aumsworld

Freud and the Snake

Riding in a car may sound like the most bizarre of settings for a big theological discussion, but that's just what my family and I had in our van tonight. I was telling them I didn't believe in the Biblical myth of Creation. They tried to convince me I was in my wrong. I won.

With thanks, mostly, to my limited (but nevertheless existing) knowledge of modern psychoanalysis. I don't read all that many of those big scientific books (unless they're written by my God of Dreams, Jung) but, unlike most seventeen-year-old teens, I do skim through a few. I remember with particular accuracy having read a few chapters of a book by Patricia Garfield, an American dream specialist, that concerned Freud's interpretation of common dream patterns. Two recurring images stood out from among the others: the apple, and the snake. These two timeless symbols, according to Freud, represented, in that order, the female reproductive organ - namely, the vagina - and the male reproductive organ - the penis. Which did make me think.

I mean, the story of a gal meeting a talking snake, accepting from it a magical apple, and then suddenly becoming aware, because of that one little fruit, that she's all naked, evil, and destined to die, always sounded more like a kid's fairytale than a true story to me. I could never quite understand why so many respectable, LOGICAL adults could accept it - just as it is! - without ever giving it the least thought. Now the theory of evolution never quite satisfied me either - hey, if we were monkeys once but lost all our hair, then how come there are still plenty of hairy monkeys out there? - but at least I gotta admit there is some scientific basis behind it, something which lacks in the Biblical story.

So I considered the option that the Biblical story might not be literal at all, but a mix of abstract symbols. Eve didn't actually eat an apple on that day. She was tempted by Adam's beauty, discovered desire, discovered sexuality, and discovered lust. The knowledge she gained on that day was not of good and evil, but of sexual desire. The snake was Adam's sexuality. The apple was her own symbol for her growing lust. She "ate" it - namely, consumed her desire - "shared" it with Adam - had intercourse with him - and then, like her consort, discovered that her nakedness aroused her partner, and covered herself with the clothes God gave her. After the Temptation, she, and Adam, lost their innocence, along with their virginity. They left behind their childhood. They became man and woman, aware of the eternal duality of the world, and aware of their own imperfections. They became sinners.

Adam and Eve's story is one of growing up. One of losing one's childhood, and becoming a teen, and, later on, an adult. It's a story that we all live through. Therefore, it IS true. Not in the literal way, but true all the same.

Makes sense, no?

After all, we are all little adams and eves. Yes, even you, my darling.

Aum

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