Why Humans Ruminate on the Location of Eden

by Dr. Gail
(Virginia)

From the psychological standpoint, humans have, through the ages, sought what they imagined the Garden of Eden to have been: a place of euphoria where all needs are met. Humans have tried to re-enter the Garden by many means including drug intoxication, domination of other humans (e.g., slavery, domination of women, racism), domination of animals and nature in general.

These actions always fail to produce the euphoria longed for. That is because WE CANNOT GO BACK into our simple state (now only experienced by animals) in which we did not know about the emotion of shame. We have developed that emotion into religious beliefs and rituals in an attempt to deal with our imperfect selves.
We should stop trying to locate the Garden of Eden in order to experience it, because it is impossible to do so. Instead, we should use the image of peace that the Garden suggests and try to create as much of that on earth as possible.

A Clinical Psychologist