Thursday, November 1, 2012
THE FIRST SCANDAL
What fruit do Adam and Eve eat? Here they come with the answer. But where is the apple?
NO APPLES HERE
BAD DAY IN THE GARDEN
They eat the fruit, but what do they eat?
We lift the veil for a wary peek.
Through a forest of mystery hiding it all,
we see a body, naked and weak.
This BODY is the garden in whose center grow
the two famous trees, but never a weevil.
Here is the tree of life and the one
of knowledge of good and knowledge of evil.
Because the two trees are right next to each other
care must be taken to avoid the one bad.
For the fruit of both trees is pleasure,
so the pleasure is there to be had.
To be fruitful and multiply eat from the first.
But eat from the second and no one conceives.
So here we go now: one two three--
pleasure, shame, fig tree leaves.
They eat the fruit, but what do they eat?
We lift the veil for a wary peek.
Through a forest of mystery hiding it all,
we see a body, naked and weak.
This BODY is the garden in whose center grow
the two famous trees, but never a weevil.
Here is the tree of life and the one
of knowledge of good and knowledge of evil.
Because the two trees are right next to each other
care must be taken to avoid the one bad.
For the fruit of both trees is pleasure,
so the pleasure is there to be had.
To be fruitful and multiply eat from the first.
But eat from the second and no one conceives.
So here we go now: one two three--
pleasure, shame, fig tree leaves.
THE FIRST QUATRAIN
BAD DAY IN THE GARDEN
They eat the fruit, but what do they eat?
We lift the veil for a wary peek.
Through a forest of mystery hiding it all,
we see a body, naked and weak.
THE RANDOM HOUSE DICTIONARY of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE defines allegory as "a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another." It's difficult to imagine a better definition than this one. But it's even more difficult to imagine anyone making any sense of the 2nd and 3rd chapters of Genesis by taking everything in the two chapters literally. When was the last time someone went into a grocery store and bought some knowledge of good and evil fruit?
Although most elements in Genesis 2 and 3 represent something else, there are a number of facts in the story that can be taken at face value.
1. Adam and Eve have real human bodies.
2. Adam and Eve are not wearing any clothes.
3. God has forbidden them to do something.
4. They have disobeyed God.
5. God has punished them both for their disobedience, and their descendants too, by extension.
The above 5 facts form the basis for the religious beliefs of many people who are not interested in allegories and of many who are. But there is an all important 6th fact, the knowledge of which would do no harm to anyone's religious beliefs.
They eat the fruit, but what do they eat?
We lift the veil for a wary peek.
Through a forest of mystery hiding it all,
we see a body, naked and weak.
THE RANDOM HOUSE DICTIONARY of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE defines allegory as "a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another." It's difficult to imagine a better definition than this one. But it's even more difficult to imagine anyone making any sense of the 2nd and 3rd chapters of Genesis by taking everything in the two chapters literally. When was the last time someone went into a grocery store and bought some knowledge of good and evil fruit?
Although most elements in Genesis 2 and 3 represent something else, there are a number of facts in the story that can be taken at face value.
1. Adam and Eve have real human bodies.
2. Adam and Eve are not wearing any clothes.
3. God has forbidden them to do something.
4. They have disobeyed God.
5. God has punished them both for their disobedience, and their descendants too, by extension.
The above 5 facts form the basis for the religious beliefs of many people who are not interested in allegories and of many who are. But there is an all important 6th fact, the knowledge of which would do no harm to anyone's religious beliefs.
THE SECOND QUATRAIN
BAD DAY IN THE GARDEN
This BODY is the garden in whose center grow
the two famous trees, but never a weevil.
Here is the tree of life and the one
of knowledge of good and knowledge of evil.
This 6th fact is the key that unlocks the door, opens it, and solves the mystery: both trees are in the center of the garden. This fact is so important it is mentioned not just once, but twice: Genesis 2:9 and Genesis 3:3. (In Genesis 3:3 the tree of life is not specifically mentioned, but we know it is there because we were told it is there in Genesis 2:9.) Technically, both trees could not occupy the center of the garden at the same time unless they were entwined. But there is no evidence for entwinement here. What these two verses tell us is that both trees are very close to each other.
