Why the Bible has 2 Creation Stories: Let Go of Self to Reenter the Garden of Bliss
Scripture
Genesis 2:4-10, 15-17
These are the births of the heavens and the earth when he created them, on the day on which he, Jehovah God, made the earth and the heavens. And no shrub of the field was yet on the earth, and no plant of the field was yet sprouting, because Jehovah God had not made it rain on the earth. And there was no human to cultivate the ground. And he made a mist rise up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. And Jehovah God formed a human, dirt from the ground, and he breathed into the human’s nostrils the breath of lives, and the human was made into a living soul. And Jehovah God planted a garden in Eden, on the east, and put in it the human whom he had formed. And Jehovah God caused to sprout from the ground every tree desirable in appearance and good for food, and the tree of lives in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And a river was going out from Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four headwaters.
And Jehovah God took the human and put the human in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and to guard it. And Jehovah God commanded the human concerning it, saying, “From every tree of the garden you definitely may eat. But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat, because on the day on which you eat from it you will surely die.”
Why the Bible has 2 Creation Stories: Let Go of Self to Reenter the Garden of Bliss
by Rev. Cory Bradford-Watts
Read the message below. Video premieres today at 8 pm EDT, click here to watch on YouTube
Many have asked the question, “Why do the Hebrew and Christian Bible’s have two creation stories, back-to-back?” It’s strange, right? And the typical guess seems to center on the possible Israelite history of bringing diverse cultures together and not being able to choose just one! Although this might be plausible, in-line with our approach toward the Bible as primarily spiritual parable, today we’ll explore the second creation story as a deeper tale about the peace, growth, and bliss we find once we’ve reached a state of Sabbath (the first creation’s seventh day) and truly allow Divinity to help us let go of our egoic sense of self and ownership.
To jog our memories, the first creation story is the one we typically point to with its 7 days – and the one we’ve recently been exploring as an allegory for our spiritual growth. The second creation story, on the other hand, is where at first we see the creation of the first human, often called Adam from the Hebrew, we then see another account of the start of plant life, and afterwards see the creation of the second human, Eve (at least, as viewed through a literal lens). Today, let’s personally reflect on each of these elements as if they were a part of ourselves as we reflect on the details of this as a parable.
For me (and for the 18th-century mystic, Emanuel Swedenborg), I see a connection between this new tale and the last one. As we start to find our own intrinsic peace from Divinity, we start to situate ourselves more selflessly towards others and our environment – and vice versa! This place of letting go of our egoic identity and sense of self-regard opens us up to a new “creation story,” where we “cultivate and guard” our earth with its life and people instead of domineering over and destroying it. (Genesis 2:15)
This place of selflessness, and indeed selfless-identity (meaning we identify with all things as part of ourselves), brings a state of Sabbath and refreshment like a very first “mist rising up from the earth and watering the whole face of the ground.” (Genesis 2:6) Indeed, it’s a state where we’re told that we can truly share and have use of everything (including the Tree of Life); everything, that is, except for the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
These Genesis 2 details bring up some very good points that we can put into practical use. When we start to truly center ourselves on the peace of Sabbath that’s at the heart of our humanity, we start to refuse to work out of a scarcity-mindset and strive to transform our economy and culture to better resemble the Sabbath and abundant love at the heart of creation. To cultivate and guard “the fruit-bearing plants” means to let go of our ideas of ownership and division of our resources, and instead turn with community toward the cultivation of life and peace, together. We see this in many cultures once thought of as savage: a centeredness on living as a village, instead of a disparate group of hoarders.
Emanuel Swedenborg believed that the Hebrew word “Adam,” coming from the Hebrew word for earth and used as a label for the first human, was a reference to all human beings that work in this cultivation-oriented, loving mindset – which we see expressed through many ancient and indigenous cultures. This mindset is “before the fall” and has full access to what the Bible calls the Tree of Life, or a direct connection to the purpose of living (sharing peace, blessings, and bliss) which is abundant and freely giving.
If we were to truly turn towards our earth with a cultivating, safe-guarding mindset, our lawns and cities would be full of fruit-bearing plants and life-giving animals, free to share. And no one would suffer from abject poverty, ignored mental illness, and unwanted homelessness, because cultivating and guarding humanity from a place of peace and shared responsibility is part of this commandment and calling.
Indeed, this implies that we truly start to give up our sense of egoic-self and our selfish motives, and find our intrinsic love for others and all things as ourselves and as more important than ourselves (as Christ said, even our “enemies”!). This frees us from our fear of bodily harm and judgment, and instead points us to something that’s been true all along: we are one with the Lord and each other, and God is the source of all creation and goodness – no matter the diversity of our religions, worldviews, and spiritualities.
On the other hand, the things that stifle our reception of the Tree of Life and remove us from the Garden of Eden are represented by the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The name of this tree itself points to how our centeredness on dualistic judgment and the duality of creation undermines our connection to Spirit. This doesn’t mean that we don’t turn away from evil and gently work towards virtue, indeed we must, but it means that we no longer condemn and dismiss others for what they have done – as we do “felons,” “heathens,” and “outcasts” and instead look to their goodness and strive to uplift them. This is what Swedenborg says people in heaven do (“angels”) as well as what many lines of Buddhism say we must do to reach “awakening,” and what Christ may mean when he says we must become like children to enter the kingdom of heaven.
This applies to ourselves as well; we must let go of guilt, judgment, and our constant internal struggles, instead letting the power of meditation, Sabbath, and peaceful, compassionate spiritual practices to settle our minds back into the bliss of the Garden of goodness, selflessness, and cultivation.
Our message today is at the heart of many traditions, and it means letting go of our need for recognition, but also not fighting for or against it. It means recognizing our anger as it rises, but also letting it fade naturally as it comes and releasing the roots of that anger. It means no longer ruminating on the suffering of the past or worrying about the possible pain of the future. Ultimately, it means that instead we accept our lot as it comes, cultivating the goodness of life around us, knowing that our spirit is rooted in the Garden: safeguarded and eternally cultivated by the Lord - a state that we can truly find bliss in when we start to allow God to uplift the entirety of our being back before the fall.
Peace and blessings to you,
Rev. Cory