Your Body is The Garden of Eden

Introduction: The Holy Bible

What is The Holy Bible? For those of us raised in the Christian religion, it is our book of sacred scriptures, in which, through stories, we receive our moral doctrines on how we are to conduct ourselves while we live. I mean no offense when I state this, but from my perspective, an unfortunate reality is that most Christians have never even taken the time to thoroughly read the Bible for themselves to gain a deeper understanding of what it actually says. Those who do read the Bible often have a tough time seeing beyond the literal aspects to comprehend that the stories in the Bible are allegories meant to convey a deeper meaning.

Comparative Analysis of Religious Texts

I suspect the same can be said about other faiths like Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. All religions typically possess a sacred text from which they draw their moral and ethical doctrines. Even cultures that don’t necessarily practice any known formal religion have mythology, stories, or legendary tales that they share amongst themselves to pass on wisdom to ensure the continued prosperity of their communities. Again, I state that my intent here is not to offend the traditional Christian belief but to present a perspective that I believe was divinely bestowed upon me: the Bible is Christian mythology, no different than Greek, Norse, or Kemetic/Egyptian mythology.

Etymology of "Holy" and "Bible"

If you’re not convinced yet, let’s revisit the initial question: “What is The Holy Bible?” Let’s break down the words “holy” and “bible” to truly comprehend their meanings. The etymology of the word “holy” refers to “a state of wholeness” or to be “whole.” I had previously asked a question of myself, which ironically, being in the field of health and wellness for over a decade, had never been posed to me: “What does healthy actually mean?”

I finally took the time to research this, and what I found out was that to be “healthy” was to be “whole.” I found this interesting because the word “holy” meant the same thing; to be “holy” means to be “whole,” and being “whole” is also to be “healthy.” Therefore, I logically arrived at the conclusion that to be “holy” means to be “healthy.”

Now, what does the word “bible” mean? According to the etymology of the word, it simply means “book.” So if we are to combine and interpret the words “Holy” & “Bible,” we would arrive at “healthy” & “Book,” which would mean that the Holy Bible is ultimately a “Book of Health.” With this understanding, the Bible is a scripture composed for the purpose of teaching us how to be whole, or how to be healthy. In essence, it is supposed to teach us how to return to the Garden of Eden, which is ultimately our own bodies.

The Allegory of the Garden of Eden

So how does that make sense? How is it teaching us to return to our bodies when we currently inhabit them? The notion of being cast out of the Garden of Eden describes a spiritual process. To say that I, Adam (Masculine), and Eve (Feminine), am cast out of my body depicts a splitting of consciousness; consciousness meaning awareness. Adam and Eve, two halves of one whole, being cast out of the Garden of Eden represents losing an awareness of the body, a splitting of the mind into becoming conscious and subconscious. What we are aware of represents the conscious mind, while what we are unaware of represents the subconscious/unconscious mind.

This is my opinion, arrived at through observations made throughout my professional experience as a Fitness Trainer. Most people possess an unconscious awareness of their own bodies. This means that they have no idea what their body is, how it works, or what they are experiencing as they traverse the world in them. This, to me, is ultimately what the book of Genesis refers to as being cast out of the Garden of Eden.

The Body as a Garden

Why do I consider the body to be the Garden of Eden? Well, to put it simply, we are walking plants.

Why do I say that? Well, have you ever looked up what our nervous system looks like when you strip away every other part of the body? If you haven’t, even if you have, I implore you to go to Google and search “nervous system dissection.” What you will see is what we have been conditioned to view as a series of nerves, but what I see is actually a root system; a plant root system, to be exact. Now that I’ve said this, do you see it now?

The nervous system is made up of two parts: the Central Nervous System (CNS), representing the brain and the spinal column, and The Peripheral Nervous System (PNS). The CNS is made up of the brain and spinal cord, similar to the primary root system of a plant, while the PNS is made up of the aspect of the nervous system that emerges from the CNS, akin to the secondary root system.

Where did the CNS arrive from? Well, where do plants originate from? A seed. A seed being the sperm that was used to inseminate the ovum from our mothers. That would mean that the ovum represents the earth. Traditionally, we are taught a certain way about insemination and conception, but ultimately, what occurs is a seed is planted in earth, it germinates, and grows into a more animated plant: us. If you’ve ever wondered what similarities we had with trees, this is it. The only difference is that our bodies, formed from the ovum of our mothers, serve as the earth in which our roots, the nervous system, grow.

The Body as an Ecosystem

The enclosure that is our body is a garden because it contains other plants within it, such as the liver, heart, pancreas, kidneys, etc. These are all other plants that inhabit the same garden, which is the body. Think about it: if one of these organs falls ill and needs to be replaced, we say that the body is in need of a “transplant.” When a woman goes to a plastic surgeon seeking to increase the size of her breasts through augmentation, we say she is seeking breast implants. Why do you think that is?

I think that the body, much like a garden, is an ecosystem in which all its participants operate in a divinely homeostatic manner. Health issues arise when we do not tend to our garden as we were instructed to in scripture. In the book of Genesis, chapter 1, verse 26, we were instructed to establish “dominion” over all the earth. If we’ve already established that the “earth” represents our bodies, then what does the word “dominion” mean?

Dominion, according to the etymology, comes from the word “dominus,” which means to be “lord and master”; in law, it means to have "power of control, right of uncontrolled possession, use, and disposal.” To be lord and master over a possession means to be a steward of that thing. To “steward” means “to tend to.” Who tends to a garden? A gardener. It goes without saying that if you have a garden, you must tend to it, even if you hire someone else to assist you, it is ultimately your responsibility.

These are my own deductions, arrived at from thinking outside the box. The box represents the rectangular textbooks, computer screens, and black-and-white boards in which everything that I know about the body was spoon-fed to me orally and visually, without question. If you’ve opened your mind enough to the idea that the body is a garden, in your honest opinion, whose responsibility is it to be its gardener?