AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CAUSE OF
IMMORALITY AND SUFFERING,
ITS HISTORICAL ORIGIN AND ITS SOLUTION
Chapter 4
THE MOTIVATIONS AND THE PROCESS
OF THE HUMAN FALL
THE ANGELS
The belief in friendly spirit beings has continued in almost all cultures and religions around the world as does the fear of demonic beings.
These specific inhabitants of the spirit world are called angels in the Bible. Although religious art has often presented them as beings with wings, an angel actually has a similar appearance to us, which is why some biblical accounts confused them with human beings. The main difference with human beings is that angels never possessed nor experienced a temporal and physical body in order to grow and perfect themselves before passing to live forever in the Spirit World. But like us, angels have an eternal and indestructible spirit body, with the same faculties of emotion, intellect and will.
Angels, according to religious tradition, were created before the physical universe, assisting and serving God in the long creative process.
We find references to angels in various stories in the Bible. Sometimes they appear as messengers and emissaries sent by God and on other occasions appear to help and attend human beings to complete their mission and responsibility on the path of restoration.
Apart from these biblical references, we find a great number of testimonies about their appearance in the life of many men and women throughout history. Mohammed, St. Teresa of Avila, the Swedish scientist and visionary of the eighteenth century Emmanuel Swedenborg, just to mention a few, all had interesting encounters with angels.
Apart from the fact, already mentioned, that angels never had a physical body, another important difference with humans lies in their mission and status.
God created angels as His assistants and messengers, but He created human beings as His children. Angels were created to care for all the creation and they find their happiness in serving God and mankind, receiving our love and gratitude. Once man and woman had achieved their perfection, they would be elevated to lords of the creation, inheriting and exercising as the visible representatives of God, a true dominion of love over everything in the physical as well as the spiritual world, including the angels.
As God's children, human beings were supposed to have authority over the angels as the Apostle Paul recognized in his letter to the Corinthians (I Cor. 6-3). But, although traditionally angels have always been perceived as glorious and superior beings, in fact human beings were originally destined to be in a superior position to any angel and only now, as a result of the fall, have the positions been reversed, which is why we perceive ourselves to be on an inferior level.
Before the creation and appearance of Adam and Eve, angels were the beings closest to God, who reflected Him to a great extent and received all His love.
THE ARCHANGEL LUCIFER AND HIS BETRAYAL
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the Devil or Satan is the accuser and the supernatural archenemy of mankind, the origin of all evil and the initiator of all the suffering and human tragedy.
Satan is a powerful adversary, because he is a fallen angel who knows very well human weakness as well as God's plans and strategies. Since he was once Lucifer, an archangel at the heavenly court, he even has the ability to imitate God and disguise himself as an "angel of light".
He works anonymously and from behind the scenes. Satan does his most effective work as the all-pervasive, invisible, yet almost irresistible "spirit of the times". Once the devil has obscured and confused man's true situation, human values and moral standards seem to be only shadows, and what appears to be most real are concrete economic, political and material forces. Cut off from God's light, we become fearful and distrustful of others, which leads to social chaos.
Satan, therefore, benefits immensely and takes enormous advantage of man's ignorance and one of his amazing achievements is to make people believe that he does not exist.
Until the identity of a criminal is discovered, while the nature of his crime and methods remain hidden, a criminal could pretend to be innocent and it would be easy for him to continue committing crimes with impunity. But once his crime is exposed, his identity revealed and the evidence presented, everyone will be on the alert and he will not be able to continue his deception.
Next we are going to expose how this "angel of light" betrayed God and managed to take control of humanity, becoming what the Bible calls "the god of this world".
To search for the truth and fight against evil are not simple tasks. Thus it is not difficult to understand why, in this world of corruption and sin, prophets and men of God always suffered persecution and rejection.
Sun Myung Moon passed through untold spiritual battles in order to discover Satan's hidden crime and then faced enormous difficulties throughout his life in order to expose this secret to the world.
Lucifer, before his fall, was an archangel in a position of leadership in the heavenly hierarchy. Lucifer was responsible for passing God's directives and love to other angels, which is why he enjoyed a special close relationship with God, monopolizing his love.
Although chronologically, Adam and Eve appeared at the end of the creative process, Lucifer began to understand and realize very soon that they were the supreme creation of God, His more complete image. Lucifer understood that as God's children they would receive His total love once they had reached perfection and would also be the heirs and the lords of all God's creation, including the angels.
If we compare God to a king and Lucifer to the king's beloved prime minister, we can understand how the king would develop a more intimate heartistic relationship with his children than with his prime minister. His children, born as the prince and princess, would be destined to inherit all his kingdom.
