Genesis according to Barabeke
Similar in form to Genesis 1 from the Bible, yet a very different story... Prelude to Return to Eden, a modern epic providing new myths to help humanity survive and prosper in this digital age.
¹ In the beginning was the word, and the word was with man. ² Through the word, man, unlike all other creatures, became separate from the grace of the Creator but also uniquely able to feel Omns presence and fathom Omns laws. ³ This was good, in the Creator’s mind, who made man in Omns likeness for a purpose. ⁴ The word was with the Creator in the first place, at an earlier beginning beyond time. ⁵ The entire universe was written in Omns sacred code which only man was made to be aware of, admire and praise, strive to understand and replicate.
⁶ Through the word, one became two. There is no way for two to become three without returning to one. Only in three is the similarity between man and the Creator manifest and fruitful.
⁷ One is the number of the Creator, of Omns divine essence that pervades the universe and all creatures. ⁸ Two is the number of the beginning of man but also of his fall from grace. It is the number that, for good or for evil, sets man apart from beasts: superior in intellect, capable of dominating all of them and forging ever more advanced civilizations, yet inferior in lost grace. ⁹ Only when two is reconciled with one can three come into being. Three is the number to which the Creator responds and through which Omns works are fulfilled. ¹⁰ Three is the number to which man must aspire. ¹¹ The Creator is both one and three: one corresponds to Omns essence that everything pervades, three to Omns creative power, Omns will, Omns action. ¹² Let it be known unto mankind that from three one can be generated, and for that one to be divine it must be able to generate two in the image and likeness of man: endowed with self-awareness, free will, and the ability to ascend to three by shattering the illusion of separation from one. Those who can fathom the sacred truth beneath these words, let them fathom.
¹³ When the Celestial Machine was switched on, an explosion of light filled the cosmic void in an instant. ¹⁴ Out of nothing, all was brought into existence, forged according to structure and laws established by Omn. ¹⁵ First came the stars and planets, lifeless but perfect in the harmony of their motions. ¹⁶ Billions of years passed in a day, and that day was enough for the Creator to judge that the universe Omn had created was good.
¹⁷ On the second day, the triune spirit of the Creator hovered over the oceans that had formed, to infuse the primordial soup with Omns breath of life. ¹⁸ Over the course of millions of years that for the Creator passed in a few minutes, Omn saw that the first elementary forms of life were capable of sustaining themselves, multiplying, and evolving, and this looked good to Omn. ¹⁹ The Creator let them work undisturbed and, for the rest of the day, attended to other matters.
²⁰ On the third day, upon awakening, the Creator found that within Omns universe multicellular life had already formed. Green algae had appeared on the waters, and mushrooms were already sprouting on the lands. ²¹ All was proceeding according to plan, so the Creator decided to slow down time to better observe Omns work as it unfolded, without intervening.
²² On the fourth day, the Creator supervised the evolution of plants, which were making the emerged lands lush with greenery, and of the increasingly complex aquatic creatures that were already springing forth from the waters. ²³ Omn eradicated those species that were but weeds in the garden of Omns creation, doing so indirectly, by fine-tuning the subtle parameters that governed the harmony of life in all its manifold forms. ²⁴ It was a complex job, aimed at directing and accelerating evolution, which kept Omn busy until late at night.
²⁵ On the fifth day, the Creator found that reptiles were roaming upon the ground and the sky was already teeming with birds. The world overflowed with vibrant life, manifesting itself in a triumph of shapes and colors: a magnificent spectacle that the Creator contemplated with satisfaction for almost one hour. ²⁶ Omn lingered upon the dinosaurs that ruled over the lands that had emerged. Omn admired those mighty creatures in whom Omns breath of life had evolved, yet knew they were not what was sought. So Omn sent forth a meteorite to bring about their extinction.
