We are all familiar with the funeral phrase, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It is a Biblical phrase that comes from Genesis 3:19 at the time humankind is being banished from the garden. It is a powerful phrase, one that connotes our mortality. But the word “dust” does not in any way communicate the sense of the Hebrew. In Hebrew the word used is adamah, which means arable, rich agricultural soil, not what we call “dust.” A better translation would be to use the word humus. “You are humus, and to humus you shall return.” This is our reality as creaturely beings. Our entire lives are dependent upon the soil, the humus, and one day our bodies will return to its source.
