Consequences of Choosing Control
Having looked in our last post at the choice Father gave Adam (and us), let’s look at some of the consequences of choosing Control instead of Communion.
Father kindly outlined these for us in what is called the “Curse” but to my thinking would better be perceived as a “forth-telling.” Father is informing us how the universe is set up to work and the result of controlling things on our own. We make him a Judge and Curser by our labels of His words without spending the time to listen to His heart and discover His intent. But I digress….
We noted last time that Adam functioned in spirit and could use the spirit-eyes to monitor the physical world. Now Father tells him that he will work amidst thorns and by the sweat of his brow. This is another way of telling Adam (and us) that whereas he formerly functioned in spirit, now he will be locked into functioning in the physical. His ability to sit and see and monitor will be buried, hidden, all but lost and instead he will have to be up on his feet responding to that which is physically in front of you. Similarly, Eve also will now be locked into the physical world, experiencing pain as part of that which is unique to her, bearing children.
Next, Father tells him that the order of things is now upside down. Instead of the appropriate Father-Man-Woman order, he states that now the Woman will seek to take over the place of the man. In other words, she will now attempt to control him and he will in turn try to control Father. Look how we see that played out: matriarchal societies, so-called “war of the sexes,” Equal Rights Amendment, and “women’s choice” resulting in abortion to name a few instances of this dis-order.
Besides controlling women we also see passive men, as John Eldredge points out. This is the flip side of the coin of Control.
I believe another aspect of all this is the attempt of the serpent, God’s Enemy, to attack and attempt to destroy God’s Crown of Creation, Woman. She was His ultimate expression of Creation and from the time she was created Father has not created anything else, of which we are aware. Thus she is the First Target and thus we see throughout history rape, female subjugation, and female mutilation in obscene and torturous ways, to say nothing of the less severe but equally oppressive economic and social positions given to women over the centuries. This, I believe is the flip side of women controlling and men overreacting to inappropriate Control. It all gets very complicated and dehumanizing.
We also noted last time that being completely open, vulnerable and transparent was the patterned lifestyle. Now that is all changed and Adam is hiding – everything.
First, he is hiding his body. And to do so he used perhaps the most uncomfortable piece of vegetation to do so. The fig leaf is a spiny, itchy, nasty thing to have against one’s body. Why didn’t he at least choose an elephant leaf or something smooth? Did he foreshadow the extent to which we will deceive ourselves and engage in self-destructive behaviors?
Second, he is hiding his emotions. He is full of fear and shame with no love for himself or his wife being apparent. He is blaming her and not himself for his actions. She in turn is passing the blame on to the serpent.
Third, he is hiding his spirit. No longer is he walking in the garden, listening to, communing with loving Father. Rather, he is hiding behind fig leaves, bushes and wife, getting as far away from Father as possible.
He is cowering in shame. Whereas he formerly was innocent to the ideas of Good and Evil, he now cannot even tolerate exposure to, and the concept of, Good – his body, that to which Father had already given the highest accolade of not only “Good” but “Very Good.” With this reaction to Good, if Adam had any idea what Evil would look like, he would probably have buried himself in a hole and not just hid in the bushes.
And so we see what choosing Control, Self Direction and Situation Manipulation has done. From a wide open, free, transparent, unashamed spirit body in proper alignment with his world and the universe and in intimate Communion with Loving Father, Adam and Eve have become separated from themselves, from their Lover, from each other and from his own heart, suffering the shame and pain and lack of a broader vision, being locked in a physical world, exiting only by physical death which could come all too easily.
But do we really understand how deeply this need to Control has invaded the human spirit, mind and body? Do we really “get” how completely it has affected even the daily minute by minute aspects of our lives, our relationships, our desires, our choices about everything? I think not.
Is there any way out of this predicament? any way back to the Garden of Eden and the freedom of Communion?
Is there a way to get out of the driver’s seat and back to the rear seat? Do we want to?
Next time.
Blessings,
Dr Jon
