Garden of Origin

Seth…Seth, are you listening?

“Who speaks to me”…Seth said looking about, Seth could not see anyone in the trees and brush that surrounded him..

“I am I, Seth, do you not know me?”

Seth became fearful, “Lord I did as my father asked”.

“You did as you father asked, Seth?”

“Yes, Lord, I did as my father asked”.

“And now the father of all, asks you Seth to tell the story of your earthly father and mother”.

“Yes Lord, my father has told me that I must tell the story to all my children so that they will know why they must toil”.

“Tell me your words Seth”

Seth stood confused for a moment…then he realized that He wanted him to recite the story.

“Lord, I will say, you gave man life and you placed them in a beautiful garden with dominion over all animals. I will say that you saw he was lonely and gave him mother from his rib, and I will tell them that you only asked that they not eat of the Tree of Knowledge or they would surely die”.

“Seth what about the Tree of Life?”

“Lord, it was there for their taking, it was never prohibited.”

Seth, chastised himself quietly for speaking so boldly to the Lord.

“It was there as a choice Seth, they could have the Tree of Life forever or bring death upon themselves through the Tree of Knowledge.”

“Yes, I understand Lord, but what should I tell my children?”

“Truth, Seth, always tell them the truth”

“But Lord, they will not understand the truth, I must use parables that they will understand”.

“See that they know my work Seth and see that they understand theirs”. And with that He was gone.

And they knew that they were naked, Seth thought. They understood that now they were different from other animals…they were naked. But my children that moved south, they were not so modest. It was warmer there, did they not need modesty because it was warmer, he pondered.

His children knew they were different from the other animals, that they had dominion over animals and an understanding beyond that of the other animals. Suddenly a thought flashes through him, it was the Tree of Knowledge that separated them from the animals! It represented the transition from instinct to self-awareness! Seth stopped for moment to let these thoughts seep into his consciousness. And Seth felt such a rush of self-congratulations! Nakedness! It was when the intelligent animal began to clothe himself to protect him from the cold winter. But wait…there was no cold winter in the Garden. In the Garden man didn’t need clothes, he didn’t need great intelligence since everything was provided for him. Seth stopped, fear gripped him like a freezing wind, was he being blasphemous?

“Was there no Garden of Eden” Seth thought, was it my father’s way to simplify for my understanding. Was the Garden really a state of mind, the mind of the animal that didn’t understand mortality and therefore had ever lasting life and didn’t understand nakedness and therefore just saw covering as nothing more than protection from the elements and became modest with custom?

Seth pondered these thoughts; he mulled how he could explain these things to his children. The children knew of their specialness, but how would explain their uniqueness with the truth.

“I will explain it as analogies Seth thought, I will say that the Tree of Knowledge was just a test of faithfulness and that clothing was just another test. My children must always believe that they are special.