« 'Fessing Up & Thinking Mythologically, Are You More Like Cain or Abel? »

If someone were telling me the Cain-Abel story, and then asked, “Who in the story do you most identify with?” I’d hesitate. If I say “Abel,” I identify with the victim of murder. If I say “Cain” I identify with the murderer. But when I remember that Abel represents the One Earth paradigm in this myth, and Cain bears the burden of the Multi Earth paradigm, I can identify some with both.

Having already acknowledged my Multi Earth ecological footprint earlier in this blog, I know Cain lives in me as well as Abel who is that part of me questing for One Earth living. I like being the good guy in stories. But I do feel jealous and envious far more than I admit publicly; and, whether actively or passively, I have sought revenge in varying degrees. Furthermore, Cain’s notion that he could improve on One Earth ways lives in me and lives at the crux of my decisions when I choose Multi Earth ways.

Our decisions are complicated because we love creativity and improving things. Not that anything about Eden or One Earth living thwarts creativity. The question seems to be more whether our creativity is within the creational order or improving upon those orders themselves. Are we going about creating from our ego-centered, Cain-like self or are we centered in a greater Abel-like self that is in tune with Creation?