Lucifer continued to receive the same love and blessings from God after the birth of Adam and Eve. However, when comparing himself with Adam, Lucifer felt disturbed and relegated from a central to a secondary position.
Lucifer particularly envied the fact that Adam and Eve, besides having a spiritual body like the angels, possessed a physical body with the capacity to procreate and have influence and dominion over the physical universe. Lucifer as servant was envious of the love they were receiving from God and jealous of the love they would consummate once they received God's blessing in marriage.
Lucifer, wishing to retain the old situation and placing more value on his former merit and position than on the love he would afterwards have received from human beings, felt as if God loved him less. Step by step he began to separate himself from God and gradually started to feel increased envy, jealousy and resentment towards this new situation.
The book Ecclesiasticus, which was a part of the Septuagint Bible used in the early Church and currently accepted by the Catholic Church as canonic, clearly mentioned that the Devil tempted man, motivated by envy. (Ecclesiasticus 2:23-24).
The Koran also mentions the same feeling when the angel says: "Why do I have to serve them? They are made of dust, while I am of fire " (Koran. Sura VII, 11)
Jealousy is a natural reaction. It is rather similar to what the first child feels when a new baby appears in the family, monopolizing all the attention of the parents. However, jealousy can be beneficial or destructive depending on our response and behavior.
Lucifer's responsibility was to remain loyal to God and have complete trust in His love and justice. He was supposed to unite with God's point of view and love and care for Adam and Eve with the same heart that God had for them, instead of seeing them as rivals.
Lucifer, who had been created first and had participated in the process of creation, had at that time much more knowledge and ability than Adam and Eve, but, in order to reach his own maturity, he had to be able to overcome his arrogance and pride.
He should have clearly foreseen that his happiness would be realized upon accomplishing his mission of serving and attending God and His children, recognizing their position, teaching them and helping them.
In this way, Lucifer acting as a good teacher for Adam and Eve, would have contributed greatly to the realization of the divine ideal.
Helping Adam and Eve to reach their perfection, would have permitted Lucifer to have an even deeper and closer understanding of God's heart, which is why this situation was necessary and beneficial to his own improvement and growth.
Once Adam and Eve had united in love with God's blessing and had become the True Parents of humanity, they would have established the model and heavenly tradition that would direct the establishment of the ideal world of eternal happiness for God, humanity, angels and all creation.
THE SPIRITUAL FALL
Unfortunately, Lucifer failed in his responsibility. It was very difficult for him to accept his new role of having to love and serve Adam and Eve with the same heart as God.
Lucifer decided to maintain his high position and importance of old and to compensate for his perceived feeling of loss of divine favor, through his desire to control Adam and Eve, and possess in the human society a position similar to that which he enjoyed in the angelic world.
Lucifer began to see this whole situation only from his own narrow point of view, moving gradually away from God and developing a selfish attitude.
Love is the source of life, happiness and beauty. The greater the love a person receives from God, the more beautiful he or she becomes. When Adam and Eve reached their adolescence, Eve became exceptionally beautiful and was able to express a special charm as the daughter of God.
Lucifer, who belonged to the opposite sex, felt a great attraction to and was stimulated by the beauty of Eve. He developed a strong desire to spend more time with her to compensate for his perceived feeling of lack of love.
Eve, for her part, saw in Lucifer the "angel of light", full of knowledge and wisdom, who could explain many things. In Eve's eyes, Lucifer seemed at that time greater and more important than her brother Adam.
Eve was fascinated by all the attention she received from Lucifer, trusting him and feeling a great admiration for him. In this way, a special attraction and love began to emerge between them.
The closer Lucifer became to Eve, proportionally the more jealousy and envy he felt towards Adam, her future husband, wanting to usurp his position.
Although Lucifer knew that his intentions were contrary to the plan of God, his desire for Eve grew stronger than his fear of betraying God. Finally, his passion and emotions became so strong that he came to the point where he was determined to challenge even God and rebel against Him.
Lucifer understood very well that love was the most powerful force, the source of life and happiness. That through love the whole ideal and purpose for the creation would be accomplished. Therefore he realized that, should he succeed in conquering Eve's love and then through her control Adam, he would finally fulfil his desire of having dominion over human society and the cosmos.
Facing this dangerous situation, God clearly warned Adam and Eve by giving them the commandment "not to eat", in order to protect them from falling into a false and illicit love relationship under the control of the archangel.
Through their obedience to the commandment they would develop and deepen their love, trust and unity with God. They would also understand the importance and the sacred value of love and accomplish, through that process, their maturity and perfection.
