all 8 comments

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I hope you realize the Eden story is about you, and not some guy and his wife who died thousands of years ago.

I think there is a lot more to it than this, this story is filled with metaphors.

Adam, as you say, means man, but he isn't a man, he represents mankind, and this story represents the beginnings of agriculture, which is not portrayed in a good light. The knowledge of agriculture is the knowledge of good and evil they speak of - more specifically, man gains the capacity to judge what is good and what is bad, putting himself in God's position, and reshaping the ecosystem for what man deems good, rather than accepting God's earth the perfect way he created it. Not only that, we deemed it good to put on clothes, when God had given us perfect bodies - and this custom would have come with settled agriculture, hunters and gatherers do not care about nudity.

Predicatably, God is upset (we have put ourselves in the position of God as judge of Good and Evil), and he curses us to forever plow the fields with the sweat of our brow - i.e there was no coming back from this sin, and that is largely the case with mankind and agriculture as well. It spreads, and nobody goes back, and we remake the landscape in our image, and choose which species live and die to serve our purposes

Moreover, the role of Eve reflects that females would have been the ones to pressure societies to remain in one place and do agriculture.

Anyways, this is one of my favorite stories, as I think this story is meant to explain the history of man and our relationship to God and nature, and thought I'd share this interpretation with you given your interest in interpreting these texts, and am curious what you make of it.

Not sure how the symbolism of the snake fits into my interpretation, but I am sure this choice is meaningful in some way

[–]Vulptex[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I don't see what agriculture has to do with knowledge of good and evil. Plus, agriculture is itself one of the curses for eating the bad fruit, so it can't be the cause. The garden probably represents freedom from the physical world, vs. imprisonment after condemnation. Yes it's a "New Testament" idea, but that doesn't mean it couldn't have existed before then.

This stuff goes much deeper than just earthly relations. A lot of times these ideas had to be made cryptic and "secret" so the authorities would not destroy them. This is why Revelation is so hard to understand, because it's all coded messages meant to fly over the Roman authorities' heads. It's also why all the gnostic literature seems so bizarre at face value. I've discovered that almost everything in the Bible can easily be "gnostic", even in the Old Testament. The New certainly treated it that way. But nowadays that's not tolerated.

[–]jet199 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

The Greeks believed in a golden age when enough wild wheat grew freely for everyone and men didn't have to toil in the fields to grow it (then Zeus got pissed and made men work). Archaeology has somewhat found that to be the case.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01681-w

[–]Vulptex[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I can believe that. But agriculture plays a minor role in this tale. Clearly there is a much more important lesson in it. If this thing about agriculture was believed in the time it was written, then it would've been the perfect metaphor to use.

This sounds like a strange view nowadays, but it's how people expressed ideas in ancient times. Especially when it was under threats and needed to remain cryptic to avoid destruction. Stories such as this one may well have been successful attempts to sneak in "gnostic" ideas under a temple system obsessed with law and the natural order.

[–]iDontShift 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

God is all there is. Satan is God's district attorney.

you say 'i will not do xyz'

satan says.. oh really? here is xyz with cherries and titties

and then we find out if you lied or not

Satan lives with you, it is your ego

God is all of it, and can be found by

shutting the fuck up

be still and know i am God

[–]Vulptex[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I don't believe you. Anyone can say they are God, like the angels who greet you at death and trick you into returning to earth. The fact that you're saying the satan is working for God proves you're lying or insane, as does your attitude.

[–]iDontShift 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

yet you spend you time reading old dead words and trying to find Truth

God is present in all things, I do not say I am God, I say all is God, nothing is not

that you say you are not, is not true, but doesn't matter

whatever you believe, is your experience

only when you choose to try and believe in God can you have that experience

if that experience is possible, than all others are counterfeit of that one

if you cannot see that reality, as it is, then you will remain where you are

i suggest you test it, before you disbelieve it, by asking God into your life

if you ask.. with you soul (you know when you are sincere) for God to enter your life

then it is as if a light is turned on

lying or insane

totally insane. sanity is for normalcy compliance

if you are normal, you are materialistically bound

namaste (the divine in me honors the divine in you)

[–]Vulptex[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'm not big on idolizing letters either. But they can be a good resource for discovering things you wouldn't have thought of otherwise.