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Return To Eden

"Well Dear, we've finally arrived, " Said Eve to Adam, " You can put down the suitcase."

 "Whew, these bags weigh a ton!"

" Stop complaining, we've finally arrived."

"Yes, finally"

"Just as the advert promised us"

" Yes, just as the advert promised us." Paradise at your doorstep. The garden of Eden. With an open return ticket.”

At last! Just to be able to relax in the beauty of nature, thousands of miles away from the pollution and noise and crowds of London. To be on your own and to have all the world before you, all of this untouched natural beauty.

 “It's enough to make me cry!" said Eve. She made a small dance around Adam, and hugged him playfully.

Adam smiled and looked about with some tepidity. Well, we're here and there's no going back at the moment, he said to himself. He thought about London, worlds away. People living like sardines in endless rows of matchbox houses, taking the tube to work each morning before the sun rose and taking the tube back again in the evening, once more in the dark. Never seeing the sun, except for a gray blur of skyline from the window of the office. A gray man in a gray suit, who rises to the sound of the TV and the smell of bacon and eggs on toast. Then to work and the marching of a thousand commuters for the tubes, armed with the Daily Times to keep away thought and shut out the world. And the ever present “mind the gap, stand clear of the doors”. It was in the underground that he had first seen the advert.

Adam had thought to himself, ` well, we really need a break, London is becoming a drag.'

Most of their circle of friends had already taken advantage of the good weather to travel to far off, exotic places, like Turkey and South America. London was the center of the world, from which the airlines stretched their tentacles to smother the globe.

So why not Eden? Granted, he didn't really know that much about the place. He remembered reading once, long ago, as a child in school, about this mystical, beautiful place called Eden,  but he hadn't paid much attention to the story at the time. He had thought it all rather far-fetched. Maybe Eve would know more about it. She was into these sort of archaic things, like the bible. Personally, he didn't have time for it. `Give me my newspaper and a pint of beer a day and I'm a happy man', was his basic philosophy of life. But Eve was different. She was always waiting to travel and see more of the world, to explore new places and new experiences.

Eve was immediately taken by the idea. `It sounds like a great idea', she said.` Why don't we phone up the agency and ask for more details?’

Adam just wanted to know if he could afford it.

They phoned up and the nice lady on the telephone promised them that the offer was still open, and arranged an appointment with the managing director.

They took a tube on the weekend to Land's End, a station they didn't really know that well.

“It's one of those new ones they've built in the last few months, I suppose,” said Adam.

The building itself was easy enough to find. It was an enormous skyscraper, reaching up into the clouds, and lit up like a birthday cake. On the huge entrance to the building were written the legendary words: " Welcome to God's incorporated".

I've never heard of the name, said Adam.

It reminds me of something I once read, though I can't exactly say what' Eve replied.

They went through the huge silver doors, which slid open silently and gracefully and closed silently behind them.  There was a long red carpet, leading to the reception. On each side stood two huge statues of lions.

The receptionist at the desk smiled sweetly and stood up to greet them and shake  their hands.

"Oh hi! It's you two, I'm so glad you could make it. Go on right up to see him, he's expecting you. It's the top floor, take the elevator.”

So Adam and Eve got into the elevator and took it to the top floor.

`Come in, come in'! said God, standing up from his desk and putting out a hand. He was smoking a huge brown cigar. “make yourselves at home. What would you like to drink?”

“Tea would be fine thanks,” said Eve, feeling overawed. God was certainly an impressive man. He had about him an aura of immense strength and power.

God pressed a button and a secretary appeared. “Ariel, bring us a tea and a whisky please.”

Ariel bowed slightly, and slipped silently out of the room.

`Wow! this place is something else,' said Adam, looking around. Huge windows opened out into the surrounding clouds, and rays of sunlight poured into the room. The huge desk dominated the room; indeed it seemed to stretch out incredibly long, so that it was difficult to estimate how long it was, or how big the room was. It looked like it could have been made of oak, or maybe Perspex, or even copper - it was difficult to tell what the color of it was, or the texture. Adam saw it as a big oak desk, and to Eve it appeared to be made of smooth, black marble, reflecting the lights far above, so that the table looked like it contained thousands of stars.

The walls were draped with huge tapestries, intricately woven. The tapestries seemed to tell a story, there was a woman who looked remarkably like Eve, though she had shining hair and was totally nude. At one point in the tapestry she was feeding a lion from the stream, and at another she was reaching up to pick at a fruit from the tree. In the background, you could see a snake.

God leaned back in his chair and puffed at his cigar. To Adam, he looked like a rather fat, overworked businessman.

`So tell me,' he said, `what brought you to us`?

“Oh, we felt like a change from London, to see something new and unspoiled, a bit of an adventure, you know.”

