Where Others Have Gone Before

Son of Man appears hundreds of times as a title, in the scriptures. It is thought to represent our mortality and frailness. Yet, Jesus referred to himself as a son of man. That's because like us, he was traveling the road of revelation. As we will discover, he was making 'mistakes' and learning from them. Note that I only call them mistakes because they were wrong turns that he then had to correct for. In truth, nothing is really a mistake. This road was laid out long ago. In fact, even in Genesis we see its foundations being set. For six days God lays out his plans, then on the seventh day He sleeps on them. It is on the eighth day that He executes them when He places man in the Garden of Eden. On that day He establishes the system that will pull us forward into enlightenment.

Here is how it works:

The Pursuit of Eden

Eden is a fantasy that we all chase, whether we know it by that name or not. It is the place where everything is provided for us, without the need for us to perform any work. (Other than stretching out our hand and taking the particular fruit that we want.) God placed man in Eden, knowing that we would not remain there, and that we would forever long for it. It is the perfect life we all think we want. It is our just desserts. And yet, the foods that nourish us the best are not the desserts.

Eden is a system that pulls us forward. It is our idyll. Out of it flow 4 rivers, the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. When we can identify their locations, then we can easily trace them back to the Garden itself. Genesis offers us clues to the location of this idyllic place. Let's examine them.

First, according to the most recent translation of the Old Testament, Eden was planted from the east. Older translations say that it was planted in the east, but they have since been proven inaccurate. This misunderstanding was necessary to help conceal Eden's location to previous generations. You see, the east is where enlightenment shines out from, just as the sun rises there. It's true that enlightenment is what we are chasing, but the planting of Eden from the east, not in the east gives us a crucial clue to understanding the system that moves us. By placing the knowledge of Eden in our minds, God has given us an idyll to strive for, or in some cases, to rail against. We love the thought of reaching it, but hate it when we realize just how out of reach it is. In those moments, as a protection for our fragile egos, we embrace the less-than perfect lives we have. This turning away is often necessary to allow other pieces of life's puzzle to fall into place.

Since Eden was planted from the east, it is a place of light in a world that has not yet seen the sun. In fact, it is an oasis of light in a desert of darkness. But an oasis only gives us a taste of paradise. We must remember that we are still in a desert. What all of this means is, that God has planted the idea of paradise in us. It is made up of our dreams of perfection. We can visit it in our minds, but we cannot remain in it, nor can we pull it complete, into the real world. There is always a downside to everything we accomplish. Our dreams are fantasies that fall apart in reality. Therefore, Eden is just a mirage.

A mirage occurs in a place where the heat bends the waves of light. According to Google: The blazing sun heats the sand. The air next to the sand gets very hot, and less dense. Light rays from the blue sky pass through the cooler air, hit the hot layer, then bend upward toward our eyes. Since our brains think that light travels in straight lines, we see the blue sky on the ground and think it is water.

A mirage is a misperception. It is an optical illusion that tricks our minds into seeing something that isn't there. If we think about it, this happens spiritually when we reach a place of hard truths. We instinctively look for comfort and shelter, not realizing that the places we run toward aren't real. We lie to ourselves, because it's easier to live in a fantasy world than it is to face the harsh realities of life. The lesson here is that the perfection we strive for is unreachable. There will always be a downside. Still, we should strive anyway, because we can learn just as much from the darkness as we can from the light. If we are given the bad, then the good, then we have two gifts. God gives in abundance.

Two Fruits, One Tree

Adam and Eve were meant to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The prohibition only made it that much more enticing. God knew that they would eat from it. If He didn't, then He's not omniscient. Notice that He didn't tell them not to eat from the Tree of Life. It is only the knowledge of good and evil that kills us spiritually. Notice also that it was the feminine side of Adam (Eve) that reached out her hand and took the fruit. She didn't do this because she was a weak woman. She did it because women are water, and men are stone. Or should I say, the female is water, and the male is stone. We each have some female and male in us.

