Saint Daniel and Saint Hildegard say: "the story begins long before Adam took a bite of the forbidden fruit. It goes back to the time of creation. When time started and space began. After the apple was bitten into new episode began. When birth and death occurred."
Adam and Eve were fulfilled and balanced. They lived in Paradise. In a place where order and harmony reigned. Where there was nothing bad, where there was no pain, where there was no harm. Where nobody was neither born nor died. At the place of fulfillment. Adam and Eve were the IMAGO DEI. One before God.
The devil saw their perfection. Since he himself was created before them, he also knew their weakness. Weakness of free will and ego. Probably a beautiful creature disguised as a snake, which at that time had not yet crawled on its stomach and was not yet feared by humans, crept up to Eve and offered her the forbidden fruit. Not just a fruit, but a promise that by eating this fruit they will become like God himself. Fruit of fallen paradise. Eve took it and gave it to Adam. Adam took a bite.
Original sin was conceived. Fulfillment and perfection have been negated.
Adam and Eve covered themselves because they were aware of their nakedness. They tried to cover the sin with the dress. To cover means merely to hide and not to clean. A return to a sinless time was impossible. Since then, our perfection has turned into imperfection, which expresses itself as frustration and eternal desire and search for the unattainable. Extremely far away from the transcendental. Aimed at the last possible point – our individuum based on self-realization. On the expression of emotions which are the basis for our desires. Desires that are unfinished and always arising.
Can we become fulfilled and balanced again? No! This is final. Any search using only your own reason will be fruitless. It will only bring us an additional burden of frustration. All we have left is dedication and trust. That everything will be as it should be. That our faith is the foundation of our contentment. Contentment that we need to learn. Contentment which is a prerequisite for happiness. That less is more.
Why can St. Daniel and St. Hildegard be an inspiration to “modern” man?
A “modern” man is their exact opposite. He lives for today. He is a rebel and a seeker of instant gratification. He depends on external stimuli and deceptive emotions. He belongs to no one. He is not part of the community. He is an individual who is subordinate to no one and nothing. He shouts loudly that he is freed. That he doesn’t need anyone. That he is self-sufficient. He demands equality and equity. He requires self-actualization. That’s all very well, but despite everything, he is not happy and sinks ever deeper into the abyss, where darkness and cold reign.
Neither Daniel nor Hildegard ever sought self-realization because they were aware that we are only a part of the whole cosmos. That we can be fulfilled when everything in the cosmos is in perfect balance and order. Man is not dictated by the cosmos. He is not subordinate to it. But he’s part of it. If he lives according to order and for Love, his life is fulfilled.
The visible world in which we live is like a canvas on which our lives are painted. The canvas can represent a homogeneous whole, where all artistic elements are in balance. Or it represents only spontaneously applied colors that merely fill the surface and have no other content than the momentary reflection. Animate and inanimate nature is based on a highly developed sense of order and discipline and obedience in humility. Not obedience as blindness. Not humility as submission.