“Yes, of course”.

Ariel came in with the refreshments and set them down silently on the table.

“Now, let's get down to business,” said God. He pushed a button and a screen on the wall lit up.

“Here are some brochures you might want to have a look at - it just tells you something about the company's history, and the latest project we're working on.” “We call it Genesis.”

“The chart on the wall shows the company's profits over the last few years. As you can see, we've grown substantially, and very soon we're planning to take over the entire tourist market. I have great plans of reorganizing things. At the moment, you know that it's complete chaos out there. Anyway, Genesis is part of a long term marketing drive, to sell our latest tourist package, I won't go into too many details about it.”

“Here are some pictures we've taken from Eden. All perfectly genuine.”

Eve looked at the pictures of Eden. “It really is beautiful,”' she said.

“But, somehow empty,”  Adam added in reservation.

“That’s the whole idea of unspoiled nature, isn’t it?”

“It reminds me of the highlands and lakes of Scotland, maybe Switzerland or Austria,” said Eve.

“I assure you it's not any of those places. It's a totally novel tourist site.”

It certainly did look like the ideal place for a holiday,  but it was in Adam's nature to be cautious about things.

“Mmm, I don't know.. How much will it cost us?” He asked.

“It’s on special offer.”

Chorus: And God said: "It’s on special offer"

“For you, since this is still the experimental stages of the project. We have a special contract option open, that provides you with a large discount, on the condition that you promote the image of Eden.”

“Let me explain further, our market analysis department, after interviewing several hundred potential clients, picked you two as the ideal couple. You see, you fit the profile of the rather typical man and woman out there. You represent everyman - just the image we’re looking for at the moment, which could sell Eden to the larger population.”

“For how long is the promotion holiday?” Eve asked.

“You can stay as long as you want”, God replied, “provided that you fulfill all the conditions of the contract.”

“Would you like time to think it over? Take your time and get back to me by the end of the week.”

Eve turned to Adam. They exchanged glances, then clasping each others hand, they turned to God. “It’s sounds like an offer that we can’t refuse. We accept.”

Chorus: and Adam and Eve replied: "we accept".

Oh, Jolly good,” said God. “I knew you would.”

“Ariel, can you bring me the contract please.”

Chorus: And the contract was brought before Adam and Eve in the presence of God, the managing director. And signed with Ariel as witness.

Ariel handed over the tickets to Adam and Eve.

A few words of advice,” said God, “now that business has been taken care of.”

“Travel light, you won’t need much where you’re going to.”

“Feel free to eat any fruit you want in the garden. However, there is just one small tree I advise you to avoid. It belongs to me personally, and I take extra special care to keep it well watered. Just a hobby  of mine, you know. But anyway, it is written somewhere in the contrast, one of the minor paragraphs I believe. Mmm, let me see, here we are:

“We request visitors not to take fruit from the tree labeled, “The tree of Knowledge.

Chorus: And God said, You are requested not to partake of the fruit from the tree with the sign "The tree of Knowledge".

Eve was inquisitive. “What’s so special about the fruit?”

It was in her nature to be open to new experiences and inquisitive to anything strange or out of the ordinary.

Inwardly, Adam gave a sigh. He knew Eve well enough to know how anything ‘forbidden’ or off bounds could turn into an obsession with her. Something inside said that trouble was brewing.

“Now take your tickets and go and enjoy yourselves,” said God, "and have a good trip.”

Chorus: And God said: Go now from my presence. Travel with my blessing.

When does the plane leave? asked Adam.

“In seven days,” replied God, “all the details are written in the contract.”

Just one thing, Ariel whispered to them as they were about to enter the elevator, “watch out for the snakes..”

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That week Adam and Eve went into a furor of packing and planning. Eve couldn’t decide what to take. Adam pointed out the advice of God,

“It’s going to be hot, Dear. There’s no use in taking all those winter clothes. What do you want to take smart evening dresses for? There’s just going to be us two there.”

“Well, I’m definitely taking my swimming costume. I bought that yellow bikini last summer, when we were supposed to go to the Bahamas, and I haven’t yet used it.”

They were both looking forward to the holiday. For Adam, it was a chance to get away from work and the British weather, and have time to relax and recuperate. He needed time to think about things. The truth was, he had been thinking lately of changing his career. He found his present job at the bank to be mechanical and unfulfilling. It had long ago lost its appeal, and they were both financially secure enough now for him to do something he really would enjoy.

Modern life had devoured him. It was as though he lived in a vacuum. Time sped by;  the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months and years, with ever increasing rapidity. Yet there was hardly ever any time to think, to take stock of the direction in which he was heading.

