Purpose and the Two Trees - The Nuts & Bolts of the Bible Message Concept 4

Fourth Basic Concept

Purpose is all important when we consider the question, "What is the meaning of a Tree of Life or a Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?"

The third basic concept illustrated that as we grow in knowledge and understanding intellectually--the male aspect--we also grow spiritually in a way that gives us desires for higher uses for that knowledge through the life that grew from gaining the knowledge--the female aspect. Basically, the female aspect takes on spiritual qualities that, to her, are represented by the way relationships are formed in the physical reality by the male aspect as the male aspect grew in knowledge and understanding of the factors necessary to create those relationships satisfying her desires. It was suggested that we meditate on the nature of those spiritual qualities. Please note that the female aspect recognizes relationships as a way to accomplish a given purpose, and the male aspect understands the laws in the physical reality that control how relationships are formed. If GOD created a different reality with different laws, then the male aspect would have different knowledge and understandings; but the female aspect can grow in the same life by desiring relationships in the different physical reality that represent that same life in her. In a sense and as one example, we do this already when Man uses different languages to convey the same ideas between each other. Therefore, it is only the female aspect that has eternal importance in GOD's Purpose while the male aspect dealing with the temporary reality is of only temporary importance because what he is depends entirely on the nature of the temporary reality. Note that in Acts 7:59 Stephen asked Jesus to accept his spirit. If we are truly seeking GOD's Purpose, then our Spirit must be correct--GOD's Spirit. All the life in us that was created through that Spirit will then be saved. In the spiritual body of Christ we will also have GOD's Spirit, which means our soul will remain as it was before we parted this life. See the Word Picture of an Individual, which shows that the expression of our Spirit and What we Love produces our Soul.

It is important to realize that the female aspect's life is not dependent on the physical relationships in anyway because that life has grown spiritually in a way that is related to the way the relationships are formed rather than the physical relationships themselves. The relationships were formed to satisfy a desire which probably occurred because of a discomfort of some kind related to "What we Love" in our heart. Once the way to satisfy that desire has become a life in the female aspect, any future discomfort of a similar nature can readily be satisfied by forming a new relationship of a similar kind to overcome the discomfort--solve the problem or accomplish the purpose. As more and more similar problems are solved, life matures more and more in that area of spiritual growth.

Since the female aspect's life is related to the way relationships are formed, this means intent and motive are much more important than the final results. If an individual does the wrong thing with the right intent or motive, then the results will not be according to their intent or motive; and they will attempt to correct the error to satify their original intent or motive. Therefore, such errors are not sin. Sin occurs from improper intents or motives--incorrect spirit; but our spirit is the result of the way the life in us desires to accomplish a purpose.

A tree is very representative of an individual growing in knowledge and understanding. Consider the many branches of knowledge and understanding we have and how we use that knowledge and understanding in a unified way (the trunk) to produce the relationships that satisfy the desires of our female aspect. If the ground then represents the physical reality, the tree of our being is deeply rooted into the ground as each root reaches out to draw on the resources in the physical reality to grow in knowledge and understanding and satisfy the desires of our female aspect. At the same time our knowledge, understanding, and love producing the tree of our being is reaching toward the heavens. With further consideration several other allegorical representations can be seen when we consider spiritual water and other allegorical pictures in the Bible--a very worthwhile meditative exercise. Consider Mark 8:24. Did the man see men for a short period of time similar to the way GOD sees them?

For Love to be possible, any living individual must have the ability to make freewill choices even if limited in certain ways for the benefit of the individual. Complete freewill is unnecessary. If we are given a reasonable degree of freewill, then we have the ability to make choices that are incorrect for the purpose for which GOD created us. This fact is illustrated in the Garden of Eden Story by the two trees. The Tree of Life represents the concept of our seeking after purposes in a way that allows us to grow spiritually without experiencing serious results of incorrect choices relative to GOD's Purpose because HE is our Teacher. In this condition, our intent is to obey our Teacher perfectly and learn the correct way to accomplish a given purpose. We then experience the results of that purpose and recognize that it is good for us and others. This would be similar to following a math teacher's directions for learning to solve math problems. If we do this accurately, we find we always get the correct answers. Naturally we should be more interested in learning the way to solve the problems rather than any particular answer. Any answer is of little value when compared to knowing the way to get it. So it is with living purposes. The way to obtain the purpose correctly is of immensely more value than acheiving the end result of that purpose. Once a purpose has been achieved that correctly satisfies the female aspect's desire, the female aspect can then express that way when confronted with any similar situations that produce desires for similar purposes. The male aspect then seeks to form any relationship using the laws that unite the physical forms in the way provided by the female aspect--Eve is, therefore, Adams helper.

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is basically not following the directions of our Teacher and attempting to grow spiritually in some other way. Isn't this what a thief does? He wants a new car so he steals it instead of obtaining the knowledge and understanding allowing him to offer services of value to others for which he is paid enough to get a new car in the correct way. This is the basic concept behind eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is not GOD's Purpose to withhold any knowledge and understanding from us. On the contrary, it is HIS Purpose to give us all the good knowledge and understanding we were created to obtain as we are ready to receive it. Basically, when we eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we have decided to obtain what we desire in our way instead of GOD's--take a shortcut and not learn the correct way. GOD's Way is good for all involved now and in the future, including the individual following the Way. Our way serves our purposes rather than GOD's and will not be good for all involved now and in the future. We desire the thing rather than the way to obtain it correctly. Is it any wonder that GOD told Adam he would grow weeds if he and Eve ate the fruit.

Why is the fruit of the Tree said to result in gaining knowledge of both good and evil? We can be very committed to pursuing our purposes. This does not make commitment evil. Rather it is the way commitment is used that is evil. There are thousands of basic, eternal, living qualities that can be learned and practiced daily while we pursue self-serving purposes. Therefore, we grow in knowledge of good and evil at the same time because we learn the way to use what is good for our self-serving purposes. We may also learn the correct way to form many good relationships and then use those relationships to form other relationships for self-serving purposes. When we form physical relationships for self-serving purposes, we see those relationships (things) as supporting who we see ourselves to be--our treasures are on Earth. When we form physical relationships for GOD's Purpose, our focus is toward what is eternal (the way) and physical relationships are seen only as a temporary means to a greater purpose of which we are a part--our treasures our in heaven.

After we have learned many of the evil ways to use good living qualities learned from forming good relationships, we can have a "change of Spirit" and begin pursuing GOD's Purposes. All the good qualities and relationships we have gained, but used for the wrong purpose, can now be used to serve GOD's Purpose. We can be reborn.