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Mysteries of Genesis, by Charles Fillmore, [1936], at sacred-texts.com
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.
"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.
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
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.
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
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."
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
"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.
"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
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."
"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
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.