He got up in the dark at six o’clock, ate breakfast and took the tube to work. By 7pm he was at the bank and working. Lunch was spent with colleagues at a restaurant or pub. At 5pm when the sky was turning pale gray he took the tubes for the hour journey back home. A shower and supper at seven, and relaxing in front of the TV ended the day.

There was not much contact with  the outside world. On Sunday, they would go to visit relatives or friends or take the tube to one of the parks. In the evening, they went to a movie or theater. They managed to travel for a few weeks, twice a year, but always, Adam returned with the feeling of coming back to work that was emotionally and physically draining and basically a dead end.

Adam felt as though he were drifting in a world without time, without roots, without a history. Both of them had immigrated to Britain and naturally ended up in London, where the money and job opportunities lay. There were thousands of people in the same position; foreigners, displaced from their land of birth, drifting in a strange city to which they had no ties or historical belonging.

Eve was miserable. On the surface she appeared happy with her job as a teacher at a local college. She found the work challenging and fulfilling, offering her both financial security and the freedom to pursue other interests. She had a wide circle of friends and spent time visiting. Perhaps it had something to do with their being a career-orientated couple, or deciding to put off having children for the next few years. It took away a sense of direction or future, and the feeling of being a `family’. A couple are in a sense always fugitives, until they settle down and form a family. Eve had her parents here. For the moment this was enough for her, but she knew that Adam was suffering, wanted the experience of being a family, being a father. He needed that experience, since his own family were so far away.

There was an undercurrent of dissatisfaction running through the relationship. Both of them felt that perhaps a holiday to a place where they could really be alone together and have time to discover each other again would help renew a relationship that was slowly disintegrating before their eyes.

The special offer of a unique holiday to Eden had come like a helping hand in the dark.

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Where was Eden?

No-one they knew had ever heard of the place. It sounded almost unreal, in a world of mass-marketed tourism, where almost every spot of `unspoiled beauty’ had been exploited by the industry and trodden by hundreds of thousands of other tourists. What did a holiday usually involve?

A rushed journey, spending a small fortune; a tourist hotel with TV, bar and reception;  the friendly tourist guide, the tickets for the museums, the bus, the shopping and searching for presents and souvenirs; the taking of photographs, and in the evenings a walk on the `magical’ local promenade and a meal in a restaurant. Each time it was the same experience, the money changing hands, the feeling that one must see, experience and enjoy it all, although at a rather superficial level. Each time they came home, glad to be back to something solid and substantial, with a feeling of disappointment that was palpable. It clung to the house for days.

On the off-chance of finding more information, Eve searched the Internet, using the words “Garden of Eden”. The screen came up with several small spots, located around the globe,  names of small villages, a zoo, and a children’s park. There were three tourist resorts and a nature resort, situated in the mountains.  Nothing exceptional.

She asked for information about “God’s incorporated”.

God’s Incorporated. Records of the foundation of God’s Incorporated (INC.) go beyond the recordings of the present database. Offices exist in most of the major cities in the world. The agency has a wide nature of activities, including advertising, promotion of tourism, insurance and financial counseling.

Eve pondered over the data. It seemed a respectable, well-established company.

She paged down.

Gross estimated earnings- unknown. Total work staff- unknown.

Like so many of these large Multinationals, the company was ubiquitous and amorphous. It could have a thousand different faces and represent a thousand different things. There was no way of knowing who lay behind it all or what exactly it controlled. It could be a front for something entirely different.

The Internet had brought with it the price of anonymity. Information could be changed and was unreliable. It bore only the most indirect reference to reality.  A gigantic site, represented as a vast company, spanning the globe and visited by millions on the Internet could turn out to be a small office located in some backwater town.

But she and Adam had actually been there, to the offices of God’s Incorporated, and it was as solid and real as the supermarket down the road. She had to admit, the place was impressive, and God himself, the managing director, seemed a person she could rely upon and take at his word.

She typed in the words “Garden of Eden” under God’s Incorporated, and got a short page.

Garden of Eden. Novel experimental project of God’s Incorporated. See Genesis for further details.

What the hell was Genesis?

She clicked Genesis and a page appeared, explaining the concept of genesis.

Genesis refers to the process of creation. God’s incorporated is embarking on a totally novel development project that will reinvent the nature of tourism. Contact the company for further details.

That was the problem with using the information highway. Unless you knew exactly what you were looking for and where you wanted to go, you never seemed to arrive there.

If any conclusion could be drawn from all this, it was that Eden was being kept under wraps for the moment. At least she wouldn’t have to put up with bumping into one of the University staff, who abandoned the University like rats during the vacation seasons, in search of sun and entertainment and far off, exotic places.

**********************************************************************************************

Two days later they were standing on the platform of the underground, ready to embark on their journey. Eve, who was good with these sort of things, looked on the underground maps, while Adam read out the instructions on the ticket.

