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Cain and Abel

Written by – Aran Patinkin
[email protected]

In Memory of Shlomo Moussaieff

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This reality was created, according to the Hebrew calendar, around 3760 BC; When more or less it is
commonly believed the civilizations emerged with the beginning of writing. This dates approximates,
implies that perhaps the story of creation in the Bible actually signifies the creation of this present
culture. This is a wild speculation, but it might lead us to interesting questions.

The creation of man in the Bible - is the creation of the mind, of consciousness, that we humans are just
biological manifestations of; but actually it is something much broader and deeper, something
universal. It is interesting to note that even in the Maya culture locate the beginning of time, the
beginning of their calendar, was in about the same period, 5,200 years ago.

Around the year 3760 BC, suddenly all over the planet, a major human shift begins. No man can
properly explain how simultaneously at the same time change occurs; starting with a displacement of
whole nations, the collapse of kingdoms, destruction of cultures and dramatic technological changes.
Astrologers attribute such changes to the stars in the sky, ecologist attribute this to climate changes.
Archaeologists say it's because of hunger. Sociologists claim it's social change and internal collapse of
civilizations. It is possible that all these factors are correct and are a cluster of reasons for the creation
of a human phenomenon and mental changes. There is a definite historical pattern and it's intertwined
with the human understanding of relationships. That could possibly explain why Hillel the elder, Jesus
and many others, have preached that the essence of the Bible is relationship.

The transition from nomadic hunter gatherers living in small intimate communities, to living in cities
and large permanent settlements, marks an emotional change. Feeling to close family members is
significantly different from feelings to a stranger, to an 'other'. The human capacity to communicate and
relate to many strange people, foreign to them, is a dramatic evolutionary step towards applying
emotion, and to the quality we call love.

The agricultural revolution, (much like the Industrial revolution of modern times) created two human
societies, the wandering shepherd and the farmer. This division in societies naturally engenders a
struggle for supremacy and control. This archetypal conflict is depicted in the biblical story of Cain and
Abel. The Hebrew name Cain ‫ קין‬is derived from the linguistic Hebrew root of ‫ קניין‬which means
property. Cain, as a farmer is described in the Bible as the 'father of all property', and sees his task as
appropriating the land. While Abel, the wandering shepherd searches for pasture for his flock were ever
he can find it. An enclosed geographical area of land would not meet the needs of his sheep, and so for
Abel the accumulation of small pockets of land would seem valueless to him. This way of life would be
seem to him to be “no-thing-ness” The Hebrew name ‫' הבל‬Hevel' (Abel) can be translated as 'Vanity'
and will then mean – 'nonsense', but it truly means 'Nothingness' like in Zen Buddhism. Also ‫הבל‬
'Hevel' in (Ecclesiastes 2) can be translated as–'nonsense' but it really means “Nothingness”.

The Bible, since it stresses primarily in relationships, deals intensively with repairing the primordial
conflict between the brothers Cain and Abel. This is nothing more than an a continuation of the enmity
that arose initially between Adam and Eve after the serpent incident. Though the admonition appears to
be coming from God, when he speaks of the reality of the situation he's actually only stating a
confirmation of discord that has already arisen between them due to a misunderstanding where Adam
blames Eve rather than taking on the responsibility for his own decision.
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It's not until Abraham that we see an individual willing to take on the full responsibility for Reality and
within that Hebrew movement the harmonizing of the primal wound, the enmity that occurred in the
Garden of Eden. Abraham never blames Sarah for her bareness, but takes responsibility for it himself.
His deep respect for Sarah is illustrated when he honors her with the first burial of the Hebrew Bible,
for of the path Adam and Eve have set out for each stage of the Patriarchs' story this conflict reappears.
Isaac and Ishmael story designs two archetype sons expressing two different approaches to faith. On
Ishmael said: "He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand
against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen" (Genesis 16:12). Ishmael is sent from
Abraham's house and is ordained to enhance life of mere survival in the wild. Isaac grew up, learning
and growing under the canopy of the reality of abundance and scarcity of Abraham's mentality and
therefore is worthy to succeed him. Jacob and Esau also establish two archetypes in conflict: "When the
boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in
tents" (Genesis 25:27).

