A while ago I got together with four other similarly fearful women to spend some quality time with a boa constrictor. The snake's handler pulled it out of it's container and arranged it across our laps. It was pretty intense. We let it explore us, and we explored it. Energetically, it felt very different from the usual lap pet, kind of alien and unfamiliar. As she moved across us her power, potential, and chi was self-evident. We were in awe of it, and found ourselves, at the very least, on the path to healing our snake phobia after that encounter.
I thought about why snakes bring up such fears in so many of us. I know that in older cultures, snakes were revered and honored. Perhaps it began with the Old Testament tale of Adam and Eve, where the devil in the form of the snake tempts Eve to taste the fruit of the tree on knowledge. (She, in turn, gives a piece to Adam, and thus was sexism born, but that's another story.)
Eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge allowed Adam and Eve to know the difference between good and evil. I wondered what was so wrong about that. Then it came to me that the act of eating the fruit was the thing that separated them from God (he drove them from the garden). At first, I thought it was because they had disobeyed God's law. Now I think differently.
I think that what separates us from god, from heaven on earth, from our enlightened knowing, is our judgements. After all, what is judgement but thinking you know the difference between good and evil, right and wrong. When you look at life with judging eyes when things measure up, you're happy. When they don't, you're not. When people measure up, they're "good" people. When they don't, they aren't.
I don't think God, Spirit, all-that-is, sees the world so narrowly. I think that the world and all things in it, through the eyes of beings like Christ, Buddha, and the Dali Lama, is perfect. It's our judegments that create distinctions in value, and distinctions in value create dissatisfaction, unhappiness, greed, anger, and pain. Our judgements create hell on earth.
To create heaven on earth, we must learn to take the high road. When we do we are more able to have a broader perspective, which increases our ability to view all things we see with love, compassion and understanding.
Even and including snakes.
Love,
Kristine
