Alpha Omega

It is important to note that when God created this three dimensional physical world in which one’s physical body exists He also created a spiritual world that coexists with it for one’s soul. This paradisiacal world is within each person and yet each person is within it. This paradise of pleasure has been in existence, coexisting and permeating the physical world, since the beginning of creation. God placed all human beings there after He blessed them.

However, many bibles incorrectly translate this particular verse. There are many different versions of it. Most incorrect translations give the paradise of pleasure a physical, geographical location on this physical earth. They claim that the garden of pleasure is east of Eden. But, inspired by our Lord, this is not what St. Jerome wrote in the Latin Vulgate.

Although the Latin words paradisum voluptatis may also be translated as garden of delight or even translated as garden of pleasure, the Latin words a principio mean from the beginning, not east of Eden. Thus confirming that the paradise of pleasure in which one’s soul exists has been in existence, coexisting with the physical world, since the beginning of creation.

Besides, some of the actions that are described as having taken place in this paradisiacal world (e.g., a woman being made from a man’s rib, God walking in the land) are not in accordance with the laws of natural science that are governing the physical world. Laws which our Lord does not violate. The kinds of actions that are described as having taken place in Genesis chapters two and three could only have happened in some kind of world that is not limited by the laws of natural science. This world is a spiritual world where one’s soul dwells with God. It is a world where God is within one’s soul and one’s soul is within God.

Before continuing one must understand a mystery of the soul and of God’s spiritual world. The paradise of pleasure is a “retreat” in which one may enter to converse with our Lord. God dwells in the center of this garden of delight. One cannot physically enter this world, for it is not a physical place. It is within one’s self, within one’s own mind. One “enters” it through prayer and meditation.

Nor can one enter it on a whim. It is God who controls who is and who is not admitted into His world. If an individual’s soul is filled with the guilt of sin, then this world becomes a prison and a torture chamber where the evil one dwells in misery. However, if one’s soul is completely clean and entirely free of the guilt of sin, then this spiritual world is a virtual wonderland or sanctuary. It is a refuge in which our Lord takes His delight (Pr.8:22-31).

There are seven levels or interior mansions of the garden of delight and each level contains thousands of truths. Each inner level or plane is closer to perfection and absolute Truth than the preceding, outer mansion. The more love of God one possesses the closer to the heart of paradise one’s soul can attain. As St. Teresa of Avila has written in her book The Interior Castle, “the closer to the innermost castle, where our Lord dwells, one can enter into.”

Those who have not cleaned their souls of the guilt of sin cannot enter therein and those who have not divested themselves of all materialistic pleasures have a harder time entering into this castle of the soul than those who are completely free of materialism. This is because sin and materialism weigh the soul down and prevent it from approaching close to God. Such is like a person trying to see through a sand storm or a fog or trying to walk with his feet tied up with rope.

Should a person completely free himself from the guilt of sin and seek spiritual perfection, rather than seek materialistic goals, he will then begin to grow spiritually. Once spiritual perfection is obtained one will be able to enter into the innermost mansion of paradise, for one will know the way. That is, one will know how to keep the passageway to the center of his soul free of evil.

Just as it is harder for a small child to accomplish the deeds of a mature, healthy adult, so too is it with one’s soul. The soul that is filled with materialism is spiritually young and weak but the soul that seeks spiritual perfection is spiritually older and stronger. The spiritually young and weak soul has a much harder task in trying to find God and doing His will than the spiritually older and stronger soul. That is, those whose souls are young and weak become tired of doing God’s will more easily and are often distracted from their goal.

The more knowledge of truth one has the more mature his soul is and the more love of God one has stronger is his soul. Those souls who are more mature and who are stronger are more alert to the snares of the devil and seldom lose sight of their final goal. Also, the closer to our Lord one keeps his soul the easier it is to perceive the truth. Finally, one’s spiritual growth and spiritual strength are not dependant upon each other. Nor are they dependant upon one’s own physical growth and physical strength. There is no correlation between them.

Just as one can be physically old and strong (healthy) or physically old and weak, or one can be physically young and strong (healthy) or physically young and weak, so too, is it with one’s soul. One’s spiritual growth depends on one’s knowledge of truth. The more knowledge of truth one has, the older is his soul. However, one’s spiritual strength depends on one’s love of God. The more love one has, the stronger is his soul. It is this latter, love of God, that admits one into the interior castle of the soul.

In the paradisiacal world where one’s soul dwells, our Lord displays all manner of truths. There are physical truths and there are theological truths. That is, there are truths of this physical world and there are truths of God’s world.

Any truth in which one places his faith is spiritual food for one’s soul and each truth has a corresponding “fruit tree” in the spiritual world. That is, to believe in a truth, whether it be a physical truth or a theological truth, is to feed one’s soul and add maturity to one’s soul. That fruit which gives eternal life to one’s soul is that Truth which is God Himself. This truth is in the very center of paradise, in the innermost castle of which St. Teresa has written in her book.

But every time an individual refuses to believe in a truth, regardless whether it be a physical truth or a theological truth, he deprives himself of spiritual nourishment in the spiritual world. One may say that such a person has cut down the corresponding fruit tree for that truth which grows in the garden of his soul.