“It says here on the ticket. For you, to arrange matters from there.” Please follow the directions to your final destination carefully. The company has arranged a special charter flight from a private airport... If you are traveling from London, take the tube to the station called “Heaven’s Gate”. Our special ambassador will be waiting.

Eve examined the map. “Heaven’s Gate doesn’t seem to be listed on the map. It may be one of those small, recently opened stations. Let’s check on the computer terminal.”

They entered the name of the station and the large screen on the wall lit up, showing the route they had to take. Indeed, Heaven’s Gate was a tiny station on the outskirts of the city, past Underworld. The Changeover was for the Green Line at Charring Cross and then again, for the newly opened Gray line.

The Train down the Northern line, for Charring Cross came roaring into the station, breathing smoke like a monster from hell. The doors of the huge metal monster opened wide and thousands of silent commuters descended into its belly. In their apartments, they sat down in rows, shut off from each other by the silence and surrounded by the imposing walls of newspapers. A sexless, monotonous voice drifted through the air. “Mind the gap. Stand clear of the doors please.”

Chorus: And the voice cried: "Mind the gap. Stand clear of the doors please."

If one were foolhardy enough to fall down into the dark chasm that lay between the platform and the monster, one would be instantly burned to death and crushed beneath the immense iron legs.

The train picked up speed. Downwards it sped, through dark tunnels, down towards the bowels of the earth. Dim torches lit the way on each side. At every station  the train would halt and streams of commuters would enter and depart, in a ceaseless surge, like the tide, coming in and out. Strange faces and forms; men in dark suits and glasses, young girls in short skirts and boots, pregnant women pushing prams, ragged men with unshaven faces and hungry eyes.

It was the first time that Eve had really looked around. Traveling, she felt like a tourist, viewing this strange scene in all its novelty. Both of them took the tubes to work every day, but they were hardly aware of what was going on around them. Habit had created a certain familiarity and dullness, an indifference to their surroundings. Suddenly `displaced’ from the usual 9-5 cycle of events, embarking on a new voyage of discovery,  she felt as though she were seeing the underground for the first time, with the eyes of a stranger.

Construction workers got on and off. Homeless vagrants drifted in and out, businessmen and  lawyers sat reading their newspapers. Drunkards lay, besotted in their seats. At one of the stations a self-styled preacher got on, wearing a moldy gray suit with dirty sneakers and began to preach about the end of the world and the need to repent. He spoke to silent faces, turned inwards or out of the windows, to stiff backs, to walls of newspapers and to adverts on the walls. He got off and the silence descended again, leaving hardly a ripple in memory of his passing.

A young man holding a guitar and a tin can stepped on. He had a short, brown beard, T-shirt, jeans and sandals. He began to play on his guitar and sing. As the next station approached, he came round shaking his tin.

Down and down the monster sped. Two witches, dressed in black, with pale, white faces got on. One of them glared at Eve and shrieked, and seemed about to attack her, then changed her mind and sat down. Weird faces came and went: a woman with bare breasts and tattoos all over her arms and legs; young girls in black robes, draped in chains. Men with misshapen teeth and deformed limbs. Eve gazed with horror into this nightmarish world, wishing that she could hide behind the pages of the Daily Times.

After the Underworld, the train train descended into a limbo. The tube sign for Heaven’s Gate flashed.

Adam and Eve descended from the train and found themselves on a dark platform. The dim gray shapes of other passengers fluttered into the murky gray and disappeared. Exit, the sign flashed. They made their way to the Exit.

Rather than heading up, the staircase unexpectedly spiraled downwards. All of a sudden, it began to become incredibly hot. A great noise was heard, a huge clanging and roaring, as though they were entering a smelting factory. The light began to glow.

They stepped out into an immense hall. High above the vaulted roof arched over their heads, with stone gargoyles and animals covering the walls, so that it resembled a huge, gothic church with the altar and pew on fire.

Out of the heat and flames a figure in a dark black cloak made its way slowly towards them. The face was covered by the cloak and bent slightly. A thin bony hand reached out towards Adam.

“Welcome to Heaven’s Gate,” a cold voice said, shaking their hands. “I am the ambassador of God.”

“Pleased to meet you,” said Eve, shaking hands and smiling back.

Adam hesitated for a moment,  then shook hands too. This fellow looked rather old and bony, too skinny. One of those clerical types who’d probably spent years in musty places like these, ending up finally, looking like a walking cadaver.

“Leave your luggage here for the moment. There’s no need for you to be carrying it around. I’ll arrange for an assistant to forward it on for you. I’m sorry about the inconvenience. There are a few formalities that need to be taken care of.”

He began to talk to them as he lead them down the isle and through long, dim passages.

