From: RFaussette@aol.com
Date: Sat Dec 07 2002 - 10:33:56 EST
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In a message dated 12/6/02 10:59:16 PM Eastern Standard Time,=20
rjschn39@bellsouth.net writes:
> The interpretation by Augustine is an allegorical one, and in my view it h=
as=20
> the same value as the interpretation of the rabbis in Midrash Genesis =3D
> Rabbah; they suggested that God favored Jacob because he was a "dweller in=
=20
> tents," meaning, they said, that instead of running around and =3D
> getting into trouble like Esau, he spent his time in Torah school! When=20
> you interpret a text allegorically, you can make it mean anything you =3D
> want.
>=20
>=20
I find an interesting rhetorical device in these arguments. when I quote=20
augustine I am told he didn't read the original hebrew, so his allegorical=20
interpretation is suspect. Here above, I am told that the interpetation of=20
the rabbis has the same value as augustine's. I am certain the rabbis read=20
hebrew but here the rabbis' interpretation is suspect because they say=20
(allegorically) Jacob was a "dweller in tents."=20
You suggest when interpreting a text allegorically, one can create ANY=20
allegory one wants, but is that what the authors of genesis did, create ANY=20
allegory or did they create an allegory which has its own laws, its own=20
science and runs as a thread through genesis?
I suggest the allegories in genesis always conform to a Darwinian perspectiv=
e=20
because that is the secret knowledge hidden in the Bible. In Adolphe Frank's=
=20
The Kabbalah we find," The story of genesis (The creation) is not to be=20
explained to two men, the story of the Merkaba (the heavenly chariot) not=20
even to one, unless he be wise and can deduce the wisdom of his own accord."=
=20
And then we find, "If we are to believe Maimonides, the first half of the=20
Kabbalah entitled "The story of Genesis" taught the "science of nature."=20
from The Kabbalah, The Religious Philosphy of fthe Hebrews, Adolphe Frank,=20
Bell, NY, translated from the French
=20
God always favors shepherds over landed agriculturalists (as in Cain and=20
Abel) and there is an allegorical (and scientific) reason for that which I=20
will not entertain right now but I would like to point out that you have=20
unwittingly supported my allegorical interpretation by quoting Hebraists as=20=
I=20
have in quoting Adolphe Frank, also a Hebraist.
Up until now, we have been speaking of an allegory underlying the story of=20
Jacob and Esau and Jacob and Laban's flocks and continuing with Jacob's sons=
=20
all the way to Joseph's emergence as ruler over his elder brothers. We see=20
that allegory in augustine's remark. The rule underlying the allegory is tha=
t=20
cunning or intelligence is favored by God but the allegorical thread begins=20
earlier in genesis. The source of the allegory is the fall of adam and eve:
from Natural Selection and the Nature of God
richard faussette all rights reserved 2002
"In the beginning=E2=80=A6=20
When Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the =E2=80=9Ctree of the knowledge of g=
ood and=20
evil=E2=80=9D the =E2=80=9Ceyes of both of them were opened and they discove=
red that they=20
were naked; so they stitched fig-leaves together and made loincloths=E2=80=
=A6=C2=A0and hid=20
from the Lord God.=E2=80=9D (Genesis 3: 6-7) =20
Adam and Eve=E2=80=99s eyes are opened, their nakedness is revealed and they=
hide.=20
They see something they could not see before, something upon which they=20
suddenly and intensely focus, they feel shame and they feel fear. From these=
=20
lines in Genesis you can readily discern two states of the human mind: a=20
prior state of consciousness and an emerging and =E2=80=9Cfallen=E2=80=9Dcon=
sciousness that=20
sees. You can also infer from the Biblical text that this prior state of=20
consciousness does not have an experience of self since Adam and Eve do not=20
feel shame until after they have eaten the forbidden fruit. One is=20
necessarily ashamed of one=E2=80=99s self. Without a sense of self, what wou=
ld one be=20
ashamed of?=20
The Bible speaks of two states of consciousness. Do scientists speak of two=20