Water represents belief, fantasy, and philosophy. Stone represents truth, fact, and dogma. The side of us that is drawn to fantasies is the one that reaches out for what we don't have. A voice whispered in Eve's ear and told her she would not die, and she believed it. She believed it because nothing had died, yet. Death was an unexplained unknown. It was an enticing mystery. Remember that in the Old Testament, there was no promise of an eternity in heaven. There was only Sheol waiting for those who died. Sheol means the place below ground level, or a grave. Even still, no one would die until Cain slew Abel. Remember too that Adam and Eve already had heaven. We don't typically fantasize about what we already have, and we certainly don't yearn for it. We reserve our yearnings for things that are not in our hands. Even an idyll heaven would be boring for the part of us that yearns for something, anything else.

This is the system that drew Adam and Eve out of paradise, into the harsh world. It is the machine that keeps us spiralling toward the east, because even the bits of heaven we find here on earth aren't sufficient to fill the hole in us. Eve's "sin" was only the first example of 'f' around and find out. It is repeated every time a child grows up, and every time one of us loses a piece of our naivety. As parents we tell our kids not to touch the hot stove, all the while knowing that the only way they will truly learn is by touching it. So it was with God's warning to Adam and Eve. He knew His children would not be able to resist the temptation, even when the words came directly from His own mouth.

Life is here for the taking. It is only the understanding of life's lessons that kills us in the spirit and forces us to be reborn older and wiser. It was for this reason that Adam needed a helper. He needed help making more little Adams and Eves, so that none of life's bounty would go uneaten. He could not live all of our lives while in a singular form, because many of the lessons we need to learn come from group activities. He also needed a bold believer to blind him to the potential consequences of his actions. We are just like him. We have our own internal Adam and Eve, reaching out to embrace the fantasies of life, so that we can learn their hard truths and keep the harvest moving forward.

It is important to note that God made the knower (Adam) before the believer (Eve), and that the believer was taken from the knower. This tells us that fantasy is an offshoot of reality. We cannot imagine new things unless we have some truth to base our fantasies in. It is also important to note that the believer went where the knower never dreamed of going. By asking for Eve, Adam got more than he bargained for. So it is with our fantasies.

Eden is an idyll. In this way, it is synonymous with heaven. It is a place where everything goes our way. We don't have to work, because all of the fruits are provided for us. It's the dream that we chase. It is different for each of us. It is for this reason that a global utopia is out of our reach. Earth is where the rubber meets the road. It contains harsh reality. We need both heaven and earth, because the one (heaven) makes us reach out our hand and strive toward an idyll. Once we have that idyll, we realize it is flawed. There is always a downside (earth). Since this system of discontent is built into us, we do not stay in our imperfect heavens. We imagine a new heaven, where all of the problems in our old, broke heaven are resolved. Then we strive to make that heaven a reality. We always seem to be blind to the fact that the new heaven will be flawed too, in ways we cannot imagine. We just go after it.

We are truly locked out of heaven, because the Edens we imagine are only dreams, loosely based in reality. They will never exist outside of our imaginations. It is the pursuit of them that leads us along on the path of enlightenment, like Hansel and Gretel following breadcrumbs out of a dark forest. Keep in mind that it was Adam's dreamer side (Eve) that got him into trouble, and started him on the path of revelation. We must dream it before we do it.

The Four Rivers that Eden Waters us With

Pishon is tied to the nation of Democracy. We have not talked about the Nations yet, but we will in good time. For now just keep them in the back of your mind. Pishon means increase, full-flowing, or dispersive. It circles the land of Havilah, where there is good gold, bdellium, and onyx. Pishon is connected to the Hebrew word "puwsh", which means to spring about, jump, or spread out. It also looks a lot like the modern English word "push", which makes sense because we were pushed out of Eden. The Pishon river is often interpreted by scholars to represent divine abundance, fertility, and the outpouring of God's life-blessings. All of these are true, since the road to revelation is full of gifts, both good and bad. If you don't yet see bad things as gifts, you will. As I said, the foods that nourish us the best aren't the ones we call desserts.

Havilah means circle, circular, or sand region. This is telling, because the path of revelation is circular in that it spirals us forward. It seems as if we are covering the same ground over and over, but we're not. We are actually making headway. "Sand region" is interesting, because it implies a desert. To get to an oasis, we have to cross a desert. Symbolically speaking, deserts are places of hard truth where our fantasies burn up in the sun. In real life, crossing a desert will strip you of any misconceptions that you have about yourself. You will learn precisely what you are made of, and thirst for the fantasies that once shored up your ego.