“I gather then that you’ve met the managing director in person? He built this company up from scratch. Most of our workers are satisfied with the exceptional benefits provided. We have great insurance policies and retirement plans. The company takes good care of its own.

However, there were some members high up on the board of directors who tended to disagree on matters of basic policy. They wanted more independence and responsibility and broke off from the main company and attempted a takeover.

But of course, God has far more resources at his disposal than he cares to reveal. He told them to go to hell.

Our company has stiff opposition from their basement operation. They run a remarkably effective advertising company. Slick and polished and geared down the bone to suit the needs of the market. They’ve managed to lure away many of God’s most promising clients.

Well, here we are, the registration section.

Good, everything seems to be in order. We can dispense with any further proceedings. Enjoy your flight to Eden.

Silently, the  plane lifted off and glided into the heavens. High up in the clouds, Adam and Eve drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms.

**********************************************************************************************

Well, it’s not quite what I had expected,” said Eve.

The plane had dropped them off in Eden. There were no hotels, no reception, no restaurants, no swimming pools, no saunas, no cinemas, no houses, no roads and no people.

They were standing on a plateau with long grass, on which the plane had landed and taken off. All about them lay empty mountains and forests, with silent lakes. Wild deer grazed in the meadows below.

Lush, wild beauty surrounded them on all sides. Birds circled in the air high above.

It was dawn, and the pale orange sun rose silently above the peaks of the mountains, sending golden rays of light glistening through the trees and sparkling on the clear waters of the lakes far below. The air was cool and sweet.

A herd of deer came hurtling past, within twenty feet. Adam realized that he had never seen a wild animal living out in the wild before. There had been zoos and nature reserves, but access to the animals had been controlled or completely limited. Both the animals and the crowds of people, protected from each other by cars or by cages: each shut up and isolated in their own little world. A world of cages.

To be suddenly confronted with nature. To realize that there was no-one here to protect you, nothing which lay between you and the wild elements.

Suddenly, the sun seemed threatening.  They felt alone and exposed. Adam grabbed hold of Eve’s hand and urged her to make for the shelter of the surrounding trees, outside the reach of the sun and exposure to the naked sky.

The natural beauty of the sun and clear blue sky has become tarnished by the modern fear of ozone depletion and the accompanying risk of skin cancer. The canvas of mother earth that had once reached out to protect and hold its infants has been torn. Yet here it felt as though they lived once more in a world where nature was whole and at peace with itself.

And immediately, the conditioned fear of the modern city dweller arose; where are we going to sleep tonight? What are we going to eat? Who are we going to call if something goes wrong? How are we going to defend ourselves?

“Shit!” said Adam, “I knew there was a catch. They haven’t even built the bloody hotel yet.”

From somewhere deep inside, Adam imagined he heard the voice of God, saying to him: Adam, you are safe here. You don’t need to fear. If you need me, I am always here for you.

“Don’t worry Eve,” he said, “ We’ll be all right.”

Under the eves of the trees all was peaceful and cool. Beautiful colored birds fluttered through the air and chirruped merrily. Little animals scurried up and down trees. The animals seemed totally unafraid of their presence, as though the thousands of years of being prey to man and the conditioned fear of man had fallen away. Either they were ignored or stared at inquisitively as they passed. They wandered until they came to a stream that wound its way down the mountains. Lining the banks of the stream were fruit bearing trees; what seemed to be wild apples and cherries and pears. Gingerly at first and then with relish, Adam and Eve picked the fruit and ate.

Afterwards, they stripped off their clothes and entered naked into the water, splashing around, drinking and laughing. The water was cool and clear as glass. Fish could be seen swimming.

Afterwards, they lay on the bare brown rocks under the soft glow of the sun, and let the sun’s rays gently caress, while the spray from the water cooled them down.

They wandered on, following the course of the river, as carefree as children. Their clothes and belongings were forgotten, their past was a dim memory, washed away by the joy of the present.

That night, they slept naked and innocent beneath the eaves of the trees, tucked up in each other’s arms. The air was cool, but not cold. There was no moon. The stars shone out in their thousands, blanketing the heavens in a milky haze.

They woke ravenous.  Adam went into the forest to explore and came back shortly with a stash of fruit and nuts.

And so the days passed and the seasons changed. Adam and Eve gradually became accustomed to this new world. With each passing day, their connection with modern London became more distant and vague, as though it were a half-remembered dream. To think about London, the noise, the commuters, the pollution and the stress, seemed inconsistent with their mode of life here.

They had been reborn into a primeval world of beauty and freshness. Their inner souls were refreshed and had become as innocent and delightful as the newborn child’s. The concerns which once had been part of their daily existence had vanished like the passing of a thunderstorm, leaving no trace of the turmoil that had once been.

Who were they, how did they see themselves?

