Rocky Mountain Baha’i

The parable of Adam and Eve

The prophet Adam was the first teacher to become illumined with the Holy Spirit. The parable of Adam is fashioned around Adam and His wife Eve.

When the Bible says God made Adam in His likeness, this is not referring to a physical body. It is referring to the fact that Adam possessed the spiritual qualities and therefore He was in the likeness of God. The other people at that time were not in the likeness of God because they didn’t have the spiritual qualities.

The parable of Adam and Eve goes something like this: God made man out of the dust of the earth. He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and he became a living being. Then He had a sleep fall upon Adam. After Adam fell asleep, God took a rib out of Adam and made Eve. Then He placed them in the Garden of Eden. God said they could eat all the fruit of this garden, except the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, for the day they eat thereof they are going to die. Then God left.

After God left, along came the snake. The snake says to Eve, “Look! See what I’ve got?”

Eve says, “What?”

The snake says, “It’s the fruit of the tree of good and evil. Eve says, I’m not supposed to eat that, and the day I do I will die.

The snake says, “That’s not true. The day that you eat it you will become a god among gods.”

She looked, and she saw, and she saw it was good to eat, so she ate thereof, and her eyes were opened.

How was she able to see it was good to eat, if her eyes were closed?

So she gave some to Adam, and his eyes were opened. And they looked and saw they were naked so they went and hid in the bushes, and put on fig leaves. It just so happened, God came walking through the garden in the middle of the day. He called for Adam. “Adam, where are you?”

Adam says, “I’m over here Lord!”

God says, “What are you doing over there in the bushes?”

Adam says, “I’m naked!”

“Aha! You ate of that tree or you wouldn’t know you were naked!”

If we take this story in its literal sense, it is the babbling of numbskull rather than an intelligent God. But in this story is an allegory telling us of how we were created.

The Bible says: “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him. Male and female created he them, and called their name Adam in the day they were created.” (Gen 5:1-2, KJV)

It says “male and female created he THEM, and called THEIR name Adam.”

What does the word Adam mean? It means red earth. That is, the male and female bodies come from the elements. So the body of man is Adam. Man’s body comes from the earth, from the elements of the earth. He eats animals and vegetables, and his ­body absorbs the minerals from the earth. So man’s body is made up of “red earth,” or Adam.

The Bible says God took one rib from Adam and made Eve. If male and female are Adam, or made from the elements of the earth, then who is Eve?

Eve is the soul of man.

In school, when they educate doctors, they have to take embryology. In embryology they study what happens when the sperm and the ovum come together. The sperm and the ovum come together in the Fallopian tube. The sperm swims up the vagina, into the uterus and into the Fallopian tube. There it meets the ovum, impregnates it, and it becomes the Primal Cell. You can see this cell under the microscope.

Grey’s Anatomy, a textbook on anatomy, says chromosomes are rib-like substances. These chromosomes shaped like ribs, have the genes that determine what the person is going to be like, how tall, the color of their eyes, color of hair, etc. If you dye the Primal Cell, you can see these rib-like chromosomes.

So God takes one of these rib-like chromosomes from the Primal Cell, which is made up of the sperm and the ovum from the male and female bodies, and makes Eve. God takes a rib out of Adam (the body of man) and makes Eve (the soul of man).

At the minute that this Primal Cell was made, the soul dropped in. Then the cilia of the Fallopian tubes carry the Primal Cell into the uterus, which is the Garden of Eden. This is the meaning of the parable about Adam and Eve. In the womb, there is no freedom of choice. The body and soul of man, before the baby is born into the world, is likened to being in the Garden of Eden.

God said in the Garden of Eden, or in the womb of the mother, you can eat all the fruit, which is the mother’s blood that is made up of the elements of this world. But, He says, you shall not know good from evil.

In the womb it’s just one condition so you can’t know the difference between good and evil. It’s dark, there’s one temperature and no movement. It’s just one condition. After nine months of development, the brain evolves and it reaches a certain state of perfection where it is ready to comprehend good from evil. Then it emits an enzyme into the amniotic fluid in the amniotic sac. This enzyme causes the uterus to contract, creating the birth contractions, and we are born into the knowledge of good and evil in this world.

