deceives by lies, and builds kingdoms of his own, in which everything
is in direct opposition to God. Yet he ATTRACTSmen rather than
repels them, and they are seen as willing to “sell” him their Souls in
return for gifts they RECOGNIZEare of no real worth.
This makes absolutely no sense. The whole picture is one in
which man acts in a way he HIMSELFrealizes is self-destructive, but
which he does not choose to correct, and therefore perceives the
cause as beyond his control.We have discussed the fall, or separation,
before, but its meaning must be clearly understood without symbols.
The separation is not symbolic. It is an order of reality, or a system of
thought that is real enough in time, though NOT in eternity. All
beliefs are real to the believer.
The fruit of only ONEtree was “forbidden” to man in his
symbolic garden. But GODcould not have forbidden it, or it could
not have BEENeaten. If God knows His children, and I assure you
that He does, would He have put them in a position where their
own destruction was possible? The “tree” which was forbidden was
named the “tree of knowledge.” Yet God created knowledge, and
gave it freely to His creations. The symbolism here has been given
many interpretations, but you may be sure that ANYinterpretation
which sees either God ORHis creations as capable of destroying
their own Purpose is in error.
Eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge is a symbolic
expression for incorporating into the self the ability for self-creating.
This is the ONLYsense in which God and His Souls are NOTco-
creators.The belief that they AREis implicit in the “self concept,” a
concept now made acceptable by its WEAKNESS,and explained by a
tendency of the self to create an IMAGEof itself. Its fear aspect is
often ascribed to fear of retaliation by a “father figure,” a particularly
curious idea in view of the fact that no-one uses the term to refer to
the physical father. It refers to an IMAGEof a father in relation to an
IMAGEof the self.
Images are perceived,NOTknown. Knowledge cannot deceive,
but perception CAN.Man can perceive himself as self-creating, but
he cannot do more than BELIEVEit. He CANNOTmake it true.
And, as we said before, when you finally perceive correctly, you can
only be glad that you cannot. But until then, the belief that you CAN
CREATING VERSUS THE SELF-IMAGE