I am Adam and you are Eve. We have been here since the beginning of days. We have been created out of the dust of the earth, out of the rich and vital soil of mother earth. We have been brought here by God, to live and fulfill our destiny.

Eve was more thoughtful than Adam. She spent more time exploring further and further away from the banks of the river with which they were familiar. Why had they come here? What was the ultimate purpose?

Having none but themselves to talk to, they gradually stopped speaking to each other using words. Simple sounds of pleasure and pain, hurt, anger and laughter were used to convey their emotions.

They started inventing names to call the strange animals they encountered. Naming became a means of exploration of the world and representing their experience.

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Flash Forward

I don’t understand what its all been about, said Adam, Why us? Why were we chosen? Why did you put us through all that if you never meant for us to stay?

The cleric looked up from his pile of papers. “You were the star actors in our latest production, Genesis. Everything has been planned, down to the last detail. We’ve already started negotiations to rights to the book and the movie, plus exclusive ownership of the Name Eden, for all our future tourist sites.”

Time. It was something that he had always wanted to have within his grasp. Time to hold onto, time that wasn’t rushing anywhere. And he had forever to enjoy it. It was only here in the garden, where the sun rose and came down and the seasons changed, that he realized how much of a man-made thing time was. In London, people rushed around, driven by the hands of the ever present clock, which moved faster and faster as the years progressed. There was never time to do anything.

You woke up in time to shower,  time to get to work to be there on time. Time was an issue. Time meant money: deadlines to meet, bills to be paid on time. Each year, the load of time on the body and mind accumulated. There was no turning back those relentless hands that weighed you down and drew life away with every tick.

But here, in the garden, time was not an issue. There were no clocks, there was no sense of a beginning or an end.

For Eve, there was time enough to explore, to understand and experience the ways of  nature. She could sit and observe a bird or spend the day looking up at the sky. If she were hungry,  she could eat, and if she were thirsty, she could drink.

This was true freedom. To roam carefree over the empty mountains and valleys, as far as the eye could see on all sides. No other human being in sight, no sign of any existence other than her own. To explore the unexplored, to taste of the untouched beauty, the virginity and majesty of the world.  This was the fulfillment of existence and the essence of happiness.

Then the inevitable happened. One day Eve, out on one of her expeditions, came to a part of the garden that she had never visited before. It was a quiet glade, surrounded by tall, graceful trees. In the center of the glade was a tree that she’d never seen. On its branches were small golden fruit that resembled golden apples. Next to the tree a signpost was planted, with huge black letters written in bold and underlined for emphasis:

For a long time Eve circled around the tree.

The forbidden tree attracted her by the very nature of its being forbidden. It had a compulsive pull on her soul. To live in a world without man-made restraints, where the objects that were daily encountered were to be explored and tasted to their full, and then suddenly to be confronted with an obstacle, a barrier to that self-discovery. The forbidden sign was both a challenge and a demand that had to be answered to in some way.

Left to itself the thought of the tree began to fester in her mind and torment her with longing and desire. Eve had vague memories now of her life back in England. She had been an obstinate, determined woman, first as a student at college and then at the university, growing up in a society that was all too slowly coming to terms with the needs of women and their right to live fulfilled and whole lives, enjoying the same opportunities as their male counterparts. She had always lived with a feeling of battling against a life of ignorance, of stilted intellectual growth, of being denied the means to fulfill her potential.

In the garden, the entire issue of ambition and potential were simply irrelevant. There were no demands, other than those basic needs imposed upon by nature,  no expectations built up through society, according to age, sex, status or background, no reference points or standards to live up to. Here you simply were yourself, and you lived life to the full as it should be lived.

And here this tree stood, a solid barrier, denying on the one hand, while on the other offering something which God himself had forbidden.

Eve ran back, to tell Adam about her find.

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Flash Forward

Adam: How could you do this to us, we believed in you. We believed in the garden

Clerk: You were living in a fool’s paradise. You must realize that Eden, the Utopia that we all long for, could never exist outside the confines of the imagination. Eden is civilized man’s interpretation of nature.

Nature is a cruel and hard mistress. Mankind has struggled for thousands of years to subdue her. Eden is civilized man’s idealization of the origins from which he has sprung. Eden is a state of ignorance that exists only when man cannot separate himself from the beast and become aware of nature as a force outside of himself.

Before man knew about time, he believed himself to be immortal. Before he knew about history, he  believed that he himself was history and that the world began with his  birth. Without knowledge of life and death man did not have an imaginative fear of death and illness - he possessed an instinctive fear, but pain and dying were simply part of the process of life - man was not abstracted and separated from them.

Man, in effect, divorced himself from Eden the moment he became aware of himself as distinct from nature. That was also the moment when he acquired a history.

