Eden

The links in the table on the left take you to sub-headings in this article.

If Eden is heaven-on-Earth, is Eden a copy of heaven or is heaven a copy of Eden ? . Which perspective you believe has a major effect on your ethics!

If Eden is a copy of heaven, then why does reincarnation produce such poor results on Earth, measured in terms of spiritual idealism ? . I accept that heaven is a paradise. Assuming that the vast majority of people on Earth go to heaven after the death of the physical body, why do such people lack a spiritual idealism when they reincarnate back to Earth ?

The reason for this is that heaven is only a partial paradise ; it is not a paradise of complete goodness. A person works with only those good qualities of character that he had on Earth. Hence a person on Earth who has more good qualities than another person will also have a more satisfying time in heaven than that other person. The more good qualities that a person has, the wider is the range of goodness that he can work with. Heaven does not seem to add anything of permanent value to the person – what he did not have when he died on Earth he will not acquire in heaven and so will not have when he later reincarnates back to Earth. Heaven is a place of inspiration, not a place of achievement.

In my view, spiritual idealism originates on Earth, not in heaven. The one exception occurs in infancy: the infant yearns for divine love. This is a memory of the experience of love in heaven.

Teachers

Spiritual idealism incorporates all aspects of a human life ; it has been a rare phenomenon in past times. Religious idealism, as a more narrow understanding of spirituality (for example, the understanding of the place of sexuality or of politics is usually left out), has usually been the common mark of having a high view of life.

What does a religious teacher offer his society ?
After all, if he does not fulfil a need then he will not attract followers. What perspective on life does he bring with him ? . Any teacher who makes an impression on his contemporary society does so by giving a new interpretation to the problem of meaning. The constant process of abreaction that everyone, including the teacher, has to face creates the problem of meaning, and this changes in each age. [¹]. For Buddha it was the practice of detaching oneself from the ‘glamour’ of worldly desires and of psychic abilities. For Jesus it was the practice of forgiveness and of community spirit. [²]

What is the problem of meaning in modern times ? . It is the problem of justice. In the spiritual world there is reward for effort but no fairness, no equity. There is no compensation for having made effort but nevertheless failing to achieve what was beyond one's reach. In Aristotelian terms the potential for equity is there in heaven but it has not been actualised, that is, justice has not been differentiated into reward and equity.

The purpose of teachers is to translate the potential into a concrete reality. The spiritual potential of heaven is differentiated and made real by the ego on Earth.

Therefore spiritual reality is always in the process of creation ; I see it rather like Hegel's dynamic view instead of the static view of Plato. For Hegel, creation was a perpetual spiralling movement between the poles of Being and Becoming, leading to ever new forms of activity and achievements.

Buddha brought detachment into focus ; Jesus did the same for forgiveness. Obviously, detachment existed before Buddha, and forgiveness before Jesus ; but no especial importance was attached to them as being necessary requirements of the individual and of society. Now the modern need is to bring fairness into relationships, whether they are social, political, sexual, religious, etc.

In my view, heaven (or that region of it peopled by humans) follows Earth. Spiritual practices only exist in heaven because they were first created on Earth. There is a circle operating. Virtues developed on Earth become part of heaven, and then these heavenly virtues come back down to Earth when the ego reincarnates again. But the circle starts on Earth, not in heaven.

Why is Earth important ?
Because the ego is the agent of consciousness, not the soul. The ego and its standards represent the level of evolution that the soul has reached. No evil resides in the soul ; evil, or badness, can only reside in the ego. So the ego's attitudes to life represent the soul's ability to handle concepts of good and evil, and of truth and ignorance. In other words, the ego's attitudes to life represent the degree of responsibility that the soul can handle.

In summary, in heaven the spiritual values are initially undifferentiated. Differentiation into specific values occurs on Earth. It is what a person does on Earth that matters, not what he does in heaven. Therefore:

Heaven is a copy of Eden!

