Sam Kneller's Blog, page 44

Human Life – The Highest Level of Life on Earth and Maybe in the Universe

Human life is superior to all other life forms on Earth. Humankind is the number one factor that affects our planet. What is human life?

Human life, what is its essence? How would you define what makes up human life? Are we just entangled cells?

Human life and expanding its comprehension is the subject of this chapter. It transitions us into the last eight chapters of Audit of the Universe that focus on humankind. It so happens that humankind is unique in ways I’ll elaborate in these chapters. Remember the focus of our quest is: How to establish peace and prosperity on Earth. Humankind, ranking as the highest form of life, has a definite responsibility in finding this pathway.

(Audit of the Universe, chapter 7.1)

Inventory of the Universe delved into the mechanics of human life: Genes, DNA, stem cells, reproduction, chronobiology and many other aspect of how humans are composed. Audit of the Universe is a summary (of which this blog post is an excerpt) of where humankind is in this quest. But Audit would not be complete without a deeper understanding of humankind: Men, women, children, families, relationships. How do individuals, males and females, groups like communities, races and nations function and think? These upcoming chapters delve into the vicissitudes of humankind.

We are going to start by defining what human life is. Down through the ages men have given their best efforts to try to define human life. Here how some major philosophers, whose names you’ll recognize, describe humankind.

The Philosophies of Humans on what is Human Life? Just who are we?

Plato wrote about how we humans have created communities as a way of reinforcing the power of our reason and communication. With animals, a struggle for power or disagreement always goes to the physically strongest in the herd. Human civilization, by contrast, provides a way for the smartest or most socially adept person to lead.

We don’t compete with animals on a physical level, our society has simultaneously supported and been supported by the advanced cognitive power that separates us from the animals.

Aristotle pointed to communication as the factor that defines us. Although some animals are capable of simple communication, only human language captures abstract concepts. A bird can indicate the location of food, but only we can communicate what a space looked like before the food arrived, or describe a plan for growing more food tomorrow. In his discussion of this vital difference, Aristotle also indicated another uniquely human quality – our ability to discuss and internalize moral codes. Morals and ethics are inherently abstract concepts, and only a being who can think and communicate in the abstract can be a moral or ethical creature.

“Or immoral and unethical,” Galacti points out. Reminding us that Audit of the Universe is about the state of Earth today, with each of us having to evaluate whether the glass of peace and prosperity is getting fuller or emptier–more or less moral and ethical.

Rene Descartes, famous for saying “I think, therefore I am,” added the observation that true cognition is only possible through abstract language. The conversations we have with ourselves, the internal thoughts which so define our lives as humans are only possible with the abstract words and ideas unique to mankind. He said “Animals are machines without souls. Lacking consciousness they are incapable of thought. They follow instinct.”

Kant agrees, writing that of all creatures on earth only we are not servants to instinct. Animals are aware of their current circumstance, but humans can imagine changes to our circumstance. This imagination, unique to our human life, is the foundation for everything we have accomplished. Kant also expanded on the discussion Aristotle started, pointing out that only when free of instinct can we be capable of forming morality. Any individual human among us has the freedom to follow or not follow ethics and morals, while a hungry predator must kill. It lacks the ability of conscious choice we take for granted.

Rousseau built on this conversation by adding the concept of “perfectability.” By this, he didn’t mean that we are perfect, or even that we can become perfect. Instead, he identified humans as the only beings on earth that can learn and improve upon itself. Lions 10,000 years ago lived and behaved as lions do today. Sharks have been sharks for millions of years. But we, and we alone, can change and transform as individuals and as a species. Animals obey their instinct, says Rousseau, and thus neither gain nor lose anything from generation to generation. We use intellect, experimentation and imagination to learn, grow and change…and to alter our environment through construction, innovation and invention.

In the late 19th century, Bergson identified inventiveness as another characteristic unique to us. Some animals create tools, such as a monkey thrusting a stick into a termite mound to gather a tasty snack, but even the most advanced animal uses but one or two tools and even then uses only simple, found objects. They don’t manufacture tools. Humankind uses and manufactures a vast variety of tools, and even invents tools for the express purpose of building other tools. This is the flip side of Rousseau’s perfectability. We not only have the capacity to change ourselves, but also the capacity to change our environment.

“As an aside, consider that how we use that inventiveness for good or ill can be … inconsistent,” I admit. Galacti raises one eyebrow in arch agreement.

During the 20th century, Heidigger discussed existence as a concept and defined us as the only creatures on earth that exist. He argued that animals were conscious and aware, but actual existence requires three abilities:

The ability to see far-reaching possibilities
The ability to analyze potential consequences
The ability to make decisions based on that sight and analysis

Of all species on earth, only we have demonstrated even one of those three definitions.

“Over the centuries,” Galacti summarizes, “some of humanity’s most intelligent minds have discussed, debated and considered the differences between man and animals. They have expressed a variety of viewpoints in what differentiates the two, but are united overall in the opinion that humankind is somehow more than the animals.”

“But how?” I ask.

“In trying to identify qualities that make humans, human, philosophers identified several traits: civilization, language, abstract thought, morals, ethics, perfectability, technology, analysis. Put together, they represent different facets of the same human gem: cognitive capacity beyond the physical mechanics of the brain. All animals have brains, and are capable of incredible prowesses, but only man has a mind.”

This blog post is an excerpt from chapter 7.1 of Audit of the Universe

Dig Deeper into The Explanation

Join The Explanation Newsletter to stay informed of updates. and future events. No obligations, total privacy, unsubscribe if you want. Your gift is a free pdf of Inventory of the Universe and a free pdf of Answering the Big Questions in Life

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Email address:

Leave this field empty if you're human:

Learn how to play Take Inventory – The Interconnectivity Game (free) that nourishes your neurons and is taking the world by storm. Play a round with family and friends. View the above videos and use the tags at the end of this blog for dozens of ideas to play Take Inventory – The Game.

See the index of the book Inventory of the Universe to find a specific chapter and read it online.

Purchase Inventory of the Universe at Amazon – Purchase the Kindle version

Google Play – Barnes@Nobles – Kobo – iTunes

Unlock Bible meaning via Biblical Hebrew … with no fuss. The free video course that puts you in the driver’s seat to navigate the Bible as never before. Join now

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God Made Something on the Climactic 7th Day of Creation

God made … He was active on the 7th day of creation–the pivotal creation climax

God made something on that 7th day of Creation week. What was it and how important is it?

The 7th day was a day when ‘God made …’ This day was the pivotal creation climax simply because the six other days lead up to and into it. (We’ll have plenty of space and time to develop the relationship between man and the seventh day of the week and the raison d’etre of this distinctive seventh day.)

(Origin of the Universe, chapter 5.2)

The 7th day of Creation Week was a day when 'God made ...' This day was the pivotal creation climax simply because the six other days lead up to and into it. In what way and how it works is the whole 'plot' of the Bible story. Do…
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You can follow along by using the online Bible, the Interlinear Bible, Strong’s Concordance and the Hebrew/Greek Concordance at  UnlockBibleMeaning.com


If you’ve come across this blog post for the first time then please know that it is part of a larger work. To see the entire context, which you can read online, click here.


To study a Hebrew word like ‘shabbat’ translated rested click UnlockBibleMeaning.com Do a ‘Word Search’ for ‘rested’ and switch to the Interlinear Bible or Strong.

Here’s why.

In Gen 2.1, at the end of the 6th day it clearly states that all the creation was finished.

Genesis 2.1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

This means that all the ‘physical’, the animate (space, atmosphere, water, land, flora, fauna, life, human body, brain) and inanimate (mind) as I laid out in Inventory of the Universe, was indeed complete. As we look around we take note of our surroundings with all of our senses. This is the physical world that science has investigated extensively and attested both its microscopic minuteness and its immense grandeur. Pick up a National Geographic or Geo magazine and we are astounded by our Universe’s splendor, variety and intricacy.

We’re going to see that although this physical creation was complete at the end of the sixth day there was still much yet to be accomplished.

On the 6th day of Creation Week, although the physical creation was complete God still had much yet to be accomplished. Something was 'made' on the 7th day and thereafter.
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Adam, who has been created that the sixth day, spent a certain part of it naming the animals. As a plot twist, he has a part of himself removed, which becomes Eve, and then they spend a certain amount of time oogling over each other—put yourself in their shoes!—after which they both receive some instruction from God—and now it is sunset and the end of the sixth day.