All this preparation would culminate in their glorious day of holy matrimony, when, with God's blessing, they would consummate their love by becoming "one single flesh" and joining themselves with God in a true and eternal love.
In this way they would establish their position as "True Parents" of humanity. They would also assure the natural subjugation of the archangel Lucifer, qualifying and becoming the lords of the whole creation, including the archangel and the entire angelic world, by their own merits.
Although Eve followed God's warnings in the beginning, resisting the archangel's advances, Lucifer was later successful in isolating her from God and Adam and he was able to influence and persuade her by creating a great confusion in her mind.
In this situation, if Eve would have asked God or consulted with Adam, she would have received the assistance and correct direction to follow, avoiding being seduced by the archangel Lucifer.
By not consulting, the power of love created by the archangel's excessive desire, plus Eve's premature desire for a complete experience of love, led Eve to the point where she consented to a sexual intercourse with Lucifer.
This illicit sex between the spiritual body of Lucifer and the spiritual body of Eve caused what the Divine Principle calls "the spiritual fall".
As we have already mentioned, these discoveries about the fall made by Rev. Moon, coincide with some of the interpretations given by the early Church fathers.
We also find a similar line of interpretation by several ancient Jewish commentators.
Rabbi Leo Jung, who made a careful study of the Jewish, Christian and Islamic literature on the fall, maintains that all the stories that speak of the adultery of the "serpent" with Eve have some foundation in the Jewish tradition. (L. Jung, Fallen Angels in Jewish, Christian and Mohammedan Literature. 1974, pp 69-78)
For example, we find in the Talmud in Abot de Rabbi Nathan from the second century: "At that time the wicked Serpent considered in his heart and said - since I am unable to cause Adam to fall, I shall go and cause Eve to fall - He went, sat beside her and talked much with her... What did the wicked serpent plan at that moment? He thought, I shall go and slay Adam and marry his wife, and I shall be king over all the world and shall go about proudly and shall enjoy royal pleasures."
Similarly, professor F. R. Tennant of Cambridge University, who made an extensive study of the fall, comments: "It is beyond question...that various stories concerning the monstrous sexual intercourse of Adam and Eve with demons, and especially Eve with the serpent or Satan, were both widespread and ancient among the Jews. (F.R. Tennant, The Sources of the Doctrines of the Fall and Original Sin, Schocken, NY 1968, pp 156)
THE INTERRELATION BETWEEN THE PHYSICAL AND THE SPIRITUAL WORLDS
However, this explanation of the fall, in spite of how well documented it is in ancient writings and accepted in the past, presents a serious difficulty in being understood and accepted by modern man. How could it be possible for an angel to have a sexual copulation with a human being?
The Bible describes to us several incidents where angels and human spirits had direct contact with people and things. For example, Jacob received the name of "Israel" from the same angel who fought vigorously with him, dislocating his hip. (Gen. 32:25). On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus Christ conversed with Moses and Elijah, both of whom had died long before. (Mt. 17:3). When Mary Magdalene saw an angel next to the tomb of Jesus she considered him to be a gardener (Jn. 20:15). St. Peter could escape from prison with the help of an angel (Acts. 12:7-12).
We also find in the literature of all the great cultures and ancient civilizations similar stories in which it is assumed that people, then and there, had contact with human spirits as well as with angels.
We can conclude that angels and human spirits not only possess sensual perception as we do, but also possess a corporeal spirit form that occasionally can be perceived.
Let's consider for a moment the mystic experience of St. Teresa of Avila with an angel she called "the Heavenly Bridegroom":
"I saw in the angel's hand a long golden dart with a fiery tip. Several times he thrust it into my deepest self in such a manner that it pierced my bowels. When he drew it out it seemed as if my bowels came with him, leaving me all on fire with the great love of God. The pain was so intense that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness thereof that I could not wish to be rid of it".
On the other hand, we find throughout recorded history documented cases of certain individuals who had sexual relationships with spirits. We encounter unusual testimonies of people who, during the night, suffered strange sexual temptations by spirits. These are not just the well-known ejaculatory sexual dreams, commonly experienced, nor the sexual hallucinations present in schizophrenics, but real experiences while being wide awake.
In the history of religion this phenomenon is well-known and has been studied and documented. The name of "incubus", was given to a male spirit and "succubus" to a female spirit.
The anecdote from St. Anthony of Egypt is well known, that in his struggles to maintain his purity and chastity, he was tempted by spirits with the appearance of beautiful women who pursued him with all kinds of lustful, seductive and erotic tricks.
Documented cases of very similar temptations occurred often in monasteries and convents to monks and nuns who, after being shut out from the world and courageously trying to purify themselves from these desires, were confronted with and needed to pass and overcome many difficult tests.
