The Christian Vision of the New Creation - Part 4

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The Christian Vision of the New Creation - Part 4

 

Dear All,

 

In Part 3 of " The Christian Vision of the New Creation, we ended with:

 

(P.81} But it is in the story of the Garden of Eden that one can find the most

significant symbol of original unity of creation. In the Garden of Eden humanity

is represented as being in harmony with nature, with itself and with God. The

earth brought forth every tree, " which is pleasant to the sight and good to eat "

(Genesis 2:9), and the man and the woman " were naked and were not ashamed "

(Genesis 2:25). This is a symbolic picture of the original harmony of humanity

with nature, and at the same time the Lord God was seen to " walk in the garden

in the cool of the day " (Genesis 3:8). (P.82) In other words, human beings were

at peace with the world around them, with themselves, and with the indwelling

Spirit who " walked " with them. But there was already a power of evil, of

disharmony there. The serpent was " more subtle than all the beasts of the field "

(Genesis 3:1) and proceeded to tempt the human couple. There are two things to

be observed about this. The first is that in the ancient world, as among the

American Indians today, animals were conceived as parts of the cosmic whole, in

which trees and animals and human beings were all subject to the cosmic powers,

the gods and angels, and to the supreme Spirit who pervaded all things. The

second is that what we would consider to be subjective phenomena, experiences of

the inner self, were then experienced as objective realities. Gods and angels

and all kinds of spirits and the Lord God himself, were all conceived as

objective beings. Paradoxically, what we take to be objective, the phenomenal

world " outside " us, they conceived as a spiritual phenomenon, a psychic event,

and what we take to be subjective, our thoughts and feelings, they conceived as

objective realities. This, of course, is simply due to the difference in the

functioning of the human mind, the reality itself being always beyond the sphere

of the dualities.

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith)

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

Pgs. 81-82

 

In Part 4 the author talks about the " serpent " being seen as a symbol of cosmic

evil. That's how Christians see it, too. i wish forum readers to know that Shri

Mataji told Sahaja Yogis that " the snake " in the Garden of Eden represents the

Kundalini, so that is just the opposite understanding! Granted, the snake can

also have many symbolic meanings. Lets see what author, Bede Griffiths, explains

on this topic.

 

Enjoy!

 

violet

 

 

 

The Christian Vision of the New Creation - Part 4

 

(P.82} The serpent was a symbol of cosmic evil, the disintegrating force in the

universe, the source of all dualities. This was understood in Israel as the

result of the " fall of the angels " . An angel or a god is a reflection in the

sphere of multiplicity of the one supreme Spirit and when the angel or the god

remains in the harmony of the Spirit, it becomes a creative force in the

universe. But when the god or angel centres on itself and becomes a separate

force and is worshipped as such, it becomes a power of destruction, of

disintegration. This " fall of the angels " was considered the original source of

conflict in the universe, of all these forces of disintegration which disturb

the order of creation. But for this to become effective in human beings there

had to be a consent of the will. (P.83} The " fall of man " follows on the fall of

the angels, when the human being falls away from the guidance of the inner

Spirit and allows itself to be seduced by lower spirits and comes to centre on

itself. This is the essence of sin and of evil, the fall from the unity of the

Spirit, the all-pervading Word and Light and Life, which is the Ground of the

universe, and the centring on the separate self, the ego-mind, or 'ahankara' -

the I-Maker - which sets humanity in conflict with nature, with itself and with

the Ground and Source of all.

 

This, then, is the fallen universe into which we are all born, and which we see

today threatening the destruction of the planet on which we live through human

co-operation with the forces of destruction in the universe. But at the same

time we see in the story of Genesis the promise of restoration. The main theme

of the Bible is the restoration of humanity and, through humanity, of the whole

creation to its original harmony. The Bible begins with the creation of " heaven

and earth " (Genesis 1:1) and it ends with the new creation, of a " new heaven and

a new earth " . {Revelation 12:1) This is the theme which we have to follow out,

if we want to understand the biblical vision of human destiny. The effects of

sin are seen first of all in the murder of Cain by Abel. This reflects a

conflict between the agricultural and the pastoral people, for " Cain was a

tiller of the earth and Abel was a keeper of sheep. " (Genesis 4:2) The

significance of this is that the agricultural people, typified by the Canaanites

(the supposed descendants of Cain), the Babylonians and the Egyptians, were

responsible for the building of the great civilisations of the ancient world and

were seen by the Israelites, who were a pastoral people, as nations who made

their home in this world of sin and duality and gradually lost sight of the

transcendent reality of the Spirit, in which human happiness is to be found.

They correspond with the great powers of the modern world, which have built up

the present industrial civilisation.

 

{P.84) The story of the Flood, which almost certainly reflects the memory of the

flood in the Mesopotamian valley, was seen as a judgement on this civilisation,

while the building of the " tower of Babel " , the memory of the Babylonian

'ziggurat', was seen as typical of the ambition of such civilisations to " build

a tower up to heaven " (Genesis 11:4), that is, to dominate the world and make

the spiritual world (heaven) subject to the material world. This again exactly

reflects the present state of the world, where western science and technology,

based on a mechanistic view of the universe, seek to control the world and

subject nature to the machine. The ecological disaster which is now overtaking

the civilised world and the threat of planetary destruction are the inevitable

result of this type of civilisation.

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith)

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

Pgs. 82-84