Does Genesis tell a story of an evolutionary breakthrough?
Adam was created from dust, and Eve from Adam's rib. Asexual reproduction existed alone from the beginning of life on Earth for many epochs. Most plants still reproduce this way. If you grow a plant from a piece of another plant, the donor plant doesn't really die in the sense that we know it. Plants are not conscious of themselves as individual beings, therefore have no concept of death, among other things. The most significant leap in human evolution was the development of the spinal column, sympathetic nervous system and brain. We became animals, and conscious of our individuality. "To know" these things (as the Bible puts it) brings death and pain into our reality.The serpent and the tree represents the transition from a plant-like existence to an animal one. You only have to look as far as the nervous system to see what the plant world left behind. The serpent represents our spine, brain, and animal consciousness. Adam and Eve (representing the products of this transition) realized they were conscious (naked) for the first time.
This is the real story. Unfortunately, we are taught that Adam and Eve were real people, who lived in a magic garden. The fact that the ancients had an understanding of evolution means they knew much more than we can imagine. By the way, it wasn't just the Bible that gave a glimpse of evolution, the nervous system - and even DNA.
The caduceus (☤) (/kəˈdjuːsiəs/, -ʃəs, -ˈduː-; κηρύκειον in Greek) or wand of Hermes is typically depicted as a short herald's staff entwined by two serpents in the form of a double helix, and sometimes surmounted by wings.
The caduceus is sometimes used as a symbol for medicine, especially in North America, through confusion with the traditional medical symbol, the rod of Asclepius, which has only a single snake and no wings.
The Sumerian deity, Ningizzida, is accompanied by two gryphons; it is the oldest known image of two snakes coiling around an axial rod, dating from before 2000 BCE.
The staff represents the spinal column with the snake(s) being energy channels. In the case of two coiled snakes they usually cross each other seven times, a possible reference to the seven energy centers called chakras.
