In the Beginning ...

In the beginning, man saw himself as innocent, pure, complete, whole, and "very good." He had oneness with God, walking and talking with God, loved and accepted by God.

There was no fear.

He was told to eat "of the tree of life" (having the mindset of seeing life/God everywhere around and in him). For life isn't something we do ... Life is of God - Life IS God (Jesus: "I Am the Life."). From God, through God, and to God are all things" (Rom 11:36).

As long as man continued in this way-of-thought, Life, and all that Life manifests, prevailed.

But there was a caution: do not eat from the tree (mindset) of the knowledge of good and evil. Do not judge things as good or evil -- for in that day, we would die, which is to perceive ourselves as separate from Life/God.

In order to judge as good or evil, we must first separate (in our minds) what we're judging from Life/God, and deny the Life that's flowing through it ... we show that we then believe that this part of creation is separate from the One Life, in order to be "evil" ... and we have thus divided God into two powers, in our minds. We are told to not judge "according to appearances" but look beyond the surface of the thing/person/situation, to see the reality of the substance of that thing: God. This is called "righteous judgment" or seeing as God sees.

We were told, right from the beginning, to see Life when looking at all things/people; to see God when looking at all things/people. If we do this, we will no longer judge things as "good or evil," "right or wrong," healthy or sick." We will no longer judge ourselves, either.

AND, if we see the True Life of each situation, and of each person, we are, in effect, calling it forth into it's true expression, as a manifestation of God. This is how we demonstrate love, and cooperate with God in healing, restoring wholeness, to the world (consider how Jesus called Lazarus forth ... because Jesus saw Lazarus as alive and whole ... He never saw him as dead).

We can come to the place where we see that there is only One Life -- and we're all sharing it.

Back to the Garden ...

Enter the serpent.

Now, it's interesting to me that serpent symbolizes fear for the Hebrew mind ... and it seems that the "crafty beast" (clever carnal mind?) of man starts whispering all manner of doubts about God ... suggesting that God is author of both good and evil, that God is withholding good, withholding wisdom and knowledge, that God cannot be trusted ... and as soon as the humans believed this line of thinking, he partook of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil ... mankind believed the lie, began a life of judgment, and therefore experienced fear. He saw himself as separate from God, and feared Him ... and he saw both good and evil all around him, rather than only seeing good, as before.

He saw himself as "naked" or uncovered, rather than being in the protection of God ... separate, isolated, alone. Abandoned by God. Ashamed. Man now believes that goodness, in any form, can be withheld. He now feels responsible for his own life, and must work and toil to gain back what he believes he's lost. He must earn God's favor. He sees himself as lacking, as there not being "enough" of anything, having to strive to get his needs met.

All this began, for mankind, for each of us, when we believe that God is the author of both good and evil. And we believe that God is the judge of our failures, and the punisher for our failings.

Instead of enjoying the One life, we live as if we have to earn goodness, even while expecting bad to keep happening to us ... because we "deserve" it.

What God knows, what God sees, is what He's made -- that which is very good. He does not see us through the lens of our own misunderstandings, confusion and fears. God knows Himself, and knows us, His offspring. God sees the truth about us ... that we are whole, complete, pure, His. He sees only harmony, order, and balance in all of creation. God is on our side. We don't have to hide behind bushes, trembling in shame, pretending to be good enough with our strivings, hoping we can dazzle God with our performance. We can realize that we're clothed with his goodness, love, worthiness and innocence. We can live a life that demonstrates wholeness... once we *see* that it's God's perspective, and therefore our truest/deepest perspective as well.

We can know that our fears are ego-generated, and utterly illegitimate.

And so is disease.

Once we understand why we don't need to experience disease anymore, we won't experience it anymore. We can learn to be free from this individual and collective mesmerism ... this self-imposed enslavement.

Then the inhabitants of the land ("Zion" -- the new covenant, new understanding) shall no more say, "I am sick." (Isaiah 33:24)

Shalom, Dena