The Garden: Why You Feel Disconnected and What to Do About It | Ep. 30

The anxiety, the shame, the feeling that something deep inside you is just off — this episode makes the case that none of it started with you.

Rahul walks through the story of the Garden of Eden not as a Sunday school recap but as a map for understanding why human beings feel so fundamentally broken and disconnected from life. Van brings her mental health background to the conversation, unpacking the psychology of shame — why it compels us to hide, blame, and deflect — and how that instinct is woven into the oldest story we know.

The most striking moment comes when they land on this: the lies that anxiety, shame, and disconnection tell you about who you are only have power when you're cut off from the source that knew you before any of that started.

This is a conversation for anyone who has ever felt like they were fighting a battle they didn't choose, and who quietly wonders whether there's a way back to something steadier, truer, and more whole.

You don't have to have it figured out to hit play.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Is really a product of what happened in the garden. What garden am I talking about?

SPEAKER_01 0:04

The Garden of Eden.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

The easiest way I can put it is sin, or in other words, evil, or trouble, or you know, all the things that we that we experience or see on a daily basis that is not good was a result of a choice that the first mankind made. This is the most critical part, I think. All of mankind now is a product of this death. They live in this inevitable death because they're no longer connected to life. No that it does not come from everyone, it came from the product of sin in the world. And the only way out is to have this type of suffering. Hi everybody, welcome to the Pillet Place Podcast. Um, I am Rahul and your host, Van Pillet herself. And at the Pillet Place Podcast, what we do is we talk about faith, family, and finance. And why is that? Because we have learned in our journey that faith, family, finance are actually the three key pillars that gives you the most fulfilling life. And our goal here is to give you some of the practical aspects, whether you're an individual or family, in enhancing your best life now through faith, family, and finance. So today's topic is about what happened in the garden. Um and our goal is really to kind of reveal to you or help you identify some of the troubles that we go through on a daily basis is really a product of what happened in the garden. What garden am I talking about?

SPEAKER_01 1:42

It started in the garden.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

It all started in the garden. What do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_01 1:46

The Garden of Eden.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Garden of Eden. Okay. Yeah. Do tell.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Well, I think you you tell the story, and then I will go from there.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Okay. I mean, the the the easiest way I can put it is sin or in other words, evil, a trouble, or you know, all the things that we with that we experience or see on a daily basis that is not good, was a result of a choice that the first mankind made. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Can you go through the story?

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Yeah. So this happened in the Garden of Eden. And in the Garden of Eden, what had happened was the first human beings, that was Adam and Eve, they were given a choice. And there was in the middle of the garden, they were put in this garden to tend to the garden, and God did that. And all this whole story is written down uh very well in the book of Genesis. I'm just gonna cliff note it for each of us. But um, there were two trees in the garden. One was the tree of life, and essentially it signifies us being connected to God because God is the author of life. So he gave life to Adam and Eve, and he's like, This is how you're connected to me through the tree of life. But right in the middle of the garden is another tree called the knowledge of the good and evil. And there was only one rule that humans had to live by, which is not to eat of that tree. And you might say, Well, why did God do that? Why did God put a tree that they should not participate in in the middle of the garden?

SPEAKER_01 3:20

I think I've always had that question. Like, why did he put the tree there in the first place?

SPEAKER_00 3:28

It would define, well, are you gonna answer it, or are you is there a rhetorical question or are you asking me?

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Well, it it gets me thinking. Like I it I kind of think of it as okay, I'm sending my kids into the room filled with outlets. Yeah. And I say, don't touch the outlets.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

And then what do they do?

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

And then they would touch the outlets, right? Yeah. But I mean, I think this says a lot about who God is.

