So I have given the whole Adam and Eve thing a great deal of thought. It made me recall a conversation I had years ago with the husband of a friend. Bill and is wife led a different kind of lifestyle and one night the conversation turned to religion. I asked Bill how he managed to talk so peacefully about his religious upbringing and he simply said, " I guess just knew even then that it didn't apply to me." So simple, so clear. So here is what I am going to conclude about this part of the Book of Genesis.
However we got here, we live in a world of opposites, up/down, on/off, right/wrong, good/bad. Without one the other could not exist. Man/woman exist if for no other reason than to go forth and multiply. The story of Adam and Eve mirrors our psychological development from the experience of infancy when we are at one with the world. The pain of separation that occurs when our brain begins to tell us that we are separate from the object that we love so much is lost to us consciously, but we see remnants of it in this story. We cannot control her mood any more, or change her thoughts. We can disappoint her and eventually we say no and begin to think for ourselves. No matter how much we might wish to stay in that sublime undifferentiated state, it is in our genes to move forward, grow and become independent. I have seen children who try to resist these changes and it causes severe pathology. No matter what you do, you will get older and you will know more. To grow and separate, we must face our primal aggression ( that part of us we share with what we consider to be lower species). Out we go into a world where we learn that animals and plants die and the world is not the safe place that we remember our home being. We have to forge for ourselves, compete, and make our way. To make it easier we look for a partner. Someone with whom we can occasionally (on average 3-5 times per week) re experience our earliest experience, the ones that will forever elude us. is it really any surprise that our created myths lead to a reuniting and pure oneness after death?
We all have to leave the garden of Eden and usually we are disobedient when we do. Let's assume for a moment that there is a God and he/she created humans to have a beingness experience on this planet. Then in order to develop and grow as an entity and have that experience we must not remain innocent. The child of God must become the adult of God or there is no glory to give him right? We must learn and experience both sides of all of the opposites that exist. If we look to our biology then we know that the human animal was built to change...that simply cannot happen in the world as we know it without experiencing both ends of the dichotomy.
So for me the story of Adam and Eve is an ancient tale that lets us know that for all of time and in all cultures, humans have tried to understand this experience. This story gives the whole human race a set of parents to nurture and protect them, then as resistant as our own parents were they release us into the big bad world outside of our garden gates to glorify them in the life that we create.
As for the massive abuse of women and the relegating of sexual intimacy as sin that has been perpetuated based on this story I say this: It simply does not apply to me and I will try to understand how ingrained these concepts our into our collective unconscious. I choose to believe that knowing this will somehow impact how I confront these issues when I run into them and by the grace of all that is I will find new and better ways to change someone's mind. The how will have to show up when I need it.
So onto the book of JOB. The chronological plan I am following says that the book of Job comes historically before the story of Abram that wraps up the book of Genesis. Love to hear your thoughts folks.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
In the Beginning
Dear Goddess in the spring time please help me get past page two of Genesis.....
Why must it be so difficult to read this the way I would any other story of creation? I was not offended when I read the Native American story of how women were created from the bones of a wolf. Nope, that I found appealing. Of course nowhere in that story was a woman accused of condemning all of history. Maybe it is also because those words have never been used to oppress and mistreat women for more years than my stomach can bear to contemplate. I mean really was there such a need to understand the workings of the central nervous system that God and woman had to be blamed for the basic fact that nerve endings lead to both pleasure and pain? Is it not true that without sensing the pain that comes with child birth, lots of other things would not be felt either. Of course they did not know that when this was written...so lets move on and leave that open for discussion.
Up next is this idea of symbolism. Some say the fruit was actual fruit and even get into arguing over what kind of fruit. Others say that eating the fruit was a symbol for Adam and Eve having sex before they had reached the age of maturity (I guess I have found the root of the abstinence argument and why sex is considered such an evil thing). I enjoyed finding one universalist interpretation that said that Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge and were not physically naked but aware of the existence of right and wrong because they had actually behaved disobediently, thus felt guilty and ashamed.
But, alas, what is this paragraph I have never noticed. God who in self reference uses the term "us" (interesting use of the plural) says that Adam and Eve are now like Gods with the exception that they have not eaten from the tree of life and must leave lest they do and and become immortal. Hmm... see what you find when you get past page two? To this some say that God was taking mercy on them so that they did not have to live forever with the guilt of their disobedience ( but dude they lived for nine hundred years sooo what??)
Finally there are the begets...this person begot that one and so on and so on. Now to populate the earth that way there had to be some serious incest happening and what would that do to genetics...UGH!!! Are we really supposed to take this at all literally? Genesis is my Nemesis...Maybe some one else can make sense of this, I will try again tomorrow.
Why must it be so difficult to read this the way I would any other story of creation? I was not offended when I read the Native American story of how women were created from the bones of a wolf. Nope, that I found appealing. Of course nowhere in that story was a woman accused of condemning all of history. Maybe it is also because those words have never been used to oppress and mistreat women for more years than my stomach can bear to contemplate. I mean really was there such a need to understand the workings of the central nervous system that God and woman had to be blamed for the basic fact that nerve endings lead to both pleasure and pain? Is it not true that without sensing the pain that comes with child birth, lots of other things would not be felt either. Of course they did not know that when this was written...so lets move on and leave that open for discussion.