This BODY is the garden in whose center grow
the two famous trees, but never a weevil.
Here is the tree of life and the one
of knowledge of good and knowledge of evil.
This 6th fact is the key that unlocks the door, opens it, and solves the mystery: both trees are in the center of the garden. This fact is so important it is mentioned not just once, but twice: Genesis 2:9 and Genesis 3:3. (In Genesis 3:3 the tree of life is not specifically mentioned, but we know it is there because we were told it is there in Genesis 2:9.) Technically, both trees could not occupy the center of the garden at the same time unless they were entwined. But there is no evidence for entwinement here. What these two verses tell us is that both trees are very close to each other.
THE THIRD AND FOURTH QUATRAINS
BAD DAY IN THE GARDEN
Because the two trees are right next to each other
care must be taken to avoid the one bad.
For the fruit of both trees is pleasure,
so the pleasure is there to be had.
To be fruitful and multiply eat from the first.
But eat from the second and no one conceives.
So here we go now: one two three--
pleasure, shame, fig tree leaves.
God's first commandment to Adam and Eve was to be fruitful and multiply. To be fruitful and multiply eat from the first. But eat from the second and no one conceives. Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden second tree and, as a result, produced no children while in the garden of Eden. Instead of engaging in the procreative process as commanded, they used as a sex organ the delivery system designed not for the delivery of children but for the delivery of excrement.
Please note: some parts of the story are totally acceptable as both symbolic and literal narrative, at least up to a point. For example, the symbolic garden can be juxtaposed with a literal garden complete with fruit trees. Other sections can be taken entirely as literal accounts, extra material such as Genesis 3:20-21 in which Adam gives Eve her name and God shows compassion for the pair by clothing them in animal skins for warmth before evicting them from the garden symbolic and literal into the graceless and cold outside world.
Because the two trees are right next to each other
care must be taken to avoid the one bad.
For the fruit of both trees is pleasure,
so the pleasure is there to be had.
To be fruitful and multiply eat from the first.
But eat from the second and no one conceives.
So here we go now: one two three--
pleasure, shame, fig tree leaves.
God's first commandment to Adam and Eve was to be fruitful and multiply. To be fruitful and multiply eat from the first. But eat from the second and no one conceives. Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden second tree and, as a result, produced no children while in the garden of Eden. Instead of engaging in the procreative process as commanded, they used as a sex organ the delivery system designed not for the delivery of children but for the delivery of excrement.
Please note: some parts of the story are totally acceptable as both symbolic and literal narrative, at least up to a point. For example, the symbolic garden can be juxtaposed with a literal garden complete with fruit trees. Other sections can be taken entirely as literal accounts, extra material such as Genesis 3:20-21 in which Adam gives Eve her name and God shows compassion for the pair by clothing them in animal skins for warmth before evicting them from the garden symbolic and literal into the graceless and cold outside world.
A NEOLOGISM?
Is the exegesis of the second and third chapters of Genesis a neologism? Probably not. If the exegesis is a neologism, then the individual(s) who first heard the story had absolutely no idea what the story meant and neither did the storyteller(s). It is difficult to believe this happened. ("Sometimes I just say things--I don't know what they mean.") If it did happen, then we have to try to imagine the original storyteller(s) telling the story while having no understanding of what they were saying, unless these original storytellers deliberately disguised and beautified the story to hide its true meaning. But this would have required extremely complex ability to intentionally mystify at the very dawn of human consciousness. So the mystification probably happened later. And, of course, when it did, everyone would have known exactly what the entire story meant. For a while.
****You are halfway there. Visit www.2thefirstscandal.blogspot.com for the finish.
****You are halfway there. Visit www.2thefirstscandal.blogspot.com for the finish.
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