The manner of Eve's temptation by the serpent in the Scriptural allegory, strikingly illustrates that subtle phase of mortal mind called suggestion. A suggestion is an implied statement of something without direct assertion. The nature of evil suggestion is seen in the old adage, "A suggestion of evil is worse than the evil." There are limitless possibilities to a suggestion when it is sown in evil or fearing minds. This weapon of mortal thought is used only through ignorance of its power, moral cowardice or inherent viciousness. Speak, act, think with the directness of Truth; what cannot be said or done should not be suggested. Suggestion is the policy of error; it is the two-edged sword of mortal mind wounding those against whom it is directed and cutting off from a sense of Truth those who wield it. The harmfulness of suggestion is greatest when sown by wilfully malicious thought in equally malicious mental soil, or in minds rendered receptive by ignorance of its method and intent. To thoroughly understand the nature and action of suggestion is to be proof against its subtlety. The purpose of this paper is to define the character of suggestion, and its modes of manifestation, through the allegory of Eve's temptation and fall.
Man is placed in a garden, with the privilege of eating of all the trees of the garden save the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil," against which he is warned. The tree symbolizes life; the fructifying of trees indicates life's productiveness. Knowledge is mental cognition. "The thought of foolishness is sin." The Scriptural meaning of foolishness is wickedness. There is no evil outside of mental cognizance of it. The thought of evil assumes through suggestion a seeming reality, and finally appears, to belief, a visible expression of its own error. Eating is partaking. By thus allowing it to become a part of one's self we eat or partake of it. Mortal mind eats, absorbs this knowledge of evil born of its own thought; thus error and mortal mind are found to be one. "What we term mortal, or erring mind, is but a belief and error, from beginning to end, that sees only what it believes, and believes only what it sees through belief." (Science and Health.)
Adam falls into a deep sleep, during which the woman is taken from his side. Asleep in error, real consciousness, that of indivisible identity, is lost, and a belief of duality of consciousness takes its place. The spirituality of individuality is usurped by the personality of sense.
