Adam

Metaphysical meaning of Adam (mbd)

Adam, ad'-am (Heb.)--red; ruddy; reddish; firm.

a The name of the first man of the human race, according to the Bible (Gen. 5:1-5). b A city (Josh. 3:16).

Meta. The first movement of mind in its contact with life and substance. Adam also represents the generic man, or the whole human race epitomized in an individual-man idea. Eve is the feminine aspect of generic man, outwardly manifest: "male and female created he them. "

If the ego, or will, which is man, has adhered to wisdom faithfully and has carried out in its work the plans that are idealized in wisdom, it has created a harmonious consciousness. Adam in the Garden of Eden is symbolical of that consciousness.

Adam in his original creation was in spiritual illumination. Spirit breathed into him continually the necessary inspiration and knowledge to give him superior understanding. But he began eating, or appropriating, ideas of two powers--God and not God, or good and evil. The result, so the allegory relates, was that he fell away from spiritual life and all that it involves.

Man is Spirit, absolute and unconditioned; but man forms an Adamic consciousness into which he breathes the breath of life; this, in its perfect expression, is the Son of man, an expression of the divine idea. This Adam is all of what we term soul, intellect, and body. We are continually at work with this Adam; we can breathe into his nostrils the breath of life, inspiring him with the idea of life in all its unlimited fullness. We can lift up this Adam by infusing into him these sublime ideas, and in no other way.

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