Beasts of the field

[Heimlich]

And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast. And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them" -- Leviticus 20:15-16
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
Plus: don’t forget about the people Cain lived with and built a city.

Who are the beasts of the field?

Are we really asked to believe in a talking snake?

What do you think? I am curious in others opinion on this subject that is usually ignored or quickly dismissed even by people who take the Bible very literally.

[Amilius777]

Well the first excerpt is a literal one. It refers to bestiality as a grave sin. Whether you see it as sin or not, it is a human self-defiliong act that is nothing but disgusting and against the laws of Nature/God.

But the second excerpt about the serpent refers to the spinal cord/brain connection the body. The serpent is a subtle force that connects to all sensations of the body through the nervous system. The serpent is therefore reason/life force/or will in general misdirected. That voice within us is always reassuring, always a humanist, always telling us to do it or exercise our free will to whatever desire we feel. Thus as Adam and Eve fell, so did the serpent. The will/force/reason of humanity fell into selfishness. The serpent then eventually evolves through the Bible. The serpent eventually becomes the Great Dragon in Revelations. It becomes a Collective Unspiritual Force of Rebellion. The whole nation is consumed by the Dragon, the force of selfishness. It is described as a devil which murdered from the beginning, meaning it caused Adam to die. And it is referred to as the father of lies. We lie to ourselves. The lower or human self lies to the soul. It is also referred to as Satan which has tempted others and has tried Job. Which mean even God Himself will use those who are of the serpent/unspiritual Force to test his Saints and Sons to see if they are ready to enter his divine presence. Read the life of Buddha how he was tried by Mara. Or read how Anthony of Padua was tried by Satan and Christ saved him.

Another thing is that the reason why the serpent is the most cunning beast in the field is because will/self is the most powerful aspect of Creation. It is the strongest urge in man. All other urges derive from his self. From his will. For hims desire. Thus it is the first and strongest of all beasts.

It is important that Genesis referred to the serpent as the misdirection of will, or desire itself. Many say it is a symbol of sex. Horse ****! The serpent was the life force in the ancient world. The symbol of Gods/Goddesses. It was a powerful symbolism of our Spiritual Selves. Just as the Logos/Word is considered the oneness of all will with God's will. ONE WILL. When the serpent is subjected to God, it becomes the Word or Logos. In a sense the serpent swallows its own tail thus creating that cycle of life, cycle of nature which is God- a circle- O which symbolizes ONE, THE SUN (SON), or GOD.
Another reason why it is not sex is because Adam's sin was the misuse of his Divine Spirit. He had the Spirit, but God took it away from him. He misused the Spirit for selfishness. His sin was self-aggrandizement. This Spirit is the Divine or spiritual consciousness. Later when Jesus evolves into the Christ, it is called the Holy Spirit. Because the spirit is purified, in oneness with God, and evolved into divinity called The Christ Consciousness (Holy Spirit). And Jesus breathes his Holy Spirit (Christ Consciousness) unto the Apostles and to us if we are willing to accept it and also have it.

[Heimlich]

Well the first excerpt is a literal one. It refers to bestiality as a grave sin. Whether you see it as sin or not, it is a human self-defiliong act that is nothing but disgusting and against the laws of Nature/God.

But the second excerpt about the serpent refers to the spinal cord/brain connection the body. The serpent is a subtle force that connects to all sensations of the body through the nervous system. The serpent is therefore reason/life force/or will in general misdirected. That voice within us is always reassuring, always a humanist, always telling us to do it or exercise our free will to whatever desire we feel. Thus as Adam and Eve fell, so did the serpent. The will/force/reason of humanity fell into selfishness. The serpent then eventually evolves through the Bible. The serpent eventually becomes the Great Dragon in Revelations. It becomes a Collective Unspiritual Force of Rebellion. The whole nation is consumed by the Dragon, the force of selfishness. It is described as a devil which murdered from the beginning, meaning it caused Adam to die. And it is referred to as the father of lies. We lie to ourselves. The lower or human self lies to the soul. It is also referred to as Satan which has tempted others and has tried Job. Which mean even God Himself will use those who are of the serpent/unspiritual Force to test his Saints and Sons to see if they are ready to enter his divine presence. Read the life of Buddha how he was tried by Mara. Or read how Anthony of Padua was tried by Satan and Christ saved him.

Another thing is that the reason why the serpent is the most cunning beast in the field is because will/self is the most powerful aspect of Creation. It is the strongest urge in man. All other urges derive from his self. From his will. For hims desire. Thus it is the first and strongest of all beasts.

