It’s a question that has fascinated thinkers for millennia, and one place we find a really intriguing take is in the writings of Philo of Alexandria.
Philo, a Jewish philosopher who lived in Egypt during the Roman period, was deeply influenced by both Greek philosophy and Jewish scripture. He tried to bridge these two worlds, and his interpretations of the Torah are often mind-bending.
One concept Philo explores is the idea of two Adams! Not twins, but rather, two distinct creations. He presents this idea in The Midrash of Philo, but to be clear, this isn’t the traditional rabbinic Midrash that you might be familiar with. It's Philo's own unique interpretation of scripture.
So, what’s the deal with these two Adams?
Philo suggests that the first Adam, the one created "in God's image," is not the physical Adam we read about later. Instead, this first Adam is "appreciable only by the intellect." He’s a perfect, incorporeal being, a blueprint. Think of it as the divine concept of humanity. Philo beautifully puts it that this first Adam "is the similitude of the archetypal model as to appearance, and he is the form of the principal character."
Mind blown yet?
He goes on! This "principal character," Philo says, is none other than "the word of God" – in Greek, the Logos – "the first beginning of all things, the original species or the archetypal idea, the first measure of the universe." This is heady stuff. Philo is connecting the idea of the perfect human form to the very structure of creation itself!
Then we have the second Adam, the one we all know and... well, know. This Adam is the one fashioned from "dust and clay." He's the one who gets the breath of life breathed into him. Philo emphasizes that this Adam is a mixture: part corruptible (his body), and part incorruptible (his soul). He’s the Adam who lives and breathes and makes mistakes.
What's so special about this distinction? Why does Philo make it? Well, it seems he's trying to reconcile the lofty idea of humanity’s divine origin with the very real, very flawed reality of human existence.
The first Adam represents our potential, our connection to the divine intellect. The second Adam? He's us, struggling to live up to that potential in a world of dust and clay.
Philo contrasts this second Adam with the first, noting that the first Adam "is found to be unalloyed without any mixture proceeding from an invisible, simple, and transparent nature." It's a powerful image.
So, the next time you look in the mirror, remember Philo’s two Adams. Remember that you are both the dust and the divine spark, the flawed human and the echo of something truly extraordinary. It's a reminder of where we come from, and perhaps, where we're meant to be going.