Alienation

Alienation is a theme that I have been thinking about alot since moving away from home again. In my Old Testament class, the concept of alienation came up. It seems, in looking at the Pentateuch (a commonly used, but not exactly accurate word used to reference the first 5 books of the Hebrew Bible), that we can find four distinct points of alienation between God and humanity:

• The first alienation was the alienation of Adam and Even from the secure life in the garden of Eden, and the experneice of death.
  
• In the second alienation Cain is driven from the land.
• The Irealites are temporarially denied access to the promised land
  
• The fourth, and ultimate alienation was the flood. I say that this one is the ultimate because of the way in which the earth reverts to primordial chaos save for the inhabitants of one ship.

How do we experience alienation today? I think it is important to remember that, as in the Pentatuech, alienation can take many forms: physical separation (Cain was driven from the settled land into a nomadic lifestyle), emotional separation (Adam and Eve are removed from the garden, the Isrealites are unable to move into the land flowing with milk and honey), and spiritual separation (God starts the world over, without those who were corrupting it.) I suppose the final thought here is that if you are feeling alienated, take heart, you are in good company.