Creation week still has one day to go. A very important day—the culmination day as indicated by Genesis 2.3:

And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it:
because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

וַיְבָרֶךְ אֱלֹהִים אֶת-יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי, וַיְקַדֵּשׁ אֹתוֹ:  כִּי בוֹ שָׁבַת מִכָּל מְלַאכְתּוֹ, אֲשֶׁר–בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים לַעֲשׂוֹת

Here the Hebrew word ‘shabbat’ is translated rested (I’m color coding the English and Hebrew so you can see it … even if you can’t read it. You can also check UnlockBibleMeaning.com, find Gen. 2.3 and switch to the Interlinear Bible to see the word correspondence). From this term we have the word: ‘Sabbath’, known as the Jewish day of rest from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.

Galacti pulls out Strong’s Concordance for this next exploration. Remember, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible is our handheld help-tool for every word in the Bible, with all the root meanings and derivatives. If you’re not aware of this Bible help read up on it here.

Here’s what Strong’s Concordance has to say about ‘rested‘ – ‘shabbat’ (7673):

H7673.

שָׁבַת shâbath shaw-bath’; a primitive root; to repose, i.e. desist from exertion; used in many implied relations (causative, figurative or specific):

KJV – (cause to, let, make to) cease, celebrate, cause (make) to fail, keep (sabbath), suffer to be lacking, leave, put away (down), (make to) rest, rid, still, take away.

H7674.

שֶׁבֶת shebeth sheh’-beth; from H7673 (שָׁבַת); rest, interruption, cessation:

KJV – cease, sit still, loss of time.

The basic word means ‘rest’, but ‘in many implied relations’. In the course of seeing the full shape of this ‘Shabbat piece’ of the puzzle we’ll visit all these various translations and meanings. For now note 7674—from 7673—with the same 3 root letters—and one of these related meanings: ‘sit still’. We could say that God rested—sitting still. In modern Hebrew the word to sit uses the same 3 root letters; shin (שׁ), beit (ב), tuf (ת).

Now notice the two verbs at the end of this same verse:

Genesis 2.3

He rested from all His work which God had ‘created’ and ‘made’.

(made-laasot from Strong’s 6213) אֱלֹהִים לַעֲשׂוֹת (created-bara from Strong’s 1254) אֲשֶׁר בָּרָא

The word for ‘created’ is ‘bara’, a verb only used with God as the subject (see Further Study below). The ‘bara’ in Genesis is the creation ex nihilo (‘from nothing’—remember, just take it as a fairytale story if you like). I shall develop the creation story extensively in future blog posts and the book ‘Origin of the Universe’ but for now we’re still focusing on God’s goal … the ‘why’ of the Bible story.

For now, let’s turn our attention to ‘made‘ from the original word ‘laasot’ and note a couple of points about the Hebrew text.

The word ‘and’ is not present in Hebrew—it was added by the translators. In fact, one of my Hebrew teachers made this astute comment, “The sentence could easily have ended after the word ‘created’”. It could’ve, but it doesn’t because the verb ‘made’ adds a vital fundamental point, without which this puzzle piece loses its entire shape.
Now notice below that in fact the word ‘made’ appears three times in verses 2-3. In Hebrew the first two renditions are ‘asa’—made in the past tense. The third rendition of ‘made’ is not in the past structure, it is ‘laasot‘—In English grammar we’d say this is an infinitive. I have no intention of giving grammatical explanations. All I will say is that an infinitive is a ‘verb preceded by the particle ‘to’—That said, ‘laasot’ can be translated, ‘to do’.

Genesis 2.2-3

2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made (עָשָֽׂה); and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made (עָשָֽׂה).

3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made (לַעֲשׂוֹת).

When we put this all together we have God sitting, resting, having ceased (see this meaning of 7673 above) from the ex nihilo creation, but He is in the state or condition of ‘to do’ (6213), doing something. He is anything but idle during the 7th day. What occupation is He pursuing? What is He doing?

This blog post is an excerpt from chapter 5.2 of Origin of the Universe

Further Study:

For those of you who have some knowledge of Hebrew, check the Hebrew words for ‘had made’ at the end of Gen. 2.2 and the end of Gen. 2.3. Notice that the English translation is identical but the Hebrew construction is very different. Verse 2 is ‘had made’ but verse 3 is ‘to make.’

For those of you without this knowledge of Hebrew, you can still see the difference in Hebrew verb construction by using the Interlinear Bible and checking the last word in Gen. 2.3 and 4

Check to see that in Genesis 2.3 ‘rested’ is indeed translated ‘ceased’ by the KJV translators in Strong’s 7673. Yes, I want you to double-check these points at the beginning of our journey because I want you to know I’m not giving you Sam Kneller’s translation of the Hebrew. The KJV translators were much better Hebrew scholars than I’ll ever be. ALL their various translations for the SAME Hebrew word give ALL the nuances and various meaning of each Hebrew word. As I conclude in the course ‘7 Keys to Master Biblical Hebrew’ … Each Hebrew Word, of and by itself, tells a story. We’re just beginning to get into these exciting stories.

NB Remember that in Strong’s all the words following ‘KJV” (King James Version) are words used by the original translators to render ONE Hebrew word. You may want to revise this concept of multiple English translations for each Hebrew word that I’ve expanded here. Soon there will be a video course about the 7 Keys to Master Biblical Hebrew. A Study Method to Unlock Bible Meaning. As you’re beginning to see, that’s exactly what we’re doing in this blog post. And this is just an inkling of what we’ll be accomplishing.

Bara: only God performs ‘creation.’ This word is used in other contexts and with other translations but when it comes to this type of ‘creating’ something … only God is the Author. You can read ALL the contexts in the Old Testament where the word ‘bara’ is found. Here’s how:1. Go to UnlockBibleMeaning.com (this only works on desktop, not smartphones, for the time-being)

2. Find the reference Gen 2.3 and the word ‘created’ in that verse

3. Switch to Strong’s Concordance for Gen 2.3 (use the drop-down box towards the top right of the screen)

4. Click on the number H1254 (to the right of ‘created’)

5. You’ll see the Strong’s information in the right pane of your screen

6. Mouseover the Strong’s entry for H1254 and the bottom section will reveal more links

7. Click on Hebrew Concordance for H1254

8. This will display EVERY SINGLE USAGE of H1254 in the Old Testament in its contextual verse.

9. Read these verses to see that when it comes to ‘create – bara’ only God does this.

Dig Deeper into The Explanation

Join The Explanation Newsletter to stay informed of updates. and future events. No obligations, total privacy, unsubscribe if you want. Your gift is a free pdf of The Explanation and a free pdf of Answering the Big Questions in Life

TheExplanation.com

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you're human:

Learn how to play Take Inventory – The Interconnectivity Game (free) that nourishes your neurons and is taking the world by storm. Play a round with family and friends. View the above videos and use the tags at the end of this blog for dozens of ideas to play Take Inventory – The Game.

See the index of the book Inventory of the Universe to find a specific chapter and read it online.

Purchase Inventory of the Universe at Amazon – Purchase the Kindle version

Google Play – Barnes@Nobles – Kobo – iTunes

Unlock Bible meaning via Biblical Hebrew … with no fuss. The free video course that puts you in the driver’s seat to navigate the Bible as never before. Join now

Since you read all the way to here… you liked it. Please use the Social Network links just below to share this excerpt of Inventory of the Universe, God Made Something on the Climactic 7th Day of Creation

The post God Made Something on the Climactic 7th Day of Creation appeared first on The Explanation with Sam Kneller.

Balance of Animals in all Ecosystems Impacts Humans Positively or Negatively

Tipping the balance of our fauna worldwide with trophy hunting and invasive species. Are we on the brink? 

Nature, our environment, animals, fish, birds … is humanity helping keep it all in balance?

Trophy Animals

At the intersection of animals we view as possessions and those we view as threats are the animals we hunt for trophies. We kill approximately 100 million animals each year as hunting trophies, including threatened and endangered species like lions, polar bears and rhinoceri.

Audit of the Universe, chapter 6.3)

Although this seems barbaric to some, there is strong evidence that sport hunting plays an important role in maintaining a balanced ecosystem. There’s even more evidence that hunters and fishers are among the most vocal supporters of environmental conservation. Much like the original farmers and herdsmen cared for animals so their supply of meat wouldn’t end, hunters and fishers understand that damage to the environment threatens their ability to hunt and fish. They go to great lengths to protect the environment their fish and game call home, and to preserve it so they can share their pastime with their children.

We kill approximately 100 million animals each year as hunting trophies, including threatened and endangered species like lions, polar bears and rhinoceri.
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Poachers are an exception to this hunters-as-stewards-of-animals situation. These parasitic humans kill or capture exotic animals for profit, violating national and international laws as they do so. Since they are already breaking the law, poachers pay little attention to laws about animal cruelty. United Nations research reports that illegal hunting and trapping of exotic animals could eliminate the wild populations of several species of rhino, gorilla and tiger by 2020.

