The Birth Of Fashion
“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” Genesis 3:7.
When Adam’s eyes were opened, he felt the wind on his scrotum. He knew he was in serious trouble. To patch things up, he and his wife covered their nakedness by sewing fig leaves together to cover their privates. Interesting to note here that on the seventh day, God rested from His work. In the seventh verse of this chapter, man’s eyes were opened, and they entered a life of chaos and toiling. The opposite of rest.
The newlyweds had their first meal, and now they’ve finished their first collaboration as a couple with matching his’ and her’s outfits to cover each other’s shame. At a wedding, the bride and groom cut the cake representing their first act as a couple. Our ancestors make clothes for each other as their first act. Their lives are now intertwined by word and deed. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Genesis 2:24. Broken and pathetic as it seems, they are at least collaborating and in union with each other.
The fig leaves not only concealed Adam and Woman from God but from each other. They are no longer able to enjoy the naked and unashamed aspect of their relationship (Genesis 2:25). The intimacy of openness and nakedness with full acceptance is severed. Their offspring will suffer the consequence of their actions of disconnect and shame in front of each other and God.
Like the half-truth the serpent told of Thou Shall Not Surely Die that led to spiritual death reflected in a previous post, our nakedness is now morphed into a new lie. The covering of our nakedness is now a source of pride. To Adam and Woman, fig leaves were to cover their junk; now their descendants tell each other the lie that we can protect our junk with brand names and designer clothes, elevating our status. Sin begets more sin. The words on my coverings are better than yours because they cost more. Fully exercising our abilities to judge between good and worse. How foolish we are to use blindness as a source of pride. Our disconnect drifts further apart.
My mother used to say, “The foolish man is naked, and the smart man is ashamed.” I’ve spent most of my life trying not to look naked. It didn’t work out well for me for the first thirty years. It prevented me from seeking out close intimate relationships because I couldn’t remove my cover. The covering that concealed my heart and soul. I did a great job of covering my body, though. I know how to choose the best clothes that suit my skin color and body type. It was all just an empty shell that concealed a broken soul. The camouflage worked so well that I couldn’t find myself, even when I was trying hard!
For almost a decade, I entered into contemplation with God’s help and spiritual guidance, to dive into the depths of myself. Chisel away at an empty shell to reveal the tenderness below the surface. When faced with the choice to recede to my old ways to push through the fear of intimacy, I step into courage, and a burst of life from a well full of God’s love opens up to me.
I had to look at the face of my trauma, my version of the fall, to study my lost innocence. It’s heart-wrenching and agonizing, to say the least. It continues to hurt, but I’m no longer ashamed. I no longer fear the pain of death, the serpent, so enjoy reminding me. My nakedness is revealed, and there’s no shame. Just me at the cusp of love and loss.
Hope in God led to many revelations and cure from blindness and nakedness. I clung to hope that God, in His time, would redeem my life and perfect me into the beautiful creature He created as Woman.
This journey started with removing one fig leaf at a time through relationships I trusted and people wise enough to listen. Believe me, many pushed me away, and they still do. Naked unashamed sees naked unashamed. Shamed can not look at unashamed and see grace. This process is slow and builds upon the previous stage. A strip down of all fig leaves would be too devastating, and the human psyche cannot comprehend or process all our trauma at once. There is no overnight exhibitionist born!
God knows us inside and out. Before we even reach ourselves, He is already there. A few words of encouragement to those who want to see themselves. You are not naked alone. When you see yourself and your nakedness, chances are those that love you most have already seen you. They loved you already, and there isn’t anything about you that once revealed with change that love. God’s love is like that. He loved you before you knew how and saw your nakedness before you saw it for yourself.
Image: Tohaneanu, Archimandrite Timotei, Icon of Adam and Eve in Paradise (Romanian), 20th c. (Mid).