Introduction to Excerpt
I found this precious passage from
the book “Secret Teachings of All Ages” by Manly P. Hall.
It is a version of the dialogue that
occurs between Adam and the tempting serpent of the tree of the science of good
and evil. We know from Master Samael that that tree is sexuality.
Manly P. Hall says that it most
likely comes from an ancient Egyptian ritual. It is here Adam after so much
suffering, trials and tribulations tries to enter the Garden of Eden, from where
he was banished, only to face the guardian of the tree of the science of good
and evil which is the tempting serpent of Eden. They then have the following really
precious dialogue.
It is quite a long excerpt, so to
save time jump to the part highlighted in grey.
Excerpt
In this ritualistic
drama--possibly derived from the Egyptians--Adam, banished from the Garden of Eden,
represents man philosophically exiled from the sphere of Truth. Through
ignorance man falls; through wisdom he redeems himself. The Garden of Eden
represents the House of the Mysteries (see The Vision of Enoch) in the midst of
which grew both the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and
Evil.
Man, the banished Adam, seeks to
pass from the outer court of the Sanctuary (the exterior universe) into the
sanctum sanctorum, but before him rises a vast creature armed with a flashing
sword that, moving slowly but continually, sweeps clear a wide circle, and
through this "Ring Pass Not" the Adamic man cannot break.
The cherubim address the seeker
thus: "Man, thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return. Thou wert fashioned
by the Builder of Forms; thou belongest to the sphere of form, and the breath
that was breathed into thy soul was the breath of form and like a flame it
shall flicker out. More than thou art thou canst not be. Thou art a denizen of
the outer world and it is forbidden thee to enter this inner place."
And the Adam replies: "Many
times have I stood within this courtyard and begged admission to my Father's
house and thou hast refused it me and sent me back to wander in darkness. True
it is that I was fashioned out of the dirt and that my Maker could not confer
upon me the boon of immortality. But no more shalt thou send me away; for,
wandering in the darkness, I have discovered that the Almighty hath decreed my
salvation because He hath sent out of the most hidden Mystery His Only Begotten
who didst take upon Himself the world fashioned by the Demiurgus. Upon the
elements of that world was He crucified and from Him hath poured forth the
blood of my salvation. And God, entering into His creation, hath quickened it
and established therein a road that leadeth to Himself. While my Maker could not
give me immortality, immortality was inherent in the very dust of which I was
composed, for before the world was fabricated and before the Demiurgus became
the Regent of Nature the Eternal Life had impressed itself upon the face of
Cosmos. This is its sign--the Cross. Do you now deny me entrance, I who have at
last learned the mystery of myself?"
And the voice replies: "He
who is aware, IS! Behold!"
Gazing about him, Adam finds
himself in a radiant place, in the midst of which stands a tree with flashing
jewels for fruit and entwined about its trunk a flaming, winged serpent crowned
with a diadem of stars. It was the voice of the serpent that had spoken.
"Who art thou?" demands the Adam.
"I," the serpent answers, "am Satan who
was stoned; I am the Adversary--the Lord who is against you, the one who pleads
for your destruction before the Eternal Tribunal. I was your enemy upon the day
that you were formed; I have led you into temptation; I have delivered you into
the hands of evil; I have maligned you; I have striven ever to achieve your
undoing. I am the guardian of the Tree of Knowledge and I have sworn that none
whom I can lead astray shall partake of its fruits."
The Adam replies: "For uncounted ages have I been
thy servant. In my ignorance I listened to thy words and thy led me into paths
of sorrow. Thou hast placed in my mind dreams of power, and when I struggled to
realize those dreams they brought me naught but pain. Thou hast sowed in me the
seeds of desire, and when I lusted after the things of the flesh agony was my
only recompense. Thou hast sent me false prophets and false reasoning, and when
I strove to grasp the magnitude of Truth I found thy laws were false and only
dismay rewarded my strivings. I am done with thee forever, O artful Spirit! I
have tired of thy world of illusions. No longer will I labor in thy vineyards
of iniquity. Get thee behind me, tempter, and the host of thy temptations.
There is no happiness, no peace, no good, no future in the doctrines of
selfishness, hate, and passion preached by thee. All these things do I cast
aside. Renounced is thy rule forever!"
And the serpent makes answer: "Behold, O Adam, the
nature of thy Adversary!" The serpent disappears in a blinding sunburst of
radiance and in its place stands an angel resplendent in shining, golden garments
with great scarlet wings that spread from one corner of the heavens to the
other. Dismayed and awestruck, the Adam falls before the divine creature.
"I am the Lord who is against thee and thus
accomplishes thy salvation, " continues the voice. "Thou hast hated
me, but through the ages yet to be thou shalt bless me, for I have led thee our
of the sphere of the Demiurgus; I have turned thee against the illusion of
worldliness; I have weaned thee of desire; I have awakened in thy soul the
immortality of which I myself partake. Follow me, O Adam, for I am the Way, the
Life, and the Truth!"
Conclusion
The guardian of the tree of the science
of good and evil turns out to be I think Christus Lucifer. That is Lucifer
whose job it is or has been to take the soul through all these experiences so
to be able to be free from all the desires and illusion in life and creation, with the purpose of taking us to the self-realisation.
We are that the Adam mentioned in the
above excerpt.
End (732).
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