All human beings have at times felt a sense of separation or separateness—a sense that in its acute form can lead to confusion and depression. In fact, for many it is for this very reason that they fear being alone. They shun solitude and seek rather to constantly surround themselves with other people. Unfortunately, this does not remove the sense of separation from their psyche. It only distracts them from having to feel it without support or understanding. They try to escape it, but the sense of separation is always there.
So what is the reason for this human dilemma? Why is it like this for us? Where does our sense of separation come from, and why is it so difficult for us to banish it from our psyche for good? Psychologists have weighed in on this matter by claiming that the sense of separation is simply a part of the overall human condition. Therefore it is not to be feared or dreaded in its normal, mild form. And if it occasionally leads to an acute bout of insecurity it can perhaps be treated with anti-depression drugs. But none of this addresses the real issue of why human beings feel separate. So let us turn away from modern cultural views and treatments for a moment and seek to find out what the spiritual masters have taught about this phenomenon.
In contrast to our psychologists the spiritual masters have with one accord taught that the sense of separation that we human beings feel is a spiritual condition. It is neither psychological nor philosophical. Moreover, though it is certainly a common condition in today’s world, it is not a condition that is simply part of being human. Rather it is an aberration that we do not need to accept and learn to live with. In fact, we can get rid of it once and for all. But before this can happen we must learn the truth about what is causing this condition, where it comes from, and how to approach bringing about the solution. In other words, since our sense of separation actually has a spiritual source and basis, it is foolishness to think that mere psychological overtures will eradicate it, however well-meaning they may be. No, there is only one efficacious method for dealing with a spiritual dilemma, and that is by applying a spiritual solution.
The Bible is a comprehensive truth teaching about the human condition. It addresses pretty much every aspect of our human hood, and our sense of separation is no exception to this rule. In fact, our sense of separation is one of the first aberrations in the human condition that the Bible tackles. And interestingly, what we read in the Bible’s opening pages is that things have not always been like this for us. We think we know what it means to be a human being, mostly because the human experience has not changed much since we began keeping historical records. So not only do our experts (scientists, psychologists, philosophers, etc.) make their deductions based on this consistent portrait of human hood, most people have developed an instinctual sense about who we are and what makes us tick. And history teaches us that since we have been basically like we are now for so long it is logical to deduce that this is just how we are. But this is not the teaching of the Bible.
Interestingly, though our experts have concluded that the Bible’s creation account is unscientific (mostly because the Bible seems to claim that the human experiment is only six thousand years old and our scientists know with certainty that it is much much older than that), the Bible’s teaching about the origins of man, when interpreted correctly, does not conflict with the scientific view. How can this be so? Because what the Bible actually teaches is that a man named Adam (which happens to be the Hebrew word for man) underwent a dramatic transformation in the Garden of Eden, and it was only after that transformation that the human experience began to resemble that which we now call the way things are. In other words, the species called Homo sapiens or man existed prior to Adam’s Garden transformation, but it bore little resemblance to the creature we became afterwards.
So the question then becomes: What was that transformation in the Garden all about? What really happened to us (in Adam)? Fundamentalist Christians believe that we became sinners at that time and leave it at that. But the spiritual masters have taught that something much more profound happened to our race—that we became spiritually conscious beings. And since we were clearly created with this evolutionary potential, it must follow that we, in Adam, awoke to our created endowment of consciousness. The Bible then goes on to describe this awakening—that it was very great, making us into a creature reflective of the image of God. It also describes the effects upon the human experience that it instigated. Then it goes on to teach that the state of consciousness that we awoke to in the Garden of Eden was not the end of the line for us—that we are actually creatures with the capacity for further consciousness evolution and expansion. That is the entire reason that the Bible closes with the advent of Jesus the Christ. For not only was he an example of the kind of man we have the potential to be; he also showed us the Way to unlock our evolutionary impulse and become like him. This he did because he perceived that we had somehow gotten stuck in the Adam state and were having great difficulty becoming all that we had the potential to be. In Adam we had awoken to our endowment of consciousness, and that was good. But then instead of going forward and becoming the race of Christs (like Jesus) that we were created to be, we dug in our heels and pretended that Adam was the end of the line for us.
Be all this as it may, there are other teachings to be gleaned from the Garden of Eden story. And one of those teachings is that the species called man was not newly created at that time; he was only transformed. He did not come into being. Rather he awoke to his created endowment of spiritual consciousness. This means that our species could, in truth, be as old as the scientists speculate. Before Adam we were the same species, only without spiritual consciousness. So what were we like, and how did our experience differ in that prehistoric time? In all likelihood we were instinctual biological creatures, much like all the unconscious creatures that presently inhabit the earth—that is, all other creatures besides man. We roamed the earth, lived from hand to mouth, mated and reproduced, etc. But we were nothing like we are now, and the human experience was nothing like it is now.
