GENESIS

GENESIS

Genesis 1

1 in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Christian thought accepts that creation report comes from a different tradition of man’s creation that comes to proceed. It also accepts that doesn't have pretenses that uniform to scientific thought, but that reveal a creative and transcendent God, previous to the world.

I intend to enhance that the report it is proceeded, accepts as a type of continuation of the creative work and can have a different and much more important meaning than just a symbolic and frank report of man’s creation.

Genesis 2

4-5 ...in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it

18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him help meet for him.

19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found help meet for him.

21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

22 and the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

23 And Adam 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.

24 therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

The first report is cold, objective, simple, direct. For man's creation: "Let us make the man. ... Man and woman he created ". The second is a fantastic history!

What reason has second source editor to write that history, at least, absurd?

For religions the text is just good as subsidy for marriage indissolubility as divine will. I believe that a myth of extraordinary value for Humanity it is there contained, something similar to the androgynous myth.

Mentioned by Walter Boechat in "A desconstrução do masculino".

The Greek fantasy of universe origin arrived to us, in Hesiodo’s cosmogony. In it, from primordial chaos it emerges Gaia, the Great Mother's archetype, the earth. Uranus, the sky, Father’s archetype, composes with Gaia, the first primordial couple. However an oracle foresees that Uranus would be dethroned and succeeded by its son. Uranus, frightened with a possible loss of power, starts to impede that its children were born of Gaia’s womb, until, tormented by endless pains provoked by the children pressed in its womb, throws hand of a stratagem. She associates to its newer son, Cronos, she gives him a scythe, and while Uranus lies on her, Cronos castrates him.

The oracle comes true then and Cronos succeeds Uranus in the domain of the cosmos, married to its sister Rhea. Again the weird oracle foresees the succession to father Cronos by his son. Panicky Cronos, allows its children to be born, just to devour them soon after.

The newest son of Rhea, Zeus, helped by his mother, will do the prophecy of the oracle comes true. When Cronos gets ready to devour him, Rhea substitutes him by a stone that provides him an emetic liquid makes Cronos to vomit its siblings already devoured and he expels him for the areas of the Tartar.

Zeus takes Metis as consort and makes her pregnant. The oracle lowering turn showing, predicting that of Metis, a woman that would be similar to a man and a youth, "with a conqueror's heart would be born, that would come to be lord of gods and of men"

What seems us of the largest importance, so much mythical as psychological, it is that Zeus reacts in the same way as its ancestral Cronos and Uranus, when threatened by the temporary succession: Zeus devours Metis!

Here it is configured the gloomy problem of the archetypes of the masculine, the constant repetition, characteristic of masculine culture, creativity and originality inability. The consecutive generations repeat the devouring attitude, from father to son.

Freud denominated that constant pulse of repeating, "repetition compulsion", the death instinct, the neurosis essence.

The mythical narrative supplies, however, a possible exit for that devouring imprisonment of the masculine! Zeus comes to feel, times then, a terrible headache. Its head hurts because he suffers the pains of the childbirth, because of him she is born, already dressing armor and carrying lance, the favorite of its father-Zeus, Palas Athena. The woman similar to a man (Homer), who had been prophesied finally by the oracle, is born.

Inside of an archetype reading of the psychomythology, Athena represents the archetype of the anima, the fancy and imagining capacity that springs from the masculine mind. In the moment that happens, the successive devouring ceases, and a balance settles in Olympia.

It is not necessary a great effort to notice the likeness between Greek mythology myth and second source biblical myth that show man’s creation.

The most important and significant is that in both, an extraordinary woman is born of a man. This fact, I believe, has an immense value that was never sufficiently enhanced.

It was already heard that Eve's birth through Adam would be resulted of masculine envy of feminine maternity, but I believe to be totally inconsistent that explanation and lacking larger meaning. Why he would have that supposed envy just in creation moment? I don't also think that envy alone could produce such a rich history of extraordinary throws and of such original facts.

Let us see some topics.