The social archetypal conflict that is rooted within our culture is the conflict between shepherds and
farmers. Between those who wonder and flow with nature and those who settle in one place and work
the land, to benefit himself materially. The story of Joseph and his brothers illustrates another step in
the journey of this development and heal of the basic conflict. Joseph's dream in (Genesis 37:7):
"Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And
behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf". This dream upsets the
shepherds (brother of Joseph), because he prophesies the surrender of the shepherds to the farmers.
Joseph is sent to Egypt to study and implement the laws catchment of farm products. Also his named '
‫' 'יוסף‬Yoseph' (Joseph), implies collecting 'Isuph' ‫ איסוף‬of material and spiritual things.

The world can not survive without the healing of the primal conflict between brothers, so this motif
appears in many varied forms throughout the Bible. An important step for reconciliation between
shepherds to farmers, is the deep understanding that human consciousness is unified, is ONE, and it
can also be called God. The process of cultivating agriculture, also affects the mentality of shepherds.
We are called to recognize that our journey is shared and moves as ONE and obviously there is only
ONE God. Shepherds and farmers are the two components of the same human mentality. These human
roles are participants in a divine colossal play that advances toward the completion of the designation
of man's journey in time towards self-recognition and awareness.

Possession of property and ownership of Cain is a mental landmark in the development of

consciousness. The mere possibility of ownership is a tremendous revolution. Neolithic man had no
ownership concept, he could not even understand the very possibility of an asset being his own. When
Native Americans first encountered European occupiers, they were stunned by the intensity of the need
for Westerners to posses, especially gold.

From the first primal man Adam, came out two streams of possession: shepherds and farmers.
Shepherds assets for themselves sheep and tents; the word to ‫( קנה‬kanah) in Hebrew 'buy' is from the
Hebrew root ‫ה‬.‫נ‬.‫ק‬. K.n.h. the Hebrew word for bird's nest ‫( קן‬Ken) derives from the same root -- the
bird appropriates for herself a place and raise her chicks. Farmers asset land, buildings and property.
From the ability to appropriate belongings the ego grows. What we call personality is mostly the things
that the ego appropriates and see them as belonging to him, including objects, thoughts and ideas.
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The Jewish sages said: "Just as their faces are different, so are their opinions different". Any opinion
one holds and sustains, contributes to the creation of his unique identity. His perception of Justice and
his subjective world picture. His world consists of what he values. If a man appropriates to himself
something, it is of course a kind of illusory house of cards. It is clear that we really have no ownership,
everything comes from the unity, from ONE; even if it seems to belongs to some person. If it belongs
to anything, it surely belongs to the unity, not to this or other person . To create ownership one needs to
invest much energy to continually establish the illusory sense of ownership.

Jealousy
Comparison and jealousy enhance the sense of ownership. A man wants to object that he sees in
another hands; a woman is jealous of the dress that her neighbor has; a boy is jealous of his brother's
sugarcane; a scholar is jealous of his colleague's spiritual qualities. Jealousy is a killing energy; a man
can kill out of jealousy, like in the story of Cain and Abel.

The theme of jealousy of Cain and Abel, is the first topic that the Bible deals with it after descent from
the Garden of Eden. If the Garden of Eden is the reality of hunters gatherers, jealousy creates a new
reality of possession. Jealousy is the main building bricks of this culture; an integral part of who we
are; man can not exist without jealousy. We can not get rid of jealousy; it is like a body organ. A human
can laboriously reduce the envy in him, but cannot hide it. To an outsider, jealousy and its destructive
outcomes seem silly, but when one becomes pale with jealousy, or envy for a woman or honor, it is
very natural for him to kill. The Torah insists on highlighting the most extreme consequences of
jealousy; in the Cain and Abel story it is eventually murder. It was possible to weave a story of a human
who was jealous of his brother and punished him, but did not kill him. Torah prefers to show the peak
archetypical movements that indicate a mental and cognitive milestones.

Pride is working on a similar frequency of envy; a man is trying to stand out above the others. He
wants to be better, richer and smarter than anyone he compares himself to. Comparison, envy and pride
cause us to be stuck forever in the known and familiar; as long as man only compares, he only deals
with the known and can not open up to the new and creative quality that is expressed in the biblical call
to Abraham: “Go forth from your country, and from your father’s house”.

