“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(11:55.) The concept itself existed long before Christianity’s initiation, and was told in various forms throughout the centuries and in all civilizations. On the side of consciousness, it is a tale symbolically representing the birth of the conscious mind in the species as a whole, and the emergence of self-responsibility. It also stands for the separation of the self who perceives — and therefore judges and values — from the object which is perceived and evaluated. It represents the emergence of the conscious mind and of the strongly oriented individual self from that ground of being from which all consciousness comes.

He saw himself as rising above the serpent, which was a symbol of unconscious knowledge. Yet the serpent would always mystify and attract man, even though he must stand upon its head, symbolically speaking, and rise from its knowledge.

The refusal of particular foods, therefore, became a symbol for the avoidance of certain beliefs, so that for a while the beliefs were not faced while the foods were not eaten. This is done with many such methods on a consistent basis by people all the time. In your friend’s case, the realization that he can eat those foods means that he understands that he can encounter those beliefs in himself, as he is now beginning to do.

His rejection of the foods for this length of time persisted as a symbol that he was still not facing his beliefs. With each “triumph,” now — and there have been several with your help and Ruburt’s — he shows himself that beliefs and not food are important, and reinforces his independence and freedom.