Theologians agree that the word "man" that appears above in the texts always refers to common man and woman, as well as Adam symbolizes all men and Eve all women. But the woman that is born of a man, man that is supposed can be male or female, she is special, so much that the man that sees her when she is to him presented by God, exclaims: "this is now bone of my bones!" showing that she is different from the common women, animals and other presented to him beings, expressing an authentic surprise when exclaiming: "this is..."

On the other hand, there were been men and women, why would God have said that man was alone and would need an assistant that corresponded it? After all the whole male already possessed a female. It is not difficult to imagine that the situation was unsatisfactory, it is not good that men and women are alone, something needed to be done to remedy the situation. "To be alone" seems to mean that man had access only to his masculine psyche and woman to her feminine psyche. To stop to be alone, it was necessary that could live together with the two aspects of their psyches. God then introduces to the man everybody alive that he had created, just as he had created the man, so that he named them. It’s supposed that the proposal was presented to common man and woman, that didn’t find among everybody that were to them presented, none that could be the assistant that would do they stay not alone. To give name, to name, it seems to mean here to choose who would be the wanted assistant, wanted by God, so that man would stop being alone. Only that who was born of its bowels, which was bone of his bones, flesh of his flesh, was elected its assistant and deserved a special name: "woman".

The same way Palas Athena, an extraordinary woman, similar to a man, had born from the head of Zeus.

It is evident the likeness among Palas Athena that is born of Zeus head and the "woman" that was born of man's rib. Authentic mythical expressions of "anima" archetype.

The author says above that when appearing the "anima", the devouring ceases and the balance settles in Olympia.

In a similar way the biblical author expresses when he says that "but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him " and when it shows that the man exults when he discovers the "woman" that is "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh". Not an ordinary woman, but that who was born from his interior.

But the biblical author is going beyond, when it places this intriguing sentence, that nothing seems to have with the context: "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh".

What can reveal us that small sentence? Countless guesswork can be fanned.

Father and mother’s mention can take us to think not in a creation moment but in a peculiar situation of humanity, in a certain moment of human conscience evolution. At creation moment there were not fathers or mothers. It is noticed a problematic situation, the man feels alone, something needs to be done. He possessed animals and birds of the sky domain, because he had given them a name, but the situation was still shown problematic, it didn't satisfy him. Perhaps he tried to answer the old question: who am I? He tried to identify with every animal of both sexes and also with its similar of the opposite sex, but he didn't find satisfaction. The expression "therefore", that is to say, due to existence of a problematic and unsatisfactory situation, it takes us to conjecture that the only solution for the problem resided in that presented: it is necessary that man abandons father and mother and that it joins to its wife, not a common one, but that who comes from its interior and with himself becomes an "one flesh", that is, a true man, no more alone and isolated, but in communion with himself and consequently with all humanity. Or, saying in another way, the problem is in the identification with father and mother, that needs to be abandoned, because it is unsatisfactory and it maintains man in solitude. To identify with father and mother seems to be similar to identify with animals and birds and everything more. The solution is been to melt with the woman that will be born of its interior, putting an end to solitude. There won't be more a man and a woman interior and solitary, but the two melted and generating a new community where there won't be more solitude.

I said that biblical author was besides Greek myth because in this, the appearance of the "anima" it just provokes a balance in Olympia, the inner man and the inner woman are juxtaposed, but it intends the coalition of the two, which it will result in a new man, not more alone, not divided, but entire: one flesh.

So much the Greek myth as Genesis composition were produced centuries before Christ, by that it should cause strangeness that it is given importance to those things near the third millennium of Christian era, computer science and advanced technology time, but when we have an interior personal experience related directly with those myths, our way of seeing such things changes completely.

There is a long time behind, twenty and few years, when I finish to read a book, in it I wrote: " The conflicts cease and the interior harmony begins when the man and the woman that exist in us are reconciled and they love each other". That sentence was born by itself, something as an intuition. I felt that it was true, but I didn't have the smallest idea of how to accomplish it or I could know if it would be possible to accomplish it. The idea of a man and a woman living together inside of us were just perhaps theories that I accepted, for believing in Jung that saw masculine unconscious as expression of its hidden femininity. The inverse for feminine unconscious.

