Adam & Eve by RKH. Photo by Robert Saltzman
I call this painting “Adam and Eve” because it is a direct expression of duality, within the larger context of non-duality. The two ancient trees (timeless in age) appear to be separately existing, but their roots are intertwined and inseparable. I like the way the green leaves are indication of the eternality of life, although the trunks appear to be lifeless. I believe the Adam and Eve story of the fall from the garden is a myth that tells us about the origins of our ordinary dual consciousness arising out of the non-duality of “the garden of eden” with the beginning of thought. Eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is the mythic description of the origin of separate egoic self and its vehicle of expression: thought. The story of Adam and Eve tells us of the beginning of human suffering that arrived with the notion of separation, the illusion of separate existence, self from other. In this painting the trees are not separate at all, but only appear to be. The same is true of all life forms, human and otherwise–Robert K. Hall
Dharma Talks • Insight Meditation • Robert K. Hall 