(To expedite time for myself, I copied this from a children's NIV telling of the tale)
It is written that in the beginning, there was the world and all of Creation: the sun, the oceans, fish, plants animals, etc. God made all these things and called them good. God took some clay from the ground and made the shape of a man. Then
He breathed gently into the shape. The man's eye's opened and
he began to live. God called him Adam. The Lord made a beautiful garden for him to live in. The garden,
called Eden, was full of many wonderful things. Beautiful flowers
grew everywhere. Birds sang in the trees, streams flowed through the
valley and animals roamed across the fields. God had made the man in His image to keep Him company and look after the world. God brought all the animals to Adam one at a time to be given their names. "Elephant", he would say, or "Tiger", or
"Porcupine". But God felt sorry for Adam. "None of these animals is really like him," thought God, "he needs someone to share his
life. Someone who cares for him and who he can care for." That night, God took a rib from Adam's side and made a woman.When Adam awoke the following morning, he found a wife, Eve, lying asleep beside him. Adam was so happy. He took her hand and she woke up. She looked up at him and smiled. God told the man and woman that it was their job to take care of their new home. God blessed them, saying, "All this is for you. Help yourself to anything you like. But never touch the tree in the middle of the Garden. That tree gives knowledge of good and evil. The day you eat its fruit, you will die." God did not mean that Adam and Eve would drop down dead the moment they ate the fruit from the tree. He meant that in time they would die with out His Spirit dwelling in them.
One day, Adam and Eve were gathering berries for dinner when she heard a silky voice behind her. "Has God told you that you can eat the fruit from all the trees?" the voice asked softly. Eve turned around to see a snake talking to her. "God has told us we can eat all the fruit except for what grows on The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil," Eve told the serpent. "Oh come now, that's silly! I hardly think such a lovely fruit would do you any harm," the serpent lied. "God knows that if you eat from The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you'll become just like God, and will be able to decide for yourself what is right and what is wrong." The woman looked at the fruit and thought how tasty it looked. She thought how wonderful it would be to be as wise and powerful as God. She believed the serpent's lie and ate the fruit and also gave some to Adam, who was with her, and he took a bite as well. She felt a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. She fidgeted and wondered what was wrong with her. Suddenly she realized that she was feeling guilty -- she had disobeyed God and knew she'd done something wrong.
As soon as they ate the fruit a change came over Adam and Eve. They became unhappy and fearful of God. Adam and Eve heard God calling them. Without thinking, they hid into the bushes, but God knew where they were. When God asked them if they had eaten from The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that He had told them not to touch, they blamed each other for their sins. God was sad that Adam and Eve had disobeyed them. He told them that they had to leave the Garden of Eden, "From now on you'll have to scratch a living from the soil. You'll need to make clothes and grow food. Nothing will come easily -- not even childbirth. And one day, you will die."
Ok... so that's the story if anyone was not familiar. Let's go back to the topic: Original Sin.
My version of this story is not about Adam or Eve. It's not about the Snake. I'm here to focus on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Of all the trees in the Garden, there was one; one tree that was forbidden to them. The tree is described to Adam and Eve as one with the ability to grant them the knowledge of both good and evil. I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty damn tempting to me! Anyway, so God has informed them that the Garden is there for them to eat of its abundance. They had the luxury of choosing hundreds, if not thousands of trees from which to choose, and yet they allowed for the serpent to convince them to eat from that one. Yes, the temptation is compelling, but what made it so appealing?
If we look at this story as symbolic, it allows us to also bend the rules a bit to interpret it in our favor. What does that mean? The point I'm here to propose is that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is not an actual tree. Everything else in this story can be real and the story can still make sense. The garden, the other trees, Adam, Eve and the Serpent can all be real. But that one tree is imagined. It is an illusion. That tree, specifically it's potential for knowledge, is the illusion. Now, how is it possible to have an imaginary tree? What happens when you have imaginary fruit among an orchard of real fruit? Where does that tree exist? Like all illusions, it exists in the mind.
What I'm saying is that there is a facet of the mind that constructs illusions and falls victim to lists of temptations. Fortunately, we've already given it a name. This is the human ego. The ego has the ability to convince us that we know the difference between good and evil. The ego has a strong weakness around temptation, because it convinces us that we can gain power and acclaim. Now back in the garden, the Devil and Eve are having a conversation where he tells her how delicious the forbidden fruit is. Naturally, she believes him because her ego spins those lies also. Subsequently, she takes the fruit. She falls victim to her own arrogance after her ego also fell victim to the World's temptations. It was equally as easy for Adam to be led astray as well.
The story of Adam and Eve exists to illustrate that God has provided an abundance for us. Unfortunately, we will still choose to ignore all of it because we have this special Tree within us, tempting us that its fruit is better. God even warned us, by warning Adam and Eve that this exists. And yet they were still convinced they knew the difference between good and evil despite His warning, as do we. That is simply the nature of the ego.
It's human nature to sin because it's also human nature to have an ego. The sin is not the ego itself, it's the willingness to become distracted by its tempting fruit. The Original Sin is the decision to ignore God. The Original Sin is pride.
(and... for the most part, the remainder of the Bible exists to describe way of avoiding that Original Sin.)
Thank you for your time,
Joe
No comments:
Post a Comment