"The Way of G-d"

Part 1: "The Fundamental Principles of Reality"

Ch. 3: "Mankind"

Paragraphs 5-6

We spoke the last time in terms of the cosmic ideal. And we indicated that all that changed when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge. For the cosmic equation was altered with that act, and the delicate balance of power between spirit and matter shifted in This World.

But let's go further into the import of Adam and Eve.

They alone were created "out of the blue" and infused by G-d with quick life, while everyone else was born and slowly nourished into life as a consequence of them and of the others they'd borne.

Everything they first were, did, thought, and said left an indelible and utterly profound impression upon their offspring and the world at large, while everything we are, do, think, and say only figures into the mix and contends with what everything else has done, thought, and said.

And everything material only truly came alive and became meaningful the first time Adam and Eve saw, heard, tasted, smelled, or touched it, while our seeing, hearing, smelling, or touching things merely confirms their existence over and over again.

Hence, while we matter and are of consequence in the *aggregate* (materially speaking, because we’re each of consequence spiritually speaking), Adam and Eve's very beings were of utter, utter material consequence. Until they ate of The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, when both they and we changed.

Doing that, they affected our blood and bones, as well as their own, which left an indelible and utterly profound impression upon our beings and theirs, and gave life and whole new (albeit lesser) meaning to our material selves as well as theirs.

They became what we are. For while they'd once been perfectly balanced, they'd gone as off-kilter as we. While all they needed to do was to opt for all-goodness and they'd have achieved perfection, they didn't, and became as imperfect as we.

In a very real sense, then, there came to be two separate epochs of time for *all of humanity*: The Balanced (or, "Adamic") Epoch, and The Unbalanced (or, "Post-Adamic") Epoch. And while Adam and Eve were clearly affected very, very deeply and palpably by all that, we, tragically enough, aren't even aware of the difference and don't even know what we're missing.

(There'll prove to be a third and final universal Epoch, as well-- the Rebalanced or "Re-Adamic" one-- but that's beyond the scope of our current discussion.)

Had Adam and Eve made the appropriate decision and not eaten from the Tree of Knowledge, spirit would have dominated matter forever and ever right in This World. And humanity would have achieved perfection right there and then. For spirit would have so altered and purified matter that the two would have all but melded and partaken of the Eternal Bliss due them in This World.

(Ramchal offers another one of his off-handed profundities toward the end of this entry. He says that while most of us only experience spirit as the ability to think and to be, it also has the aforementioned capacity to alter and purify matter. Dwell upon the profound import of that, if you will. Both in terms of the spiritual basis of *thought* as well as being, and in terms of the hidden capacity latent in other parts of our being as well!)

Subscribe to Ramchal and receive the class via e-mail.