ABSTRACT
A trauma occurred in Eden which led to the rupture of the primal unity leading to banishment from the Garden. Transcendence is not available until the challenge of death is faced and therefore banishment into death awareness is a necessary development and fate. In Greek myth the Promethean act of stealing fire from the gods is punished. The myth tells of the Titan Prometheus who created mankind from clay and then, despite Zeus' prohibition, stole fire from the gods to bring these clay figures alive. Zeus offers to free Prometheus if he will foretell what it is that will topple him. Thus, the emergence into the life of consciousness, a defiant but creative act, is marred by death awareness. Life and death, creation and destruction, are the templates of our consciousness. The reason why Adam and Eve are prevented from reaching the Tree of Life is that they must pass through death-consciousness, the fallen state, before enlightenment is possible.
