The formation of the human brain
The description of the Garden of Eden can only refer to the human brain: And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil."3 Philo says that these verses are symbolical rather than strictly accurate. For no trees of life or of knowledge have ever at any previous time appeared upon the earth nor is it likely that any will appear hereafter. But I rather conceive that Moses was speaking in an allegorical spirit intending by his paradise to intimate the dominant character of the soul which is full of innumerable opinions as this figurative paradise was of trees."4 I agree that the verses are symbolic and if Philo meant by the dominant character of the soul" the human brain I would agree with that as well. But I cannot agree that the trees represent the innumerable opinions" of the multitudes. The description of the kind of trees in the Garden perfectly fits the neurological faculties programmed into human DNA in Day Six. Those were the faculties of instinct reason and morality. And those instincts are activated by the prospect of pleasure or the fear of pain and the human capacity for reason responds accordingly. But we also saw that reason in the service of instinct accounts for what we call evil while reason in the service of morality accounts for good. When we consider the description of the trees in that light the description of the Garden quickly begins to resemble the human brain. First the words out of the ground made the Lord God to grow …" reflect the words used relating to the forming of man And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground …."5 So when the trees are made to grow" out of the ground" it clearly implies the the ground" that had been made man". The trees" that are made to grow" perfectly correspond to the various neurological faculties: pleasant to the sight" refers to instincts; good for food" refers to the innate knowledge of how the universe and life functions; the tree of knowledge of good and evil" refers to the morality module"; and the tree of life" refers to the moral equation which is why it is in the midst of the garden." The interaction between the various neurological faculties must be properly balanced in order to keep the moral equation in equilibrium. However all these elements of the human brain needed some way to interact with the world. The human instinct for reproduction for example can only be activated when it perceives something that it recognizes as another of the species which causes an arousal of that instinct. The instinct needs to be fed by sight. Likewise the instinct for survival is activated when the senses perceive some danger to survival an unfamiliar sound an unusual sight another of the species perceived as a threat. The physical senses feed the brain only Genesis calls it watering the brain: And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted and became into four heads."6 This verse very obviously refers to the nervous system which supplies the brain with the information it needs in order to function. That is clear because the river didnt go INTO the garden to water the trees it WENT OUT of Eden to water the garden." It would be rather pointless for the water which should be watering the trees in the garden to flow in the wrong direction. So when we conceive of the Garden of Eden as referring to the human brain and the river which flows out of Eden to water the garden" as the human nervous system which waters the brain by supplying it with the information it requires in order to function then the verse makes sense. The information the brain needs would be provided through the senses on the extremities of the body the four heads" of the river. The references to what may have been physical places and understood by the people at the time to represent certain of the senses are not particularly important. The important point is that the rivers and the Garden symbolize the senses and the nervous system which water the brain with information.The activation of the human brain
The next verse is curious because God is said to put man into the garden for a second time: And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it."7 The crucial difference of course is that this time the man is put in the garden to dress it and to keep it." On the first occasion he was just put there. That is because the first reference is to the formation of the brain - out of the ground made the Lord God to grow …"; whereas the second is to the activation of the faculties of the brain to dress it and to keep it". The latent genes had been activated or as the Encode Project would say the necessary genetic switches" had activated the genes and the various neurological faculties began to function in the first of the species with a fully formed human brain. The next verse is also crucial to understand why the man" is put into the garden a second time: And the Lord God commanded the man saying Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."8 Now we should note that the original Hebrew did not say thou shalt surely die" but in dying thou shalt die". This distinction is crucial and we shall return to it shortly. First we should note that God is said to speak to the man" or more properly commanded" him. But the word used is the same as was used in Genesis 1: 22 saying". God commanded the man SAYING". We should remember that the word saying" symbolizes a limited comprehension on the part of those hearing the words or at least a limited comprehension of the words being spoken. The symbolism of God commanding the man" in conjunction with the word saying" tells us that the morality module" which the the tree of knowledge of good and evil" represents had been activated but that its messages were being subconsciously processed. That is confirmed by the warning issued by God of the consequences of violating the message - in dying thou shalt die." So the activation of these various faculties means that this first human being subconsciously knew that certain actions were wrong and that there would be a consequence for committing those actions. However since there was no other human being to tell him that the actions were wrong and no other human being to impose a consequence or punishment he would have reflected on why he felt that such actions could be wrong. Moreover he would have noted that many of the actions of the very species from which he had emerged were wrong by his new understanding yet there were no consequences to them indulging in such behavior. So he would have wondered whether the consequences would be imposed at some time other than during his lifetime and the only other time could be after his death. That would have made him aware of his own mortality thus causing a consciousness of being alive. The first of the human species had become a conscious being; conscious of his own mortality and conscious of his own existence; and all because the neurological moral network had been activated.Functioning of the neurological moral network
