Is Genesis True?

[Windwalker]

I don't know why people take it literally. Noone takes Lord of the Rings as a literally true story. It's story line is just as much a tale of human existence, good vs evil and the tribulations and triumphs of human condition as the bible. Funny how one got turned into an inerrant truth and the other remains a mythical story.

I think that is because of the scientific revolution, and the inability of under-educated fundamentalist who do not understand the nature of symbolism, fusing together the meaning of the symbol with the symbol itself. This "inerrant truth" myth, and that is what it is, is very modern, and a direct response to modernity. It is simply not how ancient man thought, and constitutes a distortion of religious thought, coming out of a lack of understanding the nature of symbolic truth, or more fundamentally, "fear".

In fact, if people would just take the lessons out of all holy books and apply them to themselves and forget about being the right religion with the inerrant truth and judging all others or trying to "save them", we would all be better off. But of course, that is just too much to ask of humans.

The reason they do that is simple: Ego.

 

[sealchan]

so to reason.....I am not top of the line life form.....
and though I have no evidence to support that 'truth'

I remain firm to the notion i may be subject to Something Greater

and here in this forum we are having public discourse about that item

Genesis.....the beginning.....
is more about God than history or 'evidence'

and the effect we call the universe (one word) seems to point to Something Greater

true?

Maybe

 

[QuestioningMind]

You are Enlightened? You've never experienced the "dark night of the soul"? You've never felt separate from the world, or from others, isolated into your own mind, experiencing fear, dread, loss, anxiety, shame, guilt, anger, etc?

BTW, I don't believe I said or claimed that we collectively in our past ever "felt absolutely grounded and connected to the earth". I don't think I actually believe that. In fact, I know I don't. What I do believe however is that we can, and some have and actually do. They are what we call Enlightened individuals. That is accessible to everyone, but very few actually realize that in the experience of their humanness. I do believe that is in fact a very real state that is a goal for many, and can be realized.

If you don't believe that we ever did experience this sense of being absolutely grounded and connected, then I don't see how you can claim that the Genesis story is symbolically true, since it's entirely based on the notion that we once were connected in such a way.

 

[Windwalker]

I have read this entire thread and reread some select posts and I am still not certain I fully understand what you mean by symbolic truth. As near as I can determine, based on your comments and those of others, it appears as if you mean symbolic truth to be subjective truth as opposed to objective truth. Would this be correct or am I nowhere near to understanding than before I started writing this post?

From a 30,000 foot altitude it can be understood that all "objective truth" is really nothing more than a collective agreement of subjective views of things. All truth, is subjective, but when two or more agree on a shared perspective, that becomes "objective" because you can both place it outside yourself. It's deceptive that way, that "objectivity" is actually a real thing.

But by symbolic truth, that means that for instance when you speak of an Adam and an Eve, they are symbolic of something greater than just a couple of people. It's like Romeo and Juliet. They are symbols of love. That sort of thing. It's not about the "facts" whether Romeo or Juliet, or Adam and Eve, where actual historical figures. It's about what they represent, which constitutes their reality, symbolically.

 

[Windwalker]

If you don't believe that we ever did experience this sense of being absolutely grounded and connected, then I don't see how you can claim that the Genesis story is symbolically true, since it's entirely based on the notion that we once were connected in such a way.

That that state is an imaginary "heaven", some "place", some "time" is all simply part of the symbolism. It doesn't matter if it was in a "galaxy far, far away", or not. The truth of Luke Skywalker is a timeless symbol of a human truth, or an Adam and an Eve, or a Romeo or a Juliet. The reality of the hero, or undying love, or eternal union with the divine, are in fact all human relalites. That the story is set in "once upon a time" is utterly irrelevant to that. The "history" of it, is simply the stage made of wood that the actors play out the story upon.

 

[Windwalker]

When you use the word myth in your question...."Is the Myth of the Fall of Man True?", which definition are you applying to the word "myth"?

The context which I speak of myth within should make its meaning clear. It's a type of story. I never use the word "myth" in discussions to mean "a lie" or a "falsehood" or some other such colloquial usage. The fact I say "the mythology speaks great truths", should demonstrate that in and of itself alone.

Definition of myth
1a : a usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon creation myths

b : parable, allegory Moral responsibility is the motif of Plato's myths.

2a : a popular belief or tradition that has grown up around something or someone especially : one embodying the ideals and institutions of a society or segment of society seduced by the American myth of individualism — Orde Coombs the utopian myth of a perfect society

All of the above.

b : an unfounded or false notion the myth of racial superiority

3 : a person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence the Superman myth The unicorn is a myth.

Not the above.

4 : the whole body of myths a student of Greek myth

Genesis would fit into the category of ancient myths, so I could allow this definition.