Reading from How Good Do We Have to Be by Rabbi Harold Kushner, pp. 32-33

Rabbi Kushner wrote an alternative ending to the Garden of Eden story. He called it:

"How the Story Might Have Ended?"

         So the woman saw that the tree was good to eat [from] and a delight to the eye, and the serpent said to her, "Eat of it, for when you eat of it, you will be as wise as God."

         But the woman said, "No, God has commanded us not to eat of it, and I will not disobey God."

         And God called to the man and the woman and said to them, "Because you have hearkened to My word and not disobeyed My command, I shall reward you greatly." To the man, He said, "You will never have to work again. You will spend all your days in idle contentment, with food growing all around you." To the woman, He said, "You will bear children without pain and you will raise them without pain. They will need nothing from you. Your children will not cry when their parents die."

         To both of them, He said, "For the rest of your lives, you will have full bellies and contented smiles. You will never cry and you will never laugh. You will never long for something you don't have, and you will never received something you always wanted."

         And the man and the woman grew old together in the garden, eating daily from the Tree of Life and having many children. And the grass grew high around the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil until it disappeared from view, for there was no one to tend it.

Sermon

         I firmly believe three things about the human condition: 1) We are "wired" to long for love, and yet we actually always have it; 2) We are wired to long for goodness and yet at the core we are good; and 3) We absolutely need to forgive ourselves and others when we "miss the mark" (in Judaism) or "sin" (in Christianity). First, let us define "goodness"; what does it mean to be "good"?

         In my small American Heritage Dictionary [Office Edition, 2001], there were fifteen definitions of good. Definition 14a is virtuous and upright and 14b is benevolent and kind (which are really synonyms). What is implied is that if one is good, one is virtuous, upright, benevolent, and kind all the time; "perfect" in other words. Ninety-nine point nine per cent (99.9%) of human beings are intermittently good-not perfect. We can also extend this definition to society at large. Is Society virtuous and benevolent or is it greedy and uncaring? Like the individual, it is good at sometimes and not others. And at times of great imbalance, such as now, we must fight politically to balance the scales of social justice.

         Do you agree that we long for love and for goodness? (Let us remind ourselves that these are my opinions for you to consider, not accept blindly. None of us has an edge on the truth.) Rabbi Harold Kushner implies that our longing for love also affects how good we can be, or at least perceive our goodness. He says that our perception of how lovable and how good we are is conditioned by the teachings of our religion and is illustrated in the most famous stories of the Bible.

         We are born vulnerable in that, unlike animals, we are dependent upon our parents' consistent love and care for many years if we are to grow up with a strong sense of self and self-respect and safety. How can parents who are human and who are good "intermittently" offer us consistent love, especially when there is more than one child? I recall that one of my children constantly asked me whether I loved her (or him) more than the other. This is the fear of a lot of children-that the other child is loved more and there is not enough love to go around. The mythical original parents of the human family, Adam and Eve, are a case in point and so is the setting of their story in the Garden of Eden.

         Some of us grew up in religions that taught us that the story of Adam and Eve was the story of human nature, which in the Christian interpretation, was to do evil, the belief being that we are evil at the core. Through much of western history, women were seen as the special perpetrators of evil, taking their cue from Eve who presented the apple to Adam thus losing perfection (or innocence). As a result, God banished the pair from Paradise. Adam is condemned to work for their food and to have great difficulty doing this and Eve to experience pain in childbirth and to crave her husband's affection. My own spiritual teachers have interpreted this story as humankind's choosing to separate from God or the divine energy or whatever you call the creation force.

         Rabbi Kushner says, "…the story of the Garden of Eden is a tale, not of Paradise Lost but of Paradise Outgrown, not of Original Sin but of the Birth of Conscience?" He said, "…. Adam and Eve eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, as I see it, is a mythical description of how the first human beings left the world of animal existence behind and entered the problematic world of being human." (p. 22, Kushner) His alternative story in the reading today, shows how boring life would be in Paradise!

         Even if we grew up without any religion, our culture is permeated with this myth, especially the Christian interpretation of it. Rabbi Kushner points out that Jews have always regarded "sin as a deed and saw human beings as capable of atoning for their sin through repentance…for the early Christians sin [became] not a deed but a condition, an ineradicable stain on the "human soul." (p.20, Kushner) Unitarian Universalists regard human nature as being closer to that of the Jewish interpretation-good at the core.

         The longing for parental love and sibling rivalry are major biblical themes, beginning with the stories of the sons of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel. You might remember that Abel was a shepherd and Cain a farmer. They both brought offerings to God but God had, "no regard" for Cain's offering [Gen. 4:5]. (No wonder fewer people are vegetarian!) Cain is so distraught at the withdrawal of the love of the divine parent and is so angry and jealous of his brother that he murders him. (I remember not long ago there were two California sisters from Korea. One insanely jealous sister persuaded two young men friends to murder her sister. The attempt failed and one sister is in prison for life and the two young men are serving prison terms.)

