The Punishment
Genesis 3:14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
Interpretation:
The serpent was cursed because it was not a righteous desire and its temptation was to take pleasure from knowledge that was an adulteration of Truth.
Cattle metaphorically are spiritual property, possessions, and beasts are spiritual powers that all stem from desire.
The field is the surface of the subconscious mind.
Serpents are dragons that have wings. They are desires that can fly above the subconscious mind into the conscious mind. The serpent here has its wings removed, and so has to remain on the surface of the subconscious mind with the alter ego.
The dust that the serpent shall eat is knowledge of evil. It is dry because it has no spirit/water of righteous emotion. Whereas man was made from dust and the water of righteous emotion.
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Interpretation:
And I will put conflict between your temptations and the man’s mind, and between thy seeds of evil knowledge and the seeds of her good knowledge; it shall damage your power and you shall slow the man’s progress.
Genesis 3:16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Interpretation:
It is through the Self’s alter ego and its mind that the Self experiences a new state of consciousness, one that is different from its original state of consciousness, and so any children that the alter ego and its mind produce, are new and different states of consciousness, and the Self personifies each one.
Sorrow is caused by desire that has not yet been fulfilled, and is difficult to do so. It is of course sorrow that leads the Self’s alter ego and its mind to create new states of consciousness i.e. children/new alter egos.
and thy desire shall be to thy husband (to satisfy), and he shall rule over thee because of this. It is up to the man to satisfy the woman’s desire.
It will be the alter egos desire that satisfies the minds desire, and in that way the alter ego rules over its mind (the husband rules over the wife), i.e. the wife is dependent on the husband to satisfy her desire.
Genesis 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Interpretation:
Because the Self’s alter ego had done what its mind asked, and not heeded the warning that the Self gave, the subconscious mind had now become contaminated with knowledge of evil, and was therefore cursed. Therefore the subconscious mind would bring forth knowledge of both good and evil, causing sorrow and difficulty.
Genesis 3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
Interpretation:
Thorns and thistles represent unrighteous knowledge that grows amongst righteous knowledge, making it difficult to harvest the Truth. Thorns and thistles prick the conscience and prevent the growth of Truth causing confusion.
Previously the man was only given the fruit of the trees to eat and the herb seeds to plant.
Genesis 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Interpretation:
Previously the herb seeds were for the man to plant and grow food for the beasts and cattle, but now the man has to grow the herb seed for food for himself. The herb seeds produce wheat and barley, from which he now has to make bread for food for himself. This will be very hard work, and he will have to do it until he returns back into the subconscious mind, from which he was taken. From dust to dust. The Self is not the alter ego, the Self is immortal and so it is not the Self that returns to the dust.
Genesis 3:20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
Interpretation:
Without the mind there is no life even for the Self. Without the mind the Self would have no image of itself, and no alter egos. Without the mind the Self would not be able to create anything. Without the mind, the Self has no power at all.
Man and woman always have been and always will be of equal worth for it is not possible for one to exist without the other.
We are all androgynous spiritual beings, regardless of the physical body that we find ourselves in, and we are not the physical body, we are its animator.
Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
Interpretation:
This simply means that the Self personified them.
Genesis 3:22 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 for ever:
Interpretation:
And the Self said to its perfect and uncorrupted mind, (its wife, the Mother of all that was created); Behold, the alter ego has become like us, to know both good and evil knowledge, and now, lest he puts forth his hand and takes also from the tree of life (understanding) whose fruit is wisdom, and eat, and live for ever:
Imagine the tree of life; its trunk and branches are golden representing righteous knowledge. Its leaves shine with the light of understanding and its fruit is wisdom, tasting of pure righteous pleasure and filled with perfect unconditional Love. These are the eternal things that give eternal life.
Genesis 3:23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
Interpretation:
Therefore the Self sent its alter ego (the man and his wife) from the garden, eastwards in Eden, to grow new knowledge from which it would gain understanding and become wise. The knowledge would be grown from the subconscious mind from where the man (alter ego) was taken. This was the beginning of a journey of learning.
Genesis 3:24 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.
Interpretation:
The Self drove its alter ego out of the east of the garden to begin its journey, and this was when the wheel of life began turning.
The Sun rises in the east therefore so does desire, but as the wheel turns like the rotation of the earth, the next thing to come is the evening followed by the darkness of Night, which metaphorically means ignorance.
The Cherubims were spirits of righteous desire, and the flaming sword represents righteous judgement. So only alter egos that possess these attributes would be able to enter the garden once more.
All that we ever needed to learn was to Love unconditionally and to understand the truth that ends all conflict and suffering.