Pedro
Pedro saw an inherent problem with the imagery of God.
Pedro is a marionette, a string puppet. Everything and anything Pedro did was completely and absolutely according to the will of God.
On the issues of sticks and carrots - Pedro thought - I am being rewarded or punished according to actions I am not completely in control of or even guilty of. How can this be a loving God?
Pedro realized – that from a certain point of view – he was enslaved to this deity, regardless of whether he chose to “surrender” to this God or not. What attached him to God; the strings that controlled and manipulated him, put bleeding wounds that could never heal. Pedro's ambitions were to somehow regain control – to take possession of the puppeteer's central rod & control bar; to be in control of himself, and potentially from that position, choose to follow or not follow this deity; to legitimately make the choice to 'surrender' or not.
The story ends sadly for poor Pedro. For once he does finally gain possession of his central rod & control bar, he discovers that he completely and totally looses control. He can never find himself in a position to legitimately make that choice to follow this deity or not. That he was never anything more than a slave.
~
I realize this is only one of many potential perspectives. But there is an issue of the tension between Love and Control. And I for one do not believe these two things are compatible.
Coraline
A great example of this is the story (novel and movie) of Coraline. It is The Other Mother, (or the Beldam), and her alternative and near identical 'Other World'. On initial look everything is better. Everything is catered to Coraline because the Other Mother loves her.
But as the story unfolds we discover that that nagging uneasiness we've felt from the very beginning may very well have been justified. The Other Mother is the true power and force behind this entire other world. God-like in her power with a tiny exception; she cannot create, but only copy, twist, and manipulate.
Coraline reminds me so much of a certain point of view of Gnosticism that I am somewhat surprised nobody has made the comparison before.
If we reread Genesis, but from a certain Gnostic perspective, we can clearly see this exact same pattern. The source material (the book of Genesis) itself is not altered, but its interpretation is. In this perspective it is the symbols and imagery that are switched.
The Edenic Birdcage
The Edenic God created Adam in a world (the Garden of Eden) without worry, experience (or the potential of growth). Could the Garden of Eden have been intended as a birdcage or a prison for Adam?”The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it”. Genesis 2:15 (NIV)
”The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”” Genesis 2:18 (NIV)This Edenic God realized Adam’s thirst for something more. He then realized that to work the Garden of Eden and take care of it was not enough to fulfill Adam’s emptiness. The Edenic God acknowledges that Adam is missing something and states that it is not good for the man to be alone. He then declares that he will“make a helper suitable for him.” God then creates all of the animals and gives Adam the task of naming them all. But yet this Edenic God still fails in making a helper suitable for him.
”Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field”. Genesis 2:19-20a (NLV)Could this have been an attempt for the Edenic God to “make a helper suitable for him”? God is again attempting to fill this emptiness that plagued Adam.
”But for Adam no suitable helper was found”. Genesis 2:20b (NLV)This very much concerns me. An omnipotent being would absolutely know what this emptiness within Adam was and would not (ever) need to guess at it. It would seem that this Edenic God wanted himself to be Adam’s fulfillment. He wanted Adam to be content with him alone, yet he wasn’t. So why wasn’t Adam? I believe that what Adam’s thirst was for freedom. If for the sake of argument we assume the Edenic God is keeping Adam as a pet (a being to worship him, or being forced into worshiping him) within the “artificially” created paradise-world Eden, the last thing this God would give Adam would be freedom:
”So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs [or took part of the man’s side] and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib [or part] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said,“This is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman’, for she was taken out of man.”” Genesis 2:21-23 (NLV)This is interesting considering that in Genesis 1:27 it says
”So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them”. Genesis 1:27 (NLV), bold text.…yet in Genesis 2:21-23 (some time after Genesis 1:27) Eve is “created” out of Adam. Genesis 1:27 (the creation of Adam) states that he was created male and female. Is Genesis 1:27 suggesting that Adam was originally a hermaphrodite, physically having both male and female organs? I wouldn’t think so. The reference in Genesis 1:27 to creating man (Adam) both male and female, I believe is referring not to physical gender, but to internal facets.
The Edenic God attempted to force Adam (mankind) into servitude (slavery?)
The Holy Serpent
It is only within the next three verses that the serpent makes its first appearance.
“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made”. Genesis 3:1a (KJV) “Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the creatures the Lord God had made”. Genesis 3:1 (NLT) “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made”. Genesis 3:1a (NIV)It says that the serpent is subtil (subtle), crafty, or shrewd.
”Subtle: 1) evasive or mysterious; hard to grasp (subtle charm; a subtle distinction). 2) (of scent, colour, etc.) faint, delicate, elusive (subtle perfume). 3a) capable of making fine distinctions; perceptive; acute (subtle intellect; subtle senses). b) ingenious; elaborate; clever (a subtle device). 4) archaic crafty, cunning.” The Oxford English Reference Dictionary, Second Edition, 2001, pg. 1440
”Crafty: cunning, artful, wily”. The Oxford English Reference Dictionary, Second Edition, 2001, pg. 332
”Shrewd: 1) showing astute powers of judgment; clever and judicious (a shrewd observer; made a shrewd guess), 2) archaic a) (of pain, cold, etc.) sharp, biting. b) (of a blow, thrust, etc.) severe, hard. c) mischievous; malicious”. The Oxford English Reference Dictionary, Second Edition, 2001, pg. 1343It is only in the New Living Translation, which a word even comes close to suggesting evil is used. It does not say that the serpent is evil, nor does it say that it is in possession of Satan.
In this interpretation, the Edenic God is not one in the same as the commonly and traditionally understood monotheistic God. In this interpretation it is the Holy Spirit that filled the serpent and reaches out to help and to save humanity. To “bring us into the light”. The message the serpent gives Eve is the path out of the Garden of Eden (the birdcage). But is there any evidence to support this theory? Does the bible show that knowledge is good rather than evil? (Isaiah 11:2 states that knowledge (Hebrew, da'ath) is a gift of the Holy Spirit).
In Proverbs 8:10 Solomon says “Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold”. And in Proverbs 8:12 Solomon is quoting “Wisdom”, the first of God’s works, “I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion”. Both use the word “knowledge”, or da’ath in the original Hebrew, which is the same word used in Genesis 2:9, “And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil”.
It is after both Adam and Eve eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that the Edenic God becomes concerned about the tree of life.
”And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever”. Genesis 3:22 (NIV)The Edenic God then proceeds to banish Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, I believe, out of fear of them discovering the tree of life.
”So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken”. Genesis 3:23 (NIV)
”Then the Lord God said, “The people have become as we are, knowing everything, both good and evil. What if they eat the fruit of the tree of life? Then they will live forever!” Genesis 3:22 (NLT)This verse occurs after Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I find it a very interesting verse. It tells us some things: First of all, since the question is asked, “What if they eat the fruit of the tree of life?” and then answered, “Then they will live forever!” Tells us that Adam and Eve were not originally immortal, and that since this Edenic God, made them with death, then he also ruled over death, or ruled them with death. They had not yet eaten the fruit of the tree of life!
”Because God’s children are human beings – made of flesh and blood – Jesus also became flesh and blood by being born in human form. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the Devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he deliver those who have lived all their lives as slaves to the fear of dying”. Hebrews 2:14-15 (NLT)“…lived all their lives as slaves...” Doesn’t this line say a lot?
Secondly, why does the Edenic God seem so concerned or fearful? Why does the Edenic God not want mankind to partake of the fruit of the tree of life? It is in the very next verse (Genesis 3:23) in which God banishes them from the Garden of Eden.
And finally and most importantly, exactly what is the tree of life? And why does this Edenic God not want Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of it? What is the fruit of the tree of life? I believe that the Tree of Life is nothing short than the true God – a God unbounded by religion.
Towards the Mu Portal
The heretical Rabbi, Yeshua of Nazareth, spoke of a strange and elusive concept he called The Kingdom of God. something that was yet to come, yet strangely present in the Here and Now; within ourselves. An unrealized potential.
The potential is that Yeshua is the Fruit of the Tree of Life (and must be consumed...) not so much for Salvation, but for enlightenment. Not so much the roll of Redeemer but as Revealer.
Yeshua was an exemplar; he was a Revealer rather than a Redeemer. It is religion, religiosity itself that kept us ignorant, captive, and slaves. Let's add that this interpretation (either interpretation) are not literal history. I don't believe either historically happened. They are myths (and myths are not lies or fiction), but myths with meanings. The truth is not in the fact of whether these events really happened or not. I think many people fail miserably to see and recognize that it doesn't have to be literal history to be true.
If Yeshua, and especially his teachings on this Kingdom of God, is the fruit of the Tree of Life (Genesis 3:22) then it is only through knowledge and wisdom that we're to be freed of our bondage to religiosity. What I believe Yeshua truly taught wasn't the advent of new religion (Christianity), but a heightened awareness - a sort of freedom and enlightenment, rather than a salvation. Yeshua's Kingdom of God wasn't a new religion, but the end of all religion. The escape hatch from this Edenic Birdcage; emancipation from the Entrapment of Religiosity.
