Exploring the Spirit Origins of Eden, Part I

Exploring the Spirit Origins of Eden

Part I

by R.E. Slater

Genesis 2:8-9 NIV

8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.

14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

A Process-based Exposition

In the bible the Garden of Eden was created by God for humanity (= man). Broadly interpreted, Eden itself bespeaks pleasure, abundance, nourishment (= pleasant, good, life). Within it was a place of temptation (= tree of knowledge of good and evil) to which humanity eventually failed. In 2:15 humanity was called to cultivate and care for Eden's environs.

Essentially, humanity, like nature itself, was given identity, purpose, meaning, community, and structure in which to build community.

That is, man was neither flora nor fauna... man was different from the animals and plants. This does not mean that there was no evolution but simply, the idea was not part of man's psyche.

Further, man's purpose was to care for things. Nourish, cultivate, grow, protect his surroundings... and by assumption, since God is loving, in a loving, redeeming, salvific manner.

As to man's meaning, it was uncovered through man's relations and actions with other humans as well as with nature. This is the idea of a processual creation evolving under humanity's loving care and nourishment. If humanity treated one another unlovingly there would be consequences. Similarly when communities and individuals gave loving thought, acceptance, liberty, and respect to one another. 

Eden then was a mythic place in the Hebrew mindset of national thrival given by God for their benefit. We might call such a place a Utopia or Nirvana or even Camelot. It was an ideal place generated under ideal conditions when agency or freedom was used aright as God intended.

Moreover, in God's image came the ability to live kindly and thoughtfully with one another. However, as time and event, history and narrative have shown, the agency given to nature and to mankind of God's Self was the temptation we could not conquer. In fact, agency is uncontrollable, willful, and wise unto itself. God's greatest gift to creation was also it's greatest downfall.

Not surprisingly, when we use our agency unlovingly we thereby will shut ourselves out from the creaturely-like heaven God provided through God's Expression of God's Self as will as lose our identity, purpose, meaning, community and the structures around which all these elements might occur and thrive.

Finally, God provided sustenance and salvation to creation knowing that divine agency given in love and not by divine fiat would fail. Firstly, God is love and all that God does is in love. Secondly, God does not "order" things in the Protestant sense of ordering but in love persuades, urges, nudges creation forwards towards goodness and love. Still God's immanent interaction with creation understood that agency, like Pandora's Box, was too great a gift to be beheld in. Hence, when removing ourselves from our identity in God we remove ourselves from ourselves.

As in the cosmos, so too in creation and in the human soul, there is no there there without God's presence. As creation was ever in existance (creatio continua as versus the Protestant teaching of creatio ex nihilo) the universe was a hot thermic blob until God "came into relationship with it" to give to the universe it's "being" whereupon it might "become." Similarly with creation and humanity.

Our being is found in God and in becoming more of who we are we may only "become" in yielding to God's ever-present presence. We are not alone, nor does God leave us alone. We are ever in the heart of God who nourishes and provides and protects as God can in an agency-filled world (sic, Arminianism v Calvinism; and Arminianism's updated form known as Open Theology and Relational Theology brought together).

Salvation then becomes known as creation in acknowledged, abiding presence with God (it cannot be otherwise but requires acknowledgement, which Protestantism defines as "faith" in various convoluted descriptions). And further by salvation comes divine help to act in one's agency not perfectly but redemptively.

This means that in the grand scheme of Eden is bourne the narratival concepts of Israel's Creation Story of salvation and redemption. Centuries later the Jewish religion found this narrative centered into the person and divinity of Jesus, known as Christ the Savior, Immanuel who comes incarnately, the sacrificial Lamb of God, and High Priest of creation and humanity's salvation.

And with salvation comes the work - not of necessity but of identity - to redeem all around us. Not by monastic escapism, nor by religious legalism in vain attempts to turn rags to holiness, but by abiding in God's acknowledged presence (= faith) and doing the works of divine relationalism (= works of love).