More than twenty years then, having lived interior experiences where I could notice the existence in my inside of a man and a woman, as real as any reality, as that concrete, sharing the same life, each one to its way, my world vision moved drastically, I moved drastically.

Then I could understand the meaning of "shall a man leave his father and his mother"; I could understand archetype force and myths importance. Not for its historical value or for the contribution that it can give for the understanding of our psyche, but as realities potentially capable to transform man, enabling him to reconstruct the world that himself is destroying. What’s the use to acquire a deep knowledge of how man works, psychology, philosophy, anthropology and other goals, if we don't make absolutely anything in the sense of reconstructing man? What’s the use of knowledge, if we park in the knowledge? We are proud of our immense knowledge, of our modern technologies, but we only got to remove some effects of the evil that produced. We never sought the causes that produce problems; we fight against the effects of what ourselves caused. Or then we intend to reconstruct man inventing new roles so that he starts to represent, just fruit of goddess reason use.

Who will accept that solution of all problems humanity suffers is contained in one not well interpreted biblical affirmative, or in a Greek mythology episode?

Now, you certainly will ask: what’s the use to know that "anima’s" integration, man’s and woman’s interior blending, "one flesh" accomplishment, produce a new man, better than current?

Really, only to know is good for nothing. It would be necessary some people indeed were transformed and somehow they contaminate a great Humanity portion so it also would be transformed. It is an action problem, not of reflection or of knowledge. That transformation is possible and it is within reach of any human being, have him or not any knowledge of mythologies, psychology or philosophies, have him money, culture or social position, know him or not to read and to write. Each one of us carries in our interior the solution for all problems that disturb whole humanity, but nobody is disposed to look inside, we only got to look outside.

Vers 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Christian religions come in that "they were both naked" only concupiscence indications, so much that further on Adam says to God that he hid because he was naked and to know that was naked made God to conclude that he had eaten of good and evil knowledge tree.

I believe that nothing has there to be with concupiscence, shame, sex shame or similar. Brazilian Indians still today live naked with total naturalness.

I think that being nude symbolizes a total unarmed attitude, any defense, a total insecurity, no fear, an absolute divestment, end of the war of sexes, total surrender, unconditional abandonment of one in the another. Direct result of man-woman psychic coalition.

I don't know if for coincidence or if for a reason any, but in the crucial moment when I lived an interior experience, totally spontaneous and unexpected, when my masculine-self melted with my feminine-self, we were both completely nude ones and everything seemed perfectly natural, there was not any tension, embarrassment, shame or concern. The coalition was processed at the same time in a psychic level that took place in a level of visible and sensitive bodies that entered one in the other, they melted in a symbolic way. I went out from the experience feeling as described above: unarmed, insecure and lacking any fear, among other things.

Genesis 3

1 now the serpent was subtler than any beast of the field, which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2 and the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3 But of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

4 and the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

7 and the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

8 and they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

10 and he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

11 and he said who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said the serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

19 in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim’s, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Getting aside the Jewish-Christian vision that sees in this report the disobedience to God original sin, its consequences and that it would have been written by divine inspiration, I prefer to see it as a myth report that shows the human conscience stage in a certain period of its evolution.

Thus, we can see the report as a play that take place in a scenery: a garden where stand out two significant trees, one that symbolizes conscience of the self, individual's conscience, driven to the person, which in a certain moment of its evolution it is noticed as unique and separated from the others, originally developed in a more strong way in man of masculine sex, the male, and another that symbolizes a new conscience, a superior apprenticeship in the development of human conscience that will allow to live life without fear of death and that will live it as something eternal. Biblical author called them good and of evil knowledge tree and life tree.

The apprenticeship of individual conscience that persists even today, symbolized by the first tree, the acquisition good and evil knowledge, it generated the man psychically divided, where its masculine psychic side is hostile and lives in war with its feminine side, its right cerebral hemisphere and its left they act separately and in disharmony. It created the chaotic and problematic world they live even today

In that scenery, man inner, human psyche, four characters act, God, Adam, Eve and the Serpent.

