(i) Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on the grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc., etc. It is humbug to pretend this is not a motive, and a strong one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen — in short, with the whole top crust of humanity.The Bible - the written word - is a product of man surrendering to the ego. It is man trying to explain man's predicament of being held captive to the ego, while himself being held captive to the ego. In other words, it wants to extol the virtues of freedom while choosing to remain confined to prison. Even if we agree that some Bible writers recognised the truth of man's condition, the fact remains that they recognised it while surrendering to their own egos. Because of this, it lacks credibility.
Man lives in constant surrender to his ego. His real self remains concealed from him. This dual condition must be unearthed from the Bible. It does not sit obviously on the surface. It must be read into the subtext. It can be found in the creation mythology and the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Israel and Egypt, and in the countless lesser stories that make up the larger one. It can be found in the two ideologies held by the Jewish people - the Law covenant (ego/self) versus the Messianic hope (authentic self/not-self).
It is always the few who find the narrow path, and this is seen in ever decreasing circles throughout the narrative. Mankind starts out as the authentic self, made in the image of God. Then it is the nation of Israel, then the tribe of Judah, then the sect of Christianity, then the antichrist. Ultimately, no one in the scriptures embodies the true self in reality, as all those that picture it eventually succumb to the ego. Any who conquer it manage to escape.
Why were they hiding man's condition in history, myths, and legends? Because that is all they had to work with. The writers were embroiled in a system of worship which itself was a result of man surrendering to his ego. Even if he believed it the writer of Genesis chapter 2 could not write, "God is really you...you are separated from yourself..." because it would not have been accepted or believed, and would not have gained any traction.
The details of how man originally surrendered to the ego are lost in the past. They can not be retrieved. Legends about God, and the creation of man are only a result of that surrender. The ego is the result of fear. Man writes because he is scared of being insignificant.
On top of all this is the fact that it is impossible to use words to explain man's predicament. Words, language - these things define, and with definition comes confinement. You can not define or confine what is infinite. Writing locks belief down. Language binds and shackles.
Certain Bible writers knew of this contradiction. Genesis 11:1-9 outlines the confusion that arises over multiple languages. Proverbs 10:19 states, "In the abundance of words there does not fail to be transgression, but the one keeping his lips in check is acting discreetly."
Writing is to surrender to the ego. Wanting to lead is to surrender to the ego; wanting to teach is to surrender to the ego. "Do not call anyone on earth...'Leader' for you have one Leader, the Christ," might well have meant, "Be your own leader," but the weight of the message is crippled by a language that can so easily be misconstrued. It does not stand on its own but demands an interpreter, and the one who puts himself forward as an interpreter has surrendered to the ego, for why does he want to act as interpreter?
The beautiful irony, however, is that in the Bible we are left with a strange and mysterious work of art. It attempts to explain man's struggle by presenting the drama of life itself. The Bible is life - man's predicament played out against the backdrop of man's eternal captivity to the ego.
God, love, truth, whatever we want to call it, can not be taught or explained, it can only be experienced, and the only way it will ever be experienced is by throwing off the fear, and completely letting go of everything we believe in and hold dear. The very act of using language to describe the problem hides the problem. The attempt to reveal, conceals. Writing, by its very nature, shrouds the truth in mystery.