It is important that Genesis referred to the serpent as the misdirection of will, or desire itself. Many say it is a symbol of sex. Horse ****! The serpent was the life force in the ancient world. The symbol of Gods/Goddesses. It was a powerful symbolism of our Spiritual Selves. Just as the Logos/Word is considered the oneness of all will with God's will. ONE WILL. When the serpent is subjected to God, it becomes the Word or Logos. In a sense the serpent swallows its own tail thus creating that cycle of life, cycle of nature which is God- a circle- O which symbolizes ONE, THE SUN (SON), or GOD.
Another reason why it is not sex is because Adam's sin was the misuse of his Divine Spirit. He had the Spirit, but God took it away from him. He misused the Spirit for selfishness. His sin was self-aggrandizement. This Spirit is the Divine or spiritual consciousness. Later when Jesus evolves into the Christ, it is called the Holy Spirit. Because the spirit is purified, in oneness with God, and evolved into divinity called The Christ Consciousness (Holy Spirit). And Jesus breathes his Holy Spirit (Christ Consciousness) unto the Apostles and to us if we are willing to accept it and also have it.

wow - great answer
thank you!!
I will look more into this

[Saladkiller]

Nice post amilius..

Although.. personally, i dont think adam's "sin" was self-aggrandizement. People can only guess at things when they are unaware of the truth of those things. So saying, it only stands to reason that because people are unaware of most things, they are enveloped their delusions and projections based on their limited knowledge.

The idea that adam received wisdom, i think, was a handicap in and of itself. Wisdom should normally come from knowledge and experience, but in adam's case, (and all his children) they have wisdom but not knowledge or experience. Its not so much that its a "sin" rather than simply having a portion of "mind" in a completely wrong area. (like having a part of the brain mis-wired)

Also, many scholars believe that the snake primarily represented wisdom at the time genesis was written. The story of adam and eve was intended to show that faith in god is more important than wisdom, primarily because wisdom is based on limited awareness and thus it cant ever be divine, but through faith in the divine, one comes to awareness which leads eventually to true wisdom.

An example of that ideology might be.. Well lets take "logic" for instance. Logic, when people talk about it anyways, is always assumed to be the same thing, a matter of deduction. What people dont often discuss is that logic can be radically different depending on the fundamental principles that logic is based on, but because most people share the same fundamental principles, that point is usually missed in discussion. A further example of this might be the concept of "Cause>Effect" A person who believes in this fundamental principle (classical science) as apposed to someone who is into quantum science would see it as "<<<Cause - Effect>>>" The cause and effect both go infinitely in opposite directions (looping around), however, the relationship they form in between is our "Causality". This seemingly fractionally different concept, when applied as an underlying principle to logic, makes a world of difference however, in literally every aspect of the way a person see's the world, and what that person is aware of.

[Shim]

And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast. And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them" -- Leviticus 20:15-16
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
Plus: don’t forget about the people Cain lived with and built a city.

Who are the beasts of the field?

Are we really asked to believe in a talking snake?

What do you think? I am curious in others opinion on this subject that is usually ignored or quickly dismissed even by people who take the Bible very literally.

The main point of the story (but not the whole story so as not to be a spoiler as there are many heroes of faith in Genesis) is that mankind was deceived into an act of disobedience to God by an already existing wise, but evil being that is aware of Eve's thinking, a now distorted process by the serpent that knows when she is ready to receive in her mind a direct denial of God's Word, and a total misrepresentation of God's purposes: "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil". That was all that was needed. The deception is complete. Eve's mind embraces Satan's thoughts. She now sees the forbidden tree from an entirely new and wrong perspective. Satan has awakened within her emotions she had never known before. She sees, she delights, she desires, and she takes the fruit of her deception. Satan awakens within her mind the realization of the negative side, what she and Adam cannot do in the garden. The deception was directed against her mind which, by definition, also includes her emotions and will. She fails to reject the lies being planted within her mind. She accepts the lies and half-truths she is hearing as the real truth.

Perhaps there is more to consider. The dialogue that develops in principal is that if one starts out by adding to a command one may come to take away from it in the end. And it also appears that Human sin has a dual source. One's wrong choice is the human source, but there also is a supernatural source. Satan's temptations. The seeds of evil thoughts and evil imaginations into human minds and hearts, intensifying the evil already there.

