First Draft Disclaimer: Most of this is a rough first draft. I haven’t paid much attention to crafting each sentence, spelling, grammar, etc – I’m just getting the ideas down, the polish will happen in a phase between this, and publication. Take it all with a grain of salt.
Let’s just get the “sin” word out of the way right off the bat. And before we do that, I must give you my standard disclaimer: I do not believe in the historicity of sacred texts. None of them, from any religion, period. I believe the Bible to be a literal document as much as I believe Luke Skywalker and Yoda actually lived long long ago in a galaxy far far away – and I talk about them in exactly the same way. I love Star Wars, because X Wing fighters are cool as fuck, Han Solo is half decent masculine role model, and the story itself is a metaphor by which we can understand our own “hero’s journey” through life. I will invoke stories from spiritual texts in exactly the same way, so don’t freak out when I talk about Adam and Eve and Satan and God and Jesus as if they are actual historical figures. They are metaphors for bigger ideas. Are we good? You good with that? Ok good. Let’s go.
Shame is original sin.
When Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened completely, they witnessed the totality of their situation. They became aware of opposites, and in this order:
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- Obedience / disobedience
- Naked clothed
- Free ride / labor
- Beauty of the garden / dreary world
- Immortality/ death
Lucifer, the light bearer, did shine a light on the existence of opposites. He then invited them to judge one to be better than the other by convincing them that God had a preference- hide yourselves with aprons of leaves. I call it “original sin” for a very specific reason:
“Sin” is something that impedes your growth. Look, if there is a God out there, it doesn’t get offended when we masturbate, say it’s name in vain when we stub our toes, or miss church. I am absolutely certain of this. Anything with the capacity to build this earth and us and all of the other things in the cosmos, cannot be easily offended. I’m convinced that if a God exists, the only thing it cares about is if we happy, healthy, and growing. Even if that God is a member of a supreme alien race that lives on the dark side of the moon, this still applies.
Sin = impediment to growth.
[I promise, this relates to taking pictures of naked ladies, just stay with me]Original: this predicament is universal to all humans.
Here’s how it goes for every human: In the womb, we live in a state of non-duality. There are no opposites, everything just IS…. Floating around in the warm dark embrace of our mother’s belly and amniotic fluid, there is no hot or cold, no up / down, no hungry / full, no day / night, no wet / dry, no held / not held…. None of those things. The Garden of Eden is a metaphor for this first state of human existence. And then – birth happens. In very rapid succession, each human is taught about opposites. The Light Bearer comes, as it were – we emerge from the birth canal into the dry air. We breathe. We cry. The cord is cut. We are cold, hungry, and insecure- Adam and Eve being banished into the lone and dreary world is a metaphor for the first few minutes of life. Day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, we are taught about additional opposites, and in increasingly complex arrangements:
[ppp_patron_only level=”5″ silent=”no”]-
- awake / asleep
- Clean diaper / poopy diaper
- entertained / bored
- With mom / with stranger
- girl / boy
- Breakfast / dinner
- Car / truck
- left / right
- Up / down
- Right / wrong
- Good / evil
- Republican / democrat
- and the list goes on….
The important point is to note that with every one of these pairings, we are also taught to have preferences. Judgements, even moral judgements, which come from our caretakers. It’s inevitable. This set of judgements are what we call “culture”.
Before you know it, that fetus is a grown ass 23 year old with all kinds of biases, judgements, and capability to impact the world with them, for better or for worse.
The judgement I’ve built my career around – art vs porn.
The highest compliment someone has given me regarding my work:
“I can’t tell if this is art or porn. Will you show me some more?”