When redeemed, the redeem then redeem. Tradition may call this "The Roman's Road" or the "Gospel of Salvation" or the "Four Spiritual Laws." But salvific redemption is no more than learning to love and to be love. Not to add to our salvation or to wear brighter robes of white than those around us... but because in our soul we must give the cup or cold water, lose the shirt off our back, and aide and assist those lost to a world of destruction and ruin.

Whether ministers, priest, worker bees, community leaders, or moms and dads... we, who wear the relationship of God's presence within, about, or  around us, are urged forward in our daily lives by the Loving Spirit of God (I prefer this as versus the standard ascription of "Holy Spirit of God" as I wish to underline not legalism but kindness and goodness).

We will fail. This is the way of humility. We will act unlovingly. This is the way of restoring blown relationship as they can be restored. We will withdraw from some elements in our lives which create toxic need, dependence, our enablement within us be these drugs, alcohol, sex addictions, or people. In themselves these are not sin. But in our misuse or abuse of such elements, including those unhealthy to our faith walk to love, they may require abandonment.

And this, in a nutshell is the process theology and story of the Garden of Eden where being is acknowledged and becoming is the goal. How? Through relationships, experience and sensitivity to the presence of God. (Aka, process and processual event is panrelational, panexperiential, and panpsychic, but not in a weird way, but in a lovingly constructive way). Without even there can be no becoming; and without relationship back to God our being-ness is confused and muddled. Like the cosmic process around is ever in a tumult to become so we ourselves as spirit beings boundless to time but held within it's cosmic grip.

My next post will focus on the geographic origins of Eden,

Peace,

R.E. Slater

February 12, 2024

 

I am working on a Westernized description of Whitehead's process philosophy and theology. However, it is a pervasive concept as old as the world itself and in the East, such as in China, the religion of Buddhism also has this center of being-ness and becoming-ness. I wish then to use it as a common ground of understanding  with Asia and to build upon it Christ and His Salvation known. - re slater

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Source  - click here

1) The Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:10-14)

God did not create a garden but ‘planted’ one. But note, the garden is not Eden. The garden was in in the eastern section of Eden (towards the rising sun). Eden was not itself a garden but a fairly large district. The Hebrew word ‘Eden’ means pleasure or delicacy. If Eden was pleasurable, the garden must have been exquisite. Where are those people who talk about the Old Testament God being fierce?! God has never changed from His goodness.

We are surprised at the space taken to describe the rivers. Only one verse is used to describe man’s creation (2:7), but five are used to describe the river. There is a hidden message here.

One river flowed out from Eden. Either it was a spring that came from the ground or a tall mountain stream that flowed down to the garden. Once the river reached the center of the garden, it divided itself into what would become four huge rivers. This would necessitate a huge garden. The names of some of the rivers are familiar to us; others are not. We suspect they are the same but necessary.

• River #1 was Pishon: flows around Havilah where there is good gold, bedllium and onyx stone.

• River #2 was Gihon: Flows around Cush (Ethiopia)

• River #3 was Tigris: Flows east of Assyria

• River #4 was Euphrates.

There are two Chinese characters for garden. One describes the garden above with its four rivers. The other describes the garden’s occupants.

Enclosure		The enclosure has a center from where the river flowed and divided into four rivers.		Garden, Field
This Chinese word for garden or field describes what the garden was like. The Hebrew word for garden comes from the word to 'enclose' or 'protect.'
Enclosure	Dirt	Mouth, breath	Two people		Garden
A second Chinese word for garden describes who lived there. Only two people. God spoke and formed man from the ground. Eve, the second person, came from the side.

So perhaps the whole of Eden was in a lofty place, but the garden was at a lower plateau where the rivers would gain more momentum as they flowed on out of Eden to the other parts of the world. Because of the identity of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, we suppose this land was near the present day rivers. The whole land of Eden seemed central and all the known world was centered around it. We see one river flowing from God’s new paradise.

The river stood for the blessing that came from God and would bring enriching provisions to the world. One could easily see how the Garden would seem like the throne of the world subjected to a higher throne in heaven. This thought of God’s divine blessing flowing to earth from His above throne is very common in scripture (see Psalm 65:9-13).

And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, (Revelation 22:1).

Chinese description of Eden