states of consciousness? Do they speak of a unique consciousness that only=20
man possesses? We know they do. But scientists use language peculiar to=20
science and religious men use language peculiar to religion, so you have to=20
penetrate the language to discover the religious in the scientific and the=20
scientific in the religious. Here in Genesis was a transition from one=20
consciousness to another. Scientists also speak of a transition from one=20
consciousness to another, only they call the transition an evolution.=20
Scientists also say the consciousness of lower forms of life is relatively=20
inflexible and grounded in instinct while man=E2=80=99s current consciousnes=
s is=20
largely learned one life at atime. If Adam and Eve=E2=80=99s eating of the f=
orbidden=20
fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is the pivotal event=20
that marks the Biblical transition from one consciousness to another, what i=
s=20
the corresponding pivotal event that marks the scientific evolution from one=
=20
consciousness to another? What do scientists say about =E2=80=9Cthe beginnin=
g?=E2=80=9D=20
Scientists claim irrefutable evidence that some time around 4 million years=20
ago man=E2=80=99s hominid ancestors left the safety of the jungle canopy for=
the open=20
African savannas. Over countless generations they evolved to walk upright on=
=20
two legs. Once their hands were free and had evolved flexible opposing thumb=
s=20
to manipulate objects, man=E2=80=99s ancestors made tools and began to learn=
=20
sophisticated survival strategies. One of the things they did was use the ne=
w=20
tools and the learned strategies to kill others of their own kind. When a=20
number of individuals were required to manufacture and deploy an effective=20
tool or mount an effective strategy, again over countless generations, our=20
ancestors evolved speech to facilitate communications. They learned to=20
tolerate one another in greater numbers in their efforts to organize and=20
defend themselves from other groups of early men. The escalating conflict=20
caused by the freeing of the hands for technology naturally selected for=20
bigger brains that could juggle more behavioral alternatives. The behavioral=
=20
repertoire expanded rapidly. As the behavioral repertoire expanded, man foun=
d=20
himself consciously choosing from among a growing number of behavioral=20
alternatives and his unique sense of self emerged; a consequence of having t=
o=20
consciously juggle many behavioral alternatives in his struggle for survival=
.=20
He began to abandon behavior governed by instinct and increasingly relied on=
=20
behavior acquired by learning. These two kinds of behavior correspond to two=
=20
levels of consciousness; one common to all the living organisms that precede=
d=20
man on the evolutionary ladder and another unique to man. The Bible in its=20
first few lines also speaks of two levels of consciousness; one common to al=
l=20
the living organisms that preceded man on the evolutionary ladder and anothe=
r=20
unique to man. According to Genesis, man=E2=80=99s current consciousness is=20=
=E2=80=9Cfallen=E2=80=9D=20
and a return to man=E2=80=99s prior state of consciousness is to be desired.=
The=20
consciousness that emerged from the evolutionary expansion of the behavioral=
=20
repertoire is the common state of the human mind. It is unique in the scope=20
of its potential behavioral alternatives. Imagination resides in=20
consciousness and we boast that man is only limited by his imagination.=20
However, there is a distinct disadvantage to having many behavioral=20
alternatives. You no longer know what choices to make. Decisions had been=20
fixed to a much greater extent in the prior state of consciousness, one=E2=
=80=99s=20
behavior was regimented and instinctual; a manifestation of inborn tendencie=
s=20
that were unlearned responses to stimuli. Now behavior would be learned one=20
life at a time and decisions would be consciously made rather than=20
reflexively intuited. Then the pivotal event(s) in human evolution=20
corresponding to Adam and Eve=E2=80=99s eating of the forbidden fruit is the=
=20