Eve ran flushed and grasping for breath. She grabbed hold of Adam’s hands.

“Come with me, I’ve got something important to show you.”

“What is it Eve, what are you so exited about? I’ve never seen you so excited before.”

“It’s  this tree I’ve found. You simply must come and see it.”

She led Adam through the trees until they reached the forbidden glade.

“But there’s a sign saying clearly that we are not allowed to touch this fruit.” Adam pointed out in alarm. He regretted having allowed Eve to drag him here.

“Eve, don’t you remember what God told us.  He warned us not to take the fruit of this tree. Do you want to jeopardize our whole situation here?”

“Oh don’t be such a spineless coward! Don’t let him dictate to us what he can or can’t do with our lives. What’s the big deal, anyway. Just one small fruit, who’s to know that we took it?”

“The fruit could be poisonous, have you thought about that? Why else would he have warned us?”

“Because he wants to keep it for himself, that’s why!”

“So let him keep it. We have enough fruit here in the garden.”

“It’s the principle of it! Who the hell is he to give us orders about what’s to our own good? At least taste it.”

Adam looked at Eve. He knew her well enough to know that there was no arguing with her. Once she felt affronted or had made up her mind - on principle - there was nothing that could budge her. What she really wanted, and perhaps wasn’t even willing to admit to herself, was for him to taste it too, to be an accomplish, and share in her guilt.

“Look, why don’t we wait a few days,” he said, stalling for time, “there’s no hurry, the fruit will still be here and I need to think about it.”

Perhaps some time away would loosen the strong hold this tree had on her mind

“Well,” said Eve, relenting somewhat, “okay, I guess there’s some sense in doing that.”

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Flash Forward

Interviewer: So tell us, Eve, what was it like, the temptation you experienced?

Eve: I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. I don’t know if temptation is the word to use. I think I saw it at the time as a limitation placed on my freedom; the freedom to choose and fulfill my destiny.

Interviewer: But you had the whole garden to choose from.

Eve: I know. I think I behaved like a spoilt girl who’s denied a candy. It was partly the unfairness of blaming God that spurred me on to outrage. One is always most outraged when one knows that there is an element of truth to what the other person is saying.

Interviewer: So what finally drove you to do what you did.

Eve: mmm.. I don’t know really. I suppose that people would blame the snake. Of course, it did play a role in inciting me on. Despite my outrage, I still had some reservations at the time. All I needed was a little push from somewhere.

Interviewer: and that push came from the snake.

Eve: Yes, or rather something inside me which responded to it. I’ve always taken responsibility for my actions, so in the end, the decision was mine.

Interviewer: And Adam?

Eve: You have to remember what such a step entails for a couple like us, who depend totally on each other. Ultimately, if Adam had refused the fruit, it would have meant our separation. Adam chose to connect his fate to mine, so that we would share the consequences. In the end, the responsibility for his decision was his own. He could have refused.

Interviewer: You called him a spineless coward.

Eve: Yes, he couldn’t face up to me.

Interviewer: So tell me, what was it like, that first bite?

Eve: I remember reaching for the apple and the original taste of it. It all happened so quickly. It was, well, different. Of course, it changed things. Completely.

Interviewer: Do you repent your decision?

Eve: (pause) No. Not, not at all. In the end it was a decision that had to be made. It was a decision that was consistent with myself; who I was and the way I saw the world. For me, experience and growth are the basis of life.  Not to tempt fate and search for the future - one lives once.

Interviewer: Thank you very much for your time.

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Interviewer: So tell me, what was it like?

Adam: I don’t know. It was only a piece of fruit in the end. I don’t know what all the fuss was about.

Interviewer: But what made the fruit so special; after all, you had the whole garden to choose from?

Adam: She’s obstinate. It was “you are forbidden” which really did it. If they’d written, you must eat this fruit, we wouldn’t have had any problems.

Interviewer: Do you repent your decision?

Adam: (pause) I suppose not. I had to stick up for Eve, in the end,  you understand. She may seem temperamental, but deep down, she’s a clever, clear-headed girl and she knows what she’s doing.

Interviewer: What did it taste like, the fruit?

Adam: Like orange juice.

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Chorus: And the snake said to Eve. "Taste of the fruit and you will be as great as God".

“Oh, said Eve, looking up startled, “what did you say?”

“I said go on. Have a taste. You’ve been staring at that damn fruit for hours. Go ahead and eat.”

Eve drew back,” who are you?”

“Oh, just your friendly, neighborhood snake”, the snake swaggered into view, displaying his coils proudly. Eve watched fascinated as the beautiful reptilian creature slowly wound its way up the trunk of the tree; a motion that was graceful and sensual at the same time, and highly arousing. Up and up the tree it wound, towards the forbidden fruit.