Nor do we lack evidence of these sort of phenomena in what can be described as the satanic side.
Satanists, sorcerers and witches have long maintained that in their mystic rites one could experience sexual intercourse with their masters or supernatural confreres. During the Middle Ages, up to the seventeenth century and even until today, they confessed as much to clerical and secular authorities, not as an admission of guilt, but as part of their belief and experiences.
Of course, this type of phenomenon does not lie in the scope of the daily experience of ordinary people. It is, however a reality that has been corroborated even at the present time.
The tremendous influence of the rationalistic, pragmatic and materialistic way of thinking of modern times, turned us into skeptics and separated us from mystic experiences and intuitive awareness. It has dragged us into a deep ignorance of spiritual phenomena, not only in the field of human sciences, but surprisingly even in some religious spheres.
Since Isaac Newton, scientists thought of the universe as a great machine governed by immutable and unalterable mechanical laws. Man was said to be confined to a world of space and time which strictly limits him. Our nature and character was supposed to be rigidly determined by the interaction of heredity and environment. Our thoughts were believed to be caused by electric waves in our brains and our emotions regulated by the functioning of our glands.
Obviously such a "scientific" world view maintains almost no place for the reality of a spirit world.
However, this materialistic interpretation of science, unfortunately still believed by many, is today widely questioned. The fact of the spirit world's existence and its influence is entirely believable in the light of contemporary scientific notions and discoveries.
In the first place, our understanding of the origin and nature of the material world has been drastically altered. Although in the past scientists frequently thought that our universe had always existed without a specific beginning and reduced all that it contained to tiny solid indestructible blocks of matter, modern physicists on the contrary widely accept a beginning point of the universe and have discovered that matter consists of invisible patterns of energy.
The solidity of the material world has been proved to be totally illusory. For scientists today there is no longer a sharp distinction in drawing the line between the physical and the spiritual realms.
This mystery not only puzzled physicists but also modern neurologists and molecular biologists who had not been able to explain as yet the working of the mind-over-matter procedure in the complex processes of our brains. The eminent English neurologist and Nobel Prize winner Sir John Eccles was asked once to address a conference of parapsychologists, who were discussing the usual topics of ESP, telepathy and psychokinesis - the ability to move physical objects with the mind. If you want to see real psychokinesis, he told his audience, then consider the feats of mind-over-matter performed in the brain. It is quite astonishing that with every thought the mind manages to move atoms of hydrogen, carbon, oxygen and the other particles in the brain's cells. It would appear that nothing is further apart than an insubstantial thought and the solid grey matter of the brain. The whole trick is somehow done without any apparent link.
In the second place, depth psychology, especially that of Carl Jung, offers a different view of man. For Jung, we are not simple creatures in time and space, molded by heredity and environment. Besides being influenced by conscious thoughts and feelings, every individual is profoundly affected by a powerful subconscious realm revealed in dreams and described in ancient mythologies. This non-physical world is part of our environment and greatly affects our health and well-being. The subconscious is for Jung's psychology the spiritual world and its influences.
In the third place, scientific investigations into parapsychological phenomena have been carried out for about a century. As the careful studies of the British and American Psychic Research Societies show, a psychic or spiritual dimension does exist, verified by innumerable phenomena of extrasensory perception, clairvoyance, trance mediumship, precognition, out-of-the-body experiences in people revived from their clinical death and many other experiments that have been studied and carefully monitored, even in the former Soviet Union at the time when the official doctrine was that of atheistic materialism.
Finally, anthropologists and students of comparative cultures have begun to interpret sympathetically the religions of so- called primitive people. They have become aware of the universal belief in supernatural powers which are in contact with humans and influence their behavior.
It is ironic that all these recent discoveries, occurring in the scientific world in areas such as quantum physics, psychiatry, molecular biology, parapsychology and cultural anthropology lead us to believe again in traditional religious principles.
We do not simply continue to exist after death. From the beginning and throughout our lives, we live in both the physical and the spirit worlds. Even though most of us are not aware of this, because our spiritual senses are not open, we live surrounded by a great number of witnesses and observers. Although they are discarnate spirits, they exist all around us influencing and guiding our everyday affairs.
DIAGRAM 4Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox theology recognize this in their doctrine of the mystical communion of saints. Catholics assert that there is a constant communion between the physical world and the spirit world. Consequently, they emphasize the importance of prayers in order to receive the intercession of the Saints, so that they continue with their concern for the spiritual health of this world.
Catholics also teach that each person has a guardian angel to help avoid evil and live righteously.
The existence and influence of numerous evil spirits are also recognized. The New Testament and the Gospels clearly show us how Jesus Christ believed in the power of demonic forces and liberated people from such influences.
