The Exile

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

THE EXILE
What follows is only the exile and nothing else, all the way
down to our world. “By the sweat of your face you will eat
bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you
were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
What was the reason for the exile? Why did the Creator
conceive and execute this “operation” of breaking an exalted
spiritual desire into many pieces, which fell into our world
and clothed themselves in bodies? They forgot all about
the fairytale garden and don’t perceive the spiritual world
whatsoever. They feel no influence of the spiritual Light,
but are occupied with themselves, catering to their petty
corporeal desires, clashing their egos in wars, discord, and
hatred. Indeed, what was the reason for breaking this great,
unified soul of Adam?
The breaking allowed the most important thing to
happen: the sparks of bestowal, the altruistic desires of Man
(Adam) fell into the kingdom of egoism and saturated it
with the “spirit of bestowal.” A “recording” was made in
our egoism that there is such a great thing as a spiritual
connection with the Creator, which is unbelievable joy
that’s difficult to express in words.
It is precisely this feeling that will come into play later. It
will remain dormant in our egos, waiting for an opportunity
that will certainly come, for everything develops exclusively
by the Creator’s design. Then, these sparks of spiritual
experience, latent and biding their time, will illuminate
the kingdom of egoism, and a path will appear in the total
darkness. Like a seeing man leading the blind on a path, so
will these sparks lead the egoistic desires toward the Light,
toward correction.


That time has come. Humanity realizes it has reached a
dead end, that it cannot progress to a good life. We already
feel the harm inherent in egoism, and we blame it for all
the deadly sins: “…for you are dust, and to dust you shall
return.” We perceive it as dust from which nothing grows
but war, depression, terrorism, and an endless string of
suffering. This sensation signifies that the Creator is calling
us to Him. He has “shone” His Light on us, and in it we saw
ourselves as we really are—a sight so terrifying that we began
to seek a way out of our selves. This is called “a prayer.”
It is precisely in this situation that the sparks of the
soul of the first man awaken in us. They exist in everyone.
Soon we will all feel them and realize we are parts of the
one soul, one organism, and we’ll wish to return “Home,”
living in unity with all the other souls, for without it we
won’t survive.
“Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden
of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So
He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the
garden of Eden the cherubim, and the flaming sword which
turned every way, to keep the way to the tree of life.”
So, this is the Creator’s plan. Obviously, the act of the
breaking was preordained. Otherwise, the “kingdom of
darkness” would reign within us forever, and we would
never awaken to feel the spiritual world as we crawl on the
ground and consume dust like serpents. (Incidentally, this
is exactly why our primordial, uncorrected egoism is called
“a serpent,” because our desire to receive crawls on the
ground.)
The serpent cannot rise above this desire (it has no arms
or legs; it is bound to the ground and cursed by the Creator,
which means it is opposite from Him, and all this brings
man only suffering).
“Because you have done this, cursed are you more than
all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your
belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your
life.” This is how we perceive our egoism.
Of course, there aren’t any curses from the Creator’s
side. He never changes; He is the absolute good, and always
remains the same—in total bestowal. Only we change.
Today, more than ever, we recognize that our nature is
opposite from the Creator’s, and that egoism has led us to
a dead end.
Indeed, it is the Creator who has brought us to this
state of futility, for there is no other force in the world—no
demons, no devils, no witches—there is only the Creator.
To compel us to independently ascend to His level, He has
placed us in this situation.
Moreover, on our way back to Him we will need to
undergo trials: “He placed at the east of the garden of Eden
the cherubim, and the flaming sword which turned every
way, to keep the way to the tree of life.” These trials are
prepared for our benefit, for by overcoming them we form
a single desire—to return to our previous state of our own
volition, and live in accordance with the law of unity and
love. Only then will the angels with swords allow us to enter
the garden, and we won’t need to return to the suffering
of this world. Instead we will attain the Creator’s secrets in
infinite delight.
Now let us take a brief pause to clarify the text, and try to
understand the whole picture. This will simplify our journey
onward.