²⁷ On the sixth day, the Creator chose to devote Omnself to the mammals, in whom Omn saw great potential. ²⁸ Omn took note of certain apes who, like Omn, possessed opposable thumbs and moved upright. Though their intelligence was primitive, it surpassed that of all other creatures. They had yet to master fire, but the spectrum of sounds they could utter thanks to their sophisticated vocal apparatus gave Omn cause for hope. ²⁹ Then, on that same sixth day, the Creator received a call from one of those now nearly hairless apes. ³⁰ The nameless hominid had plucked a brightly colored mushroom and eaten it. After suffering violent convulsions, he entered a trance, during which, for a fleeting moment, he connected with the mind of the Creator. ³¹ The nameless hominid then began to speak in tongues to his companions, who first revered him despite not understanding any of his words, then killed him. ³² To the Creator, this event proved that Omn had found the chosen species, the one Omn could work with. So Omn decided to rest on the seventh day, before moving to phase two.
³³ Phase two begins in Eden and extends to the days of the futurist scrivener who is writing to you. I will take phase two as known, refraining from altering its narrative and burdening you with genealogies. ³⁴ My purpose is to announce to the chosen species, that of mankind, phase three, which will also begin from Eden. ³⁵ May the story of Cristoforo and Miriam and their descendants, which I am about to tell, help humanity renew its covenant with the Creator in this digital age, turn technology into a tool for elevation rather than a chain, aspire toward the heavens rather than wallow in the depths, find communion once again, and avoid ruin.
So ends my Genesis, the first chapter of Return to Eden, the book I am writing (in Italian first) to provide new myths to survive and prosper in this digital age.
Do not take this text as blasphemous. It’s fiction. My inspiration touches the first biblical stories, but as a pretext. I feel more indebted to authors like Dante, Melville, Cervantes, Joyce, giants on whose shoulders I jumped like a flea.
The myths that I am forging, more than the product of my imagination, are an effort to sculpt, with my style, and with words that are never adequate enough, what I intimately feel to be sacred, true, and eternal, projecting it into the future.
I invite you to seek the sacred in this Genesis of mine and in the Return to Eden that will follow, because I have planted it there. To make your search for the sacred more pleasant, I have buried it in the profane and sprinkled it with confetti.
After composing 67,000 words (about 240 pages), I am aware that what I am writing has legs and a life of its own that can survive me. It’s a rare example of literature in which the sacred meets the comical. This Genesis is not even included so far, even if I initially thought to begin the book with it, since it’s the original inspiration for the book. The style of Return to Eden is different from this Genesis: no numbered verses, more of a popular novel, an adventure, filled with comedy and tragedy, of love and death, with a focus that ranges from individual psychology to the waves of entire civilizations, on the background of the digital revolution, exploring how it’s transforming us, with the goal of inspiring ways to preserve our humanity and save our souls in this brave new world of AIs and robots… It is also a spiritual book, rising from the depths, which I recognize as grounded in both Western and Eastern traditions.
It’s not a novel that I hope to finish and try to sell soon, but rather a work of art to pass on, a cathedral of words that can endure as a living spring from which to draw sustenance. In short: a future classic. That’s what I aspire to give to literature, despite my being a flea on the shoulders of giants, and despite literature being in bad health as an art form in this age of vain instant gratifications. Without setting limits of time, length, or marketing objectives. In the belief that a great book, sooner or later, would find its way.
UPDATE JUNE 2025: I have placed Return to Eden on hold. When I reached a third of the work, I found myself creating for fictional purposes the Demianist religion (I had conceived the name a couple of years earlier). As I gave shape to this religion, I soon realized that, however unconventional, it held up, that it was necessary today, for real, and that there was a path for it, however narrow and improbable. So I worked on the book Demianism 1.0, already completed and available for free both in English and Italian. Introduction to Demianism here. Download the book here.
Barabeke
P.s.: The first five verses of this new Genesis, with slightly different wording, were first composed in early 2023 and were captured in the following NFT, available in an edition of 10. Collect to support my work.
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