This post is a more lengthy and explicit account of my spiritual tradition’s teachings about the story of Cain and Abel, and why I have connected so deeply with it lately in my grassroots work for social and environmental justice. I intend this to be a companion piece to a more focused post on my Raising Cain blog that I’ve constructed as a place to write about an anti-racist journey that is both personal and shared.
When I initiated both this blog and Raising Cain over the summer, I was working from a strong desire to bring my experiences more into public sharing. But that idea opened up a whole new set of problems. My relationship to an anti-racist journey is hugely complex, with ties to many diverse elements of my multidimensional being.
Not the least of my challenges is how to talk about the spiritual dimensions of this journey. Several months ago during a period of reflection and contemplation, this thought spontaneously arose: I am a translator. The emotional energy that rode in on this thought has led to ongoing exploration of its many possible meanings and what, if anything, I need to do with the information.
I’ve come to understand that the story of Cain and Abel represents a key piece of Earth’s spiritual history for my ant-racist journey and my exploration of personal and planetary transformation. The first chapter of Evolution of Man is entitled “Biblical Record” and its first paragraph begins with the allegorical tale of Abel and Cain.
Here, I probably need to take a moment for a short sidebar on allegory, encoded information, intunements, channeling and reading texts. The Introduction to Evolution of Man (EOM) notes that one can decode allegories and parables in a couple of ways: through contact with one’s own higher Self, or communication with teachers on higher planes of existence.
Yolanda received the information in Chapter 1 of EOM primarily through intunement with Nada, her higher Self. The rest of the chapters represent information as channeled from higher plane teachers. Such processes differ significantly from the way many of us on Earth are taught to interpret sacred texts or to receive transmissions of spiritual teachings. I don’t want to debate the merits of one or another at this point, just to suggest how important it is to keep an open, questioning mind as the journey unfolds. Yolanda herself often reminded us that a true spiritual teacher will never demand that students accept blindly anything they are taught, and I noticed that teachers purportedly channeling through her would give the same advice to her and to anyone interested in their messages.
In a somewhat synchronous happening yesterday, I found a great interview of novelist and memoirist Mary Gordon by Nathan Schneider writing at Religion Dispatches. Gordon’s latest book, Reading Jesus: A Writer’s Encounter with the Gospels, looks in depth — and from a point of view not anchored to religious doctrine — at the human experience of reading and interpreting sacred texts. For purposes of this particular post, I’d like to share just one concept that Gordon brings to the interview.
“Reading the Gospels carefully and openly means blasting through a fantasy of stability that never was,” says Gordon. But painful as uncertainty can be, she notes she’d rather be there than in a morass of “false fixity.” I’ve been stuck on my journey enough times to hear the wisdom of this, so in ending this sidebar discussion, I’m officially reminding myself and inviting all of you out there to hang with the uncertainty.
So, back to Cain and Abel…according to EOM:
Man of Earth operates on three levels: Christ or etheric, operating in his light body in the fourth and higher dimensions; Adam or mortal, striving in his physical body on the third dimension of the Earth plane; and Eve, or soul, functioning in his astral or emotional body in the astral or psychic planes. When Adam (conscious) and Eve (subconscious) dwell together on Earth (in the physical body), they bring forth the children Abel and Cain (thoughts and deeds of good and evil). Thus, the allegorical story of Adam and Eve and of Cain and Abel is partly a spiritual and a metaphysical teaching concerning man’s own nature and creations, and how that ancient fall into belief that we are separate from Source has become the primary challenge through which we, as a human race, must evolve.
In addition to this symbolic representation of Abel and Cain, the Biblical story encodes an historical conflict between two factions of the “golden giants” or members of the Elder race. These two groups — the “Abels” and the “Cains” — functioned in higher fourth dimensional form, with access to inherent spiritual and psychic powers. The “political” issue of their day concerned their responsibilities toward a group or segment of the Elder race that had fallen into material being of third dimensional Earth and, having been trapped in third dimensional existence, had lost the use of spiritual and psychic senses.
The Abels wanted to help those who had fallen to reconnect to the powers and uses of the fourth-dimensional body so they could be raised back into spiritual consciousness. The Cains had come to believe that these brothers and sisters were there to serve them. Over time the relationship between some of the Elders and those of the fallen human race deteriorated to one of masters and slaves, and eventually the council of Elders considered cutting them off from consideration and assistance entirely. Such a prospect revitalized efforts of the Abel group to advocate on behalf of teaching the human race about their spiritual powers and helping them regain memory and function of their true spiritual nature.
The ideological positions of the Abels and Cains grew stronger and more polarized — according to EOM this was over a period of thousands of years — and eventually a fierce battle fought at the level of spiritual talents and wills ensued. Even though the leader of the Abels (Sananda, who later incarnated as Jesus) made some discoveries that kept hope alive for an eventual return of the human race to spiritual form and function. The Cains ultimately defeated the Abels and the liberation movement went on hold, or at least into creeping-along-mode.
Without detailing the whole story of the societal structure of the Elders, I’d like to list a few key points that jump out at me:
• Their society was a class system, with separations based on spiritual evolution and talents.
• The human race was prohibited from participation in esoteric mysteries and inner temple practices.
• The society became more separative and restrictive with respect to the human race.
• Some of the Elders did not want the racial history of the planet to be preserved or made available to future generations.
• Later in the conflict, the Abels themselves were split, with some wanting to pursue their goals and others wanting to make peace with the Cains and wait for higher forces to determine balance in ages to come.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t watch the news or look at modern history and politics or engage as a social justice activist or do my work as a psychoanalyst without thinking about the Cains and the Abels and the evolution of Earth societies. I’m wondering about patterns — ancient patterns of oppression of people and nature. I’m wondering about systemic repression and repetition compulsion, because the pattern set in motion by the Cains and the Abels seems to persist in society as much as our personal challenges seem to play out over and over until we figure out how we got wired with those patterns and work to transform them. I’m wondering about “haves” and “have nots” and what seems to be the disappearance of a middle class, and about the persistance of a caste system in the United States. I’m wondering about all kinds of stuff…and I’ll continue to write about it.