The Forgotten Animals

It’s likely that the least fortunate relationship with us belongs to those animals with whom we have no relationship. According to figures from the Center for Biological Diversity, thousands of species of amphibians, birds, invertebrates and reptiles are now endangered primarily because we are destroying or fundamentally altering their habitats. As we require more and more land for living, farming, mining and even waste disposal, we take that land from areas that were once safe homes for animals.

This kind of destruction also happens when humans attempt to eliminate an “enemy” animal by aggressively killing the top-level predator. This upsets the local ecosystem and can endanger species we were never even aware of. For example, killing all of the wolves in an area allows the deer population to rise. Those deer eat more local plants than is sustainable, leading herbivores in the area to die of starvation. That same over-consumption of plant leaves less shade on the nearby river, harming that ecosystem as the water temperature rises.

In the ocean off Japan, swarms of 450-pound jellyfish are appearing in populations of hundreds and thousands. These giants – called Nomura’s Jellyfish – have existed for eons, but only began appearing in such large numbers recently. Like the algae blooms we discussed in Chapter 15, this is a sign of an imbalance in the ecosystem these creatures inhabit. Scientists are still investigating the causes, but a betting man would put his money on the unanticipated, unintentional result of something we did.

Invaders from Inner Space

“Fauna create a system, and like all systems it must be in balance to properly work,” Galacti says.

“True. If a car had tires of four different sizes, it wouldn’t go very far.”

“Nor would the ride be very comfortable,” he replies. “Fauna in nature lives in a state of competition. In ecosystems left to themselves, the animals form a balance where no species becomes dominant. If you transplant a new species into such a system, one with no natural predators or which thrives especially well in its new environment, it can overrun the area to the detriment of other species and of itself.”

The image of a brown tree snake forms in my mind. Humans introduced this snake to Guam and other Pacific Islands to curb the growing rat population. That plan worked, but we forgot to take into account one small fact: snakes find birds delicious. Having grown and developed in an environment devoid of snakes, the island avians had no defense. Many species of bird are now extinct, or facing extinction, because of brown snake predation.

Other species with similar, if not as drastic, invasive effects include zebra mussels, mongoose and raccoons. King crabs are wiping out fish in certain areas… and Asian carp are threatening the great Lakes after taking over parts of the Mississippi  and its tributaries). In all cases, we humans brought the unbalancing newcomer to the party, most ofter for good reasons – but we did not anticipate the potential consequences.

Until the past few decades, we allowed this kind of species importation without any oversight or restriction. Since the 1970s, though, we have become more aware of the destructive potential of invasive species. As of this writing, over 100 countries have signed biodiversity laws aimed to restore or maintain proper balance among fauna and flora species.

Man’s Balancing Act

Galacti gestures to all the animals in the park around us. As I look at each one, my mind fills with visual impressions of how that species has fared at the hand of man, the dominant form of life on the Land.

“When we were with the plants,” he says, “we saw how mankind’s relationship with the earth moved you further and further from your connection with the world of plants. Much the same has happened to your relationship with animals. As your daily lives have drawn away from the animals, you have noticed less the impact your decisions have on those you share the earth with.”

Man is the highest form of life on Earth, but we live alongside and share our planet with the animals and plants. Balance in our relationship is important for their as well as our health and well-being. We must ask ourselves: based on the evidence scrolling through our mind’s eye, have the last 10 to 20 years been to the benefit of the animals, and even to ourselves? What trajectory are we following with regard to our relationship with nature and animals in particular?

This blog post is an excerpt from chapter 6.3 of Audit of the Universe

Dig Deeper into The Explanation

Join The Explanation Newsletter to stay informed of updates. and future events. No obligations, total privacy, unsubscribe if you want. Your gift is a free pdf of The Explanation and a free pdf of Answering the Big Questions in Life

TheExplanation.com

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you're human:

Learn how to play Take Inventory – The Interconnectivity Game (free) that nourishes your neurons and is taking the world by storm. Play a round with family and friends. View the above videos and use the tags at the end of this blog for dozens of ideas to play Take Inventory – The Game.

See the index of the book Inventory of the Universe to find a specific chapter and read it online.

Purchase Inventory of the Universe at Amazon – Purchase the Kindle version

Google Play – Barnes@Nobles – Kobo – iTunes

Unlock Bible meaning via Biblical Hebrew … with no fuss. The free video course that puts you in the driver’s seat to navigate the Bible as never before. Join now

Since you read all the way to here… you liked it. Please use the Social Network links just below to share this excerpt of Inventory of the Universe, Balance of Animals in all Ecosystems Impacts Humans Positively or Negatively

The post Balance of Animals in all Ecosystems Impacts Humans Positively or Negatively appeared first on The Explanation with Sam Kneller.

God’s Goal – What’s the Point of The Bible Story?

God’s goal: What’s the point of all these Bible stories? Are they just entertainment or is there a purpose?

God’s goal, what is it?

The curtain opens on the next part of our show. The audience hasn’t left, not even for refreshments. They’re still waiting.  It’s a live performance, one night only, standing room only. The world premiere of a movie.

(Origin of the Universe, chapter 5.1)

You can follow along by using the online Bible, the Interlinear Bible, Strong’s Concordance and the Hebrew/Greek Concordance at UnlockbibleMeaning.com


If you’ve come across this blog post for the first time then please know that it is part of a larger work. To see the entire context, which you can read online, click here.


Dig for Bible Study gems to enhance your understanding : See suggestions at the end of this blog post.

Now we examine God’s goal, the reasons for His actions. What His venture is that He is going to accomplish. The ultimate goal that we can summarize in one sentence. The theme of the Bible—the whole story.

You might be surprised to learn you already know what it is!

Every single human being who has ever walked the face of this earth knows what God’s plan is because it is probably the dearest desire of all human beings—no matter what their race, creed, politics or religion is. Think about what your deepest desire is.

You might be surprised to learn you already know God’s goal. The reasons for His actions. What His venture is that He is going to accomplish. The ultimate goal that we can summarize in one sentence. The theme of the entire Bible.
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As we said, our goal is living together in peace and prosperity… as individuals, families, harmonious nations. God wants what you and all people search and hope for.

Every single human being knows what God’s plan is because it is probably the dearest desire of all of us: Living together in peace and prosperity… as individuals, families, harmonious nations. God wants just that for everyone.
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Crazy simple… too simple you say, so simple that it’s not even the ‘big revelation’ you were hoping for, because it seems so obvious. Well, let me just say that the revelation and mystery is in the ‘plot’ of the story.

Onstage, we see a tableau (or freeze frame) of God with the characters of ‘It’s a Small World’. God’s goal, living together in prosperity and peace, is as visible as it is invisible in the Creation account at the outset in Genesis. Let’s see it revealed in a context leading up to just one simple verse in Genesis.

Gen 1:31-2:6

1.31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

2 .1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

If ever there was a laughable, ludicrous, contradictory even ridiculous ‘situation’ describing the great, powerful God, this is it. After all why does God need to ‘rest?’

Was he in need of a vacation after such a spurt of activity during the previous six days? Why is he resting with the naked Adam and Eve? Is he just too exhausted?

Of course not. According to Isaiah 40:28, He is never tired, ‘He will not grow tired or weary.’

Genesis 2:3 is one of the major foundational ‘pieces’ of the puzzle that has been torn to confetti by misinterpretation and miscomprehension and has become unrecognizable. In fact, it is the framework for the whole plan of God. Put this masterpiece in the wrong place, or, better yet, eliminate it altogether, and none of the other pieces of the puzzle fit.

Genesis 2:3 is one of the major foundational ‘pieces’ of the puzzle that has been torn to confetti by misinterpretation and miscomprehension and has become unrecognizable. In fact, it is the framework for the whole plan of God.
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Just as this book you’re reading, Origin of the Universe, unfolds in a certain planned way, with each piece following a well-considered design so that the subsequent parts only make sense in the context of what has gone before, so this verse from Genesis has stayed constant throughout the many translations and editions of the Bible. However, the translation, while preserving the placing of the important verse, confounds our understanding.

Straight away we’ll realize the important role getting into the Biblical Hebrew is going to play.

We are going to dissect this verse to wring out the proper comprehension. What is the real shape of this master piece of our puzzle to which all other pieces are attached? Worldwide understanding by philosophers, scientists, government leaders and yes, even religious figures can be so helter-skelter.

Galacti points out that they are sincere. They attempt to explain life and how to live in peace and prosperity, and expound on the question, ‘why is it such a mess?’  They have a noble spark inside them—they want to understand.

Galacti suggests a closer study of the ‘master piece’ and the verses that surround it. Why include verses 4-6? particularly verses 5-6 about no rain and ‘mist watering the ground’–it seems disjointed from 1-3.  But, it isn’t, it fits in neatly–you just have to understand how. Remember, all the pieces of the puzzle fit together and enhance one another.

Gen 1:31-2:6

1.31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

2.1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord  God made the earth and the heavens,

5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

These verses cover the sixth and seventh days of the seven-day creation week. Notice here that we’re straddling two chapters, which is the way the King James translators separated this text.

Galacti is mulling over this creation week story: What is the culmination, the high point, the climax of the creation? Is it the appearance of ‘light’, the first creation endeavor on the 1st day? Perhaps man and woman in the image of God on the 6th day? Or maybe the 7th day itself, after all, often time events lead to a conclusive pinnacle. Would the 7–day creation week story culminate with man and terminate with an anti-climatic event like the 7th day?

Further study:

Yes, you’re going to have to be patient for an answer to this and many other questions. May I suggest you do your own personal study. Go to www.UnlockBibleMeaning.com and find Genesis 2.3.

Use the Strong’s concordance to look up the Hebrew words for ‘created’ and ‘made’ and see the difference.
 Ask yourself why this ‘repetition’? It seems redundant to add ‘made’ immediately after ‘created.’

We’re now getting into the nitty-gritty of Bible meaning … not just Bible reading. We’re going to learn to dig for Bible meaning. The gems are not on the surface, you have to roll up your sleeves, and get your hands dirty … so to speak.

Regarding the ‘mist watering the ground,’ is there some enlightenment to be gleaned from this context?
Suggestion: look at Deut: 11.10-11 also about ‘watering’ and where it comes from.
Is there a relationship between the mist watering the ground and created / made?
Search for other contexts where we find ‘created / made’ associated and see what they have to say. (Gen 2.4, Isa 43.7 etc.)
Feel free to add your findings to the comments below. I do reserve the privilege of editing comments to maintain the integrity of this website.

This blog post is an excerpt from chapter 5.1 of Origin of the Universe

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Endangered Species of Animals have Humans Focused on Fauna

Endangered species of animal hold a special place in human hearts. We love animals but never before have we been in danger of losing so many species.

Endangered species. Humanity has managed to put numerous animal species in jeopardy of survival. Can we turn it around and bring animal biodiversity back to life.

Forbidden animals

Endangered species of animals has caused humanity to take a step back and look at what we’re doing with the animal population.  One aspect of considering something a possession is giving oneself permission to damage or break it. Animal testing runs the gamut from psychological torture to actual vivisection to intentionally giving an animal cancer. In some cases, this treatment is arguably a necessary step in improving human quality and quantity of life – as in testing drugs and medical procedures on animals prior to approving them for human trials. In others, the cruelty is part of manufacturing a luxury like snack food or cosmetics.

(Audit of the Universe, chapter 6.2)

But not everybody supports this kind of treatment for animals. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), the Animal Welfare Enforcement Agency in Britain, and China’s Voice4Animals are just three organizations – with a total membership exceeding one million – that organize protests and pursue legal channels to reduce and eliminate needless animal cruelty. Three examples of the successful influence of such organizations are the cases of ivory, whaling and fur.

Elephants, rhinoceri, walrus and dozens of other species with tusks or ivory horns were hunted for centuries, a lot of which are endangered species. The rest of their bodies were habitually left abandoned once the high-value ivory was removed. Over the course of the mid-20th-century, a combination of public opinion and legal change reduced the ivory trade to a trickle of illegally poached specimens. Unfortunately, as of Nov. 2017 Trump has lifted the US ban on elephant trophy hunting.
Fancy furs from animals like beaver, ermine and mink, once drove entire economies and reduced species like the American buffalo to near-extinction. Like ivory-bearing species, these animals were rarely eaten and the bodies were wasted after their skins were removed. During the late 20th century, protests staged in major shopping areas turned public opinion against wearing such skins. Though few legal restrictions are in place against producing fur, the demand has dropped sufficiently to reduce production by half between the 1960s and 2010.
Throughout the 15th through 19th centuries, whales were hunted for their meat and the blubber which produced clean-burning lamp oil. Modern whaling techniques made the hunt exponentially easier for humans, and correspondingly hard on whale populations. Some endangered species neared extinction before groups – most notably Greenpeace – campaigned on behalf of these highly advanced forms of animals. As of 2014, whaling is only legal in Japan, Norway and Iceland.

Animal favorites of Humans

Perhaps the most fortunate of animals are those for whom we have developed true affection. Man views our pets as, if not our children, favored younger siblings for which we feel both love and responsibility. These animals include both those we keep as pets and those we have decided to protect because of their beauty, exoticness or rarity.

Pets are often cared for as if they were children:  and Americans alone spend a total of $61.4 billion on their pets annually. Different countries and regions consider different animals appropriate for keeping as pets. In China, cats are in luck while Americans prefer dogs. Japanese keep birds and crickets as pets. Inuit Eskimos of Canada might care for a fox, seal or even bear cub. Working animals like oxen and horses aren’t always regarded with the same affection as pets, but we usually treat them nearly as well because we rely on them to help accomplish our work.

Another class of animals we care for in a way are those who have adapted to live in human spoor. We don’t view them as possessions per se, but we created and own the environment to which they have adapted. Animals like rats and pigeons thrive in human cities, and some animals including raccoons, opossums, monkeys and coyotes have adapted to urban environments even in the past several decades. This relationship works out to their advantage, even if we aren’t willing partners in the exchange.

Exotic animals, when we’re not hunting them, sometimes land in this category as well. In most cases, this is after the animal has reached the brink of extinction after being overfished, overhunted after we’ve destroyed their environment through our own industry and expansion. Once an exotic animal’s endangerment reaches public attention, international and grassroot movements sometimes champion their cause.

Since 1973, 180 nations have ratified the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species treaty which is aimed at protecting over 35,000 species of animals and plants. The protected fauna include the red panda, chimpanzee, Asiatic lion an Asian elephant among many others–all examples of creatures who have become valued by humanity because of their exotic and endangered status.
In the United States, the Endangered Species Act has helped 93 species recover from endangered status to establish healthy populations. Although this is good news, it should be noticed that this is just 1 percent of the species protected by the Act and the recovery time is typically 20-25 years.
Other effective acts and treaties include the Migratory Bird Treaty between Canada and Great Britain of 1916, the Antarctic Treaty of 1959  which defined rules for studying and preserving the area around that continent, and the 1989 African Elephant Conservation Act.

Humans don’t always make the right decisions, but as you can see they can come around to aid those animals who need help. Case in point, the first ever birth at the Beauval Zoo South West of Paris of a baby Panda in August 2017 who was officially named ‘Yuan Meng,’  meaning “the realization of a wish” by Brigitte Macron, wife of the French President in December. This is a joint venture between France and China to revive the Panda population, another endangered species, and is the result of real efforts towards that goal

Nuisances and Threats

We have not always been the top predator in the global environment, and even in modern times animals kill several hundred people each year. When not attacking us directly, predators can harm or kill the animals we have chosen to protect. These factors have led us to view some animals as enemies to be destroyed, rather than possessions to exploit or friends to care for.

For centuries, this relationship was like a well-matched boxing bout. Two opponents – the tiger on one side, and us on the other for example – stalked and hunted one another that if not fair, wasn’t one-sided. Since the industrial revolution, this conflict has grown more and more to resemble a fight between a school yard bully and his skinny victim. Our tools of hunting and war have driven many top predators to extinction, and the survivors into a few remaining pockets of deep wilderness.

Vermin and pests aren’t viewed as the threats that predators are, but humans hunt and kill them with the same efficiency. Eliminating rodents, insects and similar creatures is an 11-billion-dollar industry in the US alone. Even before the process became industrialized, individual people have made a living trapping rats since we started living in cities. Since these vermin are often disease vectors, trapping and killing them is likely a necessary cost of what some might consider the advantages of urbanizing humanity.

Bacteria is another form of fauna humans have viewed as a threat since we discovered them in the 19th century. We have acted to counter this threat with antibiotics, antiseptics and vaccines. This campaign has improved our lifespans and quality of life, but has also forced bacteria to reorganize and evolve, creating super-resistant bacteria that are immune to many of our antibiotics. Cases like this are important studies in our Audit of the Universe, since unintended consequences play a major role in our effect on the Universe.

This blog post is an excerpt from chapter 6.2 of Audit of the Universe

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The Garden of Eden, gone, gone, gone forever … or is it?

Presence and then expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Whether it’s true or just fiction, the original man and woman are put out. Why?

The Garden of Eden episode reveals the relationship between the three protagonists of our Bible play. Each of them: God, Humans and the Serpent plays their role and scene 7 is summed up by the following verses from the book of Genesis:

(Origin of the Universe, chapter 4.7)

The Garden of Eden story, whether its truth or fiction, sets stage and very soon becomes inaccessible to the descendants of Adam and Eve

Click here: To follow along with the online Bible - If this is your first contact with this blog.
You can follow along by using the online Bible, the Interlinear Bible, Strong’s Concordance and the Hebrew/Greek Concordance at UnlockbibleMeaning.com

If you’ve come across this blog post for the first time then please know that it is part of a larger work. To see the entire context, which you can read online, click here.

22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from where he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. Gen 3:22-24

Flaming sword. Heavenly soldiers willing to bar Human’s way. Adam and Eve flee the Garden in shock and horror. Perhaps they look back on God, begging him for another chance. No such reprieve, and they exit the Garden of Eden devastated. It is miserable. They yearn for home.

Flaming sword. Heavenly soldiers willing to bar Human’s way. Adam and Eve flee the Garden in shock and horror. Perhaps they look back on God, begging him for another chance. No such reprieve, and they exit the Garden of Eden…
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This is the ‘twist’ at the end of Scene 7: Adam and Eve and consequently their descendants have no further access to the Tree of Life. As the passage describes, from this moment, they are banned from the Garden of Eden— God’s garden. To be in God’s garden is to be in God’s presence, to have direct access to the Creator. Imagine the gift of being close to a loving but strict figure, and then to lose that closeness because of your choices.

Adam and Eve opt for the way of ‘vanity and self-wisdom’. There is no place for this in God’s Garden. He has no choice but to oust them—and place the heavenly equivalent of Special Forces there so they cannot re-enter.

Adam and Eve decided to take matters into their own hands, to choose for themselves. Reminiscent of teenagers and young adults who rebel, they are now on their own to carve out the life they wanted; likewise, their descendants are too, as the rest of the story illustrates. In fact, the Bible is the chronicle of humanity’s ups and downs, Its seekings and rejections of God—how humans, left to themselves, with no or very little contact with God have fared on planet earth.

Adam and Eve decided to take matters into their own hands, to choose for themselves. Reminiscent of teenagers and young adults who rebel, they are now on their own to carve out the life they wanted
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Audit of the Universe, the second book of The Explanation series is simply a resume of the state of humans doing their own thing, putting forth every effort to bring peace and prosperity to planet earth. Believing that they alone are master of the planet’s destiny, they use their brainpower and wisdom to get to the bottom of the nuisance produced by human nature, to resolve the here and now and usher in a brighter future.

Galacti knows that the play, and its result, and even more likely The Explanation may provoke strong reactions and opinions. However, he gently suggests we scrutinize and contemplate the input from this book alongside the state of affairs and news that assaults our eyes and ears.

Just from listening to us, he sees we are coming to understand pieces of the puzzle and assemble them in our minds. We see both good and bad, and we are immersed in the positive and negative attitudes of humanity. We start to wonder where it is all headed, where the trajectory will take us, and what are our prospects.

Galacti wonders, ‘So what would happen if humans ate the fruit of the Tree of Life instead of the Tree of Knowledge? Would we live forever in the Garden of Eden? But on the other hand, are we meant for paradise given what corporations, or the politicians, or particular nations are doing to the world?’

Tree of Life and the Quest for Immortality

I have been passed the question baton. I do live in France, where it’s not uncommon for people to live into the nineties or hundreds. However, the subject is a bit more complex than my fellow Parisians (and I am not truly Parisian) or my distant neighbors in Normandy would say.

On the subject of the Tree of Life and living forever, let’s mention a fundamental quest of humankind down through the ages, be it in the Orient or Occident: the search for ‘eternal life, youth…’ It is an endless pursuit carrying various names: Al Khidr, Ambrosia, Cup of Jamshid, Fountain of Youth, Holy Grail, Dancing Water, Ma Gu… a universal panacea if we could only discover it.

On the subject of the Tree of Life and living forever, let’s mention a fundamental quest of humankind down through the ages, be it in the Orient or Occident: the search for ‘eternal life, youth…’
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Science continues that quest with source cells, anti-aging this and that, and trumpeting in the news that a modern human has become the first to reach the age of 150. Galacti asks about Adam’s 900-year lifespan according to the Bible. The reality of living 150 years or, as probably most would conclude, the legendary 900 years pale into insignificance with regard to the ‘Tree of Life’ as we shall see.

If the Bible ‘fairytale’ is correct, then the human quest for eternal life is in vain.

There is a way through the Tree of Life, but that tree is in a well-protected garden from which humans were evicted, and for which Adam and Eve could only yearn. Humanity can and indeed is trying every way possible to find and take hold of that Tree of Life, but all the king’s horses and all the king’s men will not come up with a solution. Why? Again, this is a question Galacti asks me.

‘Galacti, the Tree of Life is not humankind’s to take a hold of; it is God’s to give to whom He will. Humanity cannot seize eternal life on its terms; rather, God gives it freely, on His terms. He has, does and will distribute eternal life. He does allow men and women back into the Garden of Eden to partake of the Tree of Life, as we shall see’.

The Tree of Life is not humankind’s to take a hold of; it is God’s to give to whom He will. Humanity cannot seize eternal life on its terms; rather, God gives it freely, on His terms.
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‘I can see the universe, but I can’t see the future’, Galacti says. ‘When does it happen?’

‘The Bible tells the amazing tale of how, when, where and why this ultimate quest comes to pass’, I say. ‘It’s a fascinating story we’re going to plunge into later on. And since Adam and Eve are already onstage, let’s summarize the story so far’.

Our 3 Key Characters

This Bible play really has only has two principal characters and a second role (who thinks and acts like the lead actor):

God: The Creator and Planner of all things.
Humans: All human beings, descendants of Adam and Eve.
The Serpent: In the secondary but important antagonist role opposing God’s Plan and bruising humans.

Relations Between the Characters

God sets the Plan and indicates to both the Serpent and Humans what their roles, obligations and consequences are. Although the play is in a sense the history of mankind. God is our protagonist. His relationship to and Plan for Humans continues to unfold. He still loves Humans in spite of how they feel about Him.
Humans are on their own banished on Earth, basically not in relation with God (in spite of what they might think…we’ll explore this), following their own vanity and self-wisdom. They are easy prey for the Serpent to continue to influence, bruise and abuse them as he wills even if they think they are the solo stars of the show.
The Serpent is there to thwart God’s plan. He is powerless against God; however, in the villain role, he has certain freedom and power to influence humanity. And he takes that opportunity to deceive mankind in ways more fantastic than the imaginations of our best science fiction authors.
He can and does create havoc. God is allowing him to act as he will. This could well be the most surprising part of the play, and to many, the most incomprehensible.

If this fairy-tale-like story ended here it would be a rather ignominious ending for a plan initiated by an omnipotent, all-caring Creator. In fact it would be a downright blatant failure… and rather a short play at that.

If this fairy-tale-like Bible story ended here it would be a rather ignominious ending for a plan initiated by an omnipotent, all-caring Creator. In fact it would be a downright blatant failure...
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Fortunately, this is not the case. Onward….

This blog post is an excerpt from chapter 4.7 of Origin of the Universe

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Learn how to play Take Inventory – The Interconnectivity Game (free) that nourishes your neurons and is taking the world by storm. Play a round with family and friends. View the above videos and use the tags at the end of this blog for dozens of ideas to play Take Inventory – The Game.

See the index of the book Inventory of the Universe to find a specific chapter and read it online.

Purchase Inventory of the Universe at Amazon – Purchase the Kindle version

Google Play – Barnes@Nobles – Kobo – iTunes

Unlock Bible meaning via Biblical Hebrew … with no fuss. The free video course that puts you in the driver’s seat to navigate the Bible as never before. Join now

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Fauna as gods and Livestock, Humans both Revere and Eat Animals

The state of fauna: Revered on one side, raised as livestock on the other. How do humans respect animals?

Animals as gods and livestock. What is their role on planet Earth and how should humans treat them?

Another wave of Galacti’s hand and we find ourselves standing in an animal park. Plants still surround us: as we’ve seen, they’re necessary for any animals to survive! But it’s the creatures great and small that command our attention – birds, beasts, fish in ponds, whales in enormous pools. I am struck by the variety and majesty of all the Earth’s creatures.