Pishon and Havilah work together as fantasy and truth - water and land. Notice that all of the treasure is on the land, not in the water. This is because truth, even hard truth, is far more valuable than fiction. As they say, "A bird in hand is better than two in the bush". For a son of man, truth is the goal. We are on a path to discover God, and uncover ourselves. We cannot lie to God, and we cannot lie to ourselves. Only then will there be no liars in heaven.

Even though there is treasure in Havilah, where we are, we still want more. The river Pishon tempts us with an abundance of water. It draws or pushes or floods us out of Havilah, because gold is not good enough to quench our thirst. Reality is never good enough, when there is a deluge of fantasy in our minds.

Gihon is tied to the Nation of Monarchy. Gihon means bursting forth or gushing. It comes from the Hebrew verb giakh. It symbolizes divine breakthrough, life-giving provision, and royal appointment. The name applies to the river that comes from Eden, and also the water spring in Jerusalem, though they are not considered the same thing. Gihon is the main water spring in Jerusalem where King Solomon was crowned. Spiritually, it represents the pure, unadulterated source of divine wisdom and life originating straight from God's presence to sustain the whole earth. Because it provided the primary water source for Jerusalem—later channeled via Hezekiah's Tunnel during times of siege—it represents quiet, constant divine protection, preservation, and living water that refreshes the soul during trials.

Gihon encompasses all the land of Cush.

Cush was the oldest son of Ham, and a grandson of Noah. The Kingdom of Kush (with a K) is also called Nubia, which is an area south of Egypt, covering parts of modern Sudan and ancient Ethiopia. The name is often linked to definitions like “black” or “burnt”. It can also refer to an adversary. Cush was the father of Nimrod, who was a great hunter. The Old Testament portrays the Cushites as a strong, wealthy nation with a formidable military made up of horses and chariots. Cush is mentioned by several prophets in oracles of judgment, but prophecies also point to a time when the people of Cush will turn to God and bring Him offerings. Cush the Benjamite was an opponent or false accuser of King David. He is only mentioned in the title inscription of Psalm 7.

Gihon and Cush also work together as fantasy and truth, but they are slightly different than Pishon and Havilah, which represent the potential for undiscovered prosperity. There is no treasure in Cush, there is only the strength to pull ourselves out of the darkness. Infantry don't ride on horseback, or in the back of chariots. Both of those are an improvement over walking. But we must remember that Pharoah's army, which had many horses and chariots, was drowned in the Red Sea. In Cush we think ourselves mighty. Gihon shows us just how weak we are. Those who are strong often become weak through inattention. Gihon and Cush should remind us of where our true strength originates.

I always thought it was odd for Samson to have huge muscles. I think a better portrayal of him would be as a scrawny weakling. After all, if a muscled dude performs great feats of strength, it is easy to ascribe those feats to his strength. But Samson's strength (and ours) does not come from muscles, or training, or even our diet. It comes from God. To train properly, we should first go to Him and seek His advice on where our efforts will be best spent.

Tigris is tied to the Nation of Theocracy. It was also called the Hiddekel by the Israelites. The Tigris flows to the east of Assyria. The name Tigris comes from the Old Persian word tigra meaning “fast” or “arrow”. It shares a linguistic root with the word tiger. Spiritually it means "swift", "rapid", or "darting". It flows from eastern Turkey through Iraq to join the Euphrates before emptying into the Persian Gulf. Daniel recieved his vision of a heavenly messenger while standing on the banks of the Hiddekel river. It symbolizes being at the edge of deep, overwhelming spiritual truths and heavenly realities.

Assyria is called "the rod of God's anger". Assyria conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 722-721 BCE. Jonah was ordered to go to its capital city of Ninevah, and preach repentance. Assyria was a place of extreme cruelty and pride. Assyria fell to the Babylonians in 612 BCE. Ancient Assyria is modern day Iraq.

