Book of Genesis explained by Pem Das

Genesis

Illustration 2

     An unorthodox or Gnostic interpretation of the Adam and Eve narrative is simply that the Garden of Eden represented an archetype plantation, and Adam and Eve represented the archetype slaves. Furthermore, the Lord, God, was King, and his angels were his court. His main advisor, Satan loses faith in his king, God. So Satan plots to overthrow the king with a third of the other angels. He also teaches the slaves Adam and Eve the truth of the Tree of Knowledge, so that they might help him in the rebellion. However, the rebellion is put down and Satan, his co-conspirators, and the slaves are exiled from Eden. However, nowhere in Genesis does it imply that the Serpent is Satan, this commentary comes later in Isaiah and Ezekiel.
     While Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, they heard the voice of God, “You are free to eat from any tree in the Garden but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. For you will surely die,” Genesis 2:16-17. Sometime later, when Eve is alone, the Serpent approaches her. The snake tempts her to eat the fruit saying “You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowinggood and evil” Genesis 3:4-5. Eve is tempted and eats the fruit. She gives some to Adam as well. As a result “the eyes of them were both opened, and they both knew that they were naked,” Genesis 3:7. As the snake implied, they do not die, and become god-like, knowing good and evil. Consider the following:

And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. KJV Genesis 3:22-24

The Serpent, while defeated, was not destroyed, and exiled along with the other rebels. Adam and Eve became like gods and are no longer useful as workers, so they too are exiled from Eden; all are banished.
     Though the first couple are banished from the Garden of Eden, there is still a passage back to Eden, but cherubs and a flaming sword protect the entrance. “So he drove out the man; and placed at the east of the garden of Eden, Cherubs and a flaming sword, which turned every-way, to keep the way of the tree of life,” Genesis 3:24. In English, the word Cherub conjures up baby-faced angels like Cupid, however its meaning is quite vague, and is often associated with a higher order of angels who act as guardians.
     Many artists have drawn the angel Michael holding a sword guarding an entrance. However, the flaming sword, which turned every-way, ends up creating the image of a flaming sphere, or red ball, or red circle – the mushroom cap of the Amanita. Michael and the sword are the amanita mushroom. The mushroom serves as a metaphysical sword cutting through the linguistic matrix to reveal things as they are. Ironic too, that the same mushroom which expelled Adam and Eve from paradise is the same one that takes us back.