Riddle me this: What was Adam’s curse when he and Eve were expelled from the garden?
Not to delve too deeply into an obscure mythology, but it occurs to me that Adam’s curse is Eve’s as well.
No human is safe from the inevitable reality of effort.
“Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat from it all the days of your life.” (Genesis 3:17-18)
& what does Eve eat of? Cloud spawns and pixie dust? It occurs to me that there is no framework in this elaborate mythology for men to take responsibility for their choices that does not ask women to do it double.
Boo-hoo Adam, you have to grow food? So do we. The whole earth is cursed? We live here too.
Conversations are to be had with those in power.
CRAWL ON YOUR BELLY AND EAT DUST (Genesis 3:14)
says the powerful man
or “live in a body”
Or “I curse you to a life in a human form with human consciousness”
Every time we take pleasure in the taste of a lover or the smell of rain on parched ground or the sound of a sleeping child’s sigh we rebel against the reign of some powerful man. We take back what is ours from the false-assertion of power.
MAN WILL TRY TO CRUSH YOUR HEAD & YOU WILL BRUISE HIS FOOT (Genesis 3:15)
says the powerful man
or, “do not resist”
Or “When you are threatened with the destruction of all that you have and all that you are – even your retaliation will be ineffective, cursed as you are”
Yet, every time we stand against someone who wields power over us – who asserts that their existence > our humanity – we build upon that muscle. Maybe today a bruise. Next attempt to crush us? We will draw blood.
WOMAN I CURSE YOU WITH PAIN AND DESIRE AND PATRIARCHY (Genesis 3:16)
says the powerful man
or “likes and dislikes will distract you”
or “I will shape the world to crush your spirit, which you – preoccupied with the demands of the body and chaos of the mind – will struggle to keep hold of.”
Our pain is useful. Our labor is fruitful. We see the bonds of cruelty that seek to tether us to this world. Cursed as we may seem with a body to cage our spirit – Cursed as we may seem with violence clawing to tear us down – Cursed as we may seem with false power and pride and loss and ache and the endless spool of bullshit present in the cold desperation of the underbelly of humanity Cursed as we may seem:
Spirit renders us untouchable.
Untouchable.
Spirit renders us untouchable.
As long as we remain we.
Fascinated:Caffeinated 