The `Edenic State: Moving Beyond `Eden of the Past, and Forward To `Eden of the Messianic Era
The basis for the following article was originally published in 2005 by the Hashlamah Project.
בשם יהוה הרחמן הרחם | بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
The familiar account of `Eden, in the Torah, is not the source of the fundamental account of our past; nor is it a spontaneous, account that sprang into place as Moses spoke. Rather, it is the account handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation of human existence; since its origin with Adam. This first took place throughout the somewhat incoherent, unrecorded ages of human history. Thus, this Message emerged piercing the darkness of our species’ origins like an inextinguishable ray of Light that ties together the time when human life began, with the time when the human mind could express itself; setting pen to parchment.
`Eden is the most ancient story in human existence, and yet it is the most recent. It has survived precisely because it embodies the basic fact of human life. A fact that has not changed one iota; amid all of the superficial changes that human civilization has undergone. This fact alone remains a constant amidst this vivid array of subjective experiences; that being the dualistic conflict between Good and evil, the Eternal Struggle of higher evolutionary development against iniquity, and yes even the very Struggle against such notions of duality itself.
In these latter days you will find the minds of the masses fed by the hopes, dreams, fears and aspirations of the new and strange Earthly existence that is bursting forth at the seams of the new dawn; apparent off in the horizon of the coming Age of ages. Not since the days of Adam have such notions been extant in such a riotous, unrestrained manner of zestful _expression.
For many years, anthropologists have presented an idyllic view of life in simpler societies, making them seem almost like the last remnants of `Eden. As numerous scholars of human sociology have noted, it is one of the greatest ironies of evolution that progress in technology and social organization has often been linked with ethical regression. Horticultural societies provide several of the earliest examples. Some of the most shocking are the emergence and spread of human and animal sacrifice, as well as cannibalism. For a species herbivorous in origin, this is quite counter-intuitive, and unexplained by mainstream views of history.
These startling developments and social patterns are a cold reminder that technological advances do not necessarily imply or entail moral progress. In fact, as stated, much the opposite is true. It is for this reason that even the Angels, (the Malakhim, or Mala’ikah) were commanded to prostrate before primitive Adam, and all did save the one who came to be referred to as “Satan” or “Iblis.” It is for this reason that even the technologically advanced jinn were, and are spiritual and morally retarded in the Eyes of the Divine, despite their imagined “progress.” However, if we study the history and lives of our “`Edenic” predecessors, the last thing we find is an enlightened people, too “morally advanced” to partake in purported “technological progress.” Rather, what we do find is a species with simple ways, from a much simpler time. Time and research has proven many of their ways to have prevailed in their simplicity, over more modern manners of accomplishing the same ends. However, still other aspects of their societal ways of life have proven to be nothing more than a demonstration of righteousness enacted of ignorance. For our hominid ancestors did not consciously “choose” to live according to certain principles and tendencies of the world they were a part of. They simply knew of no other way to live. Unsuccessful attempts at ways of life produced nothing but destruction for those who partook in them. There is only one reason why primordial man lived as they did, in such a perfectly functioning manner: out of shear ignorance. For `Eden is a tale of a lost human state of bliss and freedom from sin. Truly, it was just that. For ignorance tends to leave one in a state of unconscious submission to any force greater than the individual.
“Is it then other than Allah’s religion that they seek (to follow), and to Hu submits whoever is in the Heavens and the Earth, willingly or unwillingly, and to Hu shall they be returned.” Qur’an, Sura 3:77
أَفَغَيْرَ دِينِ اللّهِ يَبْغُونَ وَلَهُ أَسْلَمَ مَن فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ طَوْعًا وَكَرْهًا وَإِلَيْهِ يُرْجَعُونَ
There is however, a state of being beyond the Inferior `Eden of unwilling submission through ignorance; one that does not necessitate ignorance to ensure the functioning of society, and the individual alike. This is the state of genuine enlightenment, the Superior `Eden of Conscious Submission. For in the beginning, we were lived in submission to the commandments because we knew no other way. Thus, it is written:“Elohim said, ‘Let Us make Adam in Our Image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the Earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the Earth.’ Elohim created Adam in Hu’s own Image. In Elohim’s image they were created; male and female they were both created. Elohim blessed them. Elohim said to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the Earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the Earth.’ Elohim said, ‘Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the Earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.'” Torah, Sefer Ha’Beraseet (Genesis) 1:26-30
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ; וְיִרְדּוּ בִדְגַת הַיָּם וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם, וּבַבְּהֵמָה וּבְכָל-הָאָרֶץ, וּבְכָל-הָרֶמֶשׂ, הָרֹמֵשׂ עַל-הָאָרֶץ. וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-הָאָדָם בְּצַלְמוֹ, בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים בָּרָא אֹתוֹ: זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה, בָּרָא אֹתָם. וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם, אֱלֹהִים, וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם אֱלֹהִים פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, וְכִבְשֻׁהָ; וּרְדוּ בִּדְגַת הַיָּם, וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם, וּבְכָל-חַיָּה, הָרֹמֶשֶׂת עַל-הָאָרֶץ. וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, הִנֵּה נָתַתִּי לָכֶם אֶת-כָּל-עֵשֶׂב זֹרֵעַ זֶרַע אֲשֶׁר עַל-פְּנֵי כָל-הָאָרֶץ, וְאֶת-כָּל-הָעֵץ אֲשֶׁר-בּוֹ פְרִי-עֵץ, זֹרֵעַ זָרַע: לָכֶם יִהְיֶה, לְאָכְלָה. וּלְכָל-חַיַּת הָאָרֶץ וּלְכָל-עוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וּלְכֹל רוֹמֵשׂ עַל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר-בּוֹ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה, אֶת-כָּל-יֶרֶק עֵשֶׂב, לְאָכְלָה; וַיְהִי-כֵן.
