Of Apples and Porridge: Goldilocks, Paradise and the Problem of Being Human
- Ragd Osman
- Nov 5
- 8 min read
Updated: Nov 11
We all know how the tale goes. A little girl with golden locks wanders into the woods as she endeavors to complete an errand imposed on her by her mother. She happens to encounter a cottage on her mission, which soon becomes forgotten as curiosity ensnares her- forcing her to trespass into the little home. Goldilocks explores the cottage, sampling the lives of others: testing porridge, chairs, and beds, until she finds the one that fits her perfectly, before, finally taking a nap until the angry bears arrive at the scene.
Under greater scrutiny, the story of Goldilocks seems to possess a unique Abrahamic flair. There’s an intention in its genesis that seems to go beyond the surface. Despite its simplicity, Goldilocks is a profound metaphor of what makes us human; our unending pursuit of distraction, ideality, balance and purpose.
The Paradise Lost:
The very essence of paradise varies in different religions, but the Islamic conception of paradise will be chiefly navigated today, whilst contrasting it with biblical belief. According to both religions, life started in heaven, with the creation of Adam, and his subsequent residence with Eve before their expulsion. However, in Christianity, the fall from Eden is tied to original sin: a serpent, an apple, a lapse, and consequences inherited by all of humankind. Eve, in particular, is often associated with blame, and the doctrine of original sin underpins the need for salvation through the crucifixion of Jesus. This theology posits that our redemption is only possible through divine intervention and the sacrificial blood of Christ.
Contrasting this, in Islam, Adam and Eve aren’t despised figures guilty of our descent into worldly struggle, since it is believed that no one bears anyone’s sin, and we’re all born pure; uncorrupted and untouched. Although it is true that in the Quran, both Adam and Eve ate from the tree as they were led by the deceptions of Satan and his promise of a guaranteed metamorphosis into angelhood to thwart their inevitable stewardship of the earth and fulfilment of the covenant. Their story doesn’t serve as grounds for blame; in fact, this is where we find the etymology of the Arabic word for human being “Insan”. This stems from linguistic roots associated with forgetfulness and love, meaning forgetful/loving creatures. The genus that gets distracted then forgets, rebels then regrets and perhaps returns. As was the case with Adam in the Quran, as he attains forgiveness through repentance. In the Quran (20:115), Allah explains “And We had already taken a promise from Adam before, but he forgot; and We found not in him determination.” This account serves as a profound exploration of humanity’s greatest gift; choice. If there was no tree, then there would’ve been no choice, and thus, no challenge of will. It’s a tribute and a reminder of what makes us human.
The Paradise in Primordial Memory:
In the tale of Goldilocks, our protagonist endeavours to seek out the perfect fit for her, be it in porridge, chairs or beds. It is not enough that a function is executed, but rather the issue of how well it is done. This instinctual need to aim for an ideal is something very deeply nestled in all cultures and our basic impulse as humans. There’s this natural innocuous, unsuspected, and unquestioned ambition for an ideal that we exercise on the day to day without paying heed to. Similarly, Goldilocks seeks a paradisal ideal in the porridge, chairs, and beds throughout her inspections of the cottage of the three bears.
The most major commonality integral to this discussion is the heavenly abode; the original habitat of our progenitors according to theological thought. In Islamic revelation, it is explicitly stated in the Quran that humans were meant to inherit paradise, in verse 7:43:“And they will be called, "This is Paradise, which you have been made to inherit for what you used to do."”. The hanging chambers in the stars, the unending rivers and vast gardens were for humanity to claim by right of existence. Paradise was made for Adam, the first human being created by Allah, and thus consequently, the father of all human beings according to Islamic thought. It’s simple, as his progeny; what’s his, is ours. We were meant to be here from the beginning, and so were Adam and Eve as the condition in our contract for eternal residence in paradise, is righteousness in worldly life (regardless of the order of events). That is what our spirits and souls were made for because that’s mankind’s final destination and first home. Our time on Earth is not a punishment but a preparation for the inheritance of what was always meant to be ours. Paradise was not and is not lost, it is waiting.
This idea was further developed by numerous theologians and philosophers of the Islamic Golden Age, including Al-Ghazali, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), and Al-Farabi. In his seminal work Al-Madina Al-Fadilah (The Virtuous City), Al-Farabi argues that the pursuit of perfection is one of the fundamental sources and manifestations of beauty in the world with beauty being defined as representations of perfection. He posits that beauty is inherently attractive and sought after because it is one of the divine attributes (one of the Names of Allah) and therefore all of creation is naturally drawn to it.
For example, Al-Farabi links this intrinsic desire for completeness to the oneness (tawhid) of Allah, who represents the ultimate, undivided ideal. In contrast, fragmentation and disunity are seen as deficiencies, lacking the perfection that only divine unity can embody. In this way, the human longing for wholeness and perfection becomes a reflection of the soul’s deeper yearning for the divine. This is reflected in Goldilocks' pursuit of the perfect bed, the perfect porridge, the perfect chair. The most ideal fit that extends beyond execution of function to accommodation of pleasure and desire.
