Paradise Eternal
“The expulsion from paradise is in its main portion eternal: That is, the expulsion from paradise is final; life in the world is unavoidable; but the eternity of the event… makes it possible… not only that we might be living permanently in paradise, but that we actually are continuing to live there, regardless of whether [...]
What Nationality were Adam & Eve?
A Briton, a Frenchman and a Russian are viewing a painting of Adam and Eve frolicking in the Garden of Eden.
"Look at their reserve, their calm," muses the Brit. "They must be British."
"Nonsense," the Frenchman disagrees. "They're naked, and so beautiful. Clearly, they are French."
"No clothes, no shelter," [...]
Adam’s Rib #1
So God makes Adam and Adam walks through Eden, simply existing. But things in Eden get a little slow so God says, "Adam, for you I will create a woman." Adam is interested.
"She will be everything you could possibly want in a woman, she will be beautiful, professionally and financially successful, a [...]
Revolution in Paradise
“Seen in this light, the ‘fall of man’ depicts a failed revolution from the victor’s standpoint. For attempting to put into practice their slogan ‘Our bodies belong to us,’ the rebels were sentenced to a life of forced labor… ‘Your bodies belong to your Ruler!’ – that was the response. (The ‘paradise’ they were driven [...]
Consciousness
"The defining function of the artist is to cherish consciousness." – Max Eastman
"…Lucifer the bringer of light in the shape of the serpent of paradise, and Adam, the symbolic first man, [both] suffer for the sake of consciousness." – Edward Whitmont, The Alchemy of Healing, quoted by Larry Dossey M.D. in Be [...]
Fear of God
"The fear of God is not the beginning of wisdom. The fear of God is the death of wisdom." – Clarence Darrow, Why I Am An Agnostic
"Those that worship God merely for Fear Would worship the Devil too, if he appear." – Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, No. 6419, 1732
"In [...]
Inferno
"A person who has not passed through the inferno of their passions has never overcome them." – Carl Gustav Jung
"The world-spirit in exile must go through the Inferno of matter and the Purgatory of morals to arrive at the spiritual Paradise." – G. Quispel
Laughter of God
"He deserves Paradise who makes his companions laugh." – The Koran
"Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God." – Karl Barth
"I have never made but one prayer to God , a very short one: "O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it." – Voltaire
"I [...]
Paradise
"Paradise is not a place, but a state of consciousness." – Sri Chimnoy
"Paradise is exactly like where you are right now… only much, much better." – Laurie Anderson
"Where the tree of knowledge stands, there is always Paradise' : thus speak the oldest and the youngest serpents." – Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and [...]
Tree of Knowledge
"They were allowed to stay there on one condition, and that is that they didn't eat of the tree of knowledge. That has been the condition of the Christian church from then until now. They haven't eaten as yet, as a rule they do not." – Clarence Darrow
"Jehovah, who of all the good [...]