This transformation that happened to Adam was so profound that we essentially became different creatures. True, our biological makeup remained in tact. But we bore little resemblance to our prehistoric ancestors otherwise. And because we were nothing like we were prior to Adam, it made perfect sense that the human experience would also be unrecognizable. So we are the same species, but it definitely must be delineated that post-Adam man is nothing like pre-Adam man. They are both Homo sapiens, but we went on to become Adamites.
So let us return to the biblical account of the Garden of Eden. Why? Because not only can we read therein about the transformation of the human race that took place at that time; we also can learn some of the defining nuances of Adamic consciousness and what now makes us Adamites tick. Perhaps not every detailed nuance is described therein, but there is enough written to get a good idea of how our lives got to be the way that they are now. In other words, it is from the Bible’s Eden account that we can come to understand the origins of some of the nuances that now define us—nuances that have a direct connection to the state of consciousness we awoke to and have been moving in for the past six thousand years, the state that I call Adamic.
The first and most obvious nuance of post-transformation man is that he is (we are) now a conscious being, made in the image of God. This may seem redundant to us at this point, but when compared with the pre-transformation man it is both powerful and highly defining. In Adam we all awoke to our endowment of spiritual consciousness. So even though some of us may live as though we are still unconscious, the truth is that there is now not one member of the human family that got left behind in this regard. We have become a race of conscious beings, and not only that: the consciousness within us has the same tendencies and characteristics. In other words, though we are diverse in our physical appearance and mental functions, we are all the same in the arena of consciousness. And this means that we have all become evolutionary creatures because that is the nature of consciousness. This evolutionary function may have stalled in the vast majority of us, but it is still active when released from its self-imposed restraints.
Another nuance that we tend to take for granted is that in our present state of consciousness we are like Adam; we are Adamites. We act like Adam, think like Adam, emote like Adam, etc. This implies that we do not act, think, and emote like the Christ or like God. Our endowment of consciousness makes us like God, but in practical terms the full realization of that likeness is still only in the realm of potentiality. Right now we bear little resemblance to God or the Christ. Instead we are pretty much carbon copies of Adam. So according to the Bible, who is this Adam and what is he like?
The first thing we read is that Adam and Eve realized that they were naked. To realize something is not merely a mental process; it is an act of consciousness. So it might be said that this was their first real act of consciousness after their awakening or transformation. Then they sowed some fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. By this we can deduce that they now felt ashamed of their nakedness. This too was a stark departure from how they used to be. For while they most likely felt things before their transformation, this sophisticated brand of emoting was clearly also an act of consciousness. It was not just spontaneous raw emotion; it was calculated and controlled. And it led to decisive action. It led to a self-reliant solution. Not only was this an attribute of consciousness; as it turned out it was a defining attribute of the Adamic state of consciousness—a state of consciousness in which we perceive ourselves as separate and alone and must therefore fend for ourselves in each and every task that confronts us. Yes, this simple act of making coverings for themselves to hide their nakedness was the first display of the orientation of human strength that we are all now so familiar with. It was also the first outcropping of the sense of separation.
But lest we should doubt this, let us read what happens next (Genesis 3:7,8). Suddenly Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the Garden in the cool of the day. And what did they do? They hid from the Lord among the trees of the Garden. This was not only a major departure from how they had acted in the past; it was also a clear-cut portrayal of what was to come for our species. They had never been inclined to hide from God before. But now they wanted nothing to do with Him. They wanted Him to leave them alone. What had happened to them? A powerful sense of separation had come over them. It was most evident in the way they now viewed God, but it would also come to affect their interactions with one another, their fellowman, and even the rest of creation. Needless to say, this was not just a mental or physical reaction on their parts; it too was an act of consciousness. They had become conscious beings, and the state of their consciousness included a never-ending, relentless sense of separation.
Therefore the sense of separation that we all feel at times is not merely psychological or philosophical; it is a defining attribute of Adamic consciousness—that is, the state of consciousness that we are all moving in and have virtually become stuck in. Adam did not make it up and then pass it down to his descendants by teaching them about it. Rather what he passed down to us was his state of consciousness—a state of consciousness that had become embedded in his genetic makeup and just happened to include an inbred sense of separation that simply won’t quit.
So it is that our sense of separation cannot be psychologically manipulated or medicinally treated. Why not? Because it is an attribute of our state of consciousness, and as such it can only be eradicated through spiritual means. What sort of spiritual means? Doing what it takes to release the evolutionary processes of consciousness within us. In other words, there is only one way to get rid of the sense of separation once and for all, and that way is to stop being Adam. It is to take the evolutionary leap of consciousness from the Adam man to the Christ man.
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