Reinterpreting Eve

Not too far in the past, if a woman was assertive, demanding and purposeful, she was considered a controlling bitch. On the other hand, if a woman complained about her lack of opportunity and played victim, she was considered an annoying whiner. Today, many women are looking to each other for clues as to what it truly means to be a woman.

One of the great perks of being a woman is sharing intimately with other women. I have found over and over, no matter if I am talking with a CEO, an accomplished writer, a five star mom, a longtime healer, a talented artist, ... that no matter what their successes, women feel a peculiar sense of self-doubt and inferiority. I have for a long time wondered what this is about.

As someone who studies spirituality and religion, I decided to reflect on our spiritual culture to seek some answers. When focusing on this, I saw that part of the issue could be the many thousands of years we've been living in a patriarchal spiritual, social and cultural system. This isn't a criticism of men by any means, but a pointing out and curiosity about how that system has affected us, both as women and men, from the inside out.

In our culture our greatest spiritual role model, God, is a "he" in imagery and language. "He" is the one we are to please, emulate and be judged by. He is the one we pray to, seek counsel from and look to for solutions. If God is male in imagery and language, wouldn't it make sense that girls and women who are not "hes" would feel a sense of inferiority, self-doubt and perhaps never feel that they are good enough? If this is the case, I wonder if women and girls deep down inside can ever truly feel worthy.

Let's look at another part of our spiritual and cultural heritage that may also be contributing to women's inferiority complex: The story of Adam and Eve. For many of us, we heard this story at a very young age. In my case, I was five. Whether as a child (or adult) we regard the story as myth or truly the creation story, it permeates our culture and has made its way into our unconscious systems. A review...

(Eve) was created out of man (Adam). She was then told by an Almighty man (God) not to pick a forbidden fruit (apple). She picked it (disobedience) - gave it to Adam (unsuspecting innocence) - and from then on was said to have committed the first sin. It was that simple picking (which perhaps was due to pioneering curiosity) that is said to have led to the fall of humanity from paradise and the introduction of evil into the world. Ha!

Assuming Eve as the archetype of woman, woman here is portrayed as undisciplined, disobedient, and a sinner. Looking at it this way, it's no wonder that women have an underlying sense of blame, shame and in many cases, a fear of questioning male authority. With this story told to us at an early age, it seems like no mystery that as girls and boys we would internalize this.

When reflecting on all of this, my question became -- what happened to the time when the Almighty, the Divine, our spiritual leader was in feminine form? What happened to the honoring of our Mother God, Gaia? What happened to the ancient goddess cultures?

According to Maria Gimbutas, world-renowned archeologist, matriarchal and goddess-worshipping cultures existed as far back as 6500 B.C. Aside from the questions of why and how the shift happened away from these cultures and toward our modern-day patriarchy, I think it's important to look at how we would feel if our spiritual leader were depicted as a woman and referred to as a "she." Would we feel any different? What is your reaction to even considering this?

I know there is a book called, "When God Was a Woman," which I have not read yet -- but have a feeling it might shed some light on the subject. I also know that some will argue that getting caught up in duality, the feminine and masculine, is not helpful. They will say that God is Absolute and holds no gender or form. My feeling is that all the talk in the world about this, before females ever get a chance to see themselves in the image of the Divine is like skipping from kindergarten to college. We've spent the more recent thousands of years seeing our spiritual leader in the image of a male and I think it is going to take more than saying God is Absolute to deconstruct our unconscious belief systems.

Just to make it clear I am not advocating for erasing a male God nor am I advocating for dethroning him with a female. What I am advocating for is a remembrance and honoring of a Mother God, the Divine Feminine, as his divine and uniquely different partner.

As our hierarchies of power are shaking down and interconnection and interrelatedness are shaking wide, perhaps we have an opportunity to redefine how we see ourselves in the world and how we, as women and men, can move forward together as partners creating a world in balance.

Comments

[MikeMarks]

the lesson I think the Adam and Eve tale suggests is: Woman can be seduced by the Devil, but Man can not be seduced by the Devil. Therefore, let Man rule the Earth and its genders. However, Man can be seduced by Woman. The Devil can still seduce the rulers of Earth, Men, through Woman. So a good woman should do everything she can to lessen her seductive powers so that she may protect Man, and therefore Woman and the Earth as well, from the Devil. A good way to reduce her seductive powers is to hide her face and body behind robes. Meanwhile, of course, Man, safe from the Devil's seductions or not, maybe ain't done the best job of ruling the planet.

[Halsey]

I say we all hail Eve...who took a bite from the TREE OF KNOWLEDGE....she was one brave cookie...