(Audit of the Universe, chapter 6.1)

The state of fauna on planet Earth: Revered on one side, raised as livestock on the other. How should humans respect and treat animals?
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“When we last looked at the fauna of the earth,” Galacti tells us, “we said they each had skills and roles that helped them survive in the competitive, often brutal, world of fauna. We identified communicators like bees and dolphins, organizers like ants, navigators like the carrier pigeon, climbers like monkeys, swimmers like beavers, tool-makers like otters and home-builders like badgers. Within their areas of specialization, animals have physical abilities and instinctual skills that make them the world-leading best at what they do.”

I remember, thinking back to Chapter Six of Inventory of the Universe and the amazing capabilities of the animals with which we share the earth.

“But man has divided them into other categories, according to your relationship with each. Like their individual niches in the world, this categorization has powerfully affected how well an animal lives, and how likely a species is to survive into the next century.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” I admit.  But he’s right.

Animals as Elders

Early religions often held many animals equal to or greater than Man. We would imagine they had human souls, and developed animistic and totemistic religions around respecting or warring with those souls (depending on the individual culture). Some of our ancient societies elevated animals to the status of gods. The ancient Egyptians worshiped cats and crocodiles, while Native Americans revered the spirits of the Bear, Raven and others. Even in cultures that did not place as much importance on the animals around us, we lived in balance with the fauna of the earth. Humans had not yet developed the technology or numbers to do anything else.

As man modernized, that balance changed. Man has become the dominant life form on the planet, and our decisions affect the lives of every creature we share it with. Those effects rely on our relationship with each kind of animal:

Those we consider possessions, for which we feel a sort of paternal responsibility or mutually beneficial symbiosis
Nuisances and threats, which we work tirelessly to reduce or eradicate
Those who we rarely notice at all. These animals may have the saddest fate of all.

In this part of our audit of the universe, we join Galacti in a deep look at the lot of animals in each of these relationships, examining how man has changed their lot for good…or for ill.

Possessions

For better or worse, we are the most powerful form of life on earth.

“Better for man, certainly. How has it worked out for the animals around him?” Galacti suggests.

“Wait for it,” I say. “We’ll see.”

Because of this position, we have for thousands of years considered some kinds of animals as belonging to us. Depending on the animal in question, this has worked out better or worse for them.

Livestock

Traditionally, we lived with livestock in a balanced symbiosis. Family farmers and ranchers raised their animals carefully, fed them appropriately, and slaughtered them for food at a pace that kept up with reproduction. We understood that killing our food animals faster than that would mean less food in the years to come. This relationship allowed the animals as a species to survive more easily than in the wild – though the final fate of any individual animal could be considered grim. The arrangement also helped us, since we got nutrition from each animal without having to expend calories or risk injuries on the hunt.

Modern, industrial farming stands in sharp and ugly contrast. Animals are born and die in small pens, often lacking room to even turn around. They get packed together by the thousands in spaces that breed disease and house hosts of parasites. Health is can be neglected, since the “acceptable losses” of a few hundred individuals per growing season costs less than health care for thousands.

Most industrial raised livestock are injected with massive doses of antibiotics, and some nations still permit hormone treatments to make the animals grow faster and larger. Though research is still ongoing as of 2017, there are strong indications that residue from both remains in the meat and harms the health of those who eat it. What is more certain is that such treatment degrades the quality of life for all animals born, grown and slaughtered within the industrial livestock system.

As with most situations where we are involved, industrial farming demonstrates our dual nature. On one side, you see inhumane and potentially harmful methods adopted because they foster easy profits. On the other, you have individuals like Dr. Temple Grandin.

Dr. Grandin is a researcher in human and animal behavior, and has designed several stockyards, corrals, races, chutes and loading ramps specifically built to give food animals better life conditions and a more humane slaughter. For example, she designed a curved cattle chute that takes advantage of the natural movement of cows. Cattle moving through this chute experience less distress and require less prodding from handlers while moving through the chute. She teaches at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado to lead research in sustainable, humane relationships between livestock and we humans who need them.

She is but one example of a general movement toward a more balanced relationship with our food animals. A variety of grassroots movements throughout the industrial world have opted for humane treatment of livestock. Farmers and ranchers choose to keep their animals in cage-free conditions and let them roam large fields and pastures while eating natural healthy foods.

Are animals supposed to be injected with antibiotics and hormones and be huddled together in confined areas? Or live in cage-free conditions eating natural healthy food? What is our human responsibility in this field?
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Animals in such conditions are less subject to disease and parasites, meaning the massive injections of antibiotics aren’t necessary. In support of this more humane approach, consumers – both private customers and restaurant supply buyers – voluntarily spend between 20 and 150% more on meat from these sources.

This blog post is an excerpt from chapter 6.1 of Audit of the Universe

Dig Deeper into The Explanation

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Learn how to play Take Inventory – The Interconnectivity Game (free) that nourishes your neurons and is taking the world by storm. Play a round with family and friends. View the above videos and use the tags at the end of this blog for dozens of ideas to play Take Inventory – The Game.

See the index of the book Inventory of the Universe to find a specific chapter and read it online.

Purchase Inventory of the Universe at Amazon – Purchase the Kindle version

Google Play – Barnes@Nobles – Kobo – iTunes

Unlock Bible meaning via Biblical Hebrew … with no fuss. The free video course that puts you in the driver’s seat to navigate the Bible as never before. Join now

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Interplay between and Sentence of the Serpent, Man and Woman

Camera, action: Interplay and Sentence – The two main protagonists are in the ring for the first round.

Sentence pronounced by God for the Serpent and Humanity. This is the result of their collusion and not following instructions.

Scene 5: Interplay between the Serpent, Man and Woman

The vast majority of the rest of the play dwells on this scene. As you sit back, reading this book/visualizing the play or movie in your mind, this scenario is playing out in the world around us. Scene 5 will help us better understand why the world is in the state whereby it appears to be overwhelmed by the shady actions man has set in motion.

(Origin of the Universe, chapter 4.6)

See the blog Bonus at the end of this post for more details and a link about the interplay between the Serpent and Humanity.

Click here: To follow along with the online Bible - If this is your first contact with this blog.
You can follow along by using the online Bible, the Interlinear Bible, Strong’s Concordance and the Hebrew/Greek Concordance at UnlockbibleMeaning.com

If you’ve come across this blog post for the first time then please know that it is part of a larger work. To see the entire context, which you can read online, click here.

Adam and Eve heed the words of the Serpent and eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. Uh-oh. Eve has double-dared Adam to eat the fruit, and he isn’t smart enough to back away from the challenge. Of course, Eve herself is acting foolishly. However, she pretends she is the heroine.

… she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband with her; and he did eat… Gen 3.6

God then makes his presence known. He knows what Adam and Eve have been up to and intervenes in a stern and calm way to deal with the three protagonists. Firstly He makes a statement confirming the relationship the Serpent will continue to have with Eve and her descendants:

And I will put enmity between you (Serpent) and the woman… Gen 3.15

I realize this is only part of the verse—simply to keep us focused. The rest of the verse is vital and will be covered in due course.

This and other contexts (which we shall quote later) reveal that the ‘vanity and self-wisdom’ imbibed as a result of eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil will only be exacerbated by the Serpent down through the ages. This negative being will continue to hassle the woman and her descendants—all of mankind. And the heavy tribute paid by man down through history in suffering, incomprehension, misery and gloom is akin to slow death leading to ultimate physical death. This is a large part of the sentence of both the Serpent and Humanity.

The Serpent, this negative being will continue to hassle the woman and her descendants—all of mankind down through history--who will pay a heavy tribute in suffering and incomprehension.
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As an aside, which we shall also delve into in much more detail, let’s say here that this ‘vanity and self-wisdom’ was not ‘passed on’ by Adam and Eve—or inherited by their descendants. Each human being that has set foot on this earth has succumbed to their own vanity and self-wisdom. We shall also discuss the future of babies that unfortunately die, for whatever reason, soon after birth… and are obviously not responsible for their acts. They do have a future.

This ‘vanity and self-wisdom’ was not ‘passed on’ by Adam and Eve—or inherited by their descendants. Each human being that has set foot on this earth has succumbed to their own vanity and self-wisdom.
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May I just remind you that we are talking about humankind in general—remember, there is also a certain ‘goodness’ associated with the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil and this, thankfully, has given some respite with a certain calm and serenity.

But we need to look at the real state of the world in more detail than we did in Audit of the Universe and it is not pretty. The next scene ramps up the intensity of the action, and triggers a ‘value change’, in drama talk. The value change is from bad to worse, as perceived by man, and by the audience.

