Of Serpents, Gardens, Trees, and Exiles
Just as in the ancient mythic system of the Near East, in contrast to the later strictly patriarchal biblical system, the divinity could be represented in both feminine and masculine form, so too in the archaeological findings of this period there are no signs referring to divine wrath or danger. The theme of guilt, for example, does not appear linked to the garden. The blessing of the knowledge of life is there, in the sanctuary of the world, and is available as something granted to any mortal who approaches with the desire and the disposition to receive it.
If we go back to the Far East, in the legend of the Buddha, when he takes his place at the Immovable Point beneath the Tree of Enlightenment, the Creator of the Illusion of the World, Karma-Mara (Desire for Life and Fear of Death), drew near to threaten his position. But the Buddha touched the earth with the fingers of his right hand, and then "the mighty earth thundered with a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand roars, saying: I bear witness to you! And the demon fled" (Jataka). He then attained Enlightenment that night and remained absorbed in ecstasy for seven times seven days, during the course of which a terrible storm arose and a mighty serpent king called Muchalinda, emerging from his dwelling beneath the earth, coiled his rings around the body of the Buddha seven times and said "let neither cold nor heat, nor mosquitoes, nor flies, nor wind, nor sun, nor crawling creatures approach the Blessed One" (Maha-vagga). And when it was all over, Muchalinda uncoiled himself and, taking human form, placed his hands upon his brow and venerated the Buddha.
In the tradition and legend of the Buddha, the idea of liberation from death received a new psychological interpretation, which nevertheless does not change the spirit of the earlier mythic representation. The old themes are raised to a higher plane and given a new immediacy through their association with a true historical figure who had illustrated their significance through his life. Thus, in this legend, at the cosmic tree, an atmosphere of substantial accord prevails, in which the goddess and her consort the serpent aid their worthy son in the quest for liberation from innate limitations, illness, old age, and death.
In the Garden of Eden, a different disposition reigns. For God (Yahweh, in Hebrew) curses the serpent when he learns that Adam has eaten the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and says to his angels: "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever..." and so he expels him from the Garden of Eden so that he himself would be occupied with tilling the ground. Yahweh then placed a Cherub (lion-birds) and a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life.
It should be noted that in the context of the Hebrew patriarchy of the Iron Age (1000 B.C.), the mythology adopted from the earlier civilizations of the Neolithic and Bronze Age in the lands they occupied and governed for a time was inverted, in order to present a reasoning that opposes the original.
Along these lines, much of the biblical symbolism exhibits an inherent ambivalence that no rhetorical emphasis on the patriarchal interpretation can suppress. The emotional message seems to contradict the verbal account. This discordance can be observed in the three religions that share the legacy of the Old Testament: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
The Bible is not the only Western source of ambivalent messages. The Greek legacy also shows an inversion in a similar direction.
Bibliography:
Campbell, Joseph. The Masks of God: Occidental Mythology