SPEAKER_02 3:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

And I and I think there's also a lot of misconceptions about who like how or who God is. Yeah. Like we all ultimately think that, okay, he's a controlling people tend to think that he's like a controlling God. But if he was so controlling, he wouldn't have given us that choice in the garden.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Yeah, and that's literally why he did it. You know, you're absolutely right. He did it for our free will. So if he didn't put it there, then he would defy the rules of free will, right? We wouldn't have a choice to actually not choose life. So what happened was Adam and Eve, Eve uh and Adam, I'm just going to summarize, got deceived by the by the devil. And the deception was, well, you guys should eat this this fruit that comes from the knowledge of good and evil. Because the moment that you eat it, you will become just like God. That was the temptation.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Well, let's slow down a bit. You will be just like God.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Right. And I think there's a lot of messages in here, like obedience and and things like that. But then at the same time, the devil, like serpent here represents like the devil. Yeah. Right. And he is saying a half lie, which uh which ultimately is a lie. And you know, the best lies are the ones that are mixed with truth.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Right. And so you will be like God. We were already made in his image.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Yeah. We were already just well, he made us exactly in his image. That's what he says, right? So the Bible says that we are made in his image. So there was nothing holding us back from like that. We were as simple. And just to give you an example of that, when we have kids, they look like us. They are made in our image.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

So that starts somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

But I think that it's more than just the physical features.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Like the characteristics. Of course. Or like the potential inside of us. Yeah. Like I think that's that's also what it means. It's, I mean, you say it all the time. Like our youngest, he's like, you you're just like mama.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

You know the her her feistiness or her goo, how whatever that she does. She's like, You you're just like mama.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

You know, and the two older ones very much are like you. And so especially the second one.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

That's a very hidden message in that. And I don't have really have a comeback, but okay, let's get back to this.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

But um what was I saying? So so then it sounds true to Eve.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Right. It sounds true to Eve. And she this and it look and the word says, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasant to the eye, and a tree desirable to make one wise, right? She took off its fruit and ate. And there's this thought that it's she's seeking to be like God.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

And um what was I gonna say about that? And I think oftentimes in our real life situation, like our everyday situation, we get there too. We like, oh well, if I read this book, if I get into devotion or things like that, like that will also help us be more like God.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Yeah. It's it's it's interesting that you point that out because it shows that she strived to be like God. And it's such a big deception because you already are just like God. Exactly. It's inside of you. Um but but here's the here's the amazing part about that is that God said the moment that you eat of this fruit is the moment that you will die, right? Is he talking about the consequences of being disconnected from who? From the tree of life. When we're disconnected from him, the source of life. It's like being unplugged from the electrical socket that you were talking about. The moment that you're unplugged from the electrical socket, you no longer have the source of energy. Yeah, same as this, you're disconnected from life. So death entered into the world through that one of disobedience, right? Yeah. And now all of mankind, this is the this is the most critical part, I think. All of mankind now is a product of this of this death. They live in this inevitable death because they're no longer connected to life.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Yeah, they're fallen and still falling.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

That is why somebody has to, the only way to defeat this would be somebody would have to die and then gain life again. Does that make sense? Like you you can only defeat it if you enter into this fallen state and then beat the fallen state. And that's why, that's why God had to send Jesus. It was the master plan. Because Jesus is literally a full man. He takes on the consequence of sin, he dies, and then three days later, God's spirit raises him from the dead.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

That's the gospel. Like that's the beautiful thing he did.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