On an interesting side note, fish swim in water, which represents belief. They hang in our misunderstanding, the way stars hang in the sky. They symbolize the shadowy monsters that lurk beneath the surface of our understanding. They are unproven conspiracies. In Jonah's time, there were rumors about the nature of the Ninevites that were terrifying. Jonah heeded those voices, and ignored God. So, God placed him inside a fish. This means he swallowed Jonah up in these conspiracies until he could see the illogical nature of them. He forced Jonah to understand the Ninevites, and where understanding goes, love follows. Jonah was able to go to Ninevah without fear, by realizing the motivations that moved the Ninevites. He was able to find common ground with them. That's why they were willing to believe him. He did not come to them as an adversary, but as a neighbor. Knowing this should help us clarify the commandment from Jesus that we should be "fishers of men".

Tigris and Assyria are the carrot and the stick. Children are taught the rules, and expected to follow them, until they are old enough to understand them and see the wisdom in them. So it is with a son of man. For example, Jesus said that the Sabbath belongs to the son of man. What he meant was, it is truly up to us to decide when we need a rest. As children we were given a bed time. As adults, we can set our own sleep schedule, because we better understand the consequences. As we progress along the path of revelation, and grow into adult children of God, we will see that the "commandments" are really just good ideas. Most of the time they work well, but sometimes they need to be set aside. Assyria was a scary place, until Jonah was "birthed" by that fish. The Tigris beckons us to "dart" away from the dry land we are standing on, but the sea is no refuge. Just ask Jonah. The Tigris and Assyria are warnings to us not to get swallowed up by our fears, but also not to take things too lightly. The Rod of God's Anger is not oppressive, and it shouldn't be terrrifying to us. It was forged with our best interests in mind, not to beat, but to guide.

Spare the rod, spoil the child

Many people misunderstand this verse, because they have never herded sheep. If they had, they would understand that the shepherd doesn't hit his beloved flock. He uses the rod to steer them. He walks behind them, and when he wants them to go left, he holds it up and to the right. He understands that sheep can see in nearly a complete circle around their head. So, they see the rod and instinctively move away from it. To effectively guide his flock, the shepherd has to fill himself with understanding. He has to know their limits, and his, and what constitutes a danger to them. Only then can he steer them around obstacles and keep them safe from predators.

For parents, this means kowing where your children are in their development, remembering what it was like to be in their shoes, and engaging with them to steer them where they need to go. If the shepherd were to hit his sheep, then why would they come to him if they were lost in the wilderness? His voice would hold just as much danger as the rest of the world. As adult children of God, we must come to understand God's motivations. The Holy Spirit represents His intentions toward us. He will not forgive blasphemies toward the Holy Spirit - not because they are such terrible crimes - but because forgiveness requires putting things to the back of your mind, out of sight. Our misunderstanding of God's intentions will never be put aside, because they need to be remembered by us. When we were children, we did not understand why the rules mattered so much to our parents, or why they behaved the way they did. When we become parents ourselves, it all begins to make sense. Suddenly we recall the "blasphemies" we spoke against our parents, and that makes it easier to hear our children blaspheme against us. Coming to understand God's motivations, and our previous blasphemies toward those motivations, will help us find common ground with those who do not yet see the goodness in all that He does for us. We should remember that we were not always adult children of God, and cut our "younger" siblings some slack.

Euphrates is tied to the Nation of Anarchy. It represents Stoicism, which is a philosophy geared toward self-sufficiency. This connection became clear to me when I came to understand the role of the Stoic philosopher Euphrates of Tyre in the book of Revelation. It is important to note that his philosophy failed him when his wife died. He was unable to find any comfort in the words that had guided his life up to that moment. Euphrates means "rushing", or "that which breaks forth". The Israelites called it "Perath". Where the other rivers are tied to lands, Euphrates is not. This is because Euphrates stands alone. It is not near land, because land is truth. It is only water, because water is fantasy, and the belief that we can exist alone, without God, is a fantasy.

There is nothing between us but air and opportunity

Pishon means fertility. Fertility implies opportunity. Pishon is also tied to democracy, which is one of the four nations symbolized by the four living beings around the throne in Revelation. Democracy's particular living creature has the head of an eagle. As you know, eagles have a very interesting mating ritual called a death spiral. To pull it off without injury or death, they need to work together, and be aware of their surroundings at the same time. They have to multi-task. What this means for us is, we have to work with each other, and with God, and we have to recognize where we are. To put it simply, we are in a dark desert chasing bits of light. Those bits of light are epiphanies.

