I like creation myths. One of my favourites is the Inuit story of a women who sat beside a hole in the ground with a fishing pole. She pulled up each of the animals one by one, told them their name and sent them on their way. Nice.
In the old testament God created Adam and Eve in the garden and told them not to eat fruit from two trees, the tree of knowledge and the tree of life. They ate of the tree of knowledge and were cast out of the garden. They became agriculturalists- that's what they did with the knowledge they'd gained. Cain was a planter, Able a herder. With agriculture you can create a surplus and all of the woes of the world since have been caused by the question, "Who will control the surplus?"
The story was never meant to be an accurate description of the beginning of the human race. Hell, after he killed Abel, Cain went to a nearby village and found a wife. I think it's an allegory about the change that happened when we stopped being hunters and gatherers, when we lost the Garden of Eden.
In the old testament God created Adam and Eve in the garden and told them not to eat fruit from two trees, the tree of knowledge and the tree of life. They ate of the tree of knowledge and were cast out of the garden. They became agriculturalists- that's what they did with the knowledge they'd gained. Cain was a planter, Able a herder. With agriculture you can create a surplus and all of the woes of the world since have been caused by the question, "Who will control the surplus?"
The story was never meant to be an accurate description of the beginning of the human race. Hell, after he killed Abel, Cain went to a nearby village and found a wife. I think it's an allegory about the change that happened when we stopped being hunters and gatherers, when we lost the Garden of Eden.
