Story of Pre-flood Generation
There is a big discussion about the Bible stories. Generally, people are divided into three categories: believers, unsure and deniers. Some stories might be more complicated, as we might not have the full archeological backup. Even more fascinating to watch science catching up to the Bible.
However, the story of the flood is practically impossible to deny. A simple reason is that the story exists outside the Bible in legends and tales because the world was covered with water. There are certain main similarities in all of them – people (often one family) are saved from the flood waters. They all were inside the special floating device (from log to pot to raft to floating house and even a pumpkin).
It is fascinating to note that the majority of the floating devices are just something that we are not able to steer. Like the Ark, they rely on the outside forces to get to the destination. There are different reasons for flood as such, owever the majority of the time, there is a reference to people misbehaving. It is this misbehaviour that triggers the flood.
Quite often, these stories are dated before the common era. However, finding the true timeline of origin of these legends is proving to be difficult due to the oral traditional nature. One has to wonder when and how these stories were passed from one generation to another, as well as “adjustments” made to them.
Likely for us, the Bible has the story recorded. It is this story that is going to be our topic of discussion. Although history is always fascinating and legends associated with it are worth exploring, we clearly understand that there is only one true version of the events. Finding everlasting and relevant lessons based on the Biblical stories is our goal.
Speaking from personal experience, the more we study and learn any given Biblical story, the more relevant they become. As we are shaping our perspective on life with additional experience, we often see the same story through different lenses. The iconic story of the flood, as well as things following it, is a clear example of it.
Imagine you are ready to go on holiday somewhere in the Mediterranean – warm weather, healthy and tasty food, a great range of activities and much more. It is very
exciting as you are thinking and planning everything you can imagine.
Once you have arrived on the island, it is hard to contain your excitement. However, you will notice that local people often do not have the same level of joy, not rushing to take a dip in the beautiful warm ocean waves or smell all the flavours of the local food or wine.
It is not strange; it is a rather normal reaction if we are losing our ability to be grateful for things big and small. Our sages suggest noting at least a hundred things to be grateful about. The ability to recognise the Divine source of the blessing is not always an easy job for us as people. After all, we are tempted to take credit for things we have not done, which is as bad as diminishing our own impact in our lives. Balance is the key.
If the world before the flood is often described like that dreamy holiday destination, one would search for the reason for the loss of morality. However, if we are completely honest with ourselves, we will realise that pleasure seeking is very strong in us at any given time.
Continuing with the example of the holidays, we know that a prolonged stay at one place will bring our excitement level down, with food starting to taste very similar, morning swim in the beautiful ocean is becoming more like structured exercise, the ocean is not always your favourite shade of blue and so on. In other words, we will look for a new adrenaline rush. This is just typical. The only difference is the kind of things we will do to achieve that exciting and unmistakable feeling. Will we stay within the agreed limits or not?
People of the pre-flood generation were no different. Despite the beautiful gifts bestowed on that generation, they turned out to be rather ungrateful and were seeking things through bribes, lies and robbery. The corrupt lifestyle became their norm of life, and the people were unable to see the problem it caused. The only exception was Noah.
As previously discussed, Noah was the righteous man in his generation. He was ready to forgo all the temptations to follow the instructions of Almighty Himself. The appreciation of the Divine source of his work instructions saw Noah through. Noah had his adrenaline rush fix coming from doing unpopular and often repetitive tasks.
This can only come with the attitude of gratitude, which we are trying to achieve. This attitude will allow us to have more enjoyment in our everyday lives, as well as have the right mindset to positively impact people around us.
Let us continue to learn from the story of Noah and see how it is applicable to our lives. The only prerequisite for this journey is allowing yourself to be honest and see that, without historical knowledge, we can easily fall into the wrong patterns. This is the moment of reflection and having gratitude to the Almighty for giving us the universal laws.