To reject or to refuse to believe in one of our Lord’s theological truths is to cut down the tree of life in the center of one’s soul and eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This is a sin.

But early Homo animus (Homo anima) did not know all this. He did not know about any of the truths of the soul. Ancient man only knew of the yearning in his soul and his desire for the fulfillment that he could not find. Early man was undoubtedly following the beliefs taught to him by his forefathers, who were taught by their forefathers. Ancient man did not know that God was in the center of his soul calling to him and guiding him to Himself.

Man was groping in spiritual darkness, searching for truth because none of his prayers, penances and sacrifices were giving him the lasting peace of mind which he sought. One may draw an analogy and say that man was crawling on his knees, like a baby, trying to take his first step toward the one true God.

Then Adam of Genesis stood up and took this first step. Our Lord then manifested Himself to Adam. After this child of God accepted the High God as the God of gods, our Lord then united Himself with Adam’s soul. The two then became as one being. Adam, unlike other people living at his time, was then in the state of sanctifying grace and his soul was clothed with the Spirit of God.

Once Adam was one with our Lord, it was no longer a chore for him to find the lasting peace for which his soul yearned. When he prayed or offered up sacrifices to the High God he received a sense of fulfillment from our Lord; he received peace of mind. Every time he wished to converse with God, at our Lord’s discretion, he merely had to meditate and retreat into the inner mansions of his own soul. There he would find God rending his heart with sweet ecstasy and giving him the everlasting serenity he desired.

By now it should be obvious that our Lord was guiding Adam’s life. Just as a master chess player directs the “life” of one of his pawns toward a winning end game, so too, our Lord guided Adam’s life toward goals that would ensure his own protection and the eventual propagation of His truth to all mankind. In order to better understand the opening chapters of Genesis one should keep this idea in mind as the narration continues.

However, with every grace one receives from the hand of God one also receives a cross to carry, a duty to perform. By performing the required task one is “paying” for the grace and thereby acknowledging his unworthiness to receive the gift. If a person refuses to complete the chore, then he loses the grace. Adam’s cross was that he had to maintain his professed faith in the High God and thereby keep the pathway to the tree of life in the center of his soul free of corruption and illusion. That is, he had to obey the first commandment. Thus, he had to dress and keep the tree of life.

Other souls to begin a search for the God of gods would also have been rewarded. But because they were not the first to do so, their reward would not have been the same as Adam’s, nor would their obligation have been the same.

As long as Adam did not deny the existence of the High God or worship false gods above Him, he could enjoy all the pleasures of paradise and his soul would live forever. This knowledge was given to Adam by our Lord either through a dream, a vision or some other type of religious experience. This is what is revealed in verse sixteen.

Our Lord communicated to Adam that he may learn of any truth. Thus, he may eat of every tree of paradise. God also revealed to him that if he denies the existence of the High God or worships another false god above Him, then his soul would die. That is, our Lord imparted enough wisdom to Adam so that he would have known that breaking this first commandment is synonymous with eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which would bring death into his soul.

Many people may argue this and say that the concept of a soul is of Greek origin. In fact, this belief did not even exist with the ancient Hebrews; they did not even have a word for soul. But one must not forget that it is ultimately God who is “writing” the Holy Scriptures. The Holy Bible says what He wants it to say, not what man wants it to say.

One must try to understand the problem our Lord was faced with thousands of years ago. He could not begin His conquest of evil with lies, myths and illogical teachings. Yet, He was limited by ancient man’s ignorance and lack of knowledge of truth in what He could reveal. Ancient man’s limited vocabulary also limited God in what He could reveal.

If one could imagine the problem a college graduate would have in attempting to explain the mystery of life to an infant child who is deaf, dumb and blind, such would be a fairly accurate idea of the problem that our Lord was faced with when explaining the mysteries of the soul to ancient man.

Our Lord had to use concepts that ancient man could understand and relate to. But these terms could not later be found to deny truth. Thus, an ancient prophet could have composed or written a passage of scripture that may today be interpreted differently than when it was first written.

A classic example of a subject that has taken on a different meaning today than when it was first written may be found in the American Declaration of Independence. It says, in part: We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal. The word men to those who were originally responsible for that document meant all white males who owned property. But today the term man has come to mean all human beings without regard to race, color, creed, national origin, ethnic group, age, sex, beliefs or life styles and that is how it is used in this trilogy.

A similar precept may be said of the Holy Bible. Our Lord was limited, by ancient man’s lack of knowledge, in what He could have the prophets of old compose or write. Thus, just because ancient man did not know of the existence of the soul, such does not mean that it did not exist or that God could not try to reveal this information — and other truths of the soul — to and through ancient man. The actual terminology used by ancient man is of minor importance if it is properly translated today with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

What our Lord is trying to reveal in these passages are mysteries of the soul, of the origin of religious truth, and of the origin of the belief in one High God. Thus, through a dream or vision of some kind, God communicated to Adam that if he broke the first commandment, he would eat of the forbidden fruit, then he would die.

Before leaving to another subject, one should note that Adam’s wife and any of his children or anyone he would have converted to his belief in a High God would also have had to obey God’s first commandment. However, from the biblical narration it appears that Adam had neither wife, children nor converts at this time. Adam obtained a wife and children later in the story.

Alpha Omega

Paradise on Earth