How was Adam alone when he had GOD all to himself?

micmek

I've been listening to a few sermons on loneliness.

Orthodox Sermons have some good sermons on it.
Coping with loneliness - Fr Anthony Messeh
Face 2 Face Graduate Retreat

As I was listening, a few questions started to pop into my mind.
Is God the complete solution to loneliness? And if HE is then Adam out of all people should not have felt alone at ALL because he had GOD all to himself. So how does God say that Adam was alone when he has God all to himself?

[quote author=Gen 2:18]
And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Gen 2:18
[/quote]

How was man alone when he had God?

Why was it necessary for God to create a companion for Adam when only God can satisfy our feeling of loneliness? Eve can't be the solution to Adam's loneliness because she is not perfect. God is perfect and knows exactly how to satisfy our every need.

Is companionship important to the solution of loneliness or is God sufficient?

I would love to hear Fr Peter's spiritual words on this.

God Bless
PP4M

ilovesaintmark

The question begs to be asked is whether a man is willing to accept the realization that God is Completion and the fulfillment for any loneliness?

peterfarrington

That is a good question, and a reasonable one.

I think that we should consider that although Adam was in a most blessed state in the Garden of Eden, he was not yer perfected according to God's will. I mean that just as a child may be perfectly formed, yet it is not perfection for a person to remain as a child all of their lives. To be in such a state would not be perfection at all. Therefore we should consider that one aspect of Adam's experience was to grpw in the grace which he had been given as a free gift. He was perfect but he needed to be perfected by obedience. And in this he failed.

There is a sense in which we receive even more than Adam when we are renewed by the Holy Spirit in baptism, and participate in the Eucharist. We are being united with God in a manner that even Adam had not yet experienced. Even though our experience of this union is still made only partial by our present circumstances. We are also being perfected.

What I suppose I am trying to suggest is that Adam himself was not yet perfected even though he was created perfect. There was more for him to learn and experience. It was part of his humanity that he needed companionship of his own kind. This was not a defect or weakness. It was and is a natural movement of our humanity. And so Eve was created to meet that need, as food was created to meet the need for nourishment, and water and other liquids were created to meet the need for fluids.

The problem we face as children of Adam is that this natural need for companionship is allowed to take on corrupt forms. It should be said that there are very, very, very few who have lived a life without any human contact at all. Even the hermits would meet at the weekend for the Synaxis, and the experience of the Eucharist is essentially an experience of fellowship in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

But we allow the human need for companionship and human contact to overwhelm us, as we do so many other movements of our humanity. And the need for companionship can become the need to dominate people, it can become the need to own people, it can become a jealousy of others, it can be a fear of losing people, it can become a crushing shyness, and a promiscuous need to be seen and known.

In all of these cases it is necessary for us to learn that God comes first. Beyond and before all need for companionship and relationship. We do not need to be overwhelmed by shyness or extrovertness or jealousy or despair or loneliness, because God comes first. I don't need everyone to like me because I am liked by God. I don't need to be afraid of people while still desiring relationships because God casts out fear. If we focus on God then these problems with the natural need for companionship are resolved.

But to love God first does not mean that the natural human need for companionship goes away, because it is not sinful. What happens is that we learn how to exercise that pleasure in human companionship in a godly manner. It is the same as the command to love God AND our neighbour. We may say, if I love God with all my heart then there is no room to love anyone else. But love does not work like that. The more we love God the more our heart is enlarged to love God in others. All love is of God and is directed to God because God is love.

If we are lonely then we should seek to find comfort in God, but this does not mean that even when we are comforted we do not find joy in the companionship of others. Such companionship is still an expression of God's love in and through others. Our love for God is not diminished by loving others. But if we NEED others then we still have a problem. If we NEED to be NEEDED by others then we still have a problem.

If we have such a relationship with God that we do not NEED others or NEED to be NEEDED by others then we are set free to be in such relationships with them as are placed in our path. We are able to offer ourselves to others without needing a response. We are able to receive from others without needing to hold on to them. But it is the proper Orthodox Christian relationship with God which sets us free to live in such a way.

Adam still had all these lessons to learn, as we do. He could have learned them in paradise blessed with every blessing, and more and more blessings. But he chose to turn away from God and so all of his natural faculties were darkened, and we experience life ourselves as coming from darkness into light. But there is light. And there is a way to be properly human, with our faculties properly balanced again. When we work to experience such a balance then we can experience companionship as God intended it to be.

mabsoota

what an awesome question!

also the answer blew me away...

i love u all  :)

TITL

I love you too Mabsoota.  ;D