Naked But Not Ashamed

Continued from yesterday…

According to the story about the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve enjoyed their extraordinary union with God. While inhabiting distinct physical bodies, they must have perceived their oneness because their sensory perception was based on spirit rather than the physical elements. They were as one, naked and not ashamed because they enjoyed a blissful awareness of God (Love).

Nudity in this allegory was not so much a physical condition, but instead an allusion to being completely exposed, where nothing within was hidden. Everything was in the open, and Adam and Eve were not ashamed.

While guilt is an emotion that suggests I have done something wrong, shame is a feeling of fear that communicates that there is something wrong with me. Being ashamed speaks to our sense of identity as not being enough the way we are.

Although Adam and Eve were uncovered entirely, they didn’t identify with their bodies. Maybe because they were one in spirit with one another and God, and therefore their physical separation (and how they related to it) was inconsequential. They identified with spirit—the energy of love that unites everything—and consequently, were sentient or conscious of the presence.

The underlying message in the story appears obvious. To be completely naked—where our inner world is known—without a feeling of shame is plausible when we are intimately aware of our oneness with God and the unifying divine love that we participate in and are part of.

Up until now, this story—which is rich with allegory about the essence of being—is clear. Our happiness, health, and success spring from mindfulness of our union with one another and the divine. In this union, there’s no separation because we are all one in love.

To be continued tomorrow…

Adapted from Section 2 of Awakening To I Am Love by David Youngren