."

A review of the story

In looking at this story, it is told from the perspective of Adam and Eve not facing the truth and telling the truth. It is based entirely on the perspective of living a lie. Rather than Adam discovering they were naked and making a covering of fig leaves, what if he said, "So what - no need to cover up, we have lived this way ever since we were created, why would we need to change," how would the story have unfolded differently?

Also, what if Adam would have told God, "I ate from the tree of knowledge because I felt like it." How do you think God would have responded? You know, God would have noticed that Adam ate of the tree of knowledge because he would have seen a difference in Adam as Adam lived this new found truth. There is always the possibility God would have never said anything if Adam had not run from God and felt he was now unworthy to face God. Adam was created from God in the image of God and loved by God. What do you think God really would have done? Did you ever think that maybe God would have said that, "It is about time you discovered who and what you are. It took Me eons, and I see you may even be brighter that I was - good job My son. Come let Me walk with you in Our garden." Let’s look at the story from a slightly different perspective.

Let us suppose the serpent of the story actually represents the kundalini and the awakening of the individual. When the kundalini rises it comes up from the lowest ground chakra, from the earth, to the crown chakra and is often seen as a serpent standing on its tail. When the mind, at the head of the serpent awakens, it awakens to knowledge and understanding. Suppose also that the kundalini rises in and through the feminine aspect of the individual first, then it gives its understanding to the masculine aspects of the individual (Eve giving Adam the apple), and this story represents no more than the awakening of the individual to the truth of his being.

When the kundalini does arise it makes the individual become aware of their choices. In becoming aware, the individual can choose to eat of the tree in the middle of the garden. Suppose this middle of the garden represents the mind. Suppose it is about choosing to live from the mind and eating the fruits of living from the mind. But God says, "You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die." So how is it, when one chooses to live of the mind, you shall die? It is very simple. Mind is what causes creation to come into existence. All and any creation is just and ebb and flow into and out of form. So any creation will eventually die and move back into the place of the unmanifested only to be born again in a new creation. Quite simply by choosing to live in mind we move into the realm of creation/Creation and all creations must dissolve to return to the Source.

To live in the mind and creation is to know duality. But live in duality is to experience separation and pain. More importantly, if we do not live consistent with the truth of our being, we create a separation within our being and scatter and fragment our energy. That, in turn, does not necessarily allow us to create health but conditions of accident, illness and disease.

The whole story is about living the lie and trying to cover up the truth. To live in truth so as to not scatter and fragment our energy, we need to live completely openly and honestly with ourselves, denying nothing. Not to deny, but live in the nakedness of our truth. Notice also the story revolves around Adam, the masculine side of the individual. The masculine side represent the mind and the "takes charge" to control and inserts itself into a situation, rather than the feminine. The feminine is the nurturing and holding presence, although it is the feminine side that moves us into eating the fruits of the mind The feminine is what excites the masculine to act.

The first thing Adam recognizes in eating of the apple from the tree in the middle of the garden is that he is naked. But he has been living naked, vulnerable and exposed in truth ever since he was created. Do you think God doesn’t know what we look like naked and fully exposed - he made us that way. Rather than living in the truth that comes from the heart, Adam tries to cover the truth, to cover his nakedness simply because of what he thinks and believes. It was Adam’s fear of being exposed before God, before the One who made him as he was naked and exposed, that made him run and hide.

It is important to note that God said, "Who told you that you were naked?" But does Adam say, does our male side say, "I chose to act and eat, and I live by my truth, and I come before you, standing naked and exposed in my truth." No, he hides from God and withdraws from God and covers himself, and then he fails to take responsibility for himself and his actions and says, "The woman who you put here with me - she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it." Adam tries to tell God it is God’s fault that he ate from the tree. He is trying to put the blame on God for his action. He is saying, "It is Your fault because You put this woman here - you gave me this feminine side that wants to eat of the fruits of the mind to tempt me. It’s Your fault."

So God plays this little game and asks the feminine side, "Why did you do such a thing?" But does she say, "Because I wanted to taste and eat the fruits of the mind. I wanted to create life, be of life, live passionately and enthusiastically creating in life." No, she passes the buck, denies responsibility and says, "The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it." What she is saying is, "The kundalini awakened in me and I discovered I had the power of choice and the knowledge of casting judgment of good and evil and I made a judgment in illusion. I was tricked, I was seduced, into thinking I was choosing what I thought was pleasurable based on the things of mind, things created by mind in the world." She also denies responsibility for her actions.

So what does God do. He condemns the kundalini, the serpent, to be banned from the wild creatures - in being denied the awareness which comes with the kundalini, we are banned from living that enthusiasm and passion that makes one wild about life as a conscious creator. It is told to crawl on its belly and eat dirt all the days of its life. It is condemned to be in the world of the lower chakras, tied to the world and bound to the world of things and ownership and control.

The kundalini will live bound to the ground and not allowed to rise until both the masculine and feminine aspects of who we are stop living the lie and we live fully exposed from and in the mind. We will live that way until we develop the self-esteem of the third chakra and take back our power and claim our identity to stand naked before God in our own truth

God goes on to say, "I will put enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel"- this is referring to the never ending struggle to crush the head of the kundalini and not choosing live in the awareness of the third eye and crown chakras. We crush and deny living life with wisdom and clarity. We no longer want wisdom and clarity. We would rather live the lie and deny what is in our heart. But the kundalini keeps striking at our weak spot, it strikes at how and where we walk in life. It attacks and attacks trying to get our attention to awaken. But we keep crushing that clarity the serpent can give us by choosing the illusion.

