The pattern of transgression, expulsion, and the development of technology also appears in Hephaestos. Hephaestos, acting improperly by attempting a relationship with his mother, was thrown out of Mount Olympus (paradise) and became a blacksmith and great artificer in Hades. Hephaestos's lameness, whether preexisting or caused by the fall, highlights the relationship between weakness and artifice—technology being a means to supplement the inherent weakness and fragility resulting from expulsion.
The biblical narratives themselves contain reflections of the supplement. The Law received by Moses, written on stone tablets, and the Tabernacle, constructed with veils, are subtle forms of the garment of skin. If these external layers are disconnected from the invisible centre and reason of things, they can be dangerous. The law, the written text, and the city building (the fruit of Cain) are all insufficient in themselves unless connected to God.
The fundamental discovery of sacrifice must reach its logical end point: What is the greatest possible sacrifice for the greatest possible good?.
The answer becomes increasingly profound, requiring, in some instances, the sacrifice of what is loved best. The world is revealed through the template of one’s values; if the world observed is not the world desired, then one must examine one’s values and be prepared to sacrifice that which is clung to the hardest, even if it is loved best. If one refuses to take on responsibility for suffering and instead lays the fault at the feet of society or being itself, one begins instantly to act in a way that makes everything much worse. This refusal constitutes the attitude of Cain.
The ultimate sacrificial drama is the Christian sacrificial drama of the son and the self, which is archetypal because nothing greater can be imagined. This paradigm requires the supreme sacrifice on the part of the mother, the son, and the father simultaneously, renewing and redeeming existence. Conversely, if the son is unwilling to make the necessary sacrifice, the result is cataclysmic and chaotic.
The story of Cain and Abel ultimately illuminates the potential for voluntary engagement with evil. This recognition extends beyond mere motivation for homicide to motivations that turn human beings against being itself.
Cain becomes cognisant of his voluntary engagement with evil, which he sees as a crucial human capability. This understanding of malevolence, manifested by Cain, emerges as the enemy of proper Sacrifice.