This kind of belief is very common to most religions in the world. In the Orient, for example, (Confucianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, etc.) we find ancestor worship. Ancestors are respected and asked to provide protection and good fortune.
The Divine Principle thoroughly agrees with this vision, and further explains that good spirits benefit from and cooperate with us, in order to accelerate our spiritual growth and the advance of world restoration in God's Providence. In exchange for this service, they themselves will advance to higher levels in the spirit world through the people whom they assist.
By contrast, evil and revengeful spirits can influence and tempt us to act in an immoral or violent manner. These spirits amuse themselves by influencing people to carry out immoral and destructive actions due to their low spiritual level and tremendous frustration and resentment.
A person under such influence should strongly resist evil impulses by confronting and overcoming them. Otherwise, no liberation from such influences can occur.
Spirits always feel attracted to people with the same level, circumstances, temperament and earthly mission as their own. Some conscious or subconscious reciprocal base must exist, however, in order for them to establish a connection.
All these observations allow us to see the close relationship that exists between the two worlds. Whether we are conscious of it or not, no one escapes this influence.
In conclusion, the above helps us to understand that the spiritual fall between Lucifer and Eve was not just an imaginary relationship or mere adultery in Eve's mind or heart, but rather the sexual act in which Eve lost her innocence and purity, affecting both of them in a very deep way.
THE PHYSICAL FALL
When love unites two beings, a reciprocal influence and change always take place in both of them.
As William Graham Cole wrote: "Stolen objects can be returned or compensated, lies and defamation can be retracted and corrected, envy and jealousy can be overcome. But a sexual act committed with another person cannot be nullified. The mutual relationship suffers a radical change and the affected couple will never again be the same as before. Something indelible has marked them."
Lucifer felt great pleasure and a selfish satisfaction after his desire of conquering and possessing Eve was fulfilled, in what can be described as the first incident of male exploitation of woman.
However, in the depth of his heart Lucifer was filled with fear and uneasiness because of having betrayed God. After rebelling against God, Lucifer lost his original position and became Satan, God's enemy.
Satan knew that this act not only violated the natural order, but totally destroyed God's purpose which was to be accomplished through Adam and Eve, the ideal of true and eternal love.
When Eve "ate of the fruit", her "eyes opened" as the "serpent" had promised. Eve received the knowledge and experience of sexual love, something unknown until that point. Through that experience, she could understand that Adam instead of Lucifer was supposed to be her true husband. She became aware of the seriousness of her actions and received the archangel's same sense of fear and uneasiness. She had separated from God, disobeying His warning.
Eve thus lost her inner peace, her dignity and sense of value as God's daughter. Anxiety, guilt, remorse, frustration, shame and other new and unknown feelings invaded her after she lost her innocence and purity.
Eve, naturally, wanted to liberate herself from the pain in her conscience and recover her old position and well-being. She thought that the best way to accomplish this was to unite sexually with Adam as his wife.
Adam, who was pure and in a state of innocence, close to God, appeared very beautiful in the eyes of Eve and at that moment represented her only hope. But instead of honestly confessing to Adam her sexual misconduct with the archangel, thus receiving comfort and requesting intercession on her behalf before God, Eve chose to hide her problem and to seduce Adam, persuading and influencing him in the same way that Lucifer had done to her.
If Eve had admitted her sin, all would have been easier. Adam would never have consented to such a premature union, contrary to God's commandment.
Once Adam had reached his maturity and perfection, he could have restored Eve by following God's guidance.
As God's son, the full responsibility of avoiding the tragedy fell on Adam's shoulders. However, instead of asking God for guidance, Adam let himself be deceived and seduced.
Adam was tainted by uniting with Eve in a premature sexual relationship modeled on the selfish love learned by Eve through her adulterous relationship with Lucifer.
He was subsequently disconnected from God and also received the same elements of fear, shame and guilt.
In this way Adam and Eve both participated in what the Divine Principle calls "the physical fall".
This action disconnected them from God in the same way that an emotionally disturbed child is separated from reality. In this internal world of fear and shame, Satan could control and dominate our first ancestors and later their descendants.
This seduction by Eve represented the first incident of female exploitation of man and the starting point of the unnatural dominion of the body over the mind.
When virginity and innocence are lost they become irrecoverable. It is like unripe fruit that, once pulled out of a tree, cannot be put back again to continue its growing.
The premature sexual relationship of our first ancestors limited love to an immature and selfish stage, destroying the ideal of true and eternal love.
Human perfection became almost impossible to imagine as the following generations learned to live in accord with a degraded standard of love.