February 2, 2012

The Stone

Eden Before the Fall - Part 2

By In Eden Before the Fall Series

Among the many rain-like drops falling from Eve as she emerged from the pool, a single drop, a little larger than the others, caught Adam’s eye.  He studied it in the instant that it existed, a life in the eyes of God, he imagined.  A Truth came to him cloaked in a vision.  As the drop fell, he could see it speeding up faster and faster before reaching a point where it didn’t speed up anymore.  It’s progression toward the ground was then linear having reached a balance between the push of the water surface against the movement of the air out of the way and the return of that air into the wake of the water.  It was an honest mistake that he had never seen it before, he though, and he wondered if Eve could see within his eyes the understanding that had taken hold of him.  In a short instant, the world snapped into relief for him.  He saw her body edged in gold the way the sun was rising behind her, coating the edges of her form yet leaving the front of her body rather blue and gray, almost devoid of color.

He said to her, “There is no color, only that which is revealed by the light.”

Eve studied him and cocked her head.  “The goodness is revealed but is still there when hidden, like a distant shore present behind morning fog.”

“It does not exist without our gaze upon it.  It is our recognition of the color that we appreciate, yet without our eyes, the color isn’t there.  Outside of us, the color does not even matter.”  Adam picked up a large stone.  “This stone is heavy, but to you is immobile.”  He dropped the stone to the soft mossy ground where it sunk in denting it deeply.  “We don’t sink into the ground, but the stone does.  The stone is hard to me, but is not hard to Him.  He could make the stone so that it never existed.  So how can color be an absolute without our eyes?  Your hair is golden and beautiful to me but to the butterfly, it is as a field of grass to rest upon.  I have seen this.  Do we even exist without His eyes and ears looking and listening to our prayers?”

He saw a tongue of fire close to the horizon different from the other fires he had seen in the forests of the plains.  It stretched upward into the sky curling like a shallow stream on flat ground searches for the ocean.  Eve stared into his eyes as she walked toward him.  She dragged his brown hair behind his right ear and kissed his cheek but he did not react.  She traced her finger on his forehead and across his eyebrow and down to his temple yet his ocean blue eyes never met hers.  She removed her hand from his face and rested it on his dirty shoulder and turned to look toward the horizon which occupied him with such intensity.  But the earth and sky was only filled with the same beauty which always amazed her and she assumed he was also entranced by the remarkable sunrise.

Written by Jon Hillenbrand

Jon Hillenbrand is a Chicago-based artist working in photography and filmmaking. He has over 15 years of professional award-winning experience working both locally and nationally in television, print and web advertising. He currently calls Evanston, IL home.