Adam
The serpent/snake of mortal knowledge, caused Adam to sink into a trancelike condition in which he was unconscious of his own higher Self. When Adam seemingly awoke, he actually sank into sleep, for he no longer was in the spirit but in the body after division had taken place within him, the true Adam rested in paradise while his lesser part incarnated in a material organism and wandered in the darkness of mortal existence.
In this ritualistic drama- possibly derived from the Egyptians-- Adam, banished from the Garden of Eden, represents man philosophically exiled from the sphere of Truth. Through ignorance man falls; through wisdom he redeems himself.
Man, the banished Adam, seeks to pass from the outer court of the Sanctuary (the exterior universe) into the sanctum sanatorium, but before him rises a vast creature armed with a flashing sword that, moving slowly but continually, sweeps clear a wide circle, and through this "Ring Pass Not" the Adamic man cannot break.
The angel addresses the seeker this way: "Man, you are dust and to dust you will return. You were molded by the Builder of Forms; you belong to the sphere of form, and like a flame it shall flicker out. You cannot be more than you are. You are a denizen of the outer world and it is forbidden for you to enter this inner place."
Adam replies: "I have stood in this courtyard and begged admission to my Father's house many times and you have refused it to me and sent me back to wander in darkness. It is true that I was molded out of the dirt and that my Maker could not confer on me the blessing of immortality. But you will no longer send me away because from wandering in darkness I have discovered the most hidden Mystery of His Only Begotten who took the world fashioned by the Devil upon Himself.
He was crucified on the elements of that world and the blood of my salvation has poured from him. God entered into His creation, and has inspired it and established a road that leads to Himself. While my Maker could not give me immortality, immortality was inherent in the very dust of which I was composed. Before the world was made and before the Devil became the Regent of Nature the Eternal Life had impressed itself on the face of the Cosmos. The Cross is its sign. Do you deny me entrance now, that I have learned the mystery of myself at last?"
The voice replies: "He who is aware, IS! Behold!"
Looking around him, Adam finds himself in a very radiant place, a tree with flashing jewels for fruit stands in the middle of it. A flaming snake with wings crowned with a diadem of stars is entwined around its trunk. It was the voice of the snake who had spoken.
"Who are you?" Adam demands.
"I," answers the snake, "am Satan who was stoned; I am the Adversary--the Lord who is against you, the one who pleads for your destruction before the Eternal Tribes. I was your enemy on the day that you were formed; I have led you into temptation; I have delivered you into the hands of evil; I have maligned you; I have striven to forever achieve your undoing. I am the guardian of the Tree of Knowledge and I have sworn that none whom I can lead astray will have its Fruit."
Adam replies: "I have been your slave for uncounted ages. I listened to your words in my ignorance and they led me into paths of sorrow. You have placed dreams of power in my mind, and when I struggled to realize those dreams they brought me nothing but pain. You have given me the seeds of desire, and when I lusted after the things of the flesh agony was my only recompense.
You have sent me false profits and false reasoning, and when I strove to grasp the magnitude of Truth I found your laws were false and only dismay rewarded my strivings. I am done with you forever, Oh deceitful Spirit! I am tired of your world of illusions. I will no longer work in your gardens of evil. Get away from me, tempter, and take all of your temptations. There is no happiness, no peace, no good, no future in the teachings of hate, selfishness, and passion that you preach. I cast all of these things aside. I renounce your rule forever!"
The snake replies: "Adam, behold the true nature of your adversary!" Then the snake disappears in a blinding sunburst of radiance and in its place stands an angel stunning in shining, golden attire with great scarlet wings that spread from one corner of the heavens to the other. Dismayed and awestruck, Adam falls before the divine creature.
"I am the Lord who is against you and therefore leads you to salvation," the voice says. "You have hated me, but you will bless me in ages yet to come, for I have led you out of the area of the Devil; I have turned you away from worldly illusion; I have taken wicked desires from you; I have awakened immortality in your soul for which I myself have. Follow me Oh Adam, for I am the Way, the Truth and the Life!"
The angel addresses the seeker this way: "Man, you are dust and to dust you will return. You were molded by the Builder of Forms; you belong to the sphere of form, and like a flame it shall flicker out. You cannot be more than you are. You are a denizen of the outer world and it is forbidden for you to enter this inner place." 
