myth and memoir

God told me this story once and I have never forgotten it…

In the beginning there was nothing. Day and night did not exist. The vast space between nothings was overwhelming. In those first few moments before things existed, God sat wondering to himself about all the things he wouldn’t be able to do anymore with a new planet to watch over. He was getting bored with all the other creatures and planets and galaxies he had created, but, the god of the entire universe, he couldn’t just abandon them or leave them to rot. No, he would create a new planet, an exciting planet, one that was full of entertaining beings and exciting landscapes. 

“That’s just what I need,” his voice boomed out. “Some company for myself.” On the first day, God created Earth and everything that was not Earth he called the Heavens. He separated light from dark and called them day and night. The water and the land ebbed and erupted apart, and the vast expanses of emptiness above were called sky.

“Now for my favorite part!” God chuckled excitedly. “Everything on this new planet Earth shall be green and lush and teeming with new life. Everything.” And so it was. That day God pressed his fingers into the ground and pushed his life into the soil. Grass and shoots and leaves began pouring out of the ground and upward into the sky. There were shrubs of every shape and trees as tall as the heavens. But God wasn’t done quite yet. God then leapt down from the heavens and onto the land. He dove into the ocean. He made himself larger and pushed his entire body into every stream and lake and creek. He let the life inside him seep out of his pores and into all the water. Now the water was alive too. 

The question then became, what was to become of the land? God was tired after all this creating and so he decided to sleep. What God didn’t anticipate was a slumber that lasted for trillions of what he came to call years on Earth. When he woke up, there were already things moving around on the land he had made. There were small things and big things, things with four legs and things with four hundred legs. The atmosphere was murky now and things looked quite different from when he had left them. Of all the creatures that had evolved into the land, none was anything like what God had wanted for himself. So God decided to create just one more creature. This creature would be different from all the rest. It would walk on two legs instead of four or more and with time its species would be able to do magnificent things. God picked up a handful of Earth and held it in his hand. He looked at it carefully and thought with all his might about two legs and two arms and two hands and two feet and there it was before him. God decided to call it Man.

Man just walked around the Earth at first. He rolled around in the dirt and ate everything he saw, even though most of it made him sick. God knew that Man didn’t really understand the world yet, so God decided to make him a companion, one that would know the ways of the land and understand the magnificence of Earth. So while Man slept, God decided that he would just use some of the first model he had made, in order to save some time. Slowly but surely God extracted a rib from Adam and set it on the ground next to him. He moved his wise palms over the rib and helped it come to life. This new companion looked different from Man. Its figure was softer and rounder, its hair longer and more beautiful. God decided to call it Woman, because it came from Man.

“You are the most beautiful creature I have ever created. You are more beautiful than the sun and the moon, more beautiful than the evening stars.” I knew he wasn’t lying, I knew by the way he looked at my skin and at my shoulders. I remember looking over at Man sleeping loudly and drooling, and then I looked at God and he asked me “What can you say, little one?” My mind was huge. There were so many things around me that didn’t have names yet and didn’t have contexts. “What is this? What are those? Can I eat this? How does this work? Where did I come from? Where did you come from? What am I? What do I do?” I looked at God and asked these questions earnestly. 

“Ah,” he said. “It seems I have made a grave mistake.” God said looking confused and somewhat solemn. “You, my young one, were meant to be a helper; someone who could assist Man in his many endeavors. But you have more inside your head than Man does.” God seemed disappointed in himself. “How can you be smarter and more beautiful than the creature I created in my own image?” This made me feel even more different and alone. God knew that I had to stay, and so he told me about the lands and the waters and the other creatures living on the Earth. He told me stories of other planets and his adventures in the universe he created with some of his friends. Then he told me about the garden. The garden existed close to where the two of us were talking. God pointed to the garden and told me,

“That is the Garden of Eden. All of the trees and plants in the garden are fruitful and will feed you when you are hungry. You can eat from all the botanicals in the garden except one. You must not eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden, or even touch it, for you will surely die.” I thought this was strange even then, but I find it more strange now. I asked God about this,

“God, why, in this beautiful world that you created, why would you put a tree in it that would make us surely die? What is so dangerous about this one tree that has such handsome fruit? Why—” God stopped me. 

“You mustn’t ask questions, my child.” And that was that. God returned to the heavens after that. 

The days and the weeks and the months passed by and time with Man was becoming painfully boring. For days on end, Man would eat and sleep and defecate, but he still couldn’t speak, and often enjoyed rolling around in the mud. God wanted me to “lie down with man” and have children and raise them up, but I wasn’t ready to do that yet. I didn’t want to raise Man’s children, Man couldn’t even take care of himself and I wasn’t about to be pregnant alone. I wanted to learn more and to explore and to know everything about this beautiful place we were living. So one day I decided to explore the garden. Of course I wanted to know about this one tree with the condemned fruit, and so I approached it. The tree was tall and hearty, its branches sturdy and impressive. The leaves provided such nice shade and smelled sweet. Hanging from each branch was a fat and swollen fruit that looked delicious in all its pink and red color. I wondered what the fruit was like, but I knew that it was forbidden to eat it. Then, quite by accident, I stepped backward onto the tail of a large worm. Or at least that’s what it looked like to me. The worm started speaking to me.

“Oh don’t mind me! I’m just here tending the trees. Go about your business.” How strange, I thought, that a worm could talk to me. I had never met a talking one before. “Ah, admiring the tree of knowledge, are we? Yes, it is a beautiful tree. Genus maleaes, species pyrus. And the fruit is spectacular.”

“The tree of knowledge? Is that what you called it? What is the tree of knowledge? Can you tell me all about it?”

“The tree of knowledge, my dear, is something magnificent indeed. The leaves have healing powers and the bark is stronger than all others. The fruit is the most excellent though, for when you eat it you will know everything. You will know the difference between good and bad.” Who wouldn’t want to know the difference? And besides, a little of that fruit in Man’s belly and we could carry on a decent conversation. I quickly thanked the worm and plucked a few of the ripest fruits from the tree, and went back to share with Man.

When he saw me with such beautiful fruit he was overjoyed. He ate all of it before I could even taste it. I waited with anticipation as his face went pale and he looked at me with disgust,

“What have you done to me?! Why are we naked? You tricked me!” Man was furious, but I knew that he would thank me with time. How could he not thank me? I gave him the gift of knowledge. But just as quickly as I had shared my bounty, God leapt down and was walking amongst us, looking for Man. Feeling ashamed, he hid behind a fig tree, not wanting to be noticed. God found him anyway.

“Did you eat from the tree in the middle of the garden?” God asked patiently.

“She made me do it! She tricked me! That evil bitch. After all I’ve done for her!” Man was irate. He called me names that I had never heard before. I didn’t understand why he was so upset and why the knowledge he had was angry knowledge and evil knowledge. 

“Is this true?” God asked me, his eyes piercing me. 

Well, to a degree it was true. I didn’t trick him, he was just too stupid to say no. All I had really wanted was for Man to talk to me and crave to learn like me and take notice of the beauty of the Earth just as I had. Working up all the courage I had inside me, I said honestly and clearly,

“I just wanted him to be more like me.”