Verses 18 to 25 of Chapter 2 record how the now activated neurological moral network began to direct human behavior and ultimately human destiny. I shall only briefly address these verses in this article although I do address them in detail in the book. Here is a summary of those verses. First God is said to have wanted to find an help meet for" Adam (the first human being with fully formed human DNA) because he should not be alone." So God made all the animals and brought them to Adam to be named. But still there was not found an help meet for him." So God put him into a deep sleep removed one of his ribs made a woman and brought her unto him." Adam is then said to have recognized the woman as bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh." As a consequence of this mutual recognition a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Now the first thing we should note is that the man" was alone and that it was not good" that he should be alone. This suggests that fully formed human DNA had appeared in only one (or at best a scattered few) of the first of the species. So he would have recognized that he was different to the species from whom he had emerged. But this does not mean that he was physically alone. He must have been the offspring of a mother and father. And no doubt he would have been part of a group or tribe of people. That is because as Philo says all the individuals of the race had not yet assumed their distinctive form; since the extreme species are contained in the genus."9 This first man" was thus the first to assume the distinctive human form." The reason that it was not good that the man should be alone" is that his instinct was to reproduce but there was no female of the species with fully matured human DNA to reproduce with. To this first man" reproducing with what ostensibly would have been another species would have been an unattractive prospect. So he would have become frustrated. But in doing so he appears to have activated other elements of his brain. The words I will make him an help meet for him" can only symbolize the activation of the ability to reason at a higher level compelling this first human to examine the life around him in the hope of finding another living thing like him with whom he could reproduce. However by examining the various different species around him this first human appeared to activate another latent characteristic of the brain the language module. Adam started ascribing names to the animals. But Adamss search for a mate proved futile: but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him." So it seems that this first of the human species must have settled for a mate from one of the more primitive species from which he had emerged even though she would have been a different species in some major respects. As a consequence his fully programmed human DNA must have again become dormant: And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof."10 The symbolism of Adam" going into a deep sleep means that the fully formed human DNA he was carrying around probably passed through several generations while remaining dormant. So a number of the pre-human species may well have had this dormant DNA Then by a coincidence of probabilities the dormant DNA was activated in both a male and female at the same time and those two must have been in close physical proximity. And immediately they recognized each other as being different to the species around them and virtual mirror-images of each other except one was male and the other female. As Philo said they would have beheld" each other as in a mirror."11 The human species was ready to go forth and multiply".Recognition of moral obligations
The effect of this mutual recognition was that some additional elements of the morality module" were activated. That is symbolized by the words Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife." They recognized that this new relationship between members of the new species was different to what went before. They recognized the importance of monogamy. The joining together of a male and a female to create new life makes them one flesh" in the new life they create. And the obligations which attach to that both before and after they cleave unto" each other required that they forsake any and all other relationships. They recognized that their relationship should be unique exclusive and special for the benefit of the new life they create. There we find the source of the positive obligations we referred to in the introductory article.Subconscious recognition of obligations
However these first human beings did not sit down and make a list of what they thought was right and wrong. As we have already seen they just subconsciously knew how they should behave. That is the message in verse 25: And they were both naked the man and his wife and were not ashamed." The reason that they were not ashamed" was that they did not look upon the physical body and the act of procreation as something to be exploited for the primary purpose of generating physical pleasure. Their neurological moral networks subconsciously communicated the law to them it commanded" them saying". The neurological moral network automatically kept the moral equation in equilibrium as long as they heeded what it told them. So there would have been an innocence about them. They would have lived harmoniously with nature and others like them. They would not have fenced off portions of the Earth to claim as their own. They would not have sought to quell their insecurities and fears by building walls around themselves. They would not have sought security in subjugating others to their control and power. They did not even need clothes to display their vanity. Neither did they need clothes to divert others from lusting after their bodies they did not lust because they knew it was wrong. They would not have been in need of laws because they knew the law. They would have known that making their own laws would simply be a ruse to violate the universal law which applied to everything and everybody. That was the state of the human race before primitive human instincts got the better of some. But there are alive today some of the descendants of those first human beings who inhabited the Earth at the time described in Genesis the time when the first of the species emerged. And like their ancestors they simply do what they know to be right and good. They are not consumed by the demands of their primitive instincts. They are not in relentless pursuit of pleasure or the persistent fear of death and insecurity. They are an innocent decent and good people; or at least as innocent and good as anyone can be after being exposed to the civilized world. They are the San people of Southern Africa also known as the Bushmen. Anthropologists and geneticists identify some of these peoples as the ancestors of all human beings. Although I would say that the rest of us are the descendants of that part of the original family that went astray and they are the descendants of those who did not go astray. And as we shall see in the next article dealing with Chapters 3 and 4 science and Genesis supports that conclusion. ----------------------------------------------------------- This series of articles is based on the book A Final Theory of God by Joseph BH McMillan