I mean, he took, he did it in our place.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Right. And it actually reminds me of something. Um, so I heard this story when I was younger, so I don't know how. Well, this story was so I have five older siblings, and my oldest sister at the time, like already have her driver license. She's a draw strong driver. And then my two brothers, I think at the time was like learning how to drive. And so one of my brothers was backing up the car and hit the the car, like the bumper or something like that. And and they were like, Oh my gosh, like I'm gonna get in so much trouble, and dad's gonna know that it's me. And so I think my oldest sister, Nicole, I think she got went ahead and she's like, I'll tell dad that I did it. Okay, so my dad came home and he was like calling out my two brothers, which one of you two was the one and they're twins, right? Which one of you two like hit the car? Yeah, and then they're like, No, I didn't. Yeah, and then Nicole, my sister, was like, I did. Right. And I hear, I'm like little, I don't know, seven years old or something, like, and I'm trying to like, well, like my sisters took the blame for my brothers, right? You know, they she didn't have to, yeah, but she did because and my my dad knew that it was one of he looked at it and he goes, This is these are the boys. Like the boys did this, yeah, like one of the boys did this, and it's definitely not the sister that did this. And she he knew, but he was like, Okay, well, she took the blame, and you know, and that was done.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Shows unity, yeah. And so, so um, and the one I think this is really important for those of you that are kind of just going through struggles or going through trouble and trying to figure out life. Well, just know that the trouble is what is a product of this sin, right? It has no life in it because it's something that was caused by sin entering into life, into our our our livelihood, essentially.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

We inherited that.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

We inherited that because of mankind's fall, right? And in in order to overcome that, we need to understand it's the reunity with God. So why would God do this? God would do this for us because one, he loved us too much, right? Two is because we really don't have a choice here. We can't do anything to get out of this state. There's nothing we can do. That is why organized religion doesn't work, because it puts it on you to come up with your own salvation plan, and that does not work. You really have to believe in Jesus. That's the only criteria to be saved. Right. And why is that important? Because the moment that the spirit raised Jesus from the dead was the moment that that spirit now has authority, it has authority back, and it can actually dictate okay, what would it take to obtain the salvation that I just achieved for humankind? And his and his only criteria was believe in me, which actually means to reunite with me. Just reunite with me, like what my intention was to begin with. Yeah, and I can help you overcome all those issues, the mental torture, the anxiety, the the health issues, the financial struggles, right? Like he he it takes a pleasure in being a part of our everyday life.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Yeah, but it's taking also like taking back what was originally created.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

Like he did not meant like for sin to happen.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

Like he did not he planned Garden of Eden to be everything and more.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Right. But because of sin, because they disobeyed that happened. Yeah, and all because all because of a trick.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Right. And I actually think, you know, when I was looking at this, um I think the the word says, I was afraid because I was okay, so so after tell the story. So after they sinned, what happened? After she ate the fruit.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

After she ate the fruit, then I'm summarizing, but God kind of draws them out of the garden.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Well in the so the part where they ate the fruit, and then they immediately saw that they were naked.

SPEAKER_02 14:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Right. And then they quickly found some fig leaves to cover themselves up. And then God came asking, like, where are you? And Adam went to go hide.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

And and Adam said, I was afraid because I was naked. And God said, Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? Three things happen. There was a there was a blame that happened, right? The woman, Adam said, the woman whom you gave to to be with me, she gave me the tree, the and I ate the fruit, and I ate. And this goes into communication.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Like how when we get into conflict, this is like the first conflict.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

With Adam and Gun.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

Well, you're disconnected from life. Yeah. You're obviously gonna be in conflict, conflict now.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Exactly. And immediately there was a blame.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

You know, and we see that in communication and relationships all the time.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Right? They before they even take, like, I'm sorry, babe, I didn't listen. It was more, I was busy.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

You know, and then and then immediately started hiding.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

And that's shame happened the first time in history.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Then they um second thing avoided responsibility, started blaming, and then made excuses. Um, and you know, he teamed up with Eve to bring sin into the world. Shame is defined as a painful emotion characterized by an intense feeling that one is fundamentally flawed, bad, unworthy of love, and belonging. Shame is folk, uh shame focuses on identity versus feelings like guilt focuses on bad behavior. And um like I did something bad versus I am bad. Yeah, I am not good enough. Like it's an identity thing. And um, you can identify shame because shame like thrives in secrecy. Yeah, he went to go hide, right? Right, he went to go hide. Um when we feel our sh uh when we feel ashamed, our instinct is to hide. Yeah, I think of the remember that time where Noah was sneaking around drinking soda, drinking soda, and I knew he was doing that, yeah. And I kind of just looked at him, and then he kind of was like hiding under me and Ray, like he there was a lot of shame like he was feeling, right? And sometimes when I um when I'm working with my with with people, yeah, it always goes down to like I they don't identify themselves with what the Lord had said about them, but they identify with what they are telling themselves or the lie. And immediately it goes back down to shame.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

