Before The Separation
Genesis 2:25 – Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
I believe this is the true moment of togetherness. We felt no shame towards anything. We were naked before one another, nature and God. Let us then first focus on the word shame. This is the word that denotes the separation. As well, notice that the word naked describes the completeness or fullness of the union. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his work on Ethics would define shame as disunion. Even more so, a disunion created due to the realization of a lack of something. Adam and Eve had no disunity. They lacked nothing from each other or for each other. They lacked nothing from nature or God. They were their truest and most open selves, naked before all the world had to offer.
Can you imagine a point in your life where you felt no shame? This would mean you felt no inferiority or superiority in anything. You were naked, perhaps, before a lover and enjoyed them as much as they, you. Usually at least one person feels inferior or the shame and/or the cockiness or superiority. It is a difficult medium to find. We do find it, but the search is not without effort. Men must lead women in the path, and she must decide to follow. It is a delicate dance where the initial burden of responsibility lies with men and ends with women. We must do it together, or it cannot be achieved.
Adam and Eve lived a life of no shame. They were partners in the truest sense. I am fortunate enough to catch glimpses of the paradise that they lived in my own marriage. Usually when I take the time to listen to my wife thereby cleansing her of any shame, and revealing my own lacking to her so that she can cleanse me. But what happened? They became anxious.
Anxiety – a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.
I think what ultimately became of them was uncertainty. They became uncertain of themselves, then each other, then nature, and finally God. They were anxious about their relationship between all these things. They became unsure of love. Would love really hold them together forever? Can they really trust each other and God?