expansion of man=E2=80=99s behavioral repertoire accompanied by the rapid=20
evolutionary growth of the brain culminating in man=E2=80=99s =E2=80=9Cknowl=
edge of good and=20
evil.=E2=80=9D What Genesis does not specifically say about either of man=
=E2=80=99s two=20
states of consciousness is easily inferred from the Biblical text. According=
=20
to Genesis, in man=E2=80=99s original state, before:=20
=C2=B7 The rapid expansion of the behavioral repertoire
=C2=B7 The enlargement of the brain
=C2=B7 And the emergence of self-consciousness=C2=A0
He generally knew what to do, had little or no sense of self=E2=80=A6 and co=
uld=20
therefore not imagine fear. In man=E2=80=99s current state, again according=20=
to=20
Genesis, he often doesn=E2=80=99t know what to do, he does the wrong thing,=20=
he is=20
self-conscious and he =E2=80=9Chides from God.=E2=80=9D Those scientific cat=
egories of=20
instinct and acquired behavior are embedded in this religious language. If=20
you behave instinctively you intuit what to do and do not have to make a=20
decision based on what you have learned previously. An organism that behaves=
=20
instinctively cannot behave otherwise and does not make conscious mistakes.=20
On the other hand, if you rely on acquired behaviors you have learned, you=20
must consciously choose from among many possible behavioral alternatives in=20
any given situation. You are prone to error and your awareness of that fact=20
generates anxiety.=20
Given these few lines from the Bible, literally read, it became clear to me=20
that if one wanted to attain the original state of consciousness, the one Go=
d=20
intended for us, one would have to abandon one=E2=80=99s self-consciousness=20=
and learn=20
to intuit appropriate behavior. I believe I am reading Genesis correctly whe=
n=20
I say; one could then stand in God=E2=80=99s presence without fear. Despite=
=20
countless artistic renderings of a celestial Eden, the Catholic catechism=20
defines heaven very simply as being =E2=80=98in the presence of God.=E2=80=
=99 The hunger for=20
spirituality, then, is the natural desire of an evolved self-conscious mind=20
to return to a time (the beginning) and a place (paradise) before men made=20
tools and plotted the murder of other men, when a man=E2=80=99s behavior was=
=20
intuitive, and he could stand in the presence of God without fear. In the=20
Gospel of Thomas, Jesus says, =E2=80=9CWhen you disrobe without being ashame=
d=E2=80=A6 you=20
will not be afraid.=E2=80=9D Jesus=E2=80=99 once cryptic words from this Nag=
Hammadi text=20
from 1st century Egypt dovetail perfectly with the nature of the fall in=20
Genesis. The fall brought shame and fear. Returning to God would remove them=
.=20
Comparing the specifics of the Biblical tale of Adam and Eve to major events=
=20
in man=E2=80=99s evolutionary development we have easily identified a plausi=
ble=20
evolutionary counterpart for each Biblical fact. The comparison suggests tha=
t=20
our awareness of God biologically evolved with self-consciousness. Adam and=20
Eve, Biblical archetypes of the human condition, did eat the =E2=80=98forbid=
den=20
fruit=E2=80=99 from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The allegori=
es in=20
Genesis regarding human consciousness chronicle scientific facts. Those=20
scientific facts cannot contradict Scripture. They are Scripture. "
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
a gif image of a table illustrating the allegorical elements is attached.=20
What I am proposing is that the allegories in genesis are not ANY allegories=
=20
but that they are specific and refer to human intelligence and breeding, a=20
"science of nature" as Frank, the Kabbalist and Hebraist suggests and I offe=
r=20
the fall of Adam and Eve above as the origin of the allegorical thread which=
=20
as I have discussed in previous posts we can follow all the way to Joseph an=
d=20
Egypt. Because human consciousness came about through learned behavior as=20
opposed to animal instinct, the allegorical thread that runs through genesis=
=20
from Adam to Joseph teaches that learning/intelligence is the way back from=20
the fall to God.=20
rich
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