Right from the start, then, you begin
to understand—as you first hear this tale told, today or millennia
ago—that something rather peculiar is being
proclaimed. This “Biblical tale” is truly a revolutionary,
radical break with any then current creation story. There was no
need to parallel or emulate other creation stories by using analogy and metaphor,
e.g., humans are not suckled by the Great Wolf. In these other creation
accounts, there is always a way to connect to
the creation story by examining one’s current relationships
to humans and animals. Such stories explained the intimate life-force
linkage, that is, how the energy of life flows from one
living thing to another.
The Biblical account says, There
is no intimate life-force linkage!
There is no necessary or natural relationship between the animal/human
and the god/divine world. The spiritually intimate life-force power—the vital
zest—of this Lone Male God is absolutely separate and distinct from
human and animal experience. The Creator is not “father” in
a family sense. Rather, He is Patriarch in the power
sense, here, of dominion. His “children” are to fear,
obey and honor only Him.
In the biblical tradition, you cannot go
directly or even indirectly to the divine experience
from the human. You cannot contact God through your
own intimacy. Rather, the contact is through a dominion
relationship. One of submittal. Of being a Captive. Or, in the Islamic
way, through Surrender.
When the bible presents the Eve-from-Adam’s
rib story, it is consistent within itself. For who,
upon hearing this now or then, is not given pause by the oddity of
the account? Women from within men? Clearly, the biblical
folk knew the meaning of their own stories. They were preaching a fantastic new
way of not only understanding God, Man and the Universe, but they
were unleashing a wild and even alien spiritually
erotic imagining.
Continue—Skin