In Islamic thought, earthly beauty is viewed as a reflection; a distant echo of a lost, original state of grace. It is our separation from that primordial unity, our exile from the divine source that gives rise to longing, ambition, anxiety, and pain. These emotions, in turn, drive us to imagine and reconstruct bridges between the temporal and the eternal, the fragmented and the whole crafting an archetypal mould of the unattainable ideal. The longing gives birth to beauty, and beauty awakens longing, thus perpetuating a cycle of desire and pursuit of transcendence.
This sentiment of earthly beauty being a pre-view of the Kingdom of God, is similarly echoed in various Christian schools, such as Christian Neo-Platonism, Augustinian and Anglican thought, as well as Natural Theology. Platonic philosophy, especially as it was Christianized by early thinkers like Saint Augustine, and later, by Dante and Boethius perpetuates and builds on Plato's idea of the Forms; perfect realities that earthly things only dimly reflect. It highlights the shared Abrahamic theme of earthly joys being “signposts” pointing to a greater, eternal reality. In his notable work, Symposium and Phaedrus, Plato concludes that when we see something beautiful in this world, it causes us to recollect, vaguely, in a kind of metaphysical déjà vu, what we had once lovingly gazed upon. The beautiful object triggers an overwhelming response as result of the reminder of its subconscious primeval history.
The exegesis of Paradiso, the third volume of Dante’s Divine Comedy, further emphasizes the existence of an impulse to gravitate to the divine. Dante integrates Platonic ideals of beauty, with Neo-Platonic concepts, to present a vision of ascensus mentis (an ascent of the mind to wisdom), where the contemplation of earthly beauty and experience leads the observer to a higher understanding of the ultimate divine Good, embodying the idea of a unified radiant Beauty and perennial ideal, by which everything insufficiently imitates, thus giving a sacred guiding purpose for desire. This is echoed in Goldilocks unquestioned impulse and motivation in seeking the better and more perfect fit.
Moreover, notable figures like Thomas Aquinas and St. Anslem of Canterbury echoed such reasoning in natural theology and argument from desire, by claiming that human reason and experience point to the existence of God and external truths. One way this is stated by Aquinas in his treatise is “It is impossible for natural desire to be empty, for nature does nothing in vain”, thus re-affirming the notion of necessary fulfilment of the ideal state and absolute afterlife consequently. A more popular defender of this belief is C.S Lewis in his famous quote: “The fact that our hearts yearn for things the Earth can't supply, is proof that heaven must be our home”. Hence, the original Abrahamic heavenly abode is essentially seen as the blueprint for humanity’s existence, the source to which we are tethered to, in constant subconscious awareness and search of in both faiths.
The Paradise in the Possibilities and the Assumption:
On a deep, unspoken level, we hold fast to a hidden creed: an assumption of paradise, not always seen but always sensed. We are guided intuitively by the notion that something better awaits. And if it cannot be touched, we will mould it in our mind, then craft it with our two hands. This yearning echoes through nearly all our pursuits, a silent resonance beneath our thoughts and deeds. We labour to soften the sharp edges of existence, to make life more bearable, more beautiful, more just. We rise in protest and cry out for equity, seeking a goal greater than mere survival: harmony. We do not humbly cope, nor idly hope; we adapt. We invent and innovate. We transmute adversity into opportunity, and chaos into creation. We rebel, we pray, we plead, we fight, and we endure, all for a fragile balance between order and anarchy, joy and grief, work and play. All for the sake of a paradise, hypothetical perhaps, but no less holy, no less real. This tension between extremes and the longing for an ideal middle is more than what could be regarded as a primordial and spiritual encoding in the soul but more tangibly at the heart of both personal growth and our collective journey as a species. The scales dip and rise accordingly, all so that a Goldilocks zone could be achieved, just so we could be just right. We seek paradise, i.e. beauty and balance religiously and or hypothetically, but we sabotage its external manifestations through our intrinsic imbalances. The achievement of external paradise is only achievable once an internal Goldilocks zone is attained.
On the most personal level, we are all Goldilocks; from the internal stage within individuals to the chronicles of entire nations. Similar to the innermost pendulum within, civilizations swing from extreme ideologies to another less exorbitant variation and so on until, perhaps, at some point in time, the pendulum swings become minute shifts too negligible to consider and the hypothetical ideal is attained. Likewise, this is where the human struggle emerges, the battle that comes from the labor of constructing the ideal external environment while also endeavoring to attain victory in the internal frontier. The inner war that emerges as the higher and lower selves crash into one another both vying for paramount over the heart. It is the balancing of an ever-tipping scale; a delicate methodical process that requires mindfulness, patience and the courage to face consequences, even if it means we burn our tongue along the way or hurt our back because of a hard bed.
The underlying idea in Goldilocks appeals to the cause and guiding form of desire for perfection and the unquestioned nature of the journey we undertake to achieve our personal paradises. The journey, despite its difficulty, is without a doubt, the most meaningful one to our existence.
References:
Maftuni, Nadia (2012). Conceptualization of Beauty from Farabi to Suhrawardi. Kheradnameh Sadra Quarterly 68.
Image: Illustration by Jane and Anne Grahame Johnstone from Goldilocks and the Three bears- Deans Book of Fairytales
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