         Other biblical siblings with scheming parents are many. One famous sibling pair is Esau and Jacob, who are twins. Their mother, Rebekah, favored Jacob over Esau. When Isaac gives Jacob his blessing, Esau responds, "Have you only one blessing, father?" (This is the classic story of a parent favoring one child over another, the child's longing for more love, the distancing of the siblings, and the reconciliation 20 years later, as when Jacob and Esau fell into one another's arms in grief over their separation.)

         I have sometimes said to you that I have preferred Buddhism because of its psychological approach to life's challenges. Buddhism counsels us to detach from our experiences. Perhaps this is a good practice to help us not be reactive. But do we dishonor the human experience by not being fully in it? Perhaps!

         However, we also find in the Bible a psychological approach to life in the many of the dramatic and fabulous stories if we look at them this way. The biblical stories are ones not of perfect people but of imperfect, flawed characters who struggle with the self they are. They are "stuck with themselves" so to speak. (We're all stuck with the self we are.) The story of King David is one of a wonderfully flawed character and yet he is the most beloved of God. David and other biblical characters lie, cheat, steal, commit adultery and yet they redeem themselves. And this is the whole point-they are not alone and they are held in love, even though a prophet might have to come by and remind them sometimes to shape up, just as happens in society such as when a Ralph Nader tweaks our conscience.

         It is an illusion that we are alone and without love. We long for love from other human beings because we feel so alone. Love is available to us in the universe but unless we are one of the rare humans who are already connected to the love channel, we need to have love manifest in human form. When the world lets us down (or perhaps we let our own self down) what can we do to restore ourselves to the goodness, to the core of who we truly are? We need a spiritual practice for this. A spiritual practice of signing might help. We could, perhaps sing, Spirit of Life. [Dear Reader, We sang this hymn softly.]

         We do after all want to get to so-called heaven and that requires that we have been gooooood! You may have heard the story of a fellow who finds himself in before St. Peter and the Pearly Gates. St. Peter explains that it's not so easy to get into heaven. He asks, "Were you generous and kind? Did you do good deeds, give money to the poor, help your neighbor?" The fellow replied that he couldn't remember doing any of these things. St. Peter, exasperated, said, "You must have done something good!"

         "Well," said the fellow, "there was this old lady. I came out of a store and found her surrounded by a dozen Hell's Angels. They had taken her purse and were pushing her around. I got so mad, I threw my bags down, pushed my way through the crowd, and got her purse back. I helped her to her feet. Then I went up to the biggest, baddest biker and told him how despicable, cowardly and mean he was and then I spat in his face."

         "This is impressive," said St. Peter. "When did all of this take place?"

         "Oh, about 10 minutes ago!" replied the man.

         The point in all of this is to show that many of the stories in Judeo-Christian scripture are examples of life. Sibling rivalry exists. Parents' favoring one child over another happens. Jealousy happens. Estrangement between and amongst siblings occurs. Emotional distance between parents and children happens. Emotionally wounded children become emotionally wounded and limited parents. The woundedness, whether parent or child, brother or sister, affects our ability for goodness and for love. We hope that deeply wounded people seek a way to work through their woundedness. Or at least we can have some empathy for them.

         A good parent won't be good all the time. We simply cannot keep it up, especially in a world with no extended family to help! Even so, most find ways to respond effectively to children most of the time and a few of us are outstandingly good.

         Perhaps you read in the Standard Times this week of the homeless New Bedford woman with the baby who was in the lobby of the Standard Times telling her story that in spite of having a job she couldn't pay rent and babysitting. Another woman overheard the story and told her she could come home with her and live in her mother's small apartment since her mother was now in a nursing home. Soon, an editorial appeared about the Good Samaritan. She was indeed good and what a serendipitous meeting that was! But is she always so good?

         The point of all of these stories is that goodness does not mean perfection. The Bible stories tell us that goodness is found-in human beings but not perfection. However, we are to keep our minds upon the possibility of bringing more goodness, or justice, into the world for our neighbors and ourselves.

         I know I have not addressed the need to forgive ourselves or be forgiven but that is a whole sermon or two. For Christians, next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. This is my Lent sermon!

         As we move towards Easter time, perhaps we might like to go to see the new movie, "The Passion" by Mel Gibson who believes he was led by the Holy Spirit to make it. He is certainly holier than thou these days, no doubt especially since the Pope supposedly blessed the movie!

         I hope we have no doubt that the core of human beings is good. When we are supremely annoyed with our partners or children or friends, we would do well to remember their good core. The complexity and stresses and strains of our lives can lead us away from the core of goodness. Our task is to keep coming back to that core, for in that core is love, grace, and glory. A spiritual practice can help us find the core when it is lost to our consciousness. We can find it by meditating, praying, dancing, or singing with the intent to recover it. May we ever think of ourselves as connected to a wholesome part of humanity and the Universe. And may we ever call ourselves back to the core of who we truly are-good!

References

The following has inspired and informed this sermon:

Kushner, Harold S. How Good Do We Have to Be? A New Understanding of Guilt and Forgiveness, New York City: Little, Brown and Company, 1996.