John Gill's exposition:
Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made,.... Many instances are given of the subtlety of serpents, in hiding their heads when struck at, rolling themselves up, stopping their ear at the voice of the charmer, putting off their skin, lying in sand of the same colour with them, and biting the feet of horses, and other things of the like kind; but by these it does not appear to be now more subtle than any other creature, whatever it might be at its first creation; particularly the fox greatly exceeds it: the words therefore may be rendered, "that serpent"; that particular serpent, of which so much is spoken of afterwards; "or the serpent was become", or "made more subtle", that is, not naturally, but through Satan being in it, and using it in a very subtle manner, to answer his purposes, and gain his point: for though a real serpent, and not the mere form or appearance of one, is here meant, as is clear from this account, and the curse afterwards pronounced on it; yet not that only, but as possessed and used by Satan as an instrument of his to accomplish his designs, as is evident from its having the faculty of speech, and the use of reason, employed in a very artful and sophistic manner: nor is it rational to suppose that human nature, in the height of its glory and excellency, should be outwitted and seduced by a creature so inferior to it; besides, the Scriptures always ascribe the seduction of man to the devil; who, because he acted his deceitful part in and by the serpent, is called the serpent, and the old serpent, and the devil and Satan, 2Co 11:3. The Targum of Jonathan restrains this subtlety to wickedness, paraphrasing the words "but the serpent was wise to evil.''

[Amilius777]

Saladkiller-

I agree completely. And I should not have used the word sin. I actually prefer Edgar Cayce's spiritual intuition when in trance he actually said more good came out of Adam's fall than bad.

Cayce actually says that Adam's focus on physical life or misuse of his gift whatever it was actually caused mankind to go through death. To go through birth and death, the cycles of reincarnation/incarnation. And someone asked Cayce why? And Cayce said it is God's tool in helping Man focusing on the spiritual in the physical world.

Thus Adam's fall was actually self-sacrificial. That someone needed to make the first choice outside the Will of God to get the show going because even before Adam entities had lost their way. Such as the Fall of the Angels is a doctored up mythological version of the Fall of the soul from the presence of God in Heaven. And that many spirits had lost their way. And Adam being the first soul-in flesh being, his own fall contributed to souls to enter the Adamic body and experience death to realize the physical is only temporary and we should be looking to the eternal spiritual life within and not the physical.

[Saladkiller]

Yeah, that was how cayce saw it. I see it differently though. I dont believe there is a point to "sin" or the "fall". In other words, i think its all for naught. Its true that things can be learned from it, but the only reason for that is that effort must equal result, regardless in which way that effort is directed (kinetic energy). It has to do with the way things work. Saying that good things came out of it is fine, but in the thousands of years since the "fall", man has yet to accomplish the basic things he had originally. The thing is that the human condition precludes learning, precisely because we forget what we have learned.

So saying, Life comes from life.. if you wish to know life, you must become aware of life, not death. Its the same with people, if you learn about someone, and contrast them with others, it doesnt really tell you who they are. Only that person can show you themselves.

Secondly, you speak of the flesh and spirit as being different. Does not matter and spirit all come from the same "source"?. Is matter that comes from spirit any less spirit? Its all the same thing really, so making that distinction is kind of pointless. There is no spiritual or physical life. We can be aware that this specific experience is a different awareness, than say, from another awareness. It doesn't stop it from being what it always was.

So saying, i dont believe in life after death, or rather.. i believe that life can only come from life. I wouldn't want to persist in the absence of life even if i could.

Cayce actually says that Adam's focus on physical life or misuse of his gift whatever it was actually caused mankind to go through death. To go through birth and death, the cycles of reincarnation/incarnation. And someone asked Cayce why? And Cayce said it is God's tool in helping Man focusing on the spiritual in the physical world.

Thus Adam's fall was actually self-sacrificial. That someone needed to make the first choice outside the Will of God to get the show going because even before Adam entities had lost their way. Such as the Fall of the Angels is a doctored up mythological version of the Fall of the soul from the presence of God in Heaven. And that many spirits had lost their way. And Adam being the first soul-in flesh being, his own fall contributed to souls to enter the Adamic body and experience death to realize the physical is only temporary and we should be looking to the eternal spiritual life within and not the physical.

[LightBearer]

salad killer and amillus are both speaking of the same coin, just differing sides.

when amillus refers to man and spirit, he is talking of thing from the perspective of the immortal spirit, therefore life is impermenant. when salad speks of these things man is refered to as the BEING. which is fair enough its just perspective. I also view things from the perspective of spirit and thus man is impermenant. The only constant is spirit.

salad is correct life comes from life, but the life that nurtures is not the life of this material being we asociate with life. the life which brings life is our eternal spirit. so death is material our true life is that of something which takes time to come to terms with,

dont think of death, merely a change in what we understand life to be.

Death of the material surely does cause many to focus on our eternity, as how many people are so scared of death and anxious of losing this material being. without death man would sleep walk worry free and then there would be no end to the misery caused by dictators at one extreme, and merely the lower aspects of human nature in our neighbours at the next. without death in this day and age we would be locked in a prison created by those who seek power and wealth, and who knows it may even be us who become the dictators or the thorns in the side of our neighbours if given the time and freedom to never worry about death.

[Robert Hagedorn]

Snakes don't talk and apples grow on apple trees--when was the last time someone went into a grocery store and bought some tree of knowledge of good and evil fruit? Do a search: The First Scandal.