Guest Author - Andrea Gardiner, Ph.D.
In this New Age, the Age of Aquarius, the Earth is going through much change and evolution. It is a time where mankind is examining its true nature and spiritual consciousness is rampant. From a metaphysical standpoint, all things exist in thought and idea prior to its condensation into physical matter. A psychic environment must exist if you will in order for anything to come into existence in this time space reality. Things do not just merely exist as a thing however, but can also exist as an event in time. The same type of thinking can therefore apply to religion, as it is not a physical object, but consists of concepts, faith and events.
Prior to religion and social structure as we now know it, there was no separation between man and nature. Just as the animals of the earth are born with an instinctual, biological knowing so was the nature of man. The species of men were very close with the animals and earth, and worked cooperatively for the evolution of all creature-hood. Man did not need to reassure himself of his power because he instinctively knew it. The species existed contently in this knowing.
At some point in the history of men, there was a desire for an evolution in consciousness. Although consciousness had always been present in the species of men (and all things) it existed as one of a biological nature. The new desire however was for a specialization or a consciousness that consciously created. In order to do this, man would need to be more reflective in nature. He must be able to create, interact with his creation, and reflect upon it to consciously alter his desire and thus create again. Also, he must have an ordered environment that would provide enough contrast for him playfully birth his desires. He must be able to do this guilt free and without inhibitions.
Thusly, religion fulfilled all of these requirements. It provided a reminder of the unseen to the species of men. Particularly in the Western religion of Christianity, man is appointed dominion over the rest of creature-hood. This appointment gave them special permission to fulfill the desire to consciously create. It gave them permission to separate from their biological knowing and thus from the earth.
To further this attempt of separation from nature, Western religion took on a patriarchal nature. The god-head of this system was to be a male. This male god was endowed with all the creative abilities of man. He is able to create on his own with no feminine energy. When he did create mankind (as told by creation story of Genesis) he first created the male. This male was in his image and unto his likeness (this serves an important clue to the nature of man). The female was then given birth to from the male. The woman is not thought of as existing in her own right, unto her own energetic nature. In this model she is of the man. It cuts all ties with the feminine energies of mankind. In doing this, religion has again furthered the attempt of man in its separation from nature, which is a feminine principle.
The creation story and fall from grace depicted in Genesis of the Christian Bible is a highly symbolic one; it is meant to represent the birth of a consciousness rather than the physical birth of mankind. What is largely misunderstood by this story is that there is no “fall from grace” at all but an evolution in the consciousness of man. The state of man in the Garden of Eden was unquestioning. Mankind would rendezvous with God whenever they pleased and was always aware of his presence. This represents the biological and innate knowing that man had of himself and his godhood. Mankind had no inhibitions and was close to the earth and the rest of creature-hood. However, mankind became curious; he wanted to be a conscious creator. As discussed earlier, this meant that the species must separate somewhat from this biological knowing and must become more conscious of Choice. This awareness of choice is exhibited in the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Good and evil however are relative; a more apt metaphysical vocabulary would be wanted and unwanted since there is no source of evil. The decision to eat from this tree was the decision of the species to evolve their consciousness and knowingly pick from the field of possibilities to create their desires.
Religion has readily served its function for creation. Not only has it supported the species’ desire to evolve in consciousness, but has also accurately depicted the history of itself and the consciousness of mankind in such stories above.
