Where did the Human Condition come from?

Are Adam and Eve to blame?

“When you are ready to wake up you are going to wake up. And if you are not ready, you’re going to stay pretending you are poor little me.” Alan Watts

In my prior articles I described the Human Condition and how it causes all humans to suffer. By distorting our perception of reality it stands in the way of us living a blissful life.

So, where did the Human Condition come from?

There are many theories about the origins of the Human Condition. The best known is perhaps the story of Adam and Eve. In that myth Adam and Eve, who were the so-called first living humans on the earth, were thrown out of the Garden of Eden by God for “seeking the truth.” We are told that they were responsible for the fall of humankind and caused humans to forever live in endless suffering. Since then, we humans have been wandering the earth, disconnected from the creator and the truth.

Although it is only a myth, it conveys the idea that at some point in history we humans lost contact with God-Source and have been living in pain ever since.

There are hundreds of other stories about the so-called “fall of humanity.” Here is a recent one I found that captures the essence of what might have happened:

Once upon a time there was a flock of rare birds who lived in two locations. They lived half the year in Brazil (from January to June) and half the year in Canada (from July to December). They took the trip to and from each location in January and July every year. One July as they were flying to over Florida on the way to Canada, one bird said, “I think it looks better down there, let’s go to Florida instead of Canada.” So, they did.

After that, year after year, they stayed in Florida instead of Canada. Over the years, they began to change. They began to eat new foods and interact differently with the new environment and species. Slowly the food ran out and they began to lose their feathers. As a result, they had to work very hard to find new foods and keep warm. Many got very sick and some died. Finally, a few of the birds decided to return to their original path to Canada. As a result, they began to flourish again.

This story represents the way we humans tend to think that we are separate from the rest of life. We  also think we are more important than other living things and systems. We don’t often see the impact that we have on other living things and visa versa.

In this state of ignorance, we think we are masters of the universe. We live our lives oblivious to the natural world and use it to suit our needs, not realizing that there is an intricate design and flow to everything. We fail to see the intelligent design and our role in it. In other words, the moment we thought of ourselves as separate from the earth, separate from each other and separate from the creator, we began the path of self-destruction.

The so-called “fall” of humankind is beautifully described by author and academic Steve Taylor. As he says, at some point in time humans forgot who they really were and fell into an egoic-state of mind, which lead to catastrophe. Here are his words:

“The collective psychological shift that our ancestors went through thousands of years ago – the point when humans began to “fall” asleep – occurred when they lost this sense of connection [to nature, to others, to the earth and to their essence]. A new highly individualized sense of self developed. People began to see themselves as egos enclosed within their own mental space, looking out at the world. For the first time they experienced themselves as separate from the natural world. … This new separate self brought a sense of ego-isolation, of apartness and aloneness…. with a sense of loss and incompleteness.”    “The Leap” p 14

How to wake up from the sleep

So, the ultimate goal, if you will, of all of humanity is to wake up and see that we are all connected to everything and an extension of the creator.  This is waking up. So how do we do this? There are two ways: fast or slow.

For some, awareness comes in an instant. This can happen during silence, meditation, hypnotherapy or while taking plant medicines. Many techniques can open the mind to higher levels of consciousness. Many sages talk about going beyond the mind to states of expanded awareness.  Some say that Jesus was born in this state, others said he had to learn it. The Buddha spent years trying to obtain the state until it suddenly occurred, instantaneously.

For most of us, our awakening journey is much slower. In my upcoming book, I suggest three specific strategies – based on the three barriers that prevent us from waking up: the ego-identity (e.g. the small self), the pain-body (e.g. the shadow) and our inability to live in the present moment. Thus, I suggest that the way to wake up is threefold: transcend your ego, heal your pain-body and learn how to live more in the Now.

Stay tuned

In my next entries I talk about:

• What is the Ego-Identity?

• How to transcend your ego

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