Cain's journey

Meditations on Jordan Peterson’s Biblical Series V: Cain and Abel: The Destruction of the Ideal

And here I am, old. What do I remember? I remember my children’s smiles when we used to play together. I remember various first times when things felt awkward, new, or curious. I remember songs and movies that left a lasting impression. In other words, I remember the emotional moments.

What don’t I remember? I don’t remember when I defended my PhD. I don’t remember what I used to do at school and after school. I don’t remember last week, last month, last year. Those things that seemed so important at the moment, I forgot.

Still, even those things that were emotional are not more valuable. They just got engraved into my memory, but they are equally gone. Neither makes my life automatically meaningful.

But does life have to be meaningful at all? It seems to me that a more accurate aspiration is an authentic life – living in a way that feels true to your potential.

Both Abel and Cain had potential. Just like all people do initially. Cain, however, had higher expectations – as a firstborn, he naturally absorbed the expectations of his inexperienced parents. Adam and Eve, after the expulsion from Paradise, must have sensed a lingering feeling of guilt and perhaps a desire to prove to God that they could manage on their own. Who else, if not Cain, could prove it? Cain, through his arduous labor, should return his family to Paradise - if not literally, then at least by creating a paradise on Earth.

A heavy burden of expectation! Especially considering that Adam and Eve themselves caused the expulsion from Paradise, that is, they fell short of God’s expectations and their human nature won. Why should Cain be any different? He, too, is a child of humans. But no, more is expected of him, disproportionately more.

It’s different for Abel. The second child receives less attention. By the time a second child arrives, parents have usually learned not to expect too much – and often, they’re simply tired of raising children. Lower expectations give breathing room to Abel and it is easier for him to grow authentically.

Adding to this dynamic is the fact that Cain will inherit their parent’s land. So, Abel needs to figure out what to do for himself, how to feed himself when he grows up. Abel feels less bound to his parents and their land. Quite early, perhaps no even realizing it consciously, he begins preparing for an independent life according to his own rules. Expectations do not limit him – he’s constrained instead by reality itself, which dictates he’ll have to somehow get by.

Abel discovers his own authenticity sooner than Cain who lives in the world of his parents expectations rather than in his authentic reality. God confirms Abel’s authenticity by accepting his sacrifices. Meanwhile Cain does everything out of necessity because he “has to”. And when you must do things you don’t want to, doubts and anger arise, questioning why others are dictating him how to live. God doesn’t appreciate Cain’s insincere sacrifices and the inability to find authenticity, and He call on Cain to reflect on what he actually wants.

Could God simply tell Cain what that authentic life looks like, how to reach it, what to desire? No, because there is no one recipe that will work for everyone and because there are no shortcuts to reaching authenticity. God can only promise Cain that he too can reach it, but when it comes to doing it – that’s up to Cain to figure out his desires and discover himself.

Cain does not hear the voice of God. He is not yet ready for this transformation. Coming from the first generation of people who can think and reflect (rather than be animal-like in Paradise), he is thinking rationally about the causes behind his misery, failing to connect to his unconscious urges for freedom. Perhaps he works too much, never allowing himself to stop and ask honestly if he actually wants the life he is leading. Perhaps he is too close to his parents and does not see he should free himself from the world they created. Stuck in the unpleasant daily chores, Cain sinks deeper and deeper into resentment toward the world and God, and anger develops inside him. Yet he knows he should not feel this way, that hating God is perhaps the greatest sin. Thus he keeps those emotions bottled up until they burst out and he kills his brother.

Abel is a symbol of success. Somehow, Cain thinks, he is such a chill and charming kind of a guy, someone that Cain will never be. Killing Abel is an attempt to remove that living example of success. Maybe, he this, this will improve his situation, because there will be no more expectations and constant comparison to his brother? But even Cain himself, had he only stopped for a moment to reflect, would have understood that it was a self-deception. The real motif behind Cain’s actions – one that he may not have consciously understood at the time – was to break ties with his parents, expectations, and the life designed for him. Not finding a way or courage to do it properly – through a conversation or a prayer – Cain fulfills that need by placing himself under the circumstances that make it happen. Fratricide will automatically turn him into a wanderer. Thus, Cain loses everything he had, but he still has God’s favor – it is not for nothing that God marks him to protect him from vengeance.

Maybe that is, in fact, the sign Cain finally reaches his authenticity. Cain becomes the builder of cities and the founding father of our civilization.

2025-06-02 Pailgio ež. 2025-07-06 Vilnius