This is a good quoted text, for sure. However, your subject title indicated
that you would be comparing these mythic descriptions with the first Seven
Circuits of, I assume, Timothy Leary's 8-Circuit model of consciousness. Is
there more to come?

For me - I can see how the first Earth (Erez) might relate to the First Circuit.
It is dark and void, and it contains unknowns that are terrifying. Of course
the First Circuit also includes a place of comfort to which to retreat, and has
a heavy oral aspect (suckling at Mother's breast)- both of which are missing
from the description of Erez. Perhaps it was Eve who provided First Circuit
comfort to Adam in Erez...

The second Earth (Adamah) doesn't seem to focus much on the Second Circuit,
until it reaches Cain and Able. Perhaps that story embodies the kind of "might
makes right" hierarchy that is established during the development of the Second
Circuit (toddling, interacting with siblings).

To me, I don't see how the third Earth (Arka) has anything at all to do with the
Third Circuit. Instead it is the fourth Earth (Ge) that seems to represent the
Third Circuit. The Tower of Babel, the adherence to science and skills in
craftsmanship all fit well into the Third Circuit's development of speech and
ability to apply lables and meanings to things.

I'll await your thoughts on how the higher Earths relate to the higher Circuits.


LVX
Aaron

--- In solomonic@yahoogroups.com, "David Stolowitz" <david@...> wrote:
>
> THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEVEN EARTHS
>
> When Adam was cast out of Paradise, he first reached the lowest of the seven
earths, the Erez, which is dark, without a ray of light, and utterly void. Adam
was terrified, particularly by the flames of the ever-turning sword, which is on
this earth. After he had done penance, God led him to the second earth, the
Adamah, where there is light reflected from its own sky and from its
phantom-like stars and constellations. Here dwell the phantom-like beings that
issued from the union of Adam with the spirits." They are always sad; the
emotion of joy is not known to them. They leave their own earth and repair to
the one inhabited by men, where they are changed into evil spirits. Then they
return to their abode for good, repent of their wicked deeds, and till the
ground, which, however, bears neither wheat nor any other of the seven
species.[34] In this Adamah, Cain, Abel, and Seth were born. After the murder of
Abel, Cain was sent back to the Erez, where he was frightened into repentance by
its darkness and by the flames of the ever-turning sword. Accepting his
penitence, God permitted him to ascend to the third earth, the Arka, which
receives some light from the sun. The Arka was surrendered to the Cainites
forever, as their perpetual domain. They till the ground, and plant trees, but
they have neither wheat nor any other of the seven species.
>
> Some of the Cainites are giants, some of them are dwarfs. They have two heads,
wherefore they can never arrive at a decision; they are always at loggerheads
with themselves.[34] It may happen that they are pious now, only to be inclined
to do evil the next moment.
>
> In the Ge, the fourth earth, live the generation of the Tower of Babel and
their descendants. God banished them thither because the fourth earth is not far
from Gehenna, and therefore close to the flaming fire.[35] The inhabitants of
the Ge are skilful in all arts, and accomplished in all departments of science
and knowledge, and their abode overflows with wealth. When an inhabitant of our
earth visits them, they give him the most precious thing in their possession,
but then they lead him to the Neshiah, the fifth earth, where he becomes
oblivious of his origin and his home. The Neshiah is inhabited by dwarfs without
noses; they breathe through two holes instead. They have no memory; once a thing
has happened, they forget it completely, whence their earth is called Neshiah,
"forgetting." The fourth and fifth earths are like the Arka; they have trees,
but neither wheat nor any other of the seven species.
>
> The sixth earth, the Ziah, is inhabited by handsome men, who are the owners of
abundant wealth, and live in palatial residences, but they lack water, as the
name of their territory, Ziah, "drought," indicates. Hence vegetation is sparse
with them, and their tree culture meets with indifferent success. They hasten to
any waterspring that is discovered, and sometimes they succeed in slipping
through it up to our earth, where they satisfy their sharp appetite for the food
eaten by the inhabitants of our earth. For the rest, they are men of steadfast
faith, more than any other class of mankind.[36]
>
> Adam remained in the Adamah until after the birth of Seth. Then, passing the
third earth, the Arka, the abiding place of the Cainites, and the next three
earths as well, the Ge, the Neshiah, and the Ziah, God transported him to the
Tebel, the seventh earth, the earth inhabited by men.
>
> - Louis Ginsberg, "Legends of the Jews"
>