Up next is this idea of symbolism. Some say the fruit was actual fruit and even get into arguing over what kind of fruit. Others say that eating the fruit was a symbol for Adam and Eve having sex before they had reached the age of maturity (I guess I have found the root of the abstinence argument and why sex is considered such an evil thing). I enjoyed finding one universalist interpretation that said that Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge and were not physically naked but aware of the existence of right and wrong because they had actually behaved disobediently, thus felt guilty and ashamed.
But, alas, what is this paragraph I have never noticed. God who in self reference uses the term "us" (interesting use of the plural) says that Adam and Eve are now like Gods with the exception that they have not eaten from the tree of life and must leave lest they do and and become immortal. Hmm... see what you find when you get past page two? To this some say that God was taking mercy on them so that they did not have to live forever with the guilt of their disobedience ( but dude they lived for nine hundred years sooo what??)
Finally there are the begets...this person begot that one and so on and so on. Now to populate the earth that way there had to be some serious incest happening and what would that do to genetics...UGH!!! Are we really supposed to take this at all literally? Genesis is my Nemesis...Maybe some one else can make sense of this, I will try again tomorrow.
By Way of Introduction
So I have this new job.
It is not all that intellectually stimulating and I have found myself as of late needing something more. As I contemplated my options and stared at my bookshelf (filled with a surprising number of unread texts that I just had to have) it dawned on me that I have three different copies of the Christian Bible. I have the King James version from my youth, the American something Study Bible that was a gift from my Fundamentalist Christan brother, and a copy of the Peshitta Bible which is an English translation from Aramaic text. In addition I have books on the Gnostic Gospels, the Gospel of Mary and a dozen or so other books on various world religions. I have read most of the books I have on religion but to be honest I have never actually read the Christian Bible.
I have opened it many times, but as a post modern feminist who embraces nature and eastern religions, I can't seem to get past page two of Genesis. I decided that this was just the challenge my brain was looking for. I picked up the study bible and the Peshitta and began reading each in turn to see which one felt like a better fit. I found the study bible irritating because they seem to put all the "answers" in the margin. While I appreciate the maps and geographic descriptions, the interpretations just made me angry. So I found myself getting stuck in the same place in Genesis as I always do. Instead of giving up I started searching the web. I found Jewish interpretations, fundamental interpretations, a few Buddhist interpretations and universalist interpretations...I found myself enjoying the questions and the task of figuring out what felt "right" to me and so I began my quest.
I am only a week in and I am following a general plan to read the bible in chronological order instead of book by book and my questions led to a desire to have a little more conversation, without all the bible study stuff that comes with organized religion. So I am creating a blog. A place where I will simply write down my questions, findings, thoughts and whatever else comes to mind as I make my way in bearable bits through this text I claim to disagree with most of the time. I figure if I invite a few people and leave the universe to have at it, maybe people who have something to add to my quest will show up. If not, then I will document my journey for myself and see what comes of that.
So if you happened upon me welcome, if you were invited, thank you for checking it out.
P.S. I am not a writer nor do I claim to be..there will be grammatical errors for sure, so if that bothers you, I apologize. I will certainly proof read but if history tells me anything it is that I will not catch them all.
It is not all that intellectually stimulating and I have found myself as of late needing something more. As I contemplated my options and stared at my bookshelf (filled with a surprising number of unread texts that I just had to have) it dawned on me that I have three different copies of the Christian Bible. I have the King James version from my youth, the American something Study Bible that was a gift from my Fundamentalist Christan brother, and a copy of the Peshitta Bible which is an English translation from Aramaic text. In addition I have books on the Gnostic Gospels, the Gospel of Mary and a dozen or so other books on various world religions. I have read most of the books I have on religion but to be honest I have never actually read the Christian Bible.
I have opened it many times, but as a post modern feminist who embraces nature and eastern religions, I can't seem to get past page two of Genesis. I decided that this was just the challenge my brain was looking for. I picked up the study bible and the Peshitta and began reading each in turn to see which one felt like a better fit. I found the study bible irritating because they seem to put all the "answers" in the margin. While I appreciate the maps and geographic descriptions, the interpretations just made me angry. So I found myself getting stuck in the same place in Genesis as I always do. Instead of giving up I started searching the web. I found Jewish interpretations, fundamental interpretations, a few Buddhist interpretations and universalist interpretations...I found myself enjoying the questions and the task of figuring out what felt "right" to me and so I began my quest.
I am only a week in and I am following a general plan to read the bible in chronological order instead of book by book and my questions led to a desire to have a little more conversation, without all the bible study stuff that comes with organized religion. So I am creating a blog. A place where I will simply write down my questions, findings, thoughts and whatever else comes to mind as I make my way in bearable bits through this text I claim to disagree with most of the time. I figure if I invite a few people and leave the universe to have at it, maybe people who have something to add to my quest will show up. If not, then I will document my journey for myself and see what comes of that.
So if you happened upon me welcome, if you were invited, thank you for checking it out.
P.S. I am not a writer nor do I claim to be..there will be grammatical errors for sure, so if that bothers you, I apologize. I will certainly proof read but if history tells me anything it is that I will not catch them all.
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