Genesis 1 -3 A Psychological Interpretation
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It is possible that the Bible writers are trying to explain something more fundamental to humanity itself rather than just be recounting historical/ scientific detail about the events. Is it important whether the creation took place exactly as it says in the bible or ought we be looking for other interpretations of the account?
There are those hold that the world was formed exactly as it is stated in Genesis 1-3. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty and darkness spread over the surface of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the water” (Gen 1:1)
However, there are parallels between this account in Genesis, Hindu Creation myths and Babylonian Creation Myths. Which I believe suggests there is something innate to humanity as a whole that throughout history people have felt necessary to express.
It is possible that the Bible writers are trying to explain something more fundamental to humanity itself rather than just be recounting historical/ scientific detail about the events. Is it important whether the creation took place exactly as it says in the bible or ought we be looking for other interpretations of the account? Plato uses allegory in order to outline the concepts of humanity’s ignorance. No one thinks of the cave as actually existing. The truths about our lives and understanding are still as valid without the caves actual presence. Can the same not be said for the Creation story?
Humanistic psychological thinking looks at the story of Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden, drawing parallels between Eden and the womb. Wasdell believes that there is something of a foetal unconscious present within all of us, leading to an interpretation of the Genesis account that is not scientifically based, nor historical. There are clear parallels between Adam and Eve in Eden and an unborn baby. Like Adam and Eve a foetus has its needs met before it is even aware it has needs. The baby has ‘dominion’ (Gen 1:26) over its environment as far as it is concerned. It is fed before it is aware of hunger, it does not experience thirst and so on. Adam and Eve have “every seed bearing plant on the earth and every tree that has fruit” (Gen 1:29) all ready made for food. The child is in a constant relationship with its mother without having a concept of being in communication or indeed its even being a separate entity.
One could push the metaphor further and draw a likeness between the tree like shape of the placenta and the ‘tree of life’ (Gen 12:9) and the umbilical cord and the serpent. How terrible then is the baby’s rejection from this state when labor begins. The child is “cast out” Gen 3:23 into a harsh reality. The womb which had nurtured and protected becomes at full term a constricting, polluted and harsh environment, One where the baby needs to breath on its own, it is aware of hunger and thirst. Its needs are met. It has moved from a blissful state to one where its senses are constantly under assault. This also has obvious Platonic parallels- with the escape of the prisoner. Having left the ‘security of the cave the prisoner is faced with the harsh reality of the real world, one which assaults his senses so much to start with that he is blinded.
Surely to understand the Genesis accounts simply as historical or scientific accounts of the start of the universe is to deny the Biblical account some of the potential for us to connect with the foetal unconscious within all of us.
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