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symbioidljThe myth of Eden, or what is commonly called The Fall, represents the leaving behind of some distant past paradise. The story, on the surface, conveys a grand historical narrative. There have been various interpretations of that story. This is one more.
Eden, being this pristine past, was perfect in every way. There was no death. The concept of toil and work didn't matter. There was no doubt about God, for God existed in that very garden, walking and talking with the two progenitors of the human race.
On the individual level, Eden represents this: the psychological innocence of childhood. From that state of innocence, we proceed ever onward, towards our ultimate destiny Death. Death in Eden always existed, it's just that we were unaware of it. As we grew older, we learned more, we knew more. We became aware of that thing called death. The real moment of exile from that delightful garden, however, was puberty. It was then when we truly felt our loss of innocence. For the first time, our bodies were making us aware that we were growing older. Things were changing. We could no longer live in the pure innocence we inhabited for so long. Our biological urges to recreate suddenly appeared. Knowledge of Eros came to us in whatever way she chose to. The understanding of life and it's origins in the truly physical sense(though we may have known mentally), is what brought us out of Eden. And with this awareness of life, came the awareness of it's converse.
Eden, by representing a paradise lost, certainly paints the image of childhood when all our days were carefree. The fruit of knowledge represents that knowledge that we gain when we hit puberty. The serpent is that deep urge to explore and learn the truth. The exile out of Eden shows that we cannot return to our childhood, because it is a state which we are no longer compatible with. The admonition to work(or rather, condemnation to work) shows that we now understand that man must labor. Man always had to labor, but as a child, we didn't. All our cares were taken care of. In this regards, the parent acts as God, taking care of the child, letting them live life as a child, securing a place called home. The pain of childbirth signifies our ascent into maturity. For it is the biological procreative urge which causes ovulation, and ovulation in turn allows birth to take place. Birth is life. Birth is also painful for she who brings forth a child. The exile from the garden, that point at which we leave the youthful garden of play into puberty, into maturity, is the only point at which that pain can take place. Before the exile, birth cannot happen, therefore the pain of birth cannot happen. This is the secret of that particular curse.
The sorrow of leaving Eden really represents our sorrow of loss of innocence. It is a two edged sword. On one side, we have the serpent representing our desire to know, to, in essence, be an adult or to be as god(knowing good from evil, and having the ability to choose between those two options). To have the same sort of freedoms that adults/Gods("Lest you eat of it and be like him") have. Our Gods(parents) understand that we cannot have that same sort of freedom, because we don't yet fully understand everything we need to know in order to have that freedom, and also we are not physically capable of survival at that point. Thus these Gods act as our limiting faculty, our conscience, they tell us not to eat of the fruit. Or in our modern day and age: "Don't eat that cookie!" It is the setting up of boundaries and conditions in order to teach us lessons about what is appropriate. What the so called Fruit of knowledge contained was the seeds of our adulthood. It is this that the Gods lament. It is this that they cry for, they lament the passing of our innocence as we grow up. They wax nostalgic as we grow into maturity. They look back to the Eden we had, knowing(even as we are only leaving the garden ourselves through the gate of puberty, unaware of our own destiny) that we too, shall have to toil like they do. This exit from Eden is the overt pride of parents, but this sorrow of the pain of adult life is the covert sorrow they hide in their hearts. They wish we could remain in that innocent state, pure, free and happy. Perhaps living vicariously through us, remembering their own Eden. As we children of gods edge ever upwards, towards that god-hood ourselves, the gods themselves are reminded of their own mortality, they are reminded of their own journey towards the ultimate end.
The guardian angels at the gates of Eden represent the arrow of time. It is the arrow of time that constrains us and holds us back. It is the arrow of time that tells us we can never go home. It is that push, that journey towards our future. It is fate, destiny, the natural order of progress.
And perhaps, it should not be a surprise that there is a concept of heaven. Is heaven not, after all, a desire to return once again to that pure innocence. Worshiping gods in ways that only a child can only worship his or her parents? Relying on them as the source of life? Is not the concept of rebirth a desire to get back to that point of origin? That state of bliss and magic that a child holds? Is this not the secret of Heaven and Eden? Like bookends, they constrain our lives. From the womb of our single mothers body, to Eden, exiled, toiling in the real world, into the womb of the Great Mother, and finally into the so called Heaven(which could just be, once again, a new Eden in a new bodily form that we incarnate into) And the cycle may just continue onward.
There may be many more things hidden within the myth of the fall(I'm certain there are), but for now, this is what I will write about. At some point in the future, I may compose more on this topic. Anything you'd like to add?
