Most of us have heard of, if not read about the legendary Garden of Eden, the mythical paradise on earth said to have existed prior to the “Fall of Man”.

The first “Book” of Semitic biblical mythology, Genesis, recounts the events which lead up to “the Fall”.

But before I get into my interpretation of the symbolism behind “the Fall and the Garden of Eden” I am going to say something about the branch of knowledge which enables me to do so.

Mythic Literacy

Anyone familiar with the study of mythology will know that all ancient writings and oral traditions make use of conjured images (symbols) to convey meaning and complex ideas.

Illustrations and pictures in books is a relatively new invention.

By conjured images I mean the word or words used to conjure a person, place, thing, event or process.

The printing press was invented about 500 years ago, but books and magazines as we know them, full of images, have only been around for the last 50 years. Writing was invented  around 5000 years ago. But reading and writing was the sole province of the priest and ruling class up until some time after the development of the printing press.

Oral story telling obliges us to use our imaginations and in order to bring stories to life conjured imagery was essential. When was the last time you visualized words? It was essential of story telling to be graphic. That is filled with words eliciting imagery .

The conjured image is often times intended to “stand in for” (symbolize) or represent something else or something more than the conjured image itself..[1] A picture really is worth a thousand words.

Literalism means mythic illiteracy or ignorance of the culture specific meanings of images, symbols and metaphor.

All cultures whether modern or ancient employ imagery specific to their home environment. In India or Africa the elephant would be used to symbolize great strength and power. In North America the Native Americans would use the buffalo to represent the same.

The key to understanding ones own spirituality or anyone else’s religion is to know what the images, symbols and metaphors meant to the original creators of the stories.

Breaking the Code

No one has done more to enhance our understanding of ancient symbolism than the late Joseph Campbell.

If you are not familiar with Joseph Campbell’s work or the work of any other comparative mythologist then you can be sure that you do not understand the truest and deepest meaning of the images, metaphors and symbols in your inherited or chosen spirituality.

One of the greatest social problems of modern times results from the literal interpretation of ancient myths and or the incomplete knowledge about the most probable meaning of its symbolism.

I urge anybody with beliefs rooted in the myths of any ancient culture to become familiar with the works of Joseph Campbell or some other mythologist.

Campbell, 20 years after his death is still considered the worlds foremost authority on the subjects of mythology, comparative religion, mytho-symbolism and the fundamental nature of spirituality.

No one has done more to demystify and bring alive our past than Campbell. The beauty and richness of mythic literacy help us appreciate and understand our past while enhancing our life today.[1]

The Fall of Semitic Man and the Subsequent Fall of Global Humanity

I refer to the Bible as Semitic because its final form was preserved by those ethnologists call Semites or the ancestral name of today’s Jews and Arabs.

However, much of the Bible’s foundational content is borrowed from earlier Sumerian and even pre-Sumerian tribes and that is why I regard the Bible as a composite of Middle Eastern mythology. [2]

The Middle Eastern world view is summed up by the Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Consider them three variants of the same world view.

The Abrahamic religions have much more in common than they do differences.[3]

One might not think so given their outward appearance and you know what they say about appearances. The academic consensus says that the birth of Judaism and Islam results from the divergence of Abraham’s two wives.

Sarah, his first wife gives birth to what would be the nation of Judah–Judaism.

The Egyptian born Hagar, Sarah’s handmaiden and former slave becomes Abraham’s second wife and she would be known as the mother of the Arabs and ancestor of Mohammed, founder of Islam.[4]

The historical figure known as Jesus was born of a Jewish family, but he grows up to espouse a theology different from that of his Judaic roots.

Any revolutionary idea or movement (emergent culture)[5] will be repelled by the contemporary establishment (prevailing culture).[6]

This is why the Jewish leadership of his day and to this day reject the historical Jesus as their “prophet”. To have accepted his radical and reformatory views meant their ruin.

One cannot undermine the authority of the land without encountering stiff opposition. His philosophy did win enough adherents elsewhere and they went on to found Christianity. But it must be noted that the teachings attributed to Jesus are consistent with modern Christian views. The more imperial views of Judaism have overrun Christs teachings.

Genesis

The story of genesis is a combination of creation and historical myth. The creation deals with the phenomenal world or the natural world before our eyes.  The historical myth refers to the key events setting the tone and stage for the indefinite future of those involved in the story.

The “Fall of Man” according to biblical writers is attributable to the disobedience of “God’s will”.

Thematically the story goes like this. Once the creative force (“God”) had completed “his” creative works everyone was free to go about their business.

Though not entirely free because the creative force did set down a few rules for the legendary Adam (generic man) and Eve (generic woman).

They were told they could eat of all the “fruit in the garden” save one and if they did so eat of the “forbidden fruit” they would suffer grave consequences.

Before long “God the all knowing”, discovers the act of disobedience.  God confronts man and woman about their transgression.

The woman blames the serpent for tricking her into disobedience and Adam in turn could not resist the “allure of a woman” and he too succumbed to temptation.

God was so displeased with their disobedience that “he” banishes Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.  But it was not enough punishment in the “Eyes of the Lord” to simply evict them.

God also cursed the woman with pain during childbirth, man was to rule over woman and man was to till (toil) the now “cursed earth“ for his food all the days of his life.

I wonder if the idea of being “grounded”, as in punishment of children, is rooted in the original grounding “God the Father” gave to Adam and Eve?  [to read the biblical script]

The Misconception of our Conception

For the purpose of this report I am focused on what I consider to be the overriding theme of Genesis.

And I believe that to be the condition of transition from one state of being to another.

From life in the “paradisiacal Garden of Eden” (“grace”) to “banishment from the Garden of Eden” (“sin & disgrace”) a situation referred to as the biblical Fall of Man.

Something of great significance happened early on in the history the Middle East. Some life altering event left an indelible mark on the world view of the inhabitants as conditions went from very good to very bad. A pessimistic, hostile, anti-women and anti-nature world view emerged. Unlike any worldview the world has ever seen.

Traditional interpretations of the “Fall of Man” revolve around questions of sexual morality. Somehow, disobedience to the creative force (God) marked the generic man and woman as morally defective (sinners). The ill fate of generic man and woman according to the traditional view was due to the moral defect of “sin”. [10]

Such arbitrary interpretations involve the invention of a false myth to substantiate a real myth.

A real myth being something actual expressed symbolically.

A false myth is the erroneous logic employed by those who either ignorantly attempt to rationalize the literal interpretation of a real myth or an intentional misinterpretation for a desired socio-political effect.

There is now enough evidence to relate the “Fall of Man” to actual events. The internal states of grace and sin can interpreted psychologically as they relate to external environmental conditions. I will conclude this report with an evidence based interpretation of what was meant by the Biblical Fall of Man.

The most arbitrary part of any mythic story is the causality or reasoning given to explain why or how one thing led to another. Especially when one deals with such abstract, arbitrary and subjective concepts as sin and grace.

“Disobedience to God’s will” involves so many assumptions that it will have to be the subject of another report to properly treat the three concepts contained in the phrase.

The ancients were prone to making many erroneous assessments about the unseen world because they lacked intimate knowledge of the way nature works. In the case of the “Fall of Man” the biblical text says it was “man and woman’s disobedience to God’s will”.

The Real Conception

For example, as recently as 150 years ago it was believed that conception resulted from the implantation of the man’s seed onto the neutral ground of a woman’s womb.[8]

In other words it was not known that women contributed an ovum or the other half of the “seed” material, but that she simply harbored the man’s seed.

Thanks to the scientifically developed microscope we are now able to give credit where due and the misconception was rectified.

The concepts of “sin” and “loss of grace” are ancient ways of describing states of being, but with the implication of guilt for some ungodly reason.

This gets to the crux of Judeo-Christian thinking in regards to the human condition and that is the preponderance of morality, guilt and wrongness and the presumption that all people are “born sinners” and “born guilty” of a mytho-symbolic act committed by a Semitic couple only 6000 years ago.

I will show how the acts of Genesis are not even “willful” human acts, but human reflexes to external conditions.

The concept of “original sin” merits thorough deconstruction because millions of people needlessly live their lives under the specter of an erroneous idea which burdens the emotions, distorts perceptions and clouds thinking.

The Foundations of the Modern Western World

Gender and ecological balance were lost when generic man was granted the “God given rights” to rule over his “wayward” wife and to “have dominion over nature”.  And to make matters worse “God” made sure they would never enter “the Garden” again. How unforgiving is that?[7]

The “Fall of Man” legend sets the foundation for the historical and social tone of Western Civilization of the last several thousand years and counting.

The Semitic Adam and Eve along with all their descendants were to be condemned to a life of constant toil (endless social strife & warfare) and man alone (gender imbalance) would make the rules to govern society and in the process man would gain dominion over whatever remnants were left of the garden (ecological indifference).

Semitic society and the subsequent development of all Western Civilization right up to the present moment is testament to the legacy of—his-story and his world as defined in the first book of the Bible.

I believe that the entire character, method and attitude of the Judeo-Christian culture complex can be understood by deciphering what was meant by the “Garden of Eden”, the loss of paradise or banishment from the “Garden of Eden” and the subsequent impact of such a loss.

Much of what is written in spiritual and religious lore (mythology) is symbolic reference to the natural world and purported supernatural netherworlds, but we have also learned that there are instances of historical fact woven into the allegories and metaphors.

A few historical references within the Bible have been validated by archeological evidence. [9]

Some scholars have posited research purporting to pinpoint a specific geographical area of the Middle East as the location of a historical “Garden of Eden”. [2]

The reference I offer does provide a compelling scenario, but I am not so interested in the identification of specific place as I am in the theme of “paradise lost’ and what it symbolized and why it would figure so prominently in the foundations of Middle Eastern mythology.

[to be continued in part 2]

References

1. Understanding Mythology. Joseph Campbell is interviewed with by Dr. Jeffery Mislove

2. Has the Garden of Eden been found at Last? By Dora Jane Hamblin

3. A side by side comparison of the Abrahamic Religions of Christinity, Judaism and Islam

4. The Legacy of Abraham and his Two Wives

5. A socio-cultural definition of Emergent Culture

6. A socio-cultural definition of Prevailing Culture

7. The Fall of Man. The Biblical verses

8. The Discovery of the Ovum

9. Verified Biblical Historicity

10. The Literal Interpretation of the “Fall of Man”

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