Origin Story #13 of 21:

The man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed. (Gn 2:25)

That’s how the Paradise part of our origin story concludes: “…naked, and were not ashamed”. It’s assumed that we know something about Paradise from afar—from outside the Garden, from a world that knows shame.

Being ashamed of our nakedness, outside the Garden, may seem a quaint notion to moderns—something they have overcome. But, like most things modern, they tend to overstate their achievements, particularly when it comes to understanding the human condition. Our society makes claim of sexual freedom; but, it seems most every day I hear or see something that reminds me that nakedness has been violated—taken by force or power or deceit. And such violation of one’s nakedness, as the “Me2” movement reminds us, is shameful. Even at our best, the question of our nakedness remains complex and confusing. Somehow we know it’s best we cover up.

Here once again, our two origin stories converge somewhat. David C., in his “modern science origin story,” speaks of the earliest forms of human communities as “Gardens of Eden”.  We know about it from afar. David C. would say about 12,000 years ago, or so, after the last ice age—when rivers started to flow, and the waters found their proper place; when humans began to “till and keep”, and the ground brought forth vegetation. I’ve been told that all humans have some memory of the Garden. Somewhere back there, things were very good and we were not ashamed.

We can imagine this… this goodness, beauty and freedom to roam about without shame. We get glimpses of the Garden. We’ve seen enough, or dreamed enough to know something of Paradise. We long for it yet it eludes us. Maybe that’s why we plant a garden in our backyard. That’s our origin. We make our way through life knowing that we live outside the Garden. It was back there somewhere, long ago.