Abel Cain's jealousy is trans personal; the personal jealousy serves the entire journey of consciousness.
This is the first archetypal jealousy in the history of consciousness, which is an inevitable evolution
that derives directly from the concept of ownership and property, and is one of the pillars of the human
personality and reality. That is, without jealousy it is very difficult to appropriate something over time.
It is no accident that the roots of Hebrew words for K.N.A ‫ה‬.‫נ‬.‫ק‬. (To buy - purchase) and K.N.A ‫א‬.‫נ‬.‫ק‬
(Jealousy) are close. There is no property if there is no jealousy and envy and vice versa – there is no
jealousy if there is no property.

Jealousy can be regarded as a symptom – one should stop it, fight it, it is wrong, or bad. We tend to
view it in a judgmental way. We try to enhance it or reduce it out of moral reasons. The Bible sees
Jealousy as a cornerstone of our mentality and shows how without jealousy there is no world. Spicy
continuity does not prevail without envy; In nature wild males fight each other to win to breed the
females in the herd. Jealousy is so deeply rooted and fundamental in our existence that there are Bible
commentators who argue that Abel deserved to die, because he did not share with Cain his perceptions
and abilities. Abel did not open to Cain the way to connect to God; out of jealousy, he wanted to save it
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only for himself. Rashi (Shlomo Yitzhaki), the renowned commentator, goes even further and argues
that the sin of the tree of knowledge also began with envy of the snake. Rashi interprets the story of the
serpent in Genesis: The snake saw Adam and Eve make love and became jealous.

Human will in general, is built on jealousy. This totality is expressed by God on Mount Sinai: "For you
shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God" (Exodus 34:14).
The prophet Elijah says after he kills the false prophets of the Baal: "I have been very jealous for the
LORD, the God of hosts." (Kings I 19:10). The root of jealousy of mankind, is the divine jealously of
GOD, its uncompromising exclusivity of the unity of all. The envy of God is the unique quality that is
not willing to compromise, but insists on total and absolute belief in the unity. Belaam has great powers
and capabilities, but he has no jealousy to the unity of all. Pagan culture dissolves the totality, making
out a variety of complex myths that create a mental vertigo. The Bible emphasizes the oneness and its
absolute exclusivity. A woman jealous of her friend's dress, is not willing that both she and her friend
will wear the same dress. She wants the exclusivity to herself. The woman takes use of a divine energy
and uses it for her own narrow and petty interests. Jealousy is founded on the root of jealousy to the
unity and oneness of God.

Perhaps our initial jealousy stems from the fact the man sees that God is perfect and man by nature is
imperfect, but strives for perfection his entire life. The beginning of the jealousy in Eve when she
wants to become creative like God. She is jealous God and wants to prove to him that she can take the
credit for creation by giving birth to Cain. Eve says of him: "I have gotten a man from the LORD"
(Genesis 4:1). Our motivation stems from overt and sub - conscious jealousy. Our envy can be deeply
hidden but yet very powerful.

Cain and Abel story is a classic example of how the human mind and mentality are determined by the
laws of evolution - each step is a link that leads to an inevitable evolution of the next step and so on the
next link, until the end of time. If the Ego began in a sort of a 'big bang', we are called perceive the fine
resolutions for the smallest of the moment of the explosion, into the nano-seconds of development and
find out what shaped our personality in substantive terms, structurally. The starting point of this
outlook is the notion that nothing occurs without a reason. The jealousy of Eve leads to the jealousy of
Cain, which leads to seizure of property. This is purely energetic, it's not a personal matter of a persona
called Eve and not a personal matter of persona called Cain. This is the journey that every human mind
does in the call for awakening to full awareness.

The Hebrew God prefers the offerings of Abel the shepherd, which come from a innocent and free
mental state, a relatively clean ego. This divine preference continues throughout the entire Bible, and
therefore the patriarchs, Moses, David and many of the prophets of Israel were shepherds. The Hebrew
word 'Roe' ‫( רועה‬shepherd) comes from the same linguistic root as 'ra' ‫( רע‬bad). According to the
Midrash, Moses was grazing the flock of Jethro in Midian, he would separate the good lambs from the
bad and let them graze the soft grass. The word 'shepherd' ‫ רועה‬is also from the root of 'ra' ‫ רע‬meaning
friend. So the word 'ra' means both friend and bad. This is a wonderful example of paradoxical Hebrew
in all its splendor and power. The only thing that determines the meaning of the word 'ra' is the
intention of both the speaker and the listener. A man can look at bad and imagine it is good. The revers
of the word 'ra', is 'er' ‫( ער‬awake), which implies perhaps spiritual awakening.