Scene 6: Sentence pronounced

Following the temptation by the Serpent and the succumbing of Adam and Eve God pronounces sentence. No comment on the nature of the consequences right now… I will do this later. Just notice that there is a penalty for infringement of God’s instruction.

Adam and Eve are defiant but afraid. Even in their vanity and self-wisdom, they know they’ve made a mistake. There’s no pleading with God. No reprieve. No commutation of sentence. Not even community service.

14 And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon your belly shall thou go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life:

15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

16 To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in sorrow you shall bring forth children; and your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you.

17 And to Adam he said, Because you have hearkened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it: cursed is the ground for your sake; in sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your life;

18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to you; and you shall eat the herb of the field;

19 In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you return to the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and to dust shall you return. Gen 3:14-19

Let’s recap:

God pronounces sentence both on the Serpent and on Humans.
Humans have nothing to retort to their ‘reprimand’
Note that the Serpent has absolutely nothing to come back with either. He has to consent to both his condemnation and his sentence
Clearly God is running the show, He’s in total control of the situation, He issues the sentence
Notice a couple of very important aspects of the sentence:

The Serpent will cause havoc with the ‘seed of the woman’ and bruise his heel.
The ‘seed of the woman’ will bruise the Serpent’s head

A bruise to the head is much more unpleasant than a bruise to the heel, although both hurt. As we shall see, the bruise to the Serpent’s head is a ‘fatal bruise’ that ultimately takes him out of circulation. Although the Serpent will provide crushing adversity, there is overriding hope. That is the message God gives humans through Eve: Humans will triumph—after difficult times and multiple injuries—but they will prevail in the end.

Humans are never left without hope and a future. And as we ponder the ‘state of our earth’ and develop the rest of the play—which will get very ugly—this hope of a bright uplifting future needs to be clearly kept in mind.

Humans are never left without hope and a future. And as we ponder the ‘state of our earth’ and develop the rest of the play—which will get very ugly—this hope of a bright uplifting future needs to be clearly kept in mind.
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This play is not one of doom and gloom; it has a magnificent ending but the road will very likely appear long and convoluted, full of back-breaking bumps, perplexing potholes, confounding hairpin curves and devastating precipices.

As we bump, thud and jolt along, oftentimes very uncomfortably, losing loved ones, not understanding why mayhem and havoc hit even good people, please keep in mind that the real instigator of woes will be definitively wounded and that humans will end up on a peaceful highway.

This story has a happy ending, but the road leading to this ultimate harmony and serenity is paved with boulders, hardship and adversity—for solid and comprehensible reasons, as the story reveals.

Let’s get a glimpse of Scene 7, the consequences of Adam and Eve’s non-compliance… the life of obstacles that lies ahead.

Adam and Eve wonder what they will do next. This is the worst outcome they could have imagined, but they are united. For now, they don’t squabble. They hold each other tightly.

This blog post is an excerpt from chapter 4.6 of Origin of the Universe

Blog Bonus

There are many stories, myths and legends about serpents.

In some myths like Naga and Jormungandr the Serpent is presented as a beneficent being, sustaining and protecting the world–a blessing for humankind. In other cultures he’s presented as a malevolent being. However, in all myths and legends he is always presented as a powerful central figure. If you like, do some of your own research to see what this being represents.

What is fiction? What is truth? Is the Bible presentation just another myth? Is it the basis on which all the other myths are based? All these questions and many more will be answered as we get to them in the correct context. Right now, I simply suggest to continue reading as the plot thickens.

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GMO – Giving the Plants we Eat a Helping Human Hand

GMO – Genetically Modified Organism. Intervening in the food we eat, at gene level. Pros and Cons

GMO Food. Is this the way we want to feed the world? Is love of the land and agriculture only about feeding stomachs? Isn’t there much more to it than that?

Giving Flora a Helping Human Hand

The debate over genetically modified foods (GMO) has raged over the past decade. Some nations have embraced them. Some have banned them outright. Some people are violently opposed while others are strongly in favor. Very few have no opinion at all.

On the plus side, genetically modified plants let us breed or design them for human-positive qualities. A genetically modified plant can produce more food faster, resist pests without relying on poisonous sprays, survive in wider climates and survive more diseases. Humankind has a millennia-old tradition of crossbreeding plant species for these exact characteristics, and has only recently begun tinkering at the direct genetic level.

Every one of our staple food crops has been genetically engineered for thousands of years. This process began with simple selection: weeding out less desirable strains while planting the more suitable. Cross-pollination and hybridization came next, with a selection of plants with the most advantageous mutations. Up to this point, where only natural reproductive methods come into play, species maintain their integrity and those that can’t are either sterile or die out.

Then there’s the next level where human intervention is necessary: Inducing mutation via chemicals or radiation, and direct genetic manipulation. This opened the door to the practice of producing true genetically modified flora.

From the first marketing of DNA modified tomatoes, in 1994, to delay their ripening, this genetic tinkering has been castigated by opponents of GMOs who cite a variety of risks and disadvantages:

Some fear that GMO crops could be increasing allergenic properties, explaining the rise in food allergies.
There is widespread concern, with some statistical support, that some GMO foods contain carcinogenic compounds.
Creating plants immune to bacteria encourages bacteria to breed stronger, which some believe will ultimately result in more antibiotic-resistant strains. Similarly, herbicidal and pesticidal crops might give rise to “super-weeds” and “super-pests.”
Many GMO crops underperform traditional plants in terms of nutritional content and taste.

Cons of GMOs: They increase allergenic properties, contain carcinogenic compounds, immune to bacteria causing them to become more resistant, underperform traditional plants in terms of nutritional content
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At the nexus of the GMO and industrialization debate is the fact that GMO crops are part of intellectual copyright law. This creates situations where a farmer who uses GMO seeds must pay for seed every season, as opposed to natural crops where you could use the seeds produced in one planting for the next round.

This is putting small farmers, especially in poorer areas of Asia and Africa in jeopardy as they cannot afford to buy seed for the next growing season. Agriculture employs 40% of the world population and even up to 75% in poorer nations. GMOs are throwing people off their land with devastating consequences.

GMO supporters often point out that most of the objections to GMOs are about what could happen as opposed to what has been demonstrated. They counter with some of the possibilities for GMO crops as our mastery of this technology continues to improve.

Crops could be developed to survive in deserts and high-salinity areas, reclaiming land lost to earlier mistakes. Even deeper into science fiction are plants designed to be edible vaccines or treatments for illness. We are even now working to develop plants to treat cholera, AIDS and chronic diarrhea.

Pros of GMOs: Crops designed: To survive in deserts and high-salinity areas, be edible vaccines or treatments for illness such as cholera, AIDS and chronic diarrhea.
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The debate will go on regarding the pros and cons. Is our proverbial glass of healthy, vibrant and bio-diverse flora getting fuller or emptier?

The Creative Destruction of Slash-and-Burn Farming

Slash-and-burn is a method of farming by which you gain arable land by destroying surrounding rainforest. The process begins with cutting down vegetation in an area, sometimes via clearcutting, simply felling everything in sight, and in other cases leaving only food-bearing trees alive. You then let the downed vegetation dry until just before the rainiest part of the season, then you burn the tinder-dry leaves and twigs.

This burning provides several immediate benefits. The smoke drives away or kills pests and vermin that would otherwise prey on the crop. The ashes are an excellent fertilizer for the first few growing seasons, after which you abandon the plot to slash and burn another piece of rainforest.

In sustainable slash-and-burn farms, you cycle through several plots of land over the course of decades. Once vegetation on a burned plot has grown to a point it can produce enough ash, you return to the previously slashed-and-burned area instead of cutting down more rainforest. However, this sustainable cycle is not always adopted.

In regions where economies are tight and land is controlled by an autocratic government, farmers continue slashing and burning into the rainforest while previously cleared plots are abandoned or converted to urban areas. Even with a sustainable approach, the process contributes to deforestation, accelerated erosion and loss of biodiversity.

The QSMAS (Quesungual Slash and Mulch Agroforestry System) is a variation of slash-and-burn applied by researchers in South and Central America offers a compromise between the economic benefits of slash-and-burn and a balanced approach. Also called “slash-and-mulch”, you begin the process with a developed tract of secondary forest in which you sow pioneer crops like sorghum or beans that thrive in such an environment.

Once seedlings appear, you practice selective slashing of low-value shrubs and prune any food-bearing trees. This slash creates a layer of decomposing plant matter that mulches to fertilize new plants. The crops grow among high-value timber and fruit trees left alive. After the first growing season, your plot is ready for higher-yield, more fragile crops like maize.