God, that appears as a person who is shown, who speaks, who walks, who has power, who is life and wisdom source and who pretends to want to be obeyed, it symbolizes the sacred in human psyche. Any person that has lived a true mystic experience or somehow has had an authentic and direct contact with its unconscious contents can notice it as a source of light, indescribable and full of life.

Adam, as the first man, symbolizes the characteristically masculine orientation of human psyche, the individual conscience that says: I want, I do, and I am. It represents the common and typical left cerebral hemisphere activities.

Eve, as the first woman, born from the man, symbolizes collective orientation conscience characteristically feminine, the conscience driven to the community that says: we suffer, we laugh, and we live. It represents the common activities of the right cerebral hemisphere.

The serpent, as an astute animal and that incites revolt; it symbolizes our instinctive psyche, our animal side and our gloomy side.

We have now new scenery and new characters, let us see, as it could be the new text, as it could be the new dialogues.

SERPENT TO EVE: Is it true you were forbidden of developing an individual conscience, a conscience of yourselves, autonomous and independent people from the other ones, eternally staying with that collective conscience that everybody possess of belonging to a group and to live for and with the group?

EVE: Yes, our interior light seems to want that, but Adam thinks it should not be like this, he thinks that to possess an individual conscience it can free us and to take us to great accomplishments. Somebody with a strong individual conscience can drive the whole group for a more important and significant world. We can be lords of the world and of everything that it contains. I am very afraid; I think the existence of individual consciences, each one wanting a different thing it can take to a great confusion and we everybody can die.

SERPENT: Anything of that, you interpreted badly what your interior light shows. There won't be any death danger, the problem it is individual conscience blossoming will make them to think they became omnipotent, as gods, thinking they will be world owners and that will end for destroying the all world and oh yes, after a long time, world destruction will take its descendants unavoidably for death. It has its opinion, it thinks to possess an individual conscience it doesn't take to death, but it will bring serious problems for our descendants and they can die.

ADAM: Nonsense, an individual conscience will bring us a big amount of advantages. Each one will be responsible for its own life, each one can develop its own knowledge, we can become capable to win all our enemies building powerful weapons, we can dominate the world, we won't need more to obey to our interior light, we will be owners of our own noses, we will be free. We can place the naive people work for us and to live a life of pleasures, we can really enjoy life.

EVE: No, Adam. We should leave everything as it is. After all we don't have many problems, nature provides our support, and we are a great family that lives in peace. What belongs to one belongs to everybody. If we do what you want, some will take possession of everything and others will end without anything.

ADAM: That is unimportant, the strongest people will have everything, the other ones let them care of themselves, if you want to stay with them, it is up to you. I already know what I will do and nobody will impede me, neither the light nor you. Do not think to complain later, therefore with that chat with the serpent you helped me to decide. I won't hear you more to say and much less what that light can want. From now on only I will worry about me. I don't want to be a number in a crowd; I want to be somebody!

So the inner male suffocated this way its inner female, he turned off his guiding light and he dominated nature, animals and woman.

And God’s prophecies took place:

TO THE SERPENT, man instinctive and animalistic aspect, expressed by the fury as he destroys life that characterizes man's masculine orientation, its zeal to destroy and to attack full of rage the nature and everything that it contains, mainly his similar with his warring spirit, making war, genocide and discrimination.

TO THE WOMAN: mainly for being dominated and suffocated by man, characterized by reason victory on the feeling, mutilating the human beings and turning them inwardly divided.

TO THE MAN: given to somebody birth, a self, capable to notice the suffering and the hardness of survival fight.

TO BOTH: establishing the war of sexes, inward and outside characterized by the shame of now to be nude.

Several aspects of the myth still need to be thought: what is the true meaning of that sentence "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh", why would have God blocked the pathway for the life tree, what could it mean and what relationship can have between the two facts.

In biblical composition the sentence above comes soon after to the surprise and certainty he finds the "woman" and say: "this is now bone of my bones!" The expression "this is" for having found the woman makes him to think that is the reason for which will have the man to abandon father and mother. The discovery of the "anima" is needing cause of abandoning father and mother, to join to her and to become an alone flesh. Or it generates that need.

