Innocence Shamed

If ignorance is bliss and innocence is blind then the Awdawm were Paradise.

*Text box mine

They, the blissful innocent Awdawm in their garden were the Tree of Life. Of course, ignorance is easily cured, and once their eyes are opened, the innocent die.

It is a miracle that this primordial breed of mankind would survive at all, if only through two curious scraps of memory who engaged a stranger in a conversation that centered around the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil:


Awdawm-ish and Awdawm-ishah must have been inseparable. They were both there when they met the new creature who wore clothes and decorated his skin with images of the river...or was it a serpent?

Awdawm-ish and Awdawm-ishah would not have known it, but it is possible that the serpent priest was the first of many outsiders who would investigate the garden because the land already had an irrigation system so it was obviously worth taking for themselves.

The foreign priest came from farther up the river, from outside the garden but still within the land they called Eden and we call the Fertile Crescent. He was making his way to the place where the river divided into four rivers and opened the way to the world where the Serpent was worshiped at numerous altars.

There was no altar to the Serpent in the garden; the priest was on a mission to change that.

He entered the garden from the bank of the river, where the forbidden tree, a whole settlement of more creatures like the serpent priest had put down roots,.

Awdawm-ish and Awdawm-ishah let their innate curiosity convince them to edge a little closer to the interloper, just to get a look -- so they could better warn the others.

How could they have known that The Serpent was the harbinger of the Awdawms' doom. Like Prometheus, the foreign priest would open their eyes to the future and put an end to their harmonious past.

The Serpent's incursion began with a conversation about sin and death that took place between the priest and the naked couple.

I'm sure they talked of other things, and it may be that it took more than one visit to convince Awdawm-ish and Awdawm-ishah to come with him to the settlement, where the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil grew.

He would have plied them with gifts, maybe exotic food or sparkly baubles, whatever it took to insinuate himself between Awdawm-ish and Awdawm-ishah before the Serpent and the world of man swallowed the garden whole. The best way to achieve that was to stand between the Awdawm and their God by making Him out to be some kind of liar.

All the other gods he knew of were liars; this would be a snap.

"How can you say that you'll die by accepting this small gift? Don't you want to know what God is keeping from you? Don't you want to be like God?"

The pleasure the gift gave them was innocent enough, except that it crossed the line drawn by God's command not to eat of the fruit of that particular tree, not to emulate the creatures of the settlement, but accepting one small gift couldn't be enough to spoil them completely.

"Just be cool, and no one else has to know" -- Right?

But we know how these things go.

Only the first one's free.

If Awdawm-ish and Awdawm-ishah wanted more, they would eventually have to accept the serpent priest's invitation to visit the altar in the settlement.

Whatever happened in the settlement, there were two important consequences. They were made self-conscious over their nakedness, and they had meat in their bellies which meant blood on their hands.

The "original sin" as we call it came with its own punishment even before God called them on it. The fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is nothing more nor less than fruit of disobedience, shame and guilt.

It was time for the Father to send his children into the cold world with what looks like a basket of curses for a going away present.

Next time: Adam and Eve vs The Real World

You don't have to subscribe to comment and ask questions, so let me know what you think so far.

I know the idea that Adam and Eve were not the first humans on the planet, and that they actually belonged to larger society goes against what we were taught to believe, but I have to ask:

Isn't a theory that fits the facts (that's what my story amounts to after all) better than an improbable dogma that claims there are no other facts aside from those that fit the narrative?

Peace Out Y'all