For true
scholars, the story of Adam and Eve is simply that -- a
story.
But for many Judeo-Christians, it is historical
fact.
Even in the face of overwhelming evidence that mankind is a
race
subject to evolution, there is still the debate over man's
origins. Well, when one gets looking into the history of
the
Bible and the origins of its stories, it becomes clear that
the
notion of the scholars that the story is allegorical is
more
correct than the "historical context" taught by today's
clergy.
The story
of Adam
and Eve, or the first couple, originated long before the
biblical era in many other countries around the world, and
was
copied by biblical writers from the writings of other
cultures.
The story originated in the heavens, in the night sky and constellations, and was "reenacted"
upon the earth as a simple answer to mankind's continual
urge to
find out "where we came from." And, at the time the
original myth was devised (tens or hundreds of thousand of
years
ago), the authors didn't have any knowledge of Cro-Magnon
man or
Neanderthal, or early man at all. And that's really quite
a shame, for that's where
religion first started, as well as all civilization (on the
backs of these ancestors) according to conventional science.
Only
upon the
beginning of funerary burials about the time of the
Neanderthals
(100,000 to 35,000 years ago, and not all were buried
ritualistically) did those views change.,
. . .
probably
through a period of mental conditioning, such as
an idea that through
generations lost
its meaning, became
misunderstood and
hence the need for rituals and ritualistic
burials. Mental conditioning had led to
ignorance (from forgetfulness) as to what
death
really was and is about, and thus the rise of the
emotion
which brings it full-circle.
Over 30,000 years ago north of Africa, the Neanderthal man
buried
flowers and necklaces of bone with the dead. Prior to that,
mankind had never cared for the passing of another. The
dead were
simply left to rot, or laid to rest without any funerary or
noble
constructs. But does this give a sign of religious belief?
Not at
all. Obviously the person who died was loved, that's what's
important. It shows the first signs of emotion and a sense
of
loss from being to being, not worship of a deity.
With this information, could it be possible that prior to
funerary burials we didn't feel loss? That we left the
bodies
alone to rot because we recognized it as a simple shell and
that
the true being that once inhabited the shell had simply
moved on
but is still not really dead? Ponder that for a moment.
Burials and the laying of treasures had to come froth from
the emotion
of loss. It would be absurd to think that the onset of
emotion
(or lack of) suddenly changed overnight from non-feeling to
total
inundation.
What does this tell us?
That most likely in the stone age, we knew more about true
life
than we do today, since the dead were usually left alone.
No time
was taken to prepare a plot, the bodies were not preserved.
They
were simply left to decay naturally. From this information
we can
deduce that in the past, death was not feared but
understood.
So where does that leave us? Unfortunately with the same ignorance as the Neanderthal man. It is apparent by the historical record that mankind knew the nature of existence better in the stone age than he does today. With the absence of machinery and technology, he had to live in complete communion with nature, and nature simply by its design works as a function guided by forces often attributed to the "hand of God." And so in the beginning, mankind as well.
To break it down, we have this equation:
Which means that mankind and nature, in the beginning, is evidenced to have been in existence with complete spiritual harmony and co-habitation with the force of creation and life, namely God. Again, without any burial rights, there had to have been no sense of loss, no feelings of distraught emotions. These are behaviors that had to start from an idea that grew and grew, took hold, and everybody accepted. Doesn't mean it's the truth or that it's right. Remember how ancient sailors used to fear travelling the ocean because the earth was flat and they might fall off the end?
Evolution.
At the same time Neanderthal man was ritualizing his dead, another species, Cro-Magnon man, was busy hunting and growing crops and trying to stay ahead of the coming winter. It is from this ancient ancestor that modern humans evolved, and so did religion.
Archeology
has
uncovered the evidence of the first vestiges of religion,
mainly
worship, with the Cro-Magnon man. Many statuettes and
carvings
have come down from that era showing women as a
symbol of
worship. These fascinating trinkets and pictures (referred
to as
Venus figurines) usually have oversized breasts and
vaginas,
symbolizing the important nature of women -- childbearth.
This is
not to suggest that it was a "goddess" based belief
system. Quite the contrary, it was women in general,
simply for the reason of child-rearing.
Why?
Because the Cro-Magnon man was facing his own extinction.
The ice
age was upon him, and to insure the longevity of his
village and
people, the women had to be revered -- she was their
savior. And so religion began.
copyright
1998
by Ra-Harakhte (Ra-Harakhte@webtv.net)