Adam and Eve and The Art of Giving
Adam and Eve and The Art of Giving
Teacher: Scott Walter, Sensei
It is important that we can move both inwardly and outwardly through our givings, as this enables us to navigate through life’s many circumstances and to line up with the spiritual values and matters of the moment. But I do want to once again address the outward and inward directions as I am using them. Outward values are values that are negative to a particular state of being and inward values are positive to that same state of being. By state of being, I am including any particular value, any reason, any manner or way, and any point.
The outward is always at least one step more into selfishness and the inward is at least one step more into selflessness. Therefore, when we are truly being selfish, we are outward to some degree and to truly be more inward we must be selfless to some degree. The degrees in these cases would depend on the reason, the position in the moment or the state of being.
When we give outwardly in life, we give from a selfishness motivation. We could also be giving to the selfishness in others. This is outward giving and it is negative. When we give inwardly in life, we give from a selfless motivation. And we could also be giving to the selflessness in others. This is inward giving and it is positive.
Remember also, that someone can demonstrate inward values while facing outward and outward values while facing inward, so there are compounds occurring that can sometimes mask what is really going on.
We can also have examples that are more and less negative and more and less positive- implying something a little negative or maybe something a lot, and something else a little positive or a lot- but let’s just consider that the outward is negative and the inward in positive. The outward is the world of the self. The inward is the world of the Self. When spiritually minded people inspire us in their worldly givings, they are not giving outward values relative to the inspiration point. They are giving inward values to others and they are giving inward values to the inward points in those being inspired. Otherwise, there would be no inspiration as inspire refers to the “in” ward. The
“ward” is the custodian, and there are beings that care for what is more “in” and the depth of “in” has different levels of “wardship.” The same is true of the outward with its “wards.” To be more in line with the inward, we must care as the ward of that way of being.
Adam and Eve were created as Wards in our current human model and they were given custodianship of the Garden within, where the inner edge of the physical plane of matter connects with the outer edge of the spiritual plane. The inward, or “in” ward positions care about those more inward positive values and they are about giving them in life. The outward, or “out” ward positions care about those more outward negative values and they are about giving them in life. If you want to improve your givings and life, you must care more for the values that are still more positive and you must care less about those that are more negative. You will dwell, either way, on the relative values you care most for and you can look at your moment to moment givings to see the values you “tend” as a ‘ward” of your reasoning. The Art of Giving brings focus to our ways of being and offers understanding and a more sourceful relationship while also offering understanding into the nature of our various matters. To do this effectively, we must learn to place our awareness with one eye on the more source of our reason while the other is on the matter.
With Adam and Eve, they were originally in a state of being dwelling right on the edge of the earth’s spiritual/physical plane connection. There was a spiritual value seen and experienced in every connection to matter and there was a material value seen and experienced in every connection to spirit. The relationship between spirit and matter was the point of dwell. And both were understood in relationship to each other.
This point of dwell, represented by Adam and Eve, is in each one of us. To engage it, we must engage in an example of the same value in our givings. When we do, we can move outwardly with that inner sense, becoming more materialistic and more into self matters, where we may eventually enter into the negative matters and emotions, but, because we are in this case on the Adam and Eve point, we can dwell on the spiritual values of our negativity, and find positive reasons to resolve the matter. Or we can move inwardly freeing ourselves from our negative matters to make a more positive value of our lives and our connection to the creative source and the more positive values as they are defined further inward, while seeing ways to apply these more inward values in the matters of our lives.
To be at one with the point within that was Adam and Eve before the Fall, is ours to discover, but only if we accept the values at that point in our reason for being. If we give outwardly, we reinforce the separation from that state of being, looking for the “good and bad” in ways that promote selfishness and separation. This forms our versions of Hell, because we are facing outward away from the more true and loving reasons. Turning inward opens us to the world of the Self and to Heaven and can eventually lead us to that point in between spirit and matter, where Adam and Eve dwelled in the Garden, understanding all matters in their relationship to source.
Now, it is also important to see we can define any point as a spiritual/matter connection because there is an inner and outer in everything manifesting. But the values of these many points are not equivalent, and while the Adam and Eve point- in an outward sense- can, in the moment, help target our awareness to the spirit/matter connection so we can become better in our givings by moving to the inward values and what is better, the Adam and Eve point in an inward sense is about dwelling in constant relationship to the Divine- while in matter- and living to giving the reasons we have come in to being to give and share.
When someone works inwardly in selfish ways, this is outward giving on an inward subject. When someone works selflessly on an outward issue, it is inward giving. The Adam, or Yang, within us represents a way of Gratitude for being in love with the oneness with God, looking for that oneness in everything and being truly grateful for it in life. The Eve, or Yin, within us represents a way of Appreciation for being in love with the many wondrous ways God is manifested, looking for that wonder and uniqueness in everything and being truly appreciative for it in life. Both are connected to the Divine, both are engaged in being in the oneness and matter of it all, each having a different emphasis that are both necessary to complete our sense of the Divine in its various forms.
When we practice our givings, we are demonstrating our relationship to these inner points of higher, truer connection. But our givings are often far outward, in the world’s values, as defined by things like the limitations of religion and the matters dominating our lives. This is the nature of the Fall of our Divine connection. Giving our Adam positions to being at one with a particular form of matter while losing the sense in the rest, and giving our Eve positions to being in love with the wonder and uniqueness of what we can create of ourselves rather than our Selves, brings on our separation, but when we give the truer, more loving values of the Self, we live more through that which the Divine meanings are appreciated.
As we give further out, we lose the inner sense, as we give further in, we see the connection more in everything. Eventually, if we go inward enough in our givings to life, we can arrive at the deeper versions of Adam and Eve within, and if we can coordinate our selves to engage our Selves at these more inward values, we can realize the connection more in Everything.
The principles in the Art of Giving series can serve to bring us inward or outward. There are values in both directions. The quality of our reasons determine where we dwell. And movement is possible with practice and understanding of the nature of how to Respect, Appreciate and show Gratitude for those more inward and outward Values.
Scott Walter, Sensei
July 22, 2009
Adam and Eve and The Art of Giving
© 2009 by Great River Institute
Disclaimer: The sale, publication or distribution of any of GRI’s articles is expressly prohibited. Please feel free, however, to print and study any material here for personal use, or to quote short excerpts.