Adam, Eve, and You
A brand-new look at one of the world’s most well known stories
The opening chapters of Genesis offer far more than a historical account—they provide a spiritual blueprint for the meaning and purpose of life.
In Judaism, it’s said that every verse of the Torah has seventy faces, and each face seventy meanings. Great sages like the Ari, Rambam, and Rabbi Moshe Luzzatto spent years in seclusion—fasting, studying, and meditating—to uncover its hidden wisdom.
As they taught, “Be content with a life of suffering, eat only a measured portion of bread, drink a measured portion of water, and toil in Torah.” These men embraced this austere path because they believed the Torah held the key to understanding both the nature of God and the soul’s journey.
Biblical stories—like the crucifixion, the resurrection, the woman at the well, or Jesus calming the storm—are not just historical events. They are metaphors for our inner life. These stories are about us. And the same is true for the story of Adam and Eve.
You might ask, “What does Jesus being crucified have to do with me?” But didn’t He say, “Carry your own cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24)?
The rabbis of His time often spoke in symbolic language and parables—concealing the truth from the casual listener while revealing it to the sincere seeker.
Likewise, the story of Adam and Eve is not just about their actions—it is the story of every soul.
The Descent into Duality
Adam and Eve represent the soul in its original, unified state—before being cast out of the Garden (heaven/spirit) and into exile (earth/physical form). God’s command was clear: “You may eat from any tree, but not from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17).
The Tree of Knowledge symbolizes the world of duality—where all things are divided into pairs: good and evil, light and dark, life and death. To eat from it is to enter a world of separation and mortality. When we are born into this realm, we too “must surely die.”
Yet paradoxically, the path back to Eden lies through this very duality. Within it, we are given the power of choice. “Now he must reach out and choose what is good” (Genesis 3:22).
The serpent—often demonized—is not evil. He represents the force that invites us to take the test. Without opposition, there can be no free will. Without duality, there can be no growth.
The Loss of Innocence and the Birth of “I”
Before eating from the tree, Adam and Eve existed in a high spiritual state. They were egoless, formless, and one with God. “They were naked and felt no shame” (Genesis 2:25). There was no “I,” no separation, no conflict.
Interestingly, the first words spoken by both John the Baptist and Jesus in the Gospels are “Teshuvah”—a Hebrew word meaning return. Not repent in the way we often hear it, but return—to where we came from. To remember.
After eating from the Tree, Adam and Eve became self-aware. “They knew they were naked” and hid from God. And God asked, “Who told you that you were naked?” (Genesis 3:11). The ego had emerged. The illusion of separation had begun.
And yet, even in this fallen state, they remained closer to the divine than we might assume—perhaps at the soul’s threshold, just before incarnation. “God made them tunics of skin” (Genesis 3:21), clothing them in physical form. This moment mirrors conception, when the soul descends into the material world.
The Journey Back to Oneness
God then says, “See, man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now he must reach out, choose what is good, and eat from the Tree of Life, that he may live forever” (Genesis 3:22). And in Mark 10:18, Jesus reminds us: “Only God is good.”
The story of Adam and Eve is a spiritual map—from unity, to separation, to the possibility of return. Each of us walks this path. We begin life in a state of purity, unburdened by ego. But as we grow into the world of duality, we become aware of separation. We become like Adam and Eve after the fall.
Yet their descent was not a punishment—it was a passage. A necessary step in the evolution of the soul. Jesus prayed, “Father, may they all be made perfect in one” (John 17:21). This is the goal: not obedience, but reunion.
Even our language hints at the truth. The word holy comes from the same root as whole—that which is complete, undivided. “Unholy” implies division. Two-ness. Separation.
When the Two Become One
In verse 22 of the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus reveals how we shall enter the kingdom:
“Jesus saw some infants being nursed. He said to His disciples, ‘These infants being nursed are like those who enter the kingdom.’ They said to Him, ‘Then shall we enter the kingdom if we suck?’ Jesus said to them, ‘When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female into a single one, so that the male is no longer male and the female no longer female, then you will enter [the kingdom].’”
This teaching confirms what Genesis hints at: that through the world of duality (earth, or “two”), we are meant to find our way back to non-duality (heaven, or “one”).
Why would infants enter the kingdom? Because they have not yet formed an ego. They do not yet say, “I like this, I hate that.” They are still whole. Still unbroken.
Why Enter the World at All?
You may ask, “Why come here in the first place? Why not just stay in heaven?” Because in heaven there is no pain, no loss, no fear—but also no opportunity to grow. In the world of light, there is no shadow to overcome. And without shadow, there can be no mastery of light.
Only in this world, through choice, can we evolve. Only here can we “reach out and choose what is good”—and in doing so, discover the Tree of Life within ourselves.
This is the journey: from exile to the promised land. Not to a physical place, but to a state of being. To Oneness. To God.