In the saga of Adam and Eve, the Judgment upon all of us was that Man should die. This is a bitter end with a bitter taste. There is nothing sweet about Death. About the only time we honor Death as a Noble Cause amongst the people is when the soldier or policeman or fireman gives their life in the duty and service to others. This is part of the Noble Cause.
And the Judgment also in Life is that Man should live by his Labor in tilling the earth through the sweat of his brow to eat the fruit of the earth for daily sustainment. We must therefore eat to live and, in most cases across world history, mankind has had to live to eat. And the Judgment also assesses that Woman should endure the Pain of childbirth. The fruit of our loins, so to say, does renew us in the sense of sustaining new life from generation to generation. There is new birth and new life. And there is great joy in the conjunction of the loins, so to say. But there is physical pain for the woman associated with the begetting.
There is much activity within the endeavors of Mankind to avoid or change the Daily Labor of physical sustenance. Daily manna doesn't fall from heaven. But we have found ways to get around the labor of daily food gathering. The gain of riches. The seeking of financial independence. The competition amongst jobs and careers and investments to gain a better salary and income and return on investment. Speculation. Better agricultural practices. The buying and selling of foodstuffs. Building bigger grain bins. Government subsidies of commodities to impact prices. Preserving the food harvest for another day. Additives, preservatives, genetic manipulation of food to increase shelf life, etc. etc. But we still have to eat to live.
There is much activity within the endeavors of mankind to avoid or change the Pain associated with childbirth. Contraception. Cesarean section. Epidurals. Anesthetics. Surrogate mothers. Choosing not to have a family. But the human family continues to create progeny.
Fortunately, we also have a blessing of Forgetfulness. Generally, we can recover from the Fatigue of labor and from the Pain of childbirth. We don't completely forget in our fleshly humanity because we have our memories of our experiences but the actual pain and discomfort lived in the moment is not enduring. We are fortunate to have Rest from our labor and Recovery from our discomforts. We eat, drink, and are merry. There is an underlying blessing in each of these judgments of Fatigue and Pain during our lifetime, the Satisfaction in our achievements and the Joy of Children. But because of our Mortality, we take nothing with us out of this world, neither family, nor belongings, nor the fruits of our labors.
Entropy. Matter and Energy. The degradation of all things to a lower matter and energy state over time. Corruption. Decomposition. Diffusion. Nothing lost. Nothing gained. It's not to say that the Human Endeavor is not a Work In Progress. I can see what you see when we look around. We fight against the downhill ride every day. We endure our Trials and Tribulations. Although some of us are better at it then others, a Positive Outlook puts a spin on the Human Drama. The elevation and celebration of Human Potential and Achievement is touted. Look what we can do. We each have our Unique Potential. The world has it's Favorites in it's Media Heroes. In politics, business, sports, entertainment, the arts, relationships, nationalistic enterprises, and daily news. It's the Trumpet of Hope and Optimism. Look at us!
Our individual and combined humanitarian labors across the Human Endeavor are not entirely in vain in the battles against Ignorance, Disease, Disability, Divorce, Disillusionment, Disrespect, Poverty, Tyranny, Violence, Oppression, and Death. All the Evil Stuff. We seek to improve and innovate Knowledge, Science, Technology, Medicine, Government, Service to Others, and the Arts. To achieve the generally desired outcomes of equitable and shared Employment, Education, Health, Welfare, Respect for Diversity, Peace, Beauty, and Quality of Life. All the Good Stuff.
And to make the most of our fragile moments of remaining Life itself. This is the Struggle.
To Return...to what was there before the Fall.
To Rest...from our arduous Labors.
To Recover....from our Fatigues and our Pains.
To Revisit...our memories and our visions....where we have come from and where we are going, and where we want to go.
To Resuscitate...to breath life and energy into the Sources and Drains, the daily ups and downs, of the process of living and dying.
To Rehabituate...to become familiar with, accustomed to, and acclimate to the Struggle even again.
To Recapture..the Original State. Again.
And again in Portrait. Positions. Postures. Portrayals. And even Porn.
And again in Landscape. Waterscape. Cloudscape. Treescape. Mountainscape. To Escape.
And again in Still Life. Our stuff. That we make, and we have, and that we can't take with us.
And again in Abstracts. To explore the made-up realities within our heads that don't conform to the visible natural world outside.
This is the Artistic Endeavor and the Creative Pursuit within the Human Endeavor. To focus one's Life Force and Energy to recapture what was there before the Fall. And there seems to be a drive to pour our Impressions from our own individual Methods into an Expression. To do it our way. To tell our story. To be a god. To be as God. Creating. Something of Value. The essence of Life. And of Lasting Things. But it is not creating something out of nothing. That's a mockery. It is only creating from what is already around us.
To capture Innocence, Purity, Honor, Truth, Beauty, Well-being, Time, and Eternal Life. Probably lots of other good stuff. To pass it forward. To give back. The Work-Around. The Noble Cause. The Artistic Endeavor. The Creative Pursuit. To chase the Old...what is already known. To chase the New...what is not yet known. The Original Idea.
So we each take a Trip in the long Fall. We conduct our Daily Walk along the Journey. Each in our own way, we Recover and Recapture. We seek a Redemption. This is Life.
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