It was this kind of love that caused Eve to fall under the spell of sensation, the serpent. She saw that the fruit of the tree was "pleasant to the eyes." She followed the pleasure of life instead of the wisdom that would have shown her how to use life. Ever since we have had pleasure and pain, or good and evil, as the result of Eve's blind love.
What kind of people would we be if Eve and Adam had been obedient to the Lord of wisdom, instead of obeying the sense of love? This is one of the biggest questions that anyone can ask. It has been debated for many, many centuries. It has a double answer. Those who get the first answer will claim that it is correct, and those who get the second answer will assure you that there can be no other conclusion. The question hinges on one point, and that is: Must one experience evil in order to appreciate good? If it were possible for man to know all the wisdom and joy of the Infinite, he would have no necessity for experience with the opposite. But do we have to have pain before we can enjoy pleasure? Does the child that burns its hand on a hot stove have a larger consciousness of health when the hand is healed? Has it learned more about stoves? Unnumbered illustrations of this kind might be given to show that by experimentation we learn the relations existing between things in the phenomenal world. But if we apply this rule to sciences that are governed by absolute rules, it becomes evident that there is no necessity for knowing the negative. To become proficient in mathematics it is not necessary that one make errors. The more closely one follows the rules in exact sciences, the more easily and successfully one makes the demonstrations. This goes to prove that the nearer one comes to the absolute or cause side of existence, the greater is one's understanding that wisdom and order rule, and that he who joins wisdom and order rules with them.
God knows that there is a great negative, which is a reflection of His positive, but He is not conscious of its existence. We know that there is an underworld of evil, in which all the rules of civilized life are broken, but we are not conscious of that world because we do not enter into it. It is one thing to view error as a thing apart from us, and quite another to enter into consciousness of it. In the allegory of Adam and Eve, the man and the woman were told by wisdom not to "eat" (not to enter into consciousness of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil). But the pleasure of sensation (serpent) tempted them, and they ate.
Sensation, feeling, affection, and love are closely allied. Sensation is personified in the Edenic allegory as the serpent, the most subtle of the beasts of the field (animal forces alive in substance). The subtlety of sensation in its various guises is in its pleasure, the thrill that comes when mind and matter join in the ecstasy of life. When the desire for the pleasures of sensation is indulged and the guiding wisdom ignored, a realm of consciousness is established that regards the material universe as the only reality. The Lord, the knowing side of man, talks to him in the "cool of the day." In the heat of passion and the joy of pleasure, man does not listen to the "still, small voice," but in the "cool of the day," that is, when he cools off, he reflects, and he hears the voice of wisdom and judgment saying: "Where art thou, Adam?"
The "great day of judgment"--which has been located at some fateful time in the future when we all shall be called before the judge of the world and have punishment meted out to us for our sins--in every day. The translators of the Authorized Version and of the American Standard Version of the New Testament are responsible for the "great judgment day" bugaboo. In every instance where judgment was mentioned by Jesus, He said "in a day of judgment," but the translators changed a to the, making the time of judgment appear a definite point in the future, instead of the repeated consummations of causes that occur in the lives of individuals and nations. We know that we are constantly being brought to judgment for transgressing the laws moral and physical. Yet back of these is the spiritual law, which the whole race has broken and for which we suffer. It was to mend the results of this law breaking that Jesus was incarnated.
When we awaken to the reality of our being, the light begins to break upon us from within and we know the truth; this is the quickening of our James or judgment faculty. When this quickening occurs, we find ourselves discriminating between the good and the evil. We no longer accept the race standards or the teachings of the worldly wise, but we "judge righteous judgment"; we know with an inner intuition, and we judge men and events from a new viewpoint. "Knowledge comes but wisdom lingers," sings the poet. This pertains to intellectual development only. When man kindles the inner light, he speaks the word of authority to his subjective faculties. Jesus represents the Son-of-God consciousness in man, to whom was given dominion over all the earth. The Son-of-God man is wholly spiritual, and he uses spiritual thoughts, words, and laws in all that he does.
When Jesus called the Twelve, He spoke silently to the faculties that preside over and direct the functions of mind and body. When He called Peter, James, and John, there was in His consciousness a quickening of faith, judgment, and love. These three apostles are mentioned more often than His other apostles because they are most essential in the expression of a well-balanced man. Andrew (strength) was also among the first few called; he represents the stability that lies at the foundation of every true character.
"James the Just" was the title bestowed by historians upon the first bishop of Jerusalem. There were many Jameses among the early followers of Jesus, and there is some doubt as to whether James the Just and James the apostle are identical.
An analysis of man in his threefold nature reveals that on every plane there is a certain reflective and discerning power of the mind and its thoughts. In the body, conclusions are reached through experience; in intellect, reason is the assumed arbiter of every question; in Spirit, intuition and inspiration bring the quick and sure answer to all the problems of life. Jesus was the greatest of the teachers of men, because He knew all knowledge from the highest to the lowest. He did not blight the senses by calling them "error" (because they are limited in their range of vision), but He lifted them up. He took Peter, James, and John up into the mountain, and was transfigured before them. When we realize the spiritual possibilities with which we are indued by omnipotent Mind, we are lifted up, and all the faculties that we have "called" are lifted up with us. "I, if I be raised on high from the earth, will draw all to myself" (Diaglott).
Wisdom, justice, judgment, are grouped under one head in spiritual consciousness. Webster says in effect that the ground of reason in judgment, which makes conclusions knowledge, is found in the connecting link that binds the conceptions together. In religion there is the postulate of a judgment through direct perception of the divine law.
Solomon (Sol-o-mon), the sun man, or solar plexus man, when asked by the Lord what He should give him, chose wisdom above riches and honor; then all the other things were added. Solomon was also a great judge. He had a rare intuition, and he used it freely in arriving at his judgments. He did not rest his investigations on mere facts, but sought out the inner motives. In the case of the two women who claimed the same infant, he commanded an attendant to bring a sword and cut the child in twain and give a half to each woman. Of course the real mother begged him not to do this, and he knew at once that she was the mother.
The appeal of the affectional nature in man for judgment in its highest is in harmony with divine law. We have thought that we were not safe in trusting our feelings to guide us in important issues. But spiritual discernment shows that the "quick-knowing" power of man has its seat of action in the breast. The breastplates worn by Jewish high priests had twelve stones, representing the twelve great powers of the mind. Ready insight into the divine law was the glory of the high priest. Jesus is called the high priest of God, and every man's name is the name Jesus, written large or small, according to his perception of his Son-of-God nature.
Intuition, judgment, wisdom, justice, discernment, pure knowing, and profound understanding are natural to man. All these qualities, and many more, belong to every one of us by and through his divine sonship. "I said, Ye are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High!" the Christ proclaims in us all. Paul saw Christ waiting at the door of every soul, when he wrote: "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee."
A quickening of our divine judgment arouses in us the judge of all the world. "The
