Adam looked around at the world God had made for him. Was it just a place to eat and sleep? Was it just a place to work with strength of body and skill of band? Adam at first did not even think about eating or sleeping, and be had no need of working. He only thought, "What strange things I see and hear! They are all mine, but what are they?"
Reaching up he touched the leaves. Bending down he felt the grass and smelled the warm earth and the flowers. In the sky he saw the sun move to the zenith and begin to descend again. In the shadow of the woods he saw the animals playing, and in the boughs he heard the song of birds.
As he examined each strange thing, touched it, listened to it, be began to understand its nature. The lion was different from the rabbit; yet every rabbit was the same as every other rabbit, and every lion was the same as every other lion. In his mind Adam formed a name for each thing he saw and understood, a mental word that stood for the nature of the thing. "The man named all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all the beasts of the field, but he found no helper like himself" (Gen. 2:20).
At first Adam was not surprised that he was the only one of his kind, the only thing with a human nature. He knew that he was very different from the animals about him. He understood that they were interested only in food and their families. Adam was interested in all things, in just looking at the universe and trying to understand it. It seemed to him that he could never tire of exploring the world about him, particularly because he had begun to realize that God, who made so great a world, must be still more great. Sea and sky had their limits, but there was no boundary to the everlasting wonder of God. How could he ever finish exploring the mystery of God? Would there be a day when God would finally let Adam see him face to face? There was only one God, and Adam knew that it was in God's image that he had been made. Why then was it so strange that just as there was only one God, so there was only one man?
Adam realized that in being king over the world about him, he must imitate God, who is the King and Father of all things. How could Adam be king and father to his world? He could not create it anew, but at least he could keep it in perfect order. He could tend the garden, watch over the animals; but how could he share the greatest of all gifts which God had shared with him, namely, wisdom and understanding? The animals could not share this wisdom and understanding with Adam. If only Adam had children of his own kind to whom he might be a father as God was Father to him, children whom he might teach to understand the wonder of the world, and the infinite wonder of God!
After sleeping on this problem, Adam awoke to find a companion at his side whom God had made for him to be his helper in raising a family of his own. Adam understood that this was Eve, "the mother of all the living" (Gen. 3:20). Adam and Eve were to share the world together, to be its king and queen. How could they also share each other's thoughts? Adam had named all things in his mind with mental words or concepts. Some of these were proper names, like the name of Eve, each belonging to a single thing. Others were common names, representing a universal concept, as the name, "woman," or "lion," or "bird." These were in Adam's mind, but he did not know at first how to teach them to Eve.
Around them be heard the animals calling, some with squeaks and growls and some in song. Adam understood these signs which the animals made by instinct. They were natural signs because there was a natural connection between the sign and the thing it stood for. When Adam saw the footprint of a lion, he knew that this was the natural sign that a lion had passed by. When be heard the lion's roar, he knew that this was the natural sign that the lion was hungry. At first Adam and Eve themselves may have used only such natural signs. They smiled at each other to show their love; they pointed or cried out to call each other's attention. This natural language was enough for the animals who had only their feelings to talk about. Adam and Eve, however, wanted to talk over all the things that interested them. Eve saw a lion and turned with questioning eyes to Adam. "What is it?" her eyes said. Adam wanted to explain it to her, to tell her what he had learned about the nature of the lions. He longed to tell her about all the things he had explored; about his plans for the future; above all about God their Father, who had made this world and whom he hoped they might some day see face to face. Natural signs were not enough to say all this, and Adam, with Eve's agreement, began to invent new sounds to stand for the natures of everything he knew. These spoken words were not natural signs, but signs whose meaning came from agreement, conventional signs.
Adam in this new language taught Eve all that he knew about the world and God, and she listened in delight. Adam explained it all so clearly! Still there was one thing he said that puzzled her. He said that God had given them the whole world to know and use, but bad forbidden them to taste the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When she asked why , Adam explained that he did not know why God had given them this command, but that he was sure that it must be for a good reason. In fact, it was because God wished to test them. He wanted to give them soon the greatest knowledge of all, the most wonderful secret. He wanted to let them see him face to face so that their happiness might be complete, since all the beauty of the world is only a sign of God's perfect beauty. This gift he intended to give them as the reward of their obedience and trust.
They did not earn their reward. Eve one day listened to another teacher, not to Adam, and that teacher was the evil one, "who is a liar and the father of lies" (Jn. 8:45). The devil suggested to Eve the wicked idea that God had forbidden them to eat of the tree because he wished to keep men in ignorance lest they become his equals. If Eve had asked Adam, he would have explained how impossible it was for their heavenly Father to be envious of his children. But Eve did not wait to ask Adam about what the serpent said. Curiously she ate of the fruit, and then persuaded Adam that, since she had already eaten, he must join her.
After they were cast out of their garden into the wilderness, they found life very hard. Adam had to work all day to keep his family alive. He had little time any longer to explore the wonders of the world and little time to give to Eve and the children. Eve too was kept busy all day keeping the children clothed and fed; she was often tired and impatient with them. Their minds filled with a thousand
worries and their hearts with restless hunger and anger, Adam and Eve often misunderstood each other and quarreled. Their children grew up missing much that Adam might have taught them, if he had had more time and if there had been more peace at home. The children of Adam and Eve grew up without that clear and wonderful vision of the world their parents once possessed. To these boys and girls life seemed rather puzzling and often very dull.
Today we "poor banished children of Eve" also find the world pretty hard to understand. Often we give up trying to understand it and are content to be ignorant and bored. Who is there to teach us the answers? Many false teachers in television, movies, books, and newspapers give us lying answers when we look for the truth. To get back the beautiful vision of truth and reality which God gave to Adam and Eve we will have to study very hard.
