In the garden of eden, Satan tempts Eve with the fruit of knowledge, and we all know that it is this knowing that leads to the eventual undoing of man. By betraying god’s command, mankind has divorced himself from perfection for all eternity. And in the subsequent chapters of the narrative, mankind spends the rest of their days worshipping, pleading, and attempting to earn back god’s favor, and god eventually sends the embodiment of hope and forgiveness down to in an act of grace to pardon us of our sins.
Most of us are familiar with this story, even if we are not religious. It is a story that we would have been exposed to at some point in our lives, especially in today’s world with the internet and it’s marketplace of ideas. And while it seems like a simple parable that attempts to describe the beginnings of our species, there are layers of meaning embedded within that teaches us something about the human condition.
Mr Adam and the nature of sin
From the story of the original sin, many often come to the conclusion that treachery against the command of god is bad. And for the uninitiated, it is easy to come to the incomplete conclusion that this story is simply meant to keep the masses obedient to the religion.
But forget story itself for a second, and let us consider the symbolism that present within. The idea of temptation is represented by Satan in the form of a snake. In the garden of perfection, in our purest and most innocent beginnings, mankind is approached by curiousity and the urge to know.
And before the act of treachery has been committed, mankind, in his naivete is unaware that he is complete and pure. But in the desire to know and explore, he betrays the intrinsic goodness that he is born with. As a consequence, he is cast down from perfection, and this process of loss gifts him with the knowledge of the goodness that once was in his life that was taken for granted.
So what exactly is the nature of this sin filled Adam with anguish and regret? Can we simply consider the fruit of knowledge to be evil?
Is knowledge evil?
Is knowing too much what causes us to develop wicked ideas? If knowledge is bad, should we simply stay naive for the rest of our lives? Intuitively we understand that knowledge itself cannot be objectively bad.
Alternatively, if knowledge cannot be objectively evil, then was the story of the original sin simply an attempt by the church to keep its followers gullible and docile?
If it is neither of this then what is the nature of the apple? If God were to have commanded mankind to eat that apple, would it then have been fine to do so? Perhaps the sin had nothing to do with the knowledge within the apple, but had everything to do with our first act of betrayal towards God, the disobediance of God’s command.
For the those who are not religious. Let us consider God to be the original good, the ultimate ideal of good, the first order good from which all moral authority stems. It is the betrayal of this good that is evil. In our most innocent state, we are tempted by the unknown, to step out of our boundaries,and be free of the principles that protect us. We do not understand what goodness means, and so we seek experiences to experience growth. In doing so we discover worldly pleasures, but we also discover regret.
Paradise lost and growing up
So the story of the original sin can really be understood as a coming of age story. In the beginning, we are like children, innocent, full of love and empty of sin. Our naivete does not allow us to understand why following certain rules are important. In our innocence, all is good and well, which is precisly why this good is yet invisible to us.
In our “freedom” to explore and the pursuit of our passions we realise the devastating consequences of doing so. In turning our backs from good, only then do we begin to appreciate why it is important to be “good” in the first place. By stepping across the lines, we begin to appreciate the significance of boundaries, because life on the other side of the boundary is ugly. In understanding the polarity between good and the evil that we are capable of, we see God clearly for the first time.
Through temptations, through our fall from grace, we endure the pain of the mistakes that we make. These mistakes contain lessons of wisdom that are offered to us through the experience of living life in this world. This very worldliness is embodied by the satan, and as we experience the bitterness and the sweetness of life, we develop a clearer understanding of good and bad. Temptations that lead to suffering and bad outcomes teach us who we are, and what we are capable of. In the process of growing up, we understand that we too are capable of treachery and betrayal. And it is only after we are armed with this wisdom that we are truly capable of making a choice. To continue to be tempted by worldly desires or to follow a principled and virtuous life. To succumb to our passions or to worship the potential for good within us.
Our temptations ultimately point us towards morality
Consider that it is the act of giving in to your own temptations that help you understand the difference between right and wrong. It is often that in the aftermath of an act of treachery or betrayal that we come to understand the gravity of the crime that we committed. It is not so much the physical consequences of our behaviour that we fear, but the fact that through our betrayal, the love that we had for our loved ones is killed in the process. The death of that love weighs heavily on our conscience.
Some would say that falling for the temptations for the first time is necessary for us to get a good sense of where we stