2/27/2024
Chapter 2
And the heavens and the earth were created in all of their vast array. Whole and complete they were, with all of the bounty of plants, and fishes and animals and humans. And the Consciousness and the Companion found them to be good, and were pleased, and they rested and they observed.
A time passed, and the Consciousness looked at the wonder that was before them - the soft silky mosses, the never-ending variety and colors of the flowers, the majestic trees; the smallest of minnows to great fishes, and the diversity of the animals on the land. Making their own mark on Earth, was humankind, who had developed beyond family and tribes, and had started to construct cities.
The Consciousness was longing to interact with this great creation, to experience it firsthand, but that would require physicality. The Companion considered this deeply.
"What if", questioned the Companion, "what if we were to create a human who could sustain our own being so that we might walk among the humans that we have made?"
The Consciousness considered this and began to work.
The Consciousness created on the Earth a garden and filled it with an abundance of the plants and animals, to both provide entertainment and sustenance. Pleasing to the eye, and good for food. Then was created for all that a human should know, so that the human could learn about this creation and the questions that the Creators had for their Creation. The Creator named this garden Eden, which means "Place of Pleasure"
So was crafted a human capable of absorbing not only knowledge and mastery of the world around him but also instilled with the sense of awe and wonder that the Creators had within them, and a mind filled with questions to answer. Among the plants, and animals, and throughout the garden, answers were laid to be found of the nature of the Creators. And the knowledge to prepare him for his mission among the rest of the humans. To allow the Creators to experience what they had made.
The Creators named the human Adam - which means "of the earth" and placed the human in the Garden to live, and to play - and most importantly to learn. The Creators said "All this is yours, to learn and to play in. Each plant and each animal will nourish you and teach you. As you move from this place to the center of the Garden, the lessons will be more complex, until you learn all and have the mind of Us."
Adam wandered the garden, naming the plants and the animals, and enjoying their bounty. Yet Adam was sad, as the Consciousness had been sad in experiencing wonder, but not being able to share it with another. As the Consciousness did to itself, it did to the human. It divided the human and created another equal human as a companion. The companion was made a female for the purpose of procreation, and was named Eve, which means "life-giver". The Creators told Adam and Eve that they were free to do as they pleased in the Garden, and to be fruitful and multiply. They wandered in the Garden together, and they were happy.
In the center of the Garden stood a tree with a special fruit. It was to be the last lesson for the humans before being joined with the rest of the humans on Earth. It was a tree that would instill the final lesson needed for the humans to be able to provide the Creators with the experience that they craved. When consuming the fruit, they would gain an understanding of what the Consciousness desired for Creation, and what the Consciousness thought would harm Creation. It needed to be the last lesson because it would give an ability to discern, and to judge something as good or bad. It needed to be the last lesson after all else was learned, because judgment, without full knowledge, is dangerous in random ways. Judgment must come with understanding.
The Creators sat back and admired their work. They watched Adam and Eve grow and learn. They were pleased and called it good. They designed a shell that would allow them a physical presence in the Garden so that they could interact with the humans of their Creation in the Garden. They learned of the physical world through the humans, and it was good.
The Creators learned that living in the physical world of their creation limited their vision of the whole of Creation, so they would go individually leaving the other to observe the whole of Creation, while each enjoyed their time experiencing the Garden.
Chapter 3
The humans were wandering in the Garden, and came across the Tree that gave the final lesson. It was a beautiful tree with large and attractive fruit that looked pleasing to eat. Eve wished to eat of it. Adam recognized the tree as the one of the final lesson and called out to the Creator, to see if they could eat.
The Companion was also wandering the Garden, near the Tree. He greeted both with an embrace. The Companion had found the touch of another to be both calming and pleasurable. The humans as well.
The humans asked of the tree, and the Companion explained that the Consciousness wanted this lesson to be the last, that it was better to have the humans with a full understanding of where they were going, before giving them the ability to decide something good or bad. There are always a multitude of things to consider before making a judgment.
The humans asked the Companion - "Will eating the tree harm us?" The Companion answered "No", it would give them the knowledge that the Consciousness thought they weren't ready for, but it would not harm them physically. The humans decided to eat, as The Creators said they were free.
On eating the fruit, their eyes were opened, but they were not concerned. They had no experience with bad, for there was no bad to be found in the Garden. There was no bad in the Garden because while the Creators knew of it, they did not include it in the Garden.
On the rest of the Earth, it had sprouted as a normal occurrence of being, a balancing of forces that were creative and destructive that had sprung naturally in the physicalness of this Creation. Each thing is defined by an opposite. A condition of life in the physical world. A newness for the Creators to observe. This newness was also proclaimed good, for it would continue the education of these new humans when taken from the Garden, and placed in the world, which developed without protection from the nature of life in the physical world.
The Companion told this to the Consciousness, and the Consciousness came down to be with the humans. The Consciousness embraced both Adam and Eve and sat, and talked.
"All that I have created is Good. My companion concurs. You have taken the last lesson, and though there are things for you to yet learn, you are ready. You will go out among the rest of the humans, and live with them. I would like you to teach them what you have learned here - of the goodness of Creation and Nature, and the balance that they must maintain. That balance is demanding. There can be no life without death, nor health without illness, nor plenty without scarcity. You will be going from my protected Garden, where you were nurtured to learn, to go to the natural physical world, which has its own laws by the nature of it being different than where We became. You are to teach that it is as it should be."
"You are to care for each other, and for your home, and all that lives on it. You have been given all that we have to create, and to nurture and to care for each other. What you do not know now, you will learn. When bad happens, as it will, answer with good. Show care and love to all who live on earth, and show that love and peace are the answer to hate and tragedy."
"We can not walk with you at all times, but we are always here. You, and all that we have created, are beautiful and whole, and will increase. Show others out in the world, that even when the physical universe is hostile, and when others fall to desperation at the bad that balances, we can greet that bad with love and wholeness and rise above. It is in the rising above that we will all be joined together again."
And the Creators opened the East Gate of Eden, as Adam and Eve walked out into Earth as a beacon of hope to all that there is more to this life than struggle, and that, in a spirit of love and cooperation, we can overcome all that weighs us down.
In Faith, Peace and Love,
Ecc. RL Brandner, New Ecclesiastes Ministries