Healing Well of Miriam

We have all heard the phrase: “Nothing is certain but death and taxes.”  Both instill dread, but even before taxes, there was death.  The word “death” carries with it a feeling of dread that goes far beyond the simple cessation of physical life.  It is hopelessness, grief, inescapable sorrow and despair.  It is the loss of dreams and the loss of hope.  It is aging and weakening of the body; it is sickness and frailty.  This dread is written in our genetic make-up.  It is also a part of the current reality of our physical world, from the time that Adam chose what the Creator had told him would bring death into the world. 

“…of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, you must not eat thereof; for on the day you eat of it, you shall surely die.” ~Genesis 2:17

Adam and Eve did not die “on that day,” but death did become a reality in the world at that point, whereas it had not yet existed for them…or the world…until that fatal bite.  Their Edenic reality collapsed into a new reality called “zuhama”—poison of the serpent.  Death most definitely did exist in that new reality…along with everything else associated with zuhama.  In the reality of zuhama creatures of all types would die and their bodies would decay.   The world would experience cyclical seasons of birth, growth, aging, death, and decay.  It was Earth’s new reality, quite different from Eden—one of destruction and decay.   

The way a serpent inflicts his poison is through the bite of his mouth.  The mouth of the serpent also lied; his first lie was about God, convincing Eve that maybe God had deceived them about the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  So, the reality of zuhama was also a world of lies—lies that led to destruction and decay.   

A very good example of the way this operates is a virus.  A virus is an organism that delivers certain information, which can make a host very sick, even to the point of death.  It interacts with the nervous system, inputting its new information that overrides the current information.  Suddenly, the host has a disease.  For instance, if a person had chicken pox as a child, the chicken pox virus can lie dormant in the nerves along the spinal cord.  Then one day, decades later, they wake up, and all of a sudden, this person has shingles.  The new input into the nervous system causes the body to respond with an outbreak of shingles.  This is only an example, but this is basically how germs generally operate.  They come into the body and input their information into various systems, overriding the body’s understanding of true normal health.      

To the woman He said, “I will greatly increase your suffering and your childbearing; in pain shall you bear children…. ~Genesis 3:16

The Hebrew words for “suffering” and “pain” both have the root etzev, which means “pain,” “sorrow,” or “sadness,” the idea of deep grieving.  From this comes the awareness that this curse is the root of all illness, including the ailment of the earth itself and all her creatures.   

This life of sorrow was not Eve’s alone, for the curse on Adam was:

…accursed is the ground because of you; through suffering shall you eat of it all the days of your life.  Thorns and thistles shall sprout for you, and you shall eat the herbs of the field.  By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread until you return to the ground, from which you were taken:  For you are dust, and to dust shall you return.” ~Genesis 3:17-19

How different this was from his working the Garden of Eden!  Again, the Hebrew word in this passage for “suffering” has the root etzev.  This grievous sorrow would define human existence throughout history.  Earth herself was included in Adam’s curse, falling and suffering, just as he had.  This planet was his domain, utterly dependent on him, sharing his fate.  Zuhama reality became “normal” existence for all the world, erasing the memory of anything better. 

While it seems as though this “doom imprint” is inescapable, it is not irreversible.  Yes, it is a definitive part of the fabric of nature, as we know it.  Everything dies.  We are promised that one day, in the New Earth, death will cease.  However, at this time, we still see it as a reality all around us.  Yet even now we can be healed of the adverse effects of the “doom imprint”—or death consciousness—by embracing a new consciousness of Redemption-mindedness. 

From the beginning, death was defined in terms of pain and sorrow—etzev.  Like death, pain and sorrow was completely unknown in Gan Eden; it only manifested into reality with everything else that defined zuhama.  Pain and sorrow—etzev—then permeated all of nature.  Negative emotions and traumas, too, can be seen as lies being imprinted into a person’s tissues and have similar effect to that of germs.  As doctors are currently aware, emotional trauma is at the root of many, if not most, illnesses, for it weakens the immune system.   The healing of a depressed state is joy and gladness—sason v’simcha.

The Prophets’ promises of Redemption are filled with expressions of joy and gladness.  Nature rejoices.  Sorrow and pain and no more.  Tears are wiped away.  Just as the zuhama reality began with the actions of Adam and Eve, the healing of the world and bringing it to an elevated state is up to their descendants.  When we decide to embrace a higher consciousness—life consciousness—we elevate our vibration and thereby create a vessel for Redemption.