The Garden of Eden is only a deceptive paradise, little more than a birdcage, in which Adam & Eve are unknowingly imprisoned. Objects of this deity's love and affection (and a source of worship) but only under certain conditions. Mankind is not content and somehow innately knows it; is missing something and reaching for it. This Edenic God (desperately) attempts to fulfill this longing and repeatedly fails.
Enters the Holy Spirit as the serpent, giving directions to their escape from this delusional cage of Paradise. Acting of behalf of something above and beyond the Edenic God.
he Mexican marionette Pedro made a simple mistake. What he thought was God was really little more than his religiosity. He was trapped with no way out. The thing he replied upon to save him was the very thing that condemned him. He would never discover the exit of his Edenic Birdcage.
Coraline, with the help of a Black Cat who was not subjective to the Other Mother's deceptions (?... the Serpent?, The Holy Spirit? Sophia?) saw through the Beldam's deception and lies and aided in Coraline's escape from her Edenic Birdcage.
And Adam & Eve (mankind) became enlightened by the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, gaining the potential of Tree of Life.
I think this may very well be the defining difference between the Religious and the Spiritual. The stories of Pedro and of Coraline's Other Mother, and the Great Escape from the Prison of Eden, are all lessons from parting ways from the disease or plague of religiosity. These are slave masters.
What is important is the meanings and the lessons and the wisdom that are behind these myths, images, and symbols. These stories can be just as true for the Atheist as they are for a Christian or Buddhist or a Muslim or a fill-in-the-blank.
What Coraline and Adam & Eve all discovered was the Mu Portal. Not only an exit point from their own dependencies on religiosity, but the knowledge and wisdom to realize that their religiosity was not only unneeded, but the one thing that kept them captive. It is the only way to attain Spiritual Solace and growth. It is their only way to break Fear's grip.
Epilogue: Fear
There can be no argument that punishment (and please remember, punishment is not the same as discipline) is within God’s power, right, and authority. However, is it within God’s nature? 1 John 4:16 says that “God is love”. It does not say that God is loving. It says that God is love itself, and love and hope are intricacy connected. 1 John 4:18, reads:
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."And again, Psalm 103:13:
"The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him."Some Christians see "fearing God" as a judge or master and tremble in fear of punishment. However with the verses I've quoted this doesn't fit at all, especially 1 John 4:18.
There are two types of fear, servile fear and filial fear. I believe the only justified fear (for a Christian) is filial fear. Servile fear is the fear of a slave and has nothing to do with the type of fear that is the origin of wisdom. Filial fear "drives out all fear" (1 John 4:18), it drives out servile fear - it drives out the fear of a slave - the fear of punishment, the fear of "holy terror".
I would say that filial fear really isn't fear at all. It is interesting because if these types of Christians are scared to death of what God thinks of you or what he may do to you to punish, then, as 1 John 4:18 says, "...because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love", makes me wonder about these people. Sounds like this servile fear of God and what He, as a Slave Master, can or will do to you makes one more slaves than children.
This servile fear will spiritually murder you on the inside.
“When we feel the need to be seen to be good, like a frightened child, we will pretend in order to please. Pretense kills more people than cancer”. The Beautiful Life, Bloomsbury, London, 2007, pg. 60...and that, I think, is the defining difference between the two. Pretense. Wearing Masks. Hiding.
Attempting to be something to appease a deified spiritual superman in the sky.
But it is filial fear that I believe is the path to freedom and wisdom. Once we cease fearing punishment and constant reprisals we become free to accept accountability and responsibility. We are no longer dependent upon this deified spiritual superman; in fact, we become free of this idolized anthropomorphic God.
This concept of servile fear vs. filial fear is not unique to Christianity by any means.
Verse 63 of the Tao Te Ching speaks of how
"[M]any young people go to school because they are required to do so. Adults go to work because if they don't, they will not receive the necessities of life. Most people go to church because they believe that if they don't go, they won't get into heaven. Most people don't commit crimes, because, if they do, they will go to prison. Even most babies and young children are accommodated to the system of coercion by physical punishment when they do something that displeases their parents... The use of force indoctrinates us into behaving contrary to our human natures and contrary to the [Tao]." Ralph Alan Dale's translation and commentary of The Tao Te Ching.Why do we not run a red light or speed when we drive? Usually it is because we do not want to get a speeding ticket (fear of punishment), not because of a knowledge and concern of the dangers it may inflict upon others.
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