By all accounts, Eden was paradise; the kind of place that we dream of being. I imagine incredible vistas, an enchanted landscape filled with benign and beautiful creatures, abundant food that requires no preparation and a climate that makes clothing optional. Sounds perfect. In fact, I’d like to book a trip right away, especially as this dreary Winter threatens to persist right into Spring.

Too bad we got kicked out, or rather our ancestors did. I’ve written before about this ‘fall from grace’ and whether it was destined or possibly even necessary. Yes, I know this is heresy to some, but the idea is one I want to explore from a different angle today.

Maybe, as the title suggests, we just aren’t cut out for Eden. I know, sounds crazy, especially as many of us long for such an experience. But I wonder whether we could sustain such a life for very long? With nothing much to do beyond admiring the scenery, eating and sleeping whenever we feel like it, and engaging in whatever other diversions please us, it’s possible we would grow restless over time. Growing bored by too much of a good thing sounds wrong in theory, but in practice it may just be how we are wired.

It’s been my experience that human beings need to be purposeful. We aspire to something more than just wandering through our days in blissful ignorance. We are inquisitive, curious creatures and beyond that we desire new experiences. The same old Paradise day after day just doesn’t sound like the kind of life we were built for. I’m not suggesting we look for strife and pain, but neither do I think we can be content for long without creating something of our own. Creation, whether it is art, music, or something else is by its nature a process that involves some struggle. No one who has ever created something of enduring value would argue that it was easy or without sacrifice.

The design of our bodies gives us away. Our physical presence cries out to explore, touch, feel, see, hear, smell, and sense the world around us. Our hands long to make things: practical things and beautiful things, both as our minds conceive. We do not live in our minds alone but in our awareness of the world around us, in each other, and in our interactions with both. How could we be content to just be……….forever. What would a lifetime mean in Eden?

I hope you don’t think I am being cynical. Far from it, I am verging on the lyrical even as I am conflicted by the image of this seemingly perfect life that I long for in the midst of a troubled world. It isn’t that I reject the idea of peaceful tranquility but rather that I doubt we could accept the price. And what is that price you might well ask? It is the loss of our selves—the part of us that once awakened seeks to make of ourselves and of our world a thing apart—a defining and singular statement. We are told we were made in God’s image, and so it must be. Even God needed to create something that would answer the question, what is it to be alive?