Liberals, Conservatives, and The Garden of Eden

I’m taking another look into the story of the Garden of Eden.

Generalization: Liberals want to try new ways of doing things. Conservatives want to maintain the status quo. In “Liberals and Conservatives“, I talked about how both approaches have value. Without “Liberals”, we stagnate. Without “Conservatives”, we lose stability.

Balance. I admit, balance is not easy to achieve. So, we end up with a sort of pendulum effect. We surge forward with new ideas, then we swing back to older ways. When this works as it should, things balance out. In the end, hopefully, we get some progress (new ways) integrated into our traditions. But when we forget to respect the opposition’s perspective, we get an awful lot of conflict. Sometimes, the conflict escalates to violence.

Perhaps the serpent represents our urge to grow beyond where we are. Eve, and then Adam, decided to eat the fruit of enlightenment. Perhaps they were the original “Liberals”. God could be seen as the agent of Karma (reaping what you sow). We were created with “free will”, and must decide how to use it. There are always consequences to our actions.

The Garden of Eden represents perfect security. Everything was provided; no worries about food or safety. There was no struggle for survival. We were children. How many of us today do not long for this paradise?