Adam and Eve no longer are just the
gardener and his helper. They are now a male and a female who see
each other’s nakedness. They move towards one another as intimate,
sexual partners. They are primed, now, to do something
which only the gods were supposed able
to do, namely, create life. But there is more to
their discovery of nakedness.
It is Adam and Eve's coupled nakedness
that links sexuality to sensual preciousness.
Remember, the Lone Male god does not express
himself sexually. He has no goddess
consort or Divine Mate. He does not engage in an
act of sacred sexuality. However, Adam
and Eve do! For life, itself, is sensually
precious.
Up to this point, the Garden of Eden story presents,
and the tradition affirms, a god who creates his people—asexually.
This odd and quirky Creation account now takes a “normal” turn
in that the hearer learns that, indeed, humans do discover
their full humanity through sexual embrace. More, they hear
that this full, coupled humanity is
so powerful that it made this god jealous, angry,
and abusive.
Note: Before they
conceive, Adam and Eve are exiled. The Garden, from
this perspective, is an unnatural place, fitting
for the Lone Male God but not for the human
family.
For the human family to flourish, that is, to realize
the vision of a fuller humanity, Adam and Eve had to leave the
Lone Male god’s paradise.
For them to experience ecstatic sexuality,
wherein they are intimately and sensually preciously present
each to the other, they had to leave the Lone Male’s Garden and
make the Earth their home.
Continue—Abrahamic