In this world everything is in opposites. We have light and dark, hot and cold, vacuum and pressure. We have fast and slow. We have knowledge and ignorance, riches and poverty, good and bad. We have spirituality and a pagan theology. All of these conditions exist in this world. Before one eats of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that is, before they are born into this world, there are no opposites. In the womb there is no light and dark, fast and slow, good and bad, or anything like that. Whereas after we are born into this world, we gradually become cognizant of what is good and bad.

The serpent is the intellect. The intellect is the window of the soul. If a man uses his intellect, the serpent, to turn to the Tree of Life, he becomes spiritual. Otherwise, if the serpent gets attached to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or to the opposites in this world, it crawls on its belly. This is the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. We are eating of this fruit, and it says the day that you eat of it you die (spiritually – see Gen. 3:3). This all pertains to this world.

But in the story of the Garden of Eden there is another tree. This is the tree of life, and it says if anyone should eat of this tree, he will live forever and ever. It is in the midst of the garden and the Bible says that God placed cherubim around the Tree of Life to guard the way of the Tree of Life. These cherubim are the spiritual qualities. One is love: love God that He may love thee. Another is justice. Another is knowledge, and so forth. These are the things that are essential in order to know God.
We have to be true to ourselves. We can’t love the lie, or believe the lie, or create an image of God in deference to God, or any of these things, and still expect to complete the reason for our creation.

In order for an animal to become human it has to be eaten by the human. In order for the vegetable to become animal it has to be eaten by the animal. In order for the mineral to become vegetable it has to be absorbed by the vegetable. In order for man to become spiritual he has to be absorbed by this Tree of Life. Unless he is absorbed by this Tree of Life, he does not become spiritual. This story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is very figurative. If it isn’t figurative, if it isn’t like 2 + 2 = 4, then it’s nonsense. If it isn’t factual, it’s nonsense.

Following is Abdu’l-Baha’s explanation of the parable of Adam and Eve from Some Answered Questions, Pages: 122-126.

Question. - What is the truth of the story of Adam, and His eating of the fruit of the tree?

Answer. - In the Bible it is written that God put Adam in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and take care of it, and said to Him: “Eat of every tree of the garden except the tree of good and evil, for if You eat of that, You will die.” Then it is said that God caused Adam to sleep, and He took one of His ribs and created woman in order that she might be His companion.
After that it is said the serpent induced the woman to eat of the tree, saying: “God has forbidden you to eat of the tree in order that your eyes may not be opened, and that you may not know good from evil.” Then Eve ate from the tree and gave unto Adam, Who also ate; their eyes were opened, they found themselves naked, and they hid their bodies with leaves. In consequence of this act they received the reproaches of God.

God said to Adam: “Hast Thou eaten of the forbidden tree?”

Adam answered: “Eve tempted Me, and I did eat.”

God then reproved Eve; Eve said: “The serpent tempted me, and I did eat.”
For this the serpent was cursed, and enmity was put between the serpent and Eve, and between their descendants. And God said: “The man is become like unto Us, knowing good and evil, and perhaps He will eat of the tree of life and live forever.” So God guarded the tree of life.

If we take this story in its apparent meaning, according to the interpretation of the masses, it is indeed extraordinary. The intelligence cannot accept it, affirm it, or imagine it; for such arrangements, such details, such speeches and reproaches are far from being those of an intelligent man, how much less of the Divinity - that Divinity Who has organized this infinite universe in the most perfect form, and its innumerable inhabitants with absolute system, strength and perfection.

We must reflect a little: if the literal meaning of this story were attributed to a wise man, certainly all would logically deny that this arrangement, this invention, could have emanated from an intelligent being. Therefore, this story of Adam and Eve who ate from the tree, and their expulsion from Paradise, must be thought of simply as a symbol. It contains divine mysteries and universal meanings, and it is capable of marvelous explanations. Only those who are initiated into mysteries, and those who are near the Court of the All-Powerful, are aware of these secrets. Hence these verses of the Bible have numerous meanings.
We will explain one of them, and we will say: Adam signifies the heavenly spirit of Adam, and Eve His human soul. For in some passages in the Holy Books where women are mentioned, they represent the soul of man. The tree of good and evil signifies the human world; for the spiritual and divine world is purely good and absolutely luminous, but in the human world light and darkness, good and evil, exist as opposite conditions.