Most importantly, since we deny our heart because we do not use the clarity we have available to us, we are not living and speaking our truth and because of that our world is the world of pain and suffering. The pain of bringing our dreams and offspring into this world and the work and toil and suffering at trying to live in the world. But we never realize we continue the process and stay in this world as long as there is enmity between us and the serpent.

God goes on to say, "The man has become like one of us, knowing what is good and what is bad!. Therefore, he must not be allowed to put out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life also, and thus eat of it and live forever." And what is the tree of life? It is no more than the choice to live by and in our heart, that which gives us our life, to live our truth, speak our truth and live naked and exposed before God and man in our truth. If we do that then we live forever and we will be in that Divine flow drinking from the waters of life. There will be magic and we will be of magic.

So what keeps us from that choice and living in our heart? God places man "east of the garden of Eden and he stationed a cherubim and the fiery revolving sword, to guard the way to the tree of life." The east is the place of the sunrise and dawning of light, but we must walk west into the setting sun and death and darkness to be transformed. And what does one walk into in going west - a cherubim and the fiery revolving sword to guard the way.

A Cherubim has been seen in two ways, both can be considered applicable. The first, and apparently a more modern view, is the cherubim as a winged child, a beautiful child or innocent looking adult. Christ said, "Unless ye become like little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of God." All that is what keeps you out of living in your heart and finding the tree of life is becoming child-like in our innocence and approach to life. As for the fiery revolving sword is simply stepping past the ego and facing what many experience as the fiery Dark Night of the Soul to live the innocent passion and fire in the heart of playful child.

The second way, the more traditional view of the Cherubim, is that of a huge, winged creature with a leonine or human face, the body of a bull, sphinxes, or eagle and the like; they are seen to represent knowledge. In this context, one would need to obtain the knowledge to know to choose correctly to live by and in the heart and to live and speak our truth. And what of the fiery revolving sword in this case? Unless our enculturated ego dies the fiery death (the traditional phoenix) to who we think we are and you cut deeply into those beliefs and attachments that keep us on the karmic wheel of fate (the cutting and stripping of all that we hold onto) and stop living in the mind and of the mind and change the direction of our choices, we shall not enter the heart.

The story of Genesis gives us the story of how not to live, because in living a lie and not facing the truth we have pain, suffering and death. There is another option. That is to go west into the fiery revolving sword to become that child like innocence and live in the heart and from the heart.

The other twist to this story is that as long as we live the lie and not tell the truth, the feminine, that which nurtures creation and brings life into the world, will be servant to the masculine. Given the  inner world is reflected in the outer, until learn to properly protect the inner feminine we will be unable to understand how to truly protect the outer feminine. We ask again and again why are women so abused and made servant to the male. It is quite simple. As long as we live in this life of the mind and crush the head of enlightenment by not transcending the duality of judgment and not face our nakedness, the verdict is rendered, "Your (woman’s) urge shall be for your husband and he shall be your master." Until we walk west into death and darkness, face the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword, we shall not break the chains of the feminine. We have a choice, but do we have the courage to do so?

If in feeling unworthy before God because we feel guilt or shame as did Adam, it needs to be understood that this guilt or shame we feel is within us and not levied on us by God because we have sinned against God. We cannot sin against God for there is no right or wrong, good or bad before God. Before God all is one. There is no duality before God as there is of the earth plane. The bad that exists is the bad that we think we have done, those actions that we have judged ourselves for doing. If there is anything like "sin" in which there needs to be restitution or repayment of some type, it involves those actions that we do that are of a conscious and malicious intent to harm or injure another in some way. It is in those cases where there is full knowledge and desire to act.

It needs to be understood the actions we do are witnessed by the nonconscious mind and if it sees there is a disconnect between our beliefs of how we think we should be acting and how we are acting, it will not be possible for our nonconscious to be an open conduit to the free flow of our creative life energy to manifest what we desire, because we judge ourselves as unworthy for what we have done. However for a person who holds no belief about injuring or harming another and feels justified in doing so, they will suffer no guilt or shame. As they stand before God they will be free and unburdened and will have no trouble manifesting because the nonconscious has no difficulty in allowing the free flow of our creative life energy..

God does not judge our actions and will bless those who we judge good or bad exactly the same. The only question that needs to be asked about any act we do is, "Does the act cut us off from our creative power and or our version of the All That Is?" We can live with our life being inconsistent with our beliefs and we will manifest dis-ease, but we will not necessarily cut ourselves off from our understanding of God. It is only if we judge ourselves in some way that we feel some guilt before God that we cut ourselves off. As seen in the story of Adam and Eve, we need to take responsibility for all our actions and stand naked before God, fully exposed, otherwise we live the story of Adam and Eve. Ultimately, the matter of dispensing justice, of karma or some retribution of harm we caused to others, has no bearing on whether or not we can effectively manifest the intention we set for ourselves. It is only a matter of, have we in some way cut ourselves off from our God.

A concluding recommendation for consideration is as follows. When we stand before God or the Creator, Remember what God is reported to have said to Adam and Eve? "Who told you you were naked?" The judgment in what we do does not come from God/Creator. It comes from ourselves from within ourselves for we are Adam and we are Eve. We deny responsibility for our actions and try and blame someone else. We have eaten and savored the fruits of knowledge and we live in our mind and not our heart. We judge from the mind and by what we think, as opposed to what our heart says. Rather than telling the truth, we lie and live our lies and suffer pain.

Related topics
Creation Story for the Creativity Perspective
How we create our experiences

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