And um I like what you're saying because and we'll wrap up here shortly, but let us close. The the the um the part about identity, right? What had happened was the moment that you're disconnected from the tree of life, which is God Himself, right, it you are the the you are no longer, you don't have the source of everything that you were created for. So all the troubles that you face, right, now will tell you all the things that are lies about you, right? And the best way to identify what's coming from the tree of life or the source of life is to just look for good. If it's good, then it's from God. If it's not good, then it's not from God. And and here's the and and yeah, I know there's some variations, right? Because there's sometimes good things that the enemy says, but it's really not good.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Well, it could appear good.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

It could appear good. Yeah. So in order to, in order to really um I mean, that's exactly what the serpent did. Right. It half-lired.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Yeah, it appeared good.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

It in it's rotten on the inside, but on the outside it looks great.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Yeah, so it's like counterfeit money.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

Right?

SPEAKER_00 19:14

If you want to know counterfeit money, you don't study the bad. You actually study more of the real money, yeah and you'll figure out when the when the bad one comes out, right? Or the lies come out. So similarly, when you are connected more to the root system, to God Himself, to Jesus, right? The better relationship that you have with him, the more you're able to identify what is not from him.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Yeah. Do you think that when they got disconnected from the tree of life, it was an immediate connection to the tree of knowledge, good and evil?

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Yeah, I wanted to talk about that. So I'm glad you brought that up. The the thing about the knowledge of good and evil now is they have this eye-opening, which is what happened to them. Yeah. Is that now they have the ability to make decisions for themselves and they decide what's good and bad. The problem is if you're not connected to the source of good, you can't really identify what's good and bad. Right? Now, human beings lived for a long time after that, but they are like spiritually dead. They're physically alive, they're emotionally alive, but spiritually dead. So reality is now you have all this lifespan left, but you don't have the source coming for you, right? So this tree, the knowledge of good and evil is really an eye-opening where your mind is more in control than really your heart. Because till this day, God still speaks to our heart.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Yeah. I think of like um like childlike faith because they don't know when they start knowing, like when they're two, yeah, like it changes, right? Like suddenly I just want sugar. Like I just want sugar. Yeah, the moment you know the second you introduce something to them, yeah. The they or something like that. Oh, this is an option? Yeah, like this is an option. Like, oh, I can lie. Yes, that's an option. That's an option. Like I can have choices and I can, you know, I those are not so make good choices.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Yes. Yes. So do you want to wrap up?

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Um, yeah, I can wrap up. No, you can wrap up.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

Okay. Well, um if you were to take one thing from this, from this little uh podcast today, I believe it's really our message here is simple. It's to be able to identify what's good and what's bad in your life and know what the source of it is. And really the way out of it you know, anxiety, mental issues, financial. Issues, whatever it is that you are facing on a daily basis, know that it does not come from God. One, it came from a product of sin in the world. And the only way out, or the best way out, right? You can spend hundreds of dollars on therapy, right? You have a therapy business, or you could just go to God. Is it free? And it's um easy and it's simple, and it's really just a faith thing. All he requires to come to him is to believe that he exists and he will help you.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

It's getting reconnected back to the original. Yeah. You were never meant to have this type of suffering and this type of pain. Or do it alone. Or to do it alone, but it was never meant for that. And it's I feel bad for Adam and Eve. It's like I They get blame for it. They get blamed for it, you know. And I think if I go to heaven, how does it feel to be literally the first humans?

SPEAKER_00 22:57

It was a responsibility. They were the first ones. Yeah. Right? It's like being the oldest. All right.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

All right. Well, if you're enjoying this so far, please um subscribe to our channel, and we'll see you in our next episode.