Is it time for a re-interpetation of the story of the Garden of Eden?

Sorry to prick your balloon, but the great R. Crumb has a leg up on you.

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Genesis-Illustrated-R-Crumb/dp/0393061027/

in the graphic novel department. I could see a good play in this, however.

I like your interp. Very good!

I’d only add that perhaps, symbolically, the disobedience was indicitive of the beginning of ‘separation’, ego vs. being.

Ego was not satisfied with what was provided and hence, greed was born.

The constant striving for ‘more’ and the psychic/egoic pain that is born of such.

I have also heard that the ‘lion lying down with the lamb’ is symbolic of a return to non-duality..that a ‘New heaven & a new earth’ will only be expereinced when mankind re-awakens to the truth of non-duality. ;-)

Which one? There’s two in Genesis.

I would say that it’s never time for re-interpretations of Biblical accounts. People have the unfortunate tendency to accept them as the actual interpretation.

Through the knowlege of Good and evil the righteous are able to ascend unto eternal life, And also the wicked will die their death. Each will choose his own path.

Without it we would all live, but in bondage to the Evil one.

Religion are fooled by the story because they try hard to follow writings rather that that which is Truth within.

Anyway there are more parrallel to this story but I cannot take he time now….

It’s long, LONG past time to accept that Genesis is largely allegorical and is not to be taken literally.

Many have written about this subject. Here’s one from a friend of mine.

The Myth of the Fall; by F. Parvin Sharpless.

http://www.bookfinder.com/dir/i/The_Myth_of_the_Fall-Literature_of_Innocence_and_Experience-Literature_of/0810450720/

I think the snake stands for the penis. It is Adams sexual urges that lead him to dream up this snake, who urges the girl to eat from the tree. It’s a wannabe seduction that is being lead by his small head. The fruit on the tree is overripe and has fermented and Eve, in her drunken state, is amenable to Adam’s desires.

Of course, the usual happens. With babies around, and the sources of food drying up, they must leave to seek somewhere else that can support them. As they move north, it gets colder and they find they need to wrap themselves in furs to keep warm.

They long for the Shangri La that they left, but can not find their way back. It was too many years ago, and the sands have drifted and the paths are no longer there.

Even grows cranky after putting out child after child, and she takes it out on Adam and the kids. Eventually the kids have had enough of it, and they tell Adam and Eve to get lost, which they do. Although not in the same areas.

I just find it humorous that @LostInParadise is asking a question about reinterpreting the Garden of Eden story!

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to pick up on that. What can I say? It is a great story with wonderful images.

The garden of Eden story, like a lot of stories in the Bible, is best interpreted in its cultural context.

The Babylonians had a bunch of similar stories where the gods create humans to be their slaves. In Atrahasis, they make human beings out of clay. The humans are supposed to dig canals for the gods. In the Bible, the humans are supposed to grow food for the god, and perhaps the other divine beings who hang out with Yahweh.

Also note that Yahweh is a pretty standard Mesopotamian deity. Like other gods, you have to sacrifice food to him. In the flood story, Noah’s burnt sacrifice gives off an odor that “pleases” Yahweh. This is similar to the Atrahasis flood myth, where the gods are described as “hungry” during the flood and when Atrahasis makes the sacrifice post-flood, they realize they need humans around to get food for them.

The magic trees in the garden seem similar to other “divine food” ideas in mythology. Not sure if there’s any in Babylonian mythology, but in Greek mythology there is ambrosia. Yahweh worries the man will become like a god if he eats the fruit because “you are what you eat.”

That said, I’ve never been able to figure out why Yahweh appears to have been bluffing with his death threat. It might just be a later mistaken addition or rephrasing to the story, as it doesn’t really add anything or have much significance other than to make Yahweh look more like a tool than he already does.

I agree that the story is best told in the original context. I am usually not in favor of deconstruction, but the imagery in the story is so powerful that it seems to beg for re-interpretation.

@Qingu Have you considered that perhaps you have the association backwards?

@Nullo, yes. That would be remarkable, however, since the Akkadian and Sumerian myths predate the Bible by centuries; they predate the earliest archaeological record of the Israelites by centuries.

But obviously is you want to assume arbitrary tribe’s arbitrary god is the one that isn’t imaginary then it follows that the historical record is backwards, or perhaps is an illusion planted by said deity to test our faith.

The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was the name of the new restaurant/bar that just opened up in town. Adam and Eve were good regular customers who always tipped 20% at the God’s Good Earth restaurant and they didn’t want to loose their top customers. It was a down economy then. It was a sin to eat there too because of the MSG. And they had a dress code. You couldn’t get in wearing the wrong fig leaf.
And way before billboards were used. So it was a word of mouth advertising.

@Qingu Consider that Moses compiled Genesis centuries after the events that it recounts. Consider also that in several instances that YHWH explicitly tells the Israelites not to things the way that their pagan neighbors did.