**Trigger warning: Religion**
I caught part of a song the other day referencing Adam and Eve and wondering why Eve gets all the blame. Eve does get a pretty bad rap in most Christian culture, but I’m grateful to be in a religion that has a very different outlook. Eve was the first to recognize that she and Adam had been given conflicting charges: Be fruitful and multiply, but don’t eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. They were currently in a state of innocence and had no idea how to comply with the first commandment, and couldn’t without breaking the second.
Eve was wise enough to recognize what truths Satan mixed in with his lies and realized that there had to be opposition for their existence to have any meaning. They would have to know what it was to experience pain and sorrow in order to truly appreciate joy and delight. She realized there could be no reward from obedience unless there was the option and the draw to disobey.
And so it was that Eve was willing to put everything on the line for the chance to have knowledge, to experience the true joy that can only come from knowing true sorrow. She ate the fruit, knowing that it could cost her everything, including Adam, who had already proven himself stubbornly unwilling to even consider what was at stake. Remember, that it wasn’t until later that they learned that there would be a savior provided to free them from the effects of disobedience.
So while Adam is to be commended for his love of Eve and his final willingness to recognize the wisdom in Eve’s choice, thus ensuring that they could at least keep their first commandment, it is Eve who we owe the greatest thanks for her vision and understanding–and willingness to put it all on the line to resolve the catch-22 they had been given. She made a choice–a choice that broke the endless cycle they were in and, while unleashing on the world mortality and all the suffering that goes with it, gave mankind the gift of choice, to experience both good and evil, and therefore experience sorrow, but also joy.
So, no, not everyone blames Eve–nor should we. In my church’s theology we know Adam to be Michael, the Archangel who led the fight against Satan. It only stands to reason that Eve was also someone incredibly valiant and strong, also forefront in that fight. Because of her choice we all get to experience this earthly life where yes, there is great sorrow, evil, and hardship, but there can also be great joy and beauty and goodness. This life is not the end and sum of our existence, but only a period of learning and testing, much like our school years. Whatever terrible things might happen at that school, our Mother and Father await us at home, ready to kiss away our tears and make it all better. The pains of this life won’t last, but the things we learn here and the joy we experience will.
It was Eve who chose to unlock the doors and declare school in session. I’m glad she made that choice because, though life can certainly be difficult, I welcome the chance to learn, to grow, to experience. It never would have happened without her.