“nature as fallen or … as a manifestation of divinity”
Some people trace the “genesis” of our unsustainable community to the creation myth found in the Bible—humanity’s “fall” from grace, the beginning of original sin and free will. Christian apologist G. K. Chesterton believed “that original sin is the ‘only part of Christian theology which can be really proved.’ The believer and atheist alike can agree that there is an undeniable brokenness to the world, a sickness that needs remedy. Whether we assign blame to human sinfulness, a political party, corporate greed, ignorance, tribalism or nationalism (or some of each), we can admit that things are not as they should be—or at least, not as we wish they were.” [i]
In the Old Testament (Genesis 3:1-24) “the fall” is a term that describes the transition of Adam and Eve from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience. Before St. Augustine (354-430 CE), Christians believed in free moral choice. But “Augustine declares, on the contrary, that the whole human race inherited from Adam a nature irreversibly damaged by sin.”[ii]
Insight # 33 comes to us from Joseph Campbell (1904-1987), professor, writer and speaker, and an expert in comparative mythology and religion. His philosophy is summarized by his own often-repeated phrase: “Follow your bliss.”
“Our story of the Fall in the Garden sees nature as corrupt; and that myth corrupts the whole world for us. Because nature is thought of as a totally different civilization and a totally different way of living according to whether your myth [worldview/story] presents nature as fallen or whether nature is itself a manifestation of divinity, and the spirit is the revelation of the divinity that is inherent in nature.”[iii]
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Additional Reading:
- Fall, The ABC’s of Simple Reality, Vol 1
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[i] Warren, Tish Harrison, “Before Christmas, Face the Darkness.” New York Times Sunday. December 1, 2019, p. 7.
[ii] Pagels, Elaine. Adam, Eve, and the Serpent. New York: Random House, 1998, p. 109.
[iii] Campbell, Joseph. Occidental Mythology. New York: Viking, 1964, p. 99.