The Torah emphasizes the quality of innocence as an important pillar of faith; In Deuteronomy 18:13 it
says: "You shall be innocent (blameless) before the LORD your God". Noah is presented as innocent:
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"These are the generations of Noah, Noah was a righteous man innocent, blameless in his generation.
Noah walked with God" (Genesis 6:9). Importance of innocence is also expressed in relation to the
Bible to the sacrifice: "Take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering,
both innocent and without blemish, and offer them before the LORD" (Leviticus 9:2). God himself and
his actions are innocent: "for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and innocent, just and
upright is he" (Deuteronomy 32:4) - again a material expression of that totality of the Bible - the
actions of God are complete, intact and inviolate.

Evolution – Created in God's image

In the next chapters of Genesis, a sequence of human evolution are displayed. Genesis has many family
trees that mark the steps of this evolution. For example: "His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the
father of all those who play the lyre and pipe" (Genesis 4:21). This is the birth of the music, which is
also a tremendous mental revolution - the birth of new and powerful form of expression. In the famous
60s of the 20th century it was possible to experience the power of this powerful medium, when rock
music led to a new realms of consciousness.

The next verse describes the birth of the work in metals, "Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger
of all instruments of bronze and iron" (Genesis 4:22) - It is no coincidence that the division of periods
in archeology is based mainly on how metals were processed: Bronze age and the Iron Age etc.. The
metallurgical ability process has determined the technological level of a culture.

These milestones in the evolution of human consciousness are the main issue behind the biblical story.
The Bible describes the course of development in order to manifest the divine order and present before
us, the map of evolution; the map of the inevitable development of everything. It is a voyage towards
awareness. You can call it evolution, but it is deeper than our understanding the biological world. In our
level of consciousness, we do not have the full ability to deepen to such subtle resolutions of
observance - we're tied to the level of results, cause and effect, the level of symptoms.

When the Biblical frequency is dealing with the essence of the Hebrew man, the essence of human
nature, it refers to a primary energy – to the potential of attribute. Attribute can pass all kinds of
mutations, changes and expressions, but either way man, after all, expresses his genetic root which is in
Hebrew 'Moledet' ‫( מולדת‬his homeland). When God says in Genesis 1:26 in the story of creation: "Let
us make man in our image, after our likeness." - that creation is in the level of genes, the level of
potential energy.

Genes are eternal - human beings are born and die, but the genes, the carriers of consciousness, prevail
from generation to generation and therefore are eternal. Within these genes all the options for
development are already included, even if they do not fully show themselves at each stage. In God's
view there are no mistakes or accidents. The divine view includes also the perversions. All for one
purpose - awareness and the continuity of life. Each one has a role in this formidable play; even the the
alleged wicked, thieves, fools also supposedly have a role in the great fabric. A thief, for example,
steals only from the point of view of our perspective; when we imagine that something really belongs
to us. A thief takes something we agree between us that is owned by another person, but in terms of the
creation, these agreements are of no importance.

The body of a man acts upon its congenital genetic root - its hereditary, and not according to what one
wants, or says he wants. The body expresses wisdom of its own that often contradict what the man
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himself declares. Despite his numerous efforts man can not control his emotions, nor his actions. All
his means of restraining, punishment and intimidation are to no avail. All in all the level of genes is
governing the body in a hidden way. The Greek tragedies are an expression of the universal inheritance
– life of the hero has a destiny and the heroes can not escape from what has been preordained. Man
tries with all his might to rebel against his inherited qualities, but can not beat them.

The Bible does not speak in a language of tragedy; it does not see the mathematical expression of the
universe as pessimism – quite the contrary it's an expression of optimism, an expression of divine
Providence. Consciousness is in constant motion and movement is the essence of development, and
development is an opening. The Hebrew word for opening is 'Petach' ‫ פתח‬and the word for
development drives from the same root 'Hitpatchut' ‫ התפתחות‬.