So the story of Eden(Garden) is a metaphor. Thank you so much for your answers. now...?

Question

what do you think the story is metaphorizing about? I don't mind waiting long....... enlighten me please?

Answer 1

Check out this excerpt- which says it better than I can while I'm getting ready for work...

The story of the Garden of Eden is one of my favorite myths. When I say "myth," I don't mean it's untrue. Instead I mean that it is universally applicable to all people, in all places, at all times. A myth doesn't last for thousands of years unless it is true.

I've run across various interpretations of the myth. The one that always struck a chord with me is that evil came into the world through scapegoating: Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the serpent, a symbol of envy. As the psychiatrist M. Scott Peck has pointed out, "Scapegoating is the genesis of human evil."

Being a symbol of envy, the serpent is also a symbol of hate. Envy and hate are two sides of the same coin. The myth tells us that people often blame their problems on other people because of envy and hate. If there is one sentence that describes the biggest problem with humanity, that is it.

Refusal to take responsibility for one's actions, projecting one's problems onto others, refusing to forgive people when they're innocent (did Adam forgive Eve?), hate and envy: those traits are responsible for more evil in the world than anything else. And all of it in one short-short story.

Still, I think, there's more to the story than the above. What has been puzzling me recently is the part about Adam and Eve being naked but not ashamed. Then, when they realize they are naked, Adam becomes afraid and hides. The implication is they become ashamed because of their nudity. Not guilty, but ashamed. Fear and shame.

What does it mean? Some have claimed it's about young children, who have a tendency to run around naked until the day they realize they're not supposed to. There's truth in that view, but I think there's more. That "more" is the fact they feel shame, but not guilt.

Shame is based on what you believe people think of you. That's why Adam is afraid; he's concerned about what God will think. Guilt, on the other hand, is about the violation of an internal standard. Adam and Eve have no guilt; instead they feel shame.

There is not one word in the story of the Garden of Eden about guilt, only ones about shame.

When you have a person who has no guilt, but instead only shame, that person is known as a psychopath. A psychopath is in many ways a two-year-old in an adult body. They have no internal standards--no guilt--to guide them. They have no conscience. They are instead excruciatingly sensitive to others' opinions of them, even if they deny it. They are instead ruled by shame, embarrassment and humiliation, all of which are related to each other. Not surprisingly, they blame their problems on other people.

What the story of the Garden of Eden is saying is that there are relationships among shame, fear, hate, envy and scapegoating. People who are ruled by shame are always afraid of what others think. They think others are responsible for how they feel. As such, they project their problems on others and scapegoat them.

Those relationships can lead to violence towards others, sometimes mass violence, as in the case of the Nazis and Communists. Guilt tends toward self-punishment, as Dimmesdale did in The Scarlet Letter when he branded himself. Shame tends toward punishment of others, even if they're innocent. Not that any scapegoater thinks they're ever innocent.

Answer 2

Whether something is metaphor or not depends on what the original writer intended it to mean. Oxford Hebrew Professor James Barr said that Gen 1-11 intends to communicate historical events, not metaphor.

Answer 3

Yes, it is a metaphor. Of humanity and our walk with or understanding of the Creative Force we often call God. The two trees represent acquiescence to the spirit leading us, or trying to make our own desicions, and always failing. It's all still relevant today.

Answer 4

I think so, because it was kinda silly. And the fact that God needed to rest is wierd. SO yeah think its a nice story that is used to make people feel like sinners, because some lady ate an apple,. Its also a way to oppress women because its thier fault we got kicked out. Who wrote the bible? MEN!!! I mean the holy spirit....

Answer 5

It was a type of proving ground that did exist and it grieved Father to change earth into this environment but satan was attempting to hinder Fathers plan as he will until the end.

Answer 6

dare to go within urself and unveil the real truth which is with in u and ur very heart is the source where every enlightenment orignates.

Answer 7

Gods creation of the world and humanity

Answer 8

i don't think it is a metaphor. i believe it happened