I understand that "father" symbolizes left cerebral hemisphere activities, the typical orientation of masculine conscience driven to him, to the individual. The conscience of dominance, of ownership, to manipulate people and things.

"Mother" represents the other hemisphere; conscience feminine orientation driven to the community that looks for community welfare, the gift of each one for the another.

"Woman" represents the "anima"; the masculine unconscious lit up by the sacred light.

"Shall cleave" indicates a coalition, an intimate union where two are founded and generate a new unit.

"One flesh" indicates a new one being, entire, not divided and conflicts free.

Like this, if a man finds his "anima", he exults with the encounter and he doesn't reject it, unavoidably he will abandon paternal and maternal pictures to which stayed identified, and that generated conflicts, he will melt with his "anima" and he will born again as a new man, entire and conflicts free.

Our psychology teaches children need to identify with parents, man with father's picture and woman with mother's picture.

I think that fact, even if true, it is harmful to human beings development. Actually it is constituted in the largest difficulty to the "anima" integration, desirable in a more perfect and healthy human being formation.

I believe there is also a deeper reason that would need to be more widely studied. I refer to father and mother identification that it is accomplished in the moment when it gives him the conception. Countless people that revived its conception moments, in an easily reachable conscience altered state, they tell about such singular phenomenon of double identification with father and mother, where one of them is repressed because it doesn't seem to match with their own sex. The identification process that happens in childhood seems to be a consequence of that identification tendency which characterizes the human being and that is prolonged for the rest of his life in the search of a personal identity.

The second aspect that needs to be thought is the blockade of the pathway for life tree. As consequence of the evolutionary fact of personal conscience acquisition, symbolized at once by eating the fruit of good and evil knowledge tree, God expelled the man of paradise, placing guards in the door so he didn't eat life tree fruit which would give him the eternal life.

Just as the myth says that God’s will was that didn't eat good and evil knowledge tree fruit, but, as the act was accomplished, God conforms to and it accepts, I understand that it could happen with life tree. It could only happen if father and mother’s abandonment was accomplished, the union with the woman and the birth of a unique flesh. As man’s decision went to continue divided, identified with father and mother, rejecting one of them, that is to say, grasped to its identity of dominant male, automatically the access to eternal life was impeded, it can only be possible after the "new flesh" birth, after "anima’s" integration.

Perhaps the word religion, "re ligio", to re-joint, actually has that meaning: to joint again conscious to unconscious.

What is eternal life after all? Christian fantasy related for Christ's coming?

I think that is a possible reality for the human life, which it can only be accomplished after the new man's birth, result of the "anima" integration to its psyche. The man free of inward conflicts generated by the war of sexes, father's and mother’s pictures in perpetual hostility, which he carries inside of himself, it makes way, it turns him capable to approach to life tree, to eat of its fruit and to live genuinely an eternal life. Not after biological death, as they want the Christians, but after inwardly divided man death, unable to deal with death.

Before conjecturing in how it would be an eternal life it is necessary to find an effective way of accomplishing the psychic coalition with the "anima". What need to be done to be born the new man, the man of the future, who will be capable to establish and to live the eternal life?

I proposed a simple method, accessible to any person, result of its effectiveness just in myself, in my own personal experience. I try to find people that are disposed to try and to collaborate on its improvement or even if they are disposed, to elaborate other methods that can be effective, or at least to share and to discuss my proposal, but I am not getting anything. Perhaps my writings spreading can be a vehicle.

I believe that "to leave his father and his mother" means: to separate of father and mother, to leave being man and woman son; that "to cleave unto his wife" means: to melt to his inward wife, his "anima", to joint again; and "to be one flesh" means: to become a new creature, a son of God, capable to live the eternal life. By that reason, I think, Jesus said "it is necessary man's son dies and resurrects".

Ending. I see eternal life as a new way of living, totally different from the current. A constituted humanity of genuinely free people, entire, unable to dominate or to explore its fellow creatures or the nature, which won't need laws or regulations, where each one will see the other as to himself, which won't have any concern with safety or with death and that freely can decide when he chooses another life form.

Utopia? Fantasy? Hallucination? Schizophrenia? Reality? I don't know.

Maybe you can help to answer these questions.