Eden, being this pristine past, was perfect in every way. There was no death. The concept of toil and work didn't matter. There was no doubt about God, for God existed in that very garden, walking and talking with the two progenitors of the human race.
On the individual level, Eden represents this: the psychological innocence of childhood. From that state of innocence, we proceed ever onward, towards our ultimate destiny Death. Death in Eden always existed, it's just that we were unaware of it. As we grew older, we learned more, we knew more. We became aware of that thing called death. The real moment of exile from that delightful garden, however, was puberty. It was then when we truly felt our loss of innocence. For the first time, our bodies were making us aware that we were growing older. Things were changing. We could no longer live in the pure innocence we inhabited for so long. Our biological urges to recreate suddenly appeared. Knowledge of Eros came to us in whatever way she chose to. The understanding of life and it's origins in the truly physical sense(though we may have known mentally), is what brought us out of Eden. And with this awareness of life, came the awareness of it's converse.
Eden, by representing a paradise lost, certainly paints the image of childhood when all our days were carefree. The fruit of knowledge represents that knowledge that we gain when we hit puberty. The serpent is that deep urge to explore and learn the truth. The exile out of Eden shows that we cannot return to our childhood, because it is a state which we are no longer compatible with. The admonition to work(or rather, condemnation to work) shows that we now understand that man must labor. Man always had to labor, but as a child, we didn't. All our cares were taken care of. In this regards, the parent acts as God, taking care of the child, letting them live life as a child, securing a place called home. The pain of childbirth signifies our ascent into maturity. For it is the biological procreative urge which causes ovulation, and ovulation in turn allows birth to take place. Birth is life. Birth is also painful for she who brings forth a child. The exile from the garden, that point at which we leave the youthful garden of play into puberty, into maturity, is the only point at which that pain can take place. Before the exile, birth cannot happen, therefore the pain of birth cannot happen. This is the secret of that particular curse.
The sorrow of leaving Eden really represents our sorrow of loss of innocence. It is a two edged sword. On one side, we have the serpent representing our desire to know, to, in essence, be an adult or to be as god(knowing good from evil, and having the ability to choose between those two options). To have the same sort of freedoms that adults/Gods("Lest you eat of it and be like him") have. Our Gods(parents) understand that we cannot have that same sort of freedom, because we don't yet fully understand everything we need to know in order to have that freedom, and also we are not physically capable of survival at that point. Thus these Gods act as our limiting faculty, our conscience, they tell us not to eat of the fruit. Or in our modern day and age: "Don't eat that cookie!" It is the setting up of boundaries and conditions in order to teach us lessons about what is appropriate. What the so called Fruit of knowledge contained was the seeds of our adulthood. It is this that the Gods lament. It is this that they cry for, they lament the passing of our innocence as we grow up. They wax nostalgic as we grow into maturity. They look back to the Eden we had, knowing(even as we are only leaving the garden ourselves through the gate of puberty, unaware of our own destiny) that we too, shall have to toil like they do. This exit from Eden is the overt pride of parents, but this sorrow of the pain of adult life is the covert sorrow they hide in their hearts. They wish we could remain in that innocent state, pure, free and happy. Perhaps living vicariously through us, remembering their own Eden. As we children of gods edge ever upwards, towards that god-hood ourselves, the gods themselves are reminded of their own mortality, they are reminded of their own journey towards the ultimate end.
The guardian angels at the gates of Eden represent the arrow of time. It is the arrow of time that constrains us and holds us back. It is the arrow of time that tells us we can never go home. It is that push, that journey towards our future. It is fate, destiny, the natural order of progress.
And perhaps, it should not be a surprise that there is a concept of heaven. Is heaven not, after all, a desire to return once again to that pure innocence. Worshiping gods in ways that only a child can only worship his or her parents? Relying on them as the source of life? Is not the concept of rebirth a desire to get back to that point of origin? That state of bliss and magic that a child holds? Is this not the secret of Heaven and Eden? Like bookends, they constrain our lives. From the womb of our single mothers body, to Eden, exiled, toiling in the real world, into the womb of the Great Mother, and finally into the so called Heaven(which could just be, once again, a new Eden in a new bodily form that we incarnate into) And the cycle may just continue onward.
There may be many more things hidden within the myth of the fall(I'm certain there are), but for now, this is what I will write about. At some point in the future, I may compose more on this topic. Anything you'd like to add?
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Two Challanges
For you: First of all, good stuff. Secondly, I think it would be great if you could dig in and research this topic more and see if anyone else has had similar thoughts and what they had to say, and respond to that, and get some anthropology and religious studies and cultural studies and theological studies etc. in there. Just a thought.
For me: I would love to try and bring forth a poem representing this idea. Would that be cool wih you?