“Are you really talking to me, or is it my imagination?”

“What is imagination? The world you live in is a world of the imagination. There is no other, you cannot know reality. Are you free to unlock your imagination, to explore your understanding of the world?”

What exactly do you mean?

“Knowledge. Knowledge is the fruit of human experience.”

“Have you ever stopped to think about God, about exactly who he is?”

“Don’t believe everything that he tells you. He delights in mystifying, in keeping people in the dark. His cloak of power is built around a hidden mystique of arcane, unknown knowledge.”

“Take away that mystique, take away that control over the means to knowledge and you take away the power of God. Knowledge is control, over oneself and over the world. Knowledge is power. He who doesn’t know cannot act, or acts blindly, out of faith or habit.”

“Without God’s control over knowledge, what is he, but a fat businessman, smoking a cigar and pushing his company?”

Eve stared aghast. “Stop. I don’t want to hear this. I believe. Faith is a deeper  spring than knowledge. It is an understanding that lies beyond the confines of what can be known. Nobody can know everything. The blind quest for knowledge is a delusion.”

“And so is the blind quest for faith.”

“To eat, or not to eat, that was the question. To partake in the forbidden feast or to suffer the pains of unfulfilled desire, to feel overwhelmed by the grip of ignorance, or to give into the sea of temptation, and by fighting it, to end it.”

Song

One, forgivable temptation

That’s all it takes

One unforgettable sensation

That’s all that it takes

One taste of elation

that’s all that you really need

You can do it,

if you taste, taste taste

why let is all go to waste?,

when you can eat and feel great

Yes, you can.

(Sung to a chorus tune,  by seven girls in a row wearing black bathing costumes with stockings, long boots, black hats and red coats and a walking stick, holding each others arms and kicking their legs up and down in the front of the stage.)

**********************************************************************************************

 "You did what!?” Adam cried, aghast.

“I took a fruit. Here try it.” Eve held out the fruit, her red face smiling.

“Eve, how could you?”

“Oh come on, don’t make such a fuss. Just try it. No one is going to see. Its only the two of us here.” She took a bite and handed the apple to Adam.

The rest is history.

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What’s this all about? Asked Adam, stalling for time. Eve looked frightened.

“I know you ate my golden apples, don’t try to deny it.”

“But...”

“You have broken the conditions of the contract. The contract is now null and void.”

 God picked up the contract and tore it into two pieces in a dramatic gesture.

“Ariel”, he roared, “see to it that they get their clothes back and arrange for the return flight.”

“Now get out of here! And don’t come back. Go back into the real world, where you belong.”

Chorus: And God said. Go forth from the land of Eden. And Adam and Eve were cast from the Garden and the gates locked against them

Weeping, Adam and Eve fled from the wrathful presence of God.

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Extracts from the marketing department

The Cancellation of the Eden promotion.

Official reason: We’ve decided to scrap the whole project. It’s an utter disaster. We just don’t see how it can sell to the wider market.

Real reason: The entire purpose of the project has been to create and develop a new tourist site: given the projected costs of developing infrastructure combined with that of developing and the impossibility of maintaining the natural beauty of the site over any extended period; given the costs of land and the well documented process of environmental deterioration which naturally results from tourist influx, such a project, though possibly lucrative in the short term, has no real long term future.

Instead, the idea has been to promote the “idea” of Eden as the ideal tourist site: untouched pristine beauty and natural majesty.  You simply cannot maintain such an image with actual tourists. As a site on the “mental ‘ tourist map, Eden is far more lucrative. Therefore, the estrangement of man from the garden of Eden was intended in the original design.

What attracts tourists to a site, more than anything else, is the infrastructure; the hotels, restaurants, places of entertainment, transport,  shopping and banking facilities. Markets, museums, arts and crafts festivals, carnivals, historical buildings, churches, swimming pools and parks - these are the sites that attract people. All these are man-made. Any city or spot on the globe can be taken and turned into a tourist attraction, no matter how ordinary or dull it may seem to the people who actually live there.

However, to exert the magical pull that can draw tourists in their thousands, a site also needs to offer an `image’, a legend, a dream or desire, something that holds an aura of mystique in the mind of the tourist. This ‘aura’ need only have symbolic reference to the real place. The important thing is that the association be made in the eyes of the tourist.

The value of Eden lies in its symbolic power. It exists nowhere on the map, but once the vision has been established in the minds of tourists, then a thousand Eden’s can open up throughout the globe, each claiming to be “the” Eden and offering all the attractions of Eden, along with the tourist infrastructure.

Even though a thousand others have trodden there before, each tourists reinvents Eden for himself. For him it remains a land of untouchable beauty that is being viewed for the first time, whether the Eden he visits lies in Africa, Asia, Europe or America.

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