Eve challenging God was the Garden of Eden Metaphor.
Original Sin - Garden of Eden Metaphor
Biblical Genesis is the story of mankind’s ascent not fall. It begins with the Garden of Eden metaphor. It originated in the remembered stories of Hunter-gathering. In the garden (hunter-gatherers) man and woman could just pluck fruit from the trees. There was no need for work. It was truly a paradise in the memories passed down. A Stone Age farmer was tilling the soil in Iraq under the hot sun. He was sweating. There were painful blisters on his hands from the plough handles. It must have seemed that we lost something. There were the stories passed down for ages about the Hunter-Gatherer days. In retrospect those memories of hunter gathering must have seemed like paradise. No need to till the soil, just live off of the land's abundance.
It seemed to be a magic garden. Why did we lose that? We are now tilling the hot dusty soil to survive. We must have committed a sin offending the gods. The gods were angered enough up to kick us out of that ancient garden. We forgot the harsh realities of hunter gathering life such as savage predators, starvation, and limited populations. The "Good Old Days" are always better in the memory than in reality. Golden ages are never quite so golden when inspected closely.
Man and woman must have been kicked out of that magic garden for some offence to the gods or God. What would offend the gods the most? Would it be attempting to be as smart as the gods or to become gods by inquiring? The fruit of the Tree of Knowledge is the challenge to God severe enough for mythical ancestors to be kicked out of the magic garden. Man and woman then had to fend for themselves. Or so it seemed that way. This was the Original Sin. Today in Fundamentalistic Cults inquiry, dissent, and scepticism still constitute the worst sin.
The Cain and Abel story is the second fall of man. It incorporates the memories of the second stage of human culture, pastoralism and the third stage, settled agriculture. Abel represents the relative golden age of pastoralism. Cain is the farmer.
Pastoralism was also remembered by the Jews and Amorites as a happy go lucky lifestyle. Just follow the herds and guard them from wolves. But no serious work apart from moving with the herds to pastures. It wasn't as good as the ancient Garden of Eden but it wasn't bad. It was wonderful compared to the dreadful drudgery of farming under the hot Sun.
The Mesopotamian-Amorite farmer thought about his terribly hard life of pushing a wooden plough (behind oxen if he was lucky.) An ancestor obviously screwing up sometime ago lost the garden for us. Cain the tiller of soil murdered Abel the shepherd, destroying the golden pastoral life. God's punishment is for man to live by the sweat of his brow, ploughing the hard rocky ground of Iraq.
So, I view Original Sin as the metaphor for the tribal memories of the transition from hunter-gatherers to pastoralists. And then further decline from pastoralists to dirt farmers. It was actually cultural advancement, supporting larger populations and permitting civilisation to evolve. But to the poor bloke behind the plough it must have seemed like man had lost two golden ages by sin (Original Sin and the murder of Abel by Cain.)
I think that by the time it was all written down in the books of Genesis, the writers must have actually believed it. Naturally later believers tended to believe it also and elaborate the theological components. Eden is the metaphor for hunter gathering, and original sin is the myth for why we lost it. It is very interesting because it tells us much about the ancient people who devised the stories some 6-8 thousand years ago.
Original Sin was not the Fall of Mankind. Original Inquiry was the Rise of Civilised Mankind.
Original Sin - Garden of Eden Metaphor
Biblical Genesis is the story of mankind’s ascent not fall. It begins with the Garden of Eden metaphor. It originated in the remembered stories of Hunter-gathering. In the garden (hunter-gatherers) man and woman could just pluck fruit from the trees. There was no need for work. It was truly a paradise in the memories passed down. A Stone Age farmer was tilling the soil in Iraq under the hot sun. He was sweating. There were painful blisters on his hands from the plough handles. It must have seemed that we lost something. There were the stories passed down for ages about the Hunter-Gatherer days. In retrospect those memories of hunter gathering must have seemed like paradise. No need to till the soil, just live off of the land's abundance.
It seemed to be a magic garden. Why did we lose that? We are now tilling the hot dusty soil to survive. We must have committed a sin offending the gods. The gods were angered enough up to kick us out of that ancient garden. We forgot the harsh realities of hunter gathering life such as savage predators, starvation, and limited populations. The "Good Old Days" are always better in the memory than in reality. Golden ages are never quite so golden when inspected closely.
Man and woman must have been kicked out of that magic garden for some offence to the gods or God. What would offend the gods the most? Would it be attempting to be as smart as the gods or to become gods by inquiring? The fruit of the Tree of Knowledge is the challenge to God severe enough for mythical ancestors to be kicked out of the magic garden. Man and woman then had to fend for themselves. Or so it seemed that way. This was the Original Sin. Today in Fundamentalistic Cults inquiry, dissent, and scepticism still constitute the worst sin.
The Cain and Abel story is the second fall of man. It incorporates the memories of the second stage of human culture, pastoralism and the third stage, settled agriculture. Abel represents the relative golden age of pastoralism. Cain is the farmer.
Pastoralism was also remembered by the Jews and Amorites as a happy go lucky lifestyle. Just follow the herds and guard them from wolves. But no serious work apart from moving with the herds to pastures. It wasn't as good as the ancient Garden of Eden but it wasn't bad. It was wonderful compared to the dreadful drudgery of farming under the hot Sun.
The Mesopotamian-Amorite farmer thought about his terribly hard life of pushing a wooden plough (behind oxen if he was lucky.) An ancestor obviously screwing up sometime ago lost the garden for us. Cain the tiller of soil murdered Abel the shepherd, destroying the golden pastoral life. God's punishment is for man to live by the sweat of his brow, ploughing the hard rocky ground of Iraq.
So, I view Original Sin as the metaphor for the tribal memories of the transition from hunter-gatherers to pastoralists. And then further decline from pastoralists to dirt farmers. It was actually cultural advancement, supporting larger populations and permitting civilisation to evolve. But to the poor bloke behind the plough it must have seemed like man had lost two golden ages by sin (Original Sin and the murder of Abel by Cain.)
I think that by the time it was all written down in the books of Genesis, the writers must have actually believed it. Naturally later believers tended to believe it also and elaborate the theological components. Eden is the metaphor for hunter gathering, and original sin is the myth for why we lost it. It is very interesting because it tells us much about the ancient people who devised the stories some 6-8 thousand years ago.
Original Sin was not the Fall of Mankind. Original Inquiry was the Rise of Civilised Mankind.
Mythology and superstition shackle the brain, distort rational thinking, and promote harmful behavior.
