This week, the passage I want to share concerns Peterson's take on the Fall recounted in Genesis, and how the Fall created the conditions for heroic action in the world. Peterson writes,
The myth of the Fall describes the development of human self-consciousness as a great tragedy, the greatest conceivable anomaly, an event that permanently altered the structure of the universe and doomed humanity to suffering and death. But it is the same Fall that enabled the individual to adopt the redemptive role of the hero, the creator of culture; the same Fall that lifted the curtain on the drama of history. Whether or not it would have been better for humanity to have remained unconscious is no longer a point that can be usefully considered--although that path does not seem particularly productive for those who take it now. Original Sin has tainted everyone; there is no way back.
This is a fascinating quote for me, as it is pretty similar to arguments I've made and linked to in yesterday's post. The "Fall" was the dawn of human consciousness, which created the cognitive capacities for moral life to emerge in the cosmos. Our "eyes are opened" with "the knowledge of good and evil." Shame enters the world and relationship with God becomes fractured. We are expelled from Eden.
In addition, the same cognitive capacities that make us moral creatures also make us existential creatures. As Ernest Becker described so profoundly in The Denial of Death, we are animals who know that we are going to die. We are the death-haunted animal. Carrying the existential burden of this death-awareness is our unique cross to carry.
All that to say, I like what Peterson is doing here. And there's another point regarding theodicy that I like as well, a point I make in the best book ever written about the devil. Specifically, the Bible, as either cultural myth or the inspired Word of God, doesn't give us much of an explanation about the origins of evil. As the theologians like to remind us, the Bible doesn't give us a theodicy. We have no neat and tidy explanation for why God allows pain and suffering. The existence of evil is just taken as a given. We have no clue how the snake got into the Garden of Eden. The story just assumes the snake is already there. Which is similar to the point Peterson makes above. The dawn of consciousness is experienced as a catastrophe. When the lightbulb of consciousness clicks on at that very moment we assume the dual burden of both shame and death. Consciousness presumes the catastrophe. We open our eyes to find that the snake has been waiting for us.
As I go on to describe in Reviving Old Scratch, the only theodicy the Bible gives us is revolt. Evil is not a puzzle to be solved but a reality to be resisted. The Bible simply assumes that evil exists and calls us to action. Peterson makes a similar move. The "Fall" we experience by stepping into self-awareness is tragic, but it also sets the stage for heroic moral action. Exactly how the Bible approaches the catastrophe of evil.
And Peterson ups the ante here in a way I think the church should listen to. Specifically, you might stop believing in God because of the problem of evil. Fine. You couldn't solve the unsolvable puzzle. But guess what? You still have to act. Your puzzlement doesn't absolve you of moral exertion and responsibility.
Which means that after all the drama about "the problem of evil" you're right back where the Bible always wanted you: Evil exists and you have to act.
