Practical, Therapeutic, Theological Thought

Resolution for the New Year

by Penrod

Motto: “All therapy ends badly” — Sigmund Freud

In the last issue, the Sports Prophet told us that he thought he could understand why Reggie Lewis of the Boston Celtics continued to play basketball against medical recommendations. The Prophet said that Lewis kept playing because he loved to play and so it seemed worth the risk. I think that the Prophet is right, because love and desire underlie human risk taking. Without love and desire, it does not matter what one does; and if something does not matter, there is no risk in chosing.

In pretty much the same way, I can understand why Eve and Adam chose to eat the fruit. Like Reggie Lewis, Eve ate the fruit because of her love and desire for it. Both chose to take the risk. Reggie Lewis knew the taste of the fruit for which he was willing to risk his life. Eve did not know what the fruit would taste like. She expected it to taste great, and she was driven by her love and desire to know.

Once Eve realized that she had a choice, she faced two risks. If she chose to taste the fruit, she risked losing her life. If she chose not to eat the fruit, she would not know the taste or the possibility of becoming more like God. Her love and desire to know, to penetrate the mystery of her life, were enough for her to take the risk. With one bite, she plunged into knowledge of God and of death. As wonderful as that fruit must have tasted, I think Eve breathed a sigh of relief at finding herself alive.

If Eve had not taken a bite of the fruit, she would have accepted the consequences of taking the risk of not experiencing what might be important and wonderful to experience and the risk of spending an entire life wondering what it might be like. Reggie Lewis, it seems, did not want to take this risk — the risk that he might needlessly give up playing basketball. That risk did not stack up against the unproved possibility that, if he continued to play, he might die.

I am not sure I would have chosen with Reggie. I think I might have if I had no knowledge of the outcome; but I cannot ignore the fact that I know how his choice actually turned out.

So, about my choice with Reggie, I do not and cannot know. I do know, though, that I would have chosen with Eve and Adam. I have made the same choice, and I do it all the time. I do not want to go back to the beginning and change things. I do not want Adam and Eve to have acted differently. I am proud of them, and I am relieved that I am not the first one who has made the choice that they made.

My resolution for the New Year is to give Adam and Eve more credit for what they did for me and for us all. Honoring our fathers and our mothers includes honoring these foremothers and forefathers. Our mother-in-common was the intelligent, courageous, and fun-loving Eve and she made Adam’s life worthwhile (Genesis 3:24). Our father-in-common, Adam, boldly followed his love of Eve, and the two of them weathered the blows of reality and chose to live, even when life was no longer paradise. They did not give up love or life when the going got tough. They hung in there through the sweat of their brows and the pains of childbirth that came as promised. We, too, can choose to take our next breath and can continue to choose love and life, regardless of the risk that our choices and our loves entail. — Penrod