Regardless of the consequences (and I actually believe the bible is mostly metaphor...but that's just me).... just think..."Knowledge"....where would we be without it...(and who doesn't love apples :-)

[MikeMarks]

where are we? We have millenia of knowledge, yet still and war and hunger today? Is it possible that "knowledge" is the problem? Are we going to do what we've always done, wait another day for sufficient knowledge to accumulate until we can learn to do right. Does the brain create probelms so that it may have things to solve? Yes, hold onto knowledge to remember how to fix your car, make a good Waldoff salad, sure, but, addressing the ills of the world, maybe we aren't ever going to solve it through knowledge. If knowledge is the cure don't we already have enough knowledge? Is there an alternative? So much knowledge is composed in words, and 'words' are never the thing. Does knowledge divorce us from a wordless Truth? Is knowledge via words always monkey chatter?

[AustinCynic]

Unfortunately when believers in any age look to their sacred scripture to reinforce their own prejudices, we get things like the classic example of how the Garden of Eden story is used to subjegate women. I never figured out what my fellow males see that makes them think women are so evil, anyway, because if they are saying Eve (who actually needs quite a bit of convincing to disobey God) led Adam (who really needed no convincing) astray, then men are admitting that they are the weak-willed ones.

[GrainOSand]

Thanks Mrs. Biddle for publicly expressing your thought-provoking contemplation. Immediately, I must say that one of the main reasons I parted with Christianity (not God) is the constant theme of man as highest authority next to God. I have asked Christian preachers about this and was told something like, “Man follows God and woman follows man. Woman is only obligated to follow man if man is living in accordance with God’s will as expressed in the Holy Bible.” The last part is the counter for when I respond to the first part with...”But what about men who abuse women, should they be followed by the abused woman?”

It is not just woman that suffers diminished stature in the interpretation of existence that is religion. Throughout my formative years, God was not only male but he was white and male. You write of the psychological effect. I can attest that such a lie can damage, might impair, does present an unnecessary obstacle. I submit that what plagues many communities has much to do with how their humanity is expressed in religion and popular culture. People demand responsibility but they forget how in so many ways they label a given person irresponsible from the very beginning. If you buck the odds you are indeed a success. My point is why make life tougher for people than it already is by injecting a lie into their early psychosis that requires unlearning?

Bottom line, woman is and man is.

[GrainOSand]

"Bottom line, woman is and man is."

...and what each of them are is a combination of natural potential and indoctrination by an enveloping society. Beautiful, when enveloping society expresses the truth of nature or synchronization with it -- balance. It is a crime when enveloping society mangles or distorts the message of natural potential to serve a minority need at the expense of the collective.

Man created God in his own image and thereby the world was given a distorted image of God. Through the channels of existence, one can come to the potential of God beyond fabrications, distortions, embellishments, and other hijackings of the truth to serve a selfish earthly purpose. I am male -- Yang. I am at my strongest as a male when I am conscious of the Yin, when I am in touch with the female aspect of existence. If I am unbalanced in being male then I distort being male. If one looks at the Yin and Yang symbol the consideration is represented. The opposite and complimentary forces work together to form the whole and therefore in becoming one, the line is blurred, the differences diminish, and one arrives at the essence of being which is not biological form.

The Eastern philosophies do not serve as religion. God is never to be confused with the written thoughts of people. Through such human expression one can tap into “higher consciousness”. The Christian bible is suspect on some levels, however, it still remains relevant reading.

[ParacelsusTheophrastus]

Wasn't the snake image associated with goddesses and healing? Even the snake got trashed in Genesis. Another great read: Jane Caputi's Gossips Gorgons and Crones The Fates of the Earth

[Tabby Biddle - Huffpost Blogger]

Yes, the snake is associated with goddesses. The Snake Goddess was prevalent during the Minoan period, dating back to 1600 BCE, and was said to represent the renewal of life. Think shedding of skin. Others see the snake as representing the psychic and spiritual power of women. Interesting how the snake got a bad rap in the Garden of Eden story too, as you mention.
I'll check out Jane Caputi's book that you mention. Thanks for the recommendation.

[melmoid]

I love this article! As a poet and scientist, I have been thinking of the Adam and Eve story for over 50 years now. I have written a collection of poems about Eve. She was of course the first scientist--showing curiosity about nature, examining the plants and talking to the serpent. In the meantime Adam sat on his but* and botched the naming of the animals since they are still being named today by taxonomists. There are actually three creation stories in the Bible. In Genesis 1 Adam and Eve were created together and all the trees and fruits could be used. Then the author of Genesis 2 came along and revised the story leading to the horrible male hierarchy in most religions and the dreadful concept of the Trinity where the entire female gender and all of nature are left out of the realm of "god." Until we arrive at a concept of Gaia in religious practice, we will not make much progress on saving the earth from ourselves. I am sure you have read the book Woman and Nature by Susan Griffin. The prologue sums it up. Also the book Living in the Borderland by Jerome Bernstein is essential. Thanks for this post.

[Tabby Biddle - Huffpost Blogger]

I love that idea that Eve was the first scientist -- showing curiosity about nature. It is incredible how just a little reframing can create a new world view by seeing something from another angle. Thanks for that mention. How exciting to know about Woman and Nature by Susan Griffin. That book is new to me. i just checked it out on Amazon and look forward to reading it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience.