Fall of Man is not a story about one man, but about the human nature. Adam is the pure intellect, Eve is a body, and the Serpent is a fantasy that tries to trap intellect through the body. Zohar states: Nahmanides, often critical of the rationalist views of Maimonides, pointed out (in his commentary to Genesis) several non-sequiturs stemming from a literal translation of the Bible's account of Creation, and stated that the account actually symbolically refers to spiritual concepts. He quoted the Mishnah in Tractate Chagigah which states that the actual meaning of the Creation account, mystical in nature, was traditionally transmitted from teachers to advanced scholars in a private setting. Many Kabbalistic sources mention Shmitot - cosmic cycles of creation, similar to the Indian concept of yugas. Adam and Eve in the Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith adheres to an allegorical interpretation of the Adam and Eve narrative. In Some Answered Questions, 'Abdu'l-Bahá unequivocally rejects a literal reading, instead holding that the story is a symbolic one containing "divine mysteries and universal meanings"; namely, the fall of Adam symbolizes that humanity became conscious of good and evil. See also Biblical cosmology Evolution and the Catholic Church Genesis creation narrative Rejection of evolution by religious groups Anastasius Sinaita The Challenge of Creation Theistic evolution References External links The Contemporary Relevance of Augustine's View of Creation Early Church Fathers vs. Young Earth Creationism Four Senses of Scripture includes background on the history of non-literal interpretation Christian creationism Jewish creationism Biblical criticism Evolution and religion Book of Genesis Bible-related controversies