There was no Garden of Eden, man never used to be a perfect creature. Man, as I understand him today, has always been a fallen creature. Looking to some extraordinary cultures of the past (Egyptians, Greeks, Incas, etc) people tend to mistakenly (but understandably) define that culture by the most recognized and intelligent people from that era. I’m sure if one lived in that culture as an individual among the masses one would see a different story. If one were to look on American culture from a future that has become the present, one might only see a small skewed fraction of society (portrayed by movies, music, the mass media, etc) of a glamorous rock ‘n roll Hollywood lifestyle to be the whole picture of American life.
Prior to the fall of man (ie. when humans were primitive creatures soley living in survival mode), humans were far from moral or virtuous. In fact, they probably couldn’t conceive of such concepts because necessity at the time didn’t require them to posses such qualities in the first place. Animals that live to eat and reproduce simply don’t posses the same kind of self awareness that bind more developed animals to their own personal hells today.
Although, unlike our ‘less evolved’ ancestors, the people of the past lived in greater harmony with the Earth and its resources, it was a prerequiste for survival. In this sense I do see a fall of a man, a disconnection from the Earth, no longer a symbiotic relationship, but regarding the Earth as something that could be conquered and controlled soley for short-term human benefit. With the start of civilization we found the tree of knowledge but failed to continue eating and learning from the tree of life which connects us all.
Here is a conclusion I have come to : The fall took place on the first day of the genesis creation, the first second big bang, the first manifestation of Brahman, from Aleph into Allah whatever you believe to be the beginning (if you believe in one). What was ‘before’ the fall therefore is merely a mental construction, a hope of something better for the future. Returning to man’s perfect state before the fall is keeping the wheels in motion for our future evolution to what some people see as the emergence of a super human or maybe on a personal scale, one’s union with God.