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.. man's existence on this earth, from the beginning until it reaches this state, form, and condition, necessarily lasts a long time... But from the beginning of man's existence he is a distinct species... admitting that the traces of organs which have disappeared actually exist [in the human body], this is not a proof of the impermanence and the non- originality of the species. At the most it proves that the form, and fashion, and the organs of man have progressed. Man was always a distinct species, a man, not an animal. - Some Answered Questions (132:3) Of the story of Adam and Eve He says: - If we take this story in its apparent meaning, according to the interpretation of the masses, it is indeed extraordinary. The intelligence cannot accept it, affirm it, or imagine it; for such arrangements, such details, such speeches and reproaches are far from being those of an intelligent man, how must less of the Divinity - that Divinity who has organised this infinite universe in the most perfect form, and its innumerable inhabitants with absolute system, strength, and perfection... (132:4) Therefore this story of Adam and Eve who ate from the tree, and their expulsion from Paradise, must be thought of simply as a symbol. It contains divine mysteries and universal meanings, and it is capable of marvelous explanations. - Some Answered Questions
(132:5)
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