Garden of Eden

Question:

I have been studying metaphysics books for quiet some time now. I have read Lessons in Truth by H. Emilie Cady, one of the Unity writers, which has given me a different look at the traditional literal interpretation of the Bible.

Garden of Eden: Was it real or metaphorical?

Comment:

The Garden of Eden appears in the second of the two stories of creation that begin the Book of Genesis. (The first is the story of the Seven Days of Creation.) It is a Truth-centered story that tries to explain the inexplicable—how we happen to be here in this experience of duality. It is an experience of pure unity; everything is an expression of the Divine. When Eve and Adam eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they are stepping into an illusion of duality. An omnipresent God is, of course, no less present in the illusion; but our experience of that Presence is lost until we create, choice by choice, the 'kingdom of heaven' which allows us to live in the Truth of our own divinity. The story, like others in the early chapters of Genesis, doesn't have to be literally accurate in order to be spiritually True. As your metaphysical reading continues, you might want to try Charles Fillmore's Mysteries of Genesis. It's a bit dense, but it would be helpful in combining your interests in metaphysics and the Bible.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed