After the beginning, then there was work…

Adam and Eve's Fruit

What is more fitting than to begin this project with the story of the beginning of mankind? You have heard the story. Adam and Eve.

From the Torah and/or Bible- if you are not familiar here is a copy of the relevant passages- Genesis 1&2

Commentary

Every time I read Genesis I cannot help but observe how surreal and depressing the story of Adam and Eve is. Here you have these two people, the purported ancestors of all humankind, who start off in such a great situation- the ability to rule god’s garden of paradise for eternity with limited obligations, unlimited food, no need for clothing, no guilt, and no worries. However, these two blow it all for one bite of a stupid piece of fruit, so that their future, and all of humanity, is forever altered for the worse. Consider the absurdity of the scenario - is it the snakes fault for deceiving the woman?, or is it the woman’s fault for listening to a snake?, or is it the man’s fault for listening to the woman?, or is it the omniscient god’s fault for putting the man, woman, snake, and tree there together in the first place?

Now consider another story. We start off as children naked and innocent: limited obligations, unlimited food, no clothing, no guilt, and no worries. Outside of the womb, early childhood is the closest we come to bliss in this world. All of our needs are provided for by our parents. Consider for a moment the amount of affection, shelter, clothing, nutrition, entertainment, toys of all shapes and sizes are heaped on children. As we grow more capable we spend more and more time in play. As our brains develop, so do our ambitions, and eventually we find ourselves longing for the day we can lead our own playful lives outside of the home (without our parents!). We look forward to our being able to make decisions for ourselves –being able to go where we want, do what we want, when we want, and so on. How fun would it be to have our own house, and work as a doctor or nurse, or fireman? We impatiently pass through our childhood years, pre-teen, and teen - storming forward, demanding more freedoms at each phase and before we know it we have entered full fledge adulthood. (The rotten apple core was thrown out the window at some point after we got our drivers license) What we learn is that with each stage the knowledge and freedom that we gain carries with it an equal amount of responsibility and heartache. As our parents warned us all too often for our taste we too soon are wishing we could return to that comfortable place in childhood when our cares and worries were few. We are indeed more free and more knowledgeable, but life’s pressures have also rooted us firmly to reality. Shelter, food, anything we want really, comes at a price now. We have bills to pay therefore we must work for a living- In fact most do for 50+ years of their life or until they die, whichever comes sooner. By the time we learn that the adult life is hard we cannot return to childhood, however hard we try.

While the story of the child appears more real to us than the story of the first man and woman, if you consider the symbolism, these stories are oddly similar by nature. They both begin with a man, a woman, and a phallic object in a garden of bliss, and they both begin end with aging, work, death and sorrow. They both seem to deeply elicit and defy blame. They both charge down the same inevitable path, causing some of us to fantasize about what would have occurred if we could jump out from behind a bush and say, “no don’t do it, its not worth it!”. They both describe the progression of humanity from conception to adulthood. Whether you believe the literal veracity of story of Adam and Eve or not, it would be hard to dismiss its odd metaphorical value. Also odd, it was reported in the Christian Bible that Jesus, the Christian Messiah, said, "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (NIV, Matthew 18:3) I am certain that most people scratched their heads and just moved on.

A traditional assessment and commentary on Genesis typically concludes with an exhortation- the morale of the story is turn away from sin and/or saten. While Adam and Eve theoretically could have remained in the garden had they not taken a bite out of that apple, who of us are truly capable of this? In fact, as evidenced by this story it appears not to be in our nature at all, much like it is not in our nature to remain a child forever or return to childhood after we become adults. We are human after all- we all grow old, we all die. You cannot deny the obvious- “turn away from saten”, nor would I dare, however I would like to point out the less obvious...

Observations

1. The more knowledge we reach for (either as individuals or as a society) the more troubles we seem to see or find, the more responsibility we have, and in turn more work we have to do.
2. Knowledge does in some ways make us more like god. We have power to know wrong and right, power to make decisions, and the power to create, however it also makes us more culpable for our actions.
3. There is no sense in blame. While in childhood I was angry at Adam and Eve, in adulthood I see that mysteriously in some way I have made the same choice that they did and I face a similar future. (minus the rule over the wife portion which seems very illusive in this era)
4. If you want a clue about the nature of work, read the story of Adam and Eve. Work could be the result of wanting to be more like God, or in our case wanting to grow up and do what we want, when we want, where we want. Ironically, most employers generally do not permit this level of work-life flexibility.