The meaning of the serpent is attachment to the human world. This attachment of the spirit to the human world led the soul and spirit of Adam from the world of freedom to the world of bondage and caused Him to turn from the Kingdom of Unity to the human world. When the soul and spirit of Adam entered the human world, He came out from the paradise of freedom and fell into the world of bondage. From the height of purity and absolute goodness, He entered into the world of good and evil.

The tree of life is the highest degree of the world of existence: the position of the Word of God, and the supreme Manifestation. Therefore, that position has been preserved; and, at the appearance of the most noble supreme Manifestation, it became apparent and clear. For the position of Adam, with regard to the appearance and manifestation of the divine perfections, was in the embryonic condition; the position of Christ was the condition of maturity and the age of reason; and the rising of the Greatest Luminary was the condition of the perfection of the essence and of the qualities. This is why in the supreme Paradise the tree of life is the expression for the center of absolutely pure sanctity - that is to say, of the divine supreme Manifestation. From the days of Adam until the days of Christ, They spoke little of eternal life and the heavenly universal perfections. This tree of life was the position of the Reality of Christ; through His manifestation it was planted and adorned with everlasting fruits.
Now consider how far this meaning conforms to the reality. For the spirit and the soul of Adam, when they were attached to the human world, passed from the world of freedom into the world of bondage, and His descendants continued in bondage. This attachment of the soul and spirit to the human world, which is sin, was inherited by the descendants of Adam, and is the serpent which is always in the midst of, and at enmity with, the spirits and the descendants of Adam. That enmity continues and endures. For attachment to the world has become the cause of the bondage of spirits, and this bondage is identical with sin, which has been transmitted from Adam to His posterity. It is because of this attachment that men have been deprived of essential spirituality and exalted position.

When the sanctified breezes of Christ and the holy light of the Greatest Luminary were spread abroad, the human realities - that is to say, those who turned toward the Word of God and received the profusion of His bounties - were saved from this attachment and sin, obtained everlasting life, were delivered from the chains of bondage, and attained to the world of liberty. They were freed from the vices of the human world, and were blessed by the virtues of the Kingdom. This is the meaning of the words of Christ, “I gave My blood for the life of the world” [that] is to say, I have chosen all these troubles, these sufferings, calamities, and even the greatest martyrdom, to attain this object, the remission of sins (that is, the detachment of spirits from the human world, and their attraction to the divine world) in order that souls may arise who will be the very essence of the guidance of mankind, and the manifestations of the perfections of the Supreme Kingdom.

Observe that if, according to the suppositions of the People of the Book, the meaning were taken in its exoteric sense, it would be absolute injustice and complete predestination. If Adam sinned by going near the forbidden tree, what was the sin of the glorious Abraham, and what was the error of Moses the Interlocutor? What was the crime of Noah the Prophet? What was the transgression of Joseph the Truthful? What was the iniquity of the Prophets of God, and what was the trespass of John the Chaste? Would the justice of God have allowed these enlightened Manifestations, on account of the sin of Adam, to find torment in hell until Christ came and by the sacrifice of Himself saved them from excruciating tortures? Such an idea is beyond every law and rule and cannot be accepted by any intelligent person.

No; it means what has already been said: Adam is the spirit of Adam, and Eve is His soul; the tree is the human world, and the serpent is that attachment to this world which constitutes sin, and which has infected the descendants of Adam. Christ by His holy breezes saved men from this attachment and freed them from this sin. The sin in Adam is relative to His position. Although from this attachment there proceed results, nevertheless, attachment to the earthly world, in relation to attachment to the spiritual world, is considered as a sin. The good deeds of the righteous are the sins of the Near Ones. This is established. So bodily power is not only defective in relation to spiritual power; it is weakness in comparison. In the same way, physical life, in comparison with eternal life in the Kingdom, is considered as death. So Christ called the physical life death, and said: “Let the dead bury their dead.” Though those souls possessed physical life, yet in His eyes that life was death.

This is one of the meanings of the biblical story of Adam. Reflect until you discover the others.
Salutations be upon you.