In such texts as the Zohar, it is expounded that “Eden” is both our point of origin and also our evolutionary destination. This meaning that there is a “Superior Eden,” and an “Inferior Eden.” Accordingly, the Superior Eden is the endpoint, the destination, the final stage in all evolution, to which all life in the manifest world is evolving towards. This is what is termed the “Messianic Age.”
We were commanded, and we obeyed. There was no thought of disobedience, nor was there consequence of disharmony. This became the basis of our Adversary’s challenge against us; that we were untried, that we had no option to disobey, and thus, our evolutionary superiority was a farce. Once the spell of blissful ignorance was broken, it was a dream which we could never return to. For, if the `Eden myth holds true, then there is no way we can ever simply slip back into the lost paradise of our primordial origins. We are now like the Elohim, able to know good from evil. We have eaten from the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the Etz Chayyim, the “Tree of Life,” has now been hidden from view. It is for this reason the Book has been sent in its many manifestations (to every people and culture), to serve as the instruction in our exodus from the state of “forgetting,” and as a guide into a 50,000 year long Era of Messianic Consciousness in our imminent reality, and into the Garden of Paradise in the World to Come. Of this Messianic Era it is written:
“All the Malaikah and Ar-Ruh Ascend unto Hu in a Day the length of which is Fifty-Thousand years.” Al-Qur’an, Sura 70:4
تَعْرُجُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ إِلَيْهِ فِي يَوْمٍ كَانَ مِقْدَارُهُ خَمْسِينَ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ
Some have erroneously perceived this physical world of `Asiyah, of Dunyaa’ to be nothing more than a system of cruelty and severity; a world that neither forgives nor cares. Failure is death and weakness is a capital crime. For them, this primal truth is embraced and set up as an idyllic state of living. For this individual, supposed “empowerment of the self” is all that is necessary and all that matters. For that is the carnal way.
Others see these primal tendencies and cringe; unable to face the harsh reality of the unsheltered world. They know not why they feel such a way, nor do they comprehend why so much of the world operates upon such animalistic principles. They envision a world where the child plays by the serpent’s nest, where the lion lays down with the lamb. They are vexed concerning the cold, callous nature of their surroundings. They strive for a world that can never be, for all. Theirs is the world foreseen by the prophet Yeshayah, Isaiah when he wrote: “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy in all my Holy Mountain, for the Earth will be full of the knowledge of YHWH as the waters cover the sea.” Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 11:6-9
וְגָר זְאֵב עִם-כֶּבֶשׂ, וְנָמֵר עִם-גְּדִי יִרְבָּץ; וְעֵגֶל וּכְפִיר וּמְרִיא יַחְדָּו, וְנַעַר קָטֹן נֹהֵג בָּם. וּפָרָה וָדֹב תִּרְעֶינָה, יַחְדָּו יִרְבְּצוּ יַלְדֵיהֶן; וְאַרְיֵה, כַּבָּקָר יֹאכַל-תֶּבֶן. וְשִׁעֲשַׁע יוֹנֵק, עַל-חֻר פָּתֶן; וְעַל מְאוּרַת צִפְעוֹנִי, גָּמוּל יָדוֹ הָדָה. לֹא-יָרֵעוּ וְלֹא-יַשְׁחִיתוּ, בְּכָל-הַר קָדְשִׁי: כִּי-מָלְאָה הָאָרֶץ, דֵּעָה אֶת-יְהוָה, כַּמַּיִם, לַיָּם מְכַסִּים.
Yet, still they often fail to question why they, and others like themselves, feel the way they do. Why do they have compassion, while others have at best apathy, and at worst calculating brutality? It is more than for their own benefit, they seek to bring betterment to the whole of the system. The hunter calls them weak, the soldier claims they lack discipline. Yet, in their own hearts, they perceive a higher Truth, a magnified perception of a conscious Order, from which we emerged and to which we are returning. They have begun to tear down the veil concealing the blueprints of the new paradigm. They are its vanguard. They have taken the first step to the next stage of mankind’s evolution. They have come to spread the New Ethic…