Pishon encircles the land of Havila, where there is good gold, bdellium, and onyx. Havila means “circle”, “circular”, or “sand region”. In other words, we are wandering around the desert, just like the Israelites. It is wise, when we find ourselves in a desert, to look for an oasis. That oasis is Eden. The river of Pishon waters us in some interesting ways. First, we are told that there is good gold here in Havila. To find gold, we have to search for it. We have to get off of our butts and go looking. So it is with our hunt for the truth.

Second, there is bdellium, which is a scented resin. It’s a treasure we can smell. We should follow our nose. Where the nose goes, the eyes follow. Pleasant memories are often tied to smells, and we’ve been in Eden before. Like bloodhounds, we have a pleasant scent in our nostrils.

Third, there is onyx here in Havila. Onyx stones are typically black. They symbolize mystery.

Put all of these things together, and you’ll see that opportunity is driven by the potential for undiscovered prosperity. That is what the Pishon river and the land of Havila represent. A chance to find something better than what we have.

But one half of opportunity isn’t enough. We need the other, as well. Gihon means “to break forth”. It takes skill to plan and execute a prison break. Gihon and Cush represent ability, which is something we must have in order to successfully make our dreams come true. Our abilities can be honed, so long as we recognize where we are. In reference to Gihon, we are in Cush. Cush was Nubia. Nubia means black. We are in the dark, surrounded by the belief that we can be better. The only way to get out of the dark, is to move toward the light. We do this by educating ourselves. Gihon is tied to the living creature with the head of a lion. Its name is Monarchy. When we improve ourselves, we lift ourselves up, like a king on a throne. But first we must serve ourselves, and be servants for ourselves. This might mean letting someone else take us under their wing, so that we can learn from them. By serving them, we can serve ourselves. This is why Jesus urged us to be servants first, and always.

Pishon and Gihon make up the two parts of opportunity. Now all we need is the air – the proper spirit.

The first part of our proper spirit comes from the Tigris river. Tigris means “arrow”. Arrows are directional devices that point the way. We must have a direction. It also means “swift”. We have a desire to go forth, quickly. We can be driven by fear, but passion is a far better carrot. And where are we going? Well, the Tigris flows east of Assyria. Assyria was known as “the rod of God’s anger.” To be east of something means that we are more enlightened. We are closer to the light. The east is where the sun rises. In other words, the Tigris keeps us on the light (wise) side of God’s anger. We realize the truth in His commandments, and see them as good ideas - things we want to do, not things we have to do. It makes Him happy to see us strive, and if He’s happy, we will be happy too. Once we learn to appreciate the vegetables He serves us. Therefore the Tigris and Assyria represent our motivation for moving, but more importantly our direction. We aren’t just moving, we are moving away from something. Out of the darkness, into the light. The Tigris is tied to Theocracy, the living creature with the head of a bull. Like bulls, we must charge forwared with our heads down. "Nose to the grindstone", as they say.

Finally, there is the Euphrates. It occupies a single line. It’s almost an afterthought. It doesn’t surround or flow near any land that’s mentioned. That’s because the Euphrates stands alone. It is tied to Anarchy, the living creature with the head of a man. Simply put, it is our determination.

Euphrates of Tyre was a Stoic philosopher. Stoics are all about self determination. The only problem with Stoicism is, it does not allow for leaps of faith. Fortunately for us, we take on the aspects of all four living creatures, in our attempts to make our dreams come true. The son of man must know his role, whether it be monarch or subject, pastor or congregant, etc. We are more than Stoics. We are the faithful adult children of God. We do our part, and we trust Him to do His.

The four rivers come out of Eden, because it is our fantasies that urge us to move and improve.

It’s important that the Tigris flows into the Euphrates. They become one. Determination is wasted without direction. Moving isn’t enough. We have to move forward, toward a clear goal.

So there we have it. There is nothing between us and Eden but air (direction and determination) and opportunity (fertility and ability). These are the tools that God gave us to help us make our dreams a reality. Fortunately for us, He also gave us a world full of imperfections, where dreams expire quickly. By doing this, He has ensured that we will never stop chasing the images of heaven that He puts in our minds.