Goodness versus Truth

If the original Eden was an undifferentiated paradise, why did mankind leave it ? . Because knowledge (of good and evil) was needed more than a life of innocence. And to acquire that knowledge, the person has to go through the experiences of good and evil.

The religious consciousness puts the golden age of mankind in the past. Eden was a time of long ago. All that happens now is that man degenerates as he marches into the future. Nostalgia for past ages of faith is a recurrent phenomenon in times of crisis. Is this perspective valid ? . This perspective is based on criteria of good and evil. A different valuation arises when we move the base of analysis to criteria of truth and ignorance.

‘Good and evil ’ and ‘truth and ignorance’ are opposite poles of critical thought ;
they will always yield opposing perspectives when applied to any human situation, past or present.

When a person or a nation is successful, that success camouflages the mistakes that he or it made. Similarly, when times are good then any potential trouble or confusion remains hidden. Therefore a golden era is always a time of little psychological awareness.

Consider history from the polarity of truth. Assume that history is the unfolding scenario of important ideas : these ideas will follow a dialectical path in the way that they affect society. [³]

In the beginning of consciousness, Eden was the abode of goodness, and truth slept. Paradise starts to change as choices have to be made ; now mistakes occur and sorrow is born. As the good times fade, hidden psychological inadequacies begin to surface into consciousness. The subconscious mind begins to stir, thus activating the process of abreaction.

The power of the subconscious mind increases as external stress mounts, as society descends into turmoil. Any problem that is vague and merely annoying is difficult to analyse. As stress increases so problems become magnified and high-lighted, and hence their boundaries can be perceived more clearly. External stress sharpens internal thought. Yet psychology exists only at the stage of single insights and aphoristic witticisms.

Finally, when social upheaval becomes a regular occurrence and abreaction is creating serious effects, systematic psychological penetration into the turbulent subconscious mind becomes possible. Now the laws governing human behaviour, human sociability, human evolution can be investigated and formulated. Truth (about mankind) arises only in times of distress.

Within an evolutionary perspective, truth and goodness switch like a see-saw: when goodness is ‘up and dominant’, truth is ‘down and out’; when truth is in the ascendant, goodness seems to have vacated the arena. It is not possible for an age to be both one of goodness and one of truth.

In eastern thought, life is a perpetual cycle of good and dark ages. In my view this cycle is actually a spiral (along the lines of Hegel's view of change). Suppose that a golden age is current, with the society having little understanding of themselves. As such, the understanding of morality is low, and fear of the gods' anger and retribution is the mainspring of action. The human is moral not because of innate goodness but through fear. This state of affairs has little to recommend it.

Gradually Eden fades and society descends into a dark age. Now psychological awareness develops and some understanding of the human condition is achieved. Finally a new golden age is created. But this new Eden is not the same as the previous one. It is qualitatively different because of the possession of some degree of wisdom. Wisdom replaces innocence. So a higher level of morality can be practised, with less fear and more love.

Inevitably the next dark age begins, and again ends with a new golden age. As each dark age increases mankind's knowledge of himself, so each succeeding golden age achieves a higher level of morality than the previous one achieved. Mankind spirals dialectically towards its destiny.

The two perspectives centred on goodness and truth look on change in opposing ways. The religious consciousness always looks back, and wants to return to the previous golden age. In contrast, the philosophical consciousness sees the relevance of distress, and looks forward to the next golden age.

The future Eden is always better than the Eden of long ago.

The number in brackets at the end of each reference takes you back to the paragraph that featured it.

[¹]. My analysis of catharsis and the process of abreaction is given in the five articles on Abreaction. See home page.
The issue of meaning is described in the article Meaning in Life. [1]

[²]. The role of a spiritual teacher is examined in the article Dialectics and Evolution. [2]

[³]. The dialectical effect of ideas is described in the article Dialectics and Evolution. [3]

Copyright © 2003 Ian Heath
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Ian Heath
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