The QSMAS program alone has produced food security for thousands of small-scale farmers in developing nations, increased the average value of maize and bean production by 81% and recovered local biodiversity in approximately 60,000 hectares of secondary forest. That’s a land area about the size of Norway.

Some other creative farming solutions we have adopted include vertical farming in urban areas, the organic food movement and locavorism – all moves to re-integrate producing food with those who consume it.

Planting Roots, But How Deep?

Galacti gestures at the plants nearby, indicating without a word that we should consider the complex system of plant life throughout the world. “A healthy system is sustainable and balanced, needing little or no outside interference to continue thriving.

I ask you: is this system healthy? Will it continue to provide for mankind’s needs in the time of your children and grandchildren? Is it producing plentiful, nutritious, tasty food as it did for you in your youth? Or is the world heading for a time of less abundance, diversity and nutrition available in its food basket?”

What’s the answer? Are we tipping the balance to a fuller or an emptier healthy pantry?

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The Serpent, our Third Character, Makes his Grand Entry

The Serpent, also known as the Devil or Satan, is one of the biggest ‘myths’ of all times: Does he really exist? Were Adam and Eve so ‘boring’ that God had to create the Devil to compensate?

The Serpent. Down through history he is presented at the arch-enemy of God, as a fallen angel due to his vanity. But at the same time a highly intelligent and creative being.

Scene 4: The Serpent makes his grand entry (3rd character)

I’m still presenting the main characters of the Bible story. After God and humans which we discussed in the last couple of blog posts comes the Serpent, also known as the Devil or Satan

(Origin of the Universe, chapter 4.5)

Click here: To follow along with the online Bible - If this is you first contact with this blog.
You can follow along by using the online Bible, the Interlinear Bible, Strong’s Concordance and the Hebrew/Greek Concordance at UnlockbibleMeaning.com

If you’ve come across this blog post for the first time then please know that it is part of a larger work. To see the entire context, which you can read online, click here.

For now, see how, in the script, the serpent simply appears on the scene in discussion with Eve. A plot wouldn’t be a plot without the bad guy making his entrance and stirring up problems. The Serpent must have some attraction and appeal and can hold our attention. After all this slithering creature has central roles in literature from the 17th century Paradise Lost to the 21st century Harry Potter.

Eve has made her entrance, and the Serpent has ‘crashed’ the couple’s private time. They are fascinated with each other, but this new being has appeared, and they greet him in all naivety. They are full of curiosity as to what he is.

Now the Serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, has God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the Serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

And the Serpent said to the woman, you shall not surely die: For God knows that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise… (Gen 3:1-6)

Who is this Serpent, and what does his appearance mean? How does he go about achieving his goal, and what is his ‘game’ to begin with? We’re still introducing the characters of our play. So we’re not going to discuss some pointed questions here, such as: If God is ‘good’, where did this ‘evil character’ come from? Why does good God allow the devious Serpent such freedom of movement and action? How can honorable God seemingly ‘overlook’ the havoc wrought on frail man by this imposing appalling powerhouse? We will broach all these points after Scene 5, according to the script.

In the Bible story, who is this Serpent, and what does his appearance mean?
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The Serpent’s Character

The nature of the Serpent is one of ‘subtlety’. This is a key point that we will delve into in-depth. I’ve created a video course to help understand what the Biblical Hebrew word (aram) for subtlety means.
The Serpent can communicate with humans and make himself understood. In this context it is through face to face discussion, at other times it can be by other means. Again, this sounds preposterous … but so does Mickey Mouse and Tinkerbell, when you think about it.
He immediately quotes ‘part’ of a true statement made by God, ‘…not eat of every tree of the garden’. So, quoting the truth doesn’t mean the individual who quotes is right.
When Eve gives the correct answer, the Serpent responds with a half truth–which, in essence, is a lie, ‘You shall not surely die’. True, death was not immediate or even imminent, so he isn’t entirely wrong–but he is intentionally leading them astray, because sooner or later, ultimately Adam and Eve will die-as God said–and the Serpent knows it.
The Serpent adds a strong enticement that is intended to make them feel more important than what they really are, i.e. ‘you shall be as gods’ or, as the Hebrew can alternatively be read, ‘you shall be as God’. Yet, keep in mind that God had already given them dominion over the entire earth! God had given them a certain ‘importance’. The Serpent raises them up even higher putting them on an equal pedestal with God. The Serpent insists on instilling self-importance.
The Serpent adds two qualities human beings crave:

Understanding how, why: gaining wisdom. He tells them, ‘your eyes shall be opened’. In other words, you’ll have a CLEARER vision of yourself and your relationship to the world around you and the other characters in the play than before.

If there’s one point to garner it’s the meaning of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil (Gen 3.6): a tree to be desired to make one wise We shall return often to this ‘wisdom’ because it is the source of a lot of our difficulties.
He also adds, ‘knowing good and evil’. You’ll learn and decide by and for yourselves what is right and wrong. The Serpent contends that humanity, without having rules dictated to them, can define its own good and evil, its own regulations of what to do and what not to do.

The Serpent tells them that humanity, by itself, can decide the way it should follow. That humankind, with education, experience, intelligence, reasoning, imagination, and drive can have ‘dominion’, govern itself, its relationships and its surroundings in a suitable manner that will bring Peace and Prosperity.

What does it mean when the Bible story says, the serpent was more subtle than the other animals?
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The Serpent entices Adam and Eve by making them feel more important than what they really are: ‘you shall be as gods’. He tells them what the potion is: '...a tree to be desired to make one wise. We shall return often to this 'wisdom'…
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In this ‘unbeatable promotional sales proposal’ by the Serpent we’ve covered an awful lot of ground. We’ve gone from 0 to 100 km/hour in less than a wink. We shall take time to expand and corroborate these points. But again, for now we are exploring the individual character traits of our performers.

Before we move on to the next scene there’s an essential point to make.

God allowed the Serpent to entice humans

Remember, God is the Prominent Character, the strongest, wisest One, the play’s author and director. Could He have prevented the Serpent from having this conversation? Absolutely. Could God have struck the Serpent dumb? Absolutely. Could God have prevented the Serpent from entering the Garden of Eden? Absolutely. In fact, the Serpent can only be in the Garden of Eden with God’s permission.

Why didn't God strike the Serpent dumb? He could've prevented the Serpent from entering the Garden of Eden ... but He didn't.
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Was God away on vacation, or sleeping or involved with some other activity–so much so that the Serpent penetrated all the ‘defenses and alarms’ God had set up to protect Adam and Eve from this monstrous inducement? No, no, no.

Had an all-powerful God wanted the Serpent drawn and quartered, banned from the scene, it was totally in His power to do so just as a King can dispose of any of his advisers, subjects or enemies anyway he wishes to.

From this scene we must draw a couple of conclusions whether our story is fictional or not:

Not only does the Serpent exist, but
God has allowed him to ‘do his thing’.

The Serpent can go and entice humans into thinking they’re more important than they really are–otherwise known as ‘wrapped up in their own wisdom’ or vanity. Into enticing humans to develop a very fertile imagination and vision as to how to gain their own wisdom through philosophy, science, religion and government, and then govern themselves and this world, how to engineer peace and harmony—how to run their own affairs their own way according to their own principles—establishing their own laws based on their own reasoning.

These ideas sound noble, and if God has given humans free will to choose, doesn’t that suggest that the Serpent’s will, as opposed to God’s organization, is equally valid? You may be surprised at the answer–we’re keeping you in suspense.

Understanding this one scene in the story, and the way the Bible portrays it, lets you grasp the ‘frame of mind’ the Serpent has foisted on this world coupled with the realization that God is allowing this to happen.

Galacti fields a question from the home audience: Why has God allowed the Serpent to do this?

I will answer that all-important question too, suffice to say—that if there’s any validity to this story—we now understand a little better why there’s a lot of turmoil on the face of our earth. Why the incredible Inventory of the Universe is in such a mixed up state as described in Audit of the Universe. The goal of Origin of the Universe—which you’re now reading—is to explain the ‘why’ and especially where God is taking us now and how He’s going to get us there.

But, for now, patience please, and on to next week with more action.

This blog post is an excerpt from chapter 4.5 of Origin of the Universe

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Learn how to play Take Inventory – The Interconnectivity Game (free) that nourishes your neurons and is taking the world by storm. Play a round with family and friends. View the above videos and use the tags at the end of this blog for dozens of ideas to play Take Inventory – The Game.

See the index of the book Inventory of the Universe to find a specific chapter and read it online.

Purchase Inventory of the Universe at Amazon – Purchase the Kindle version

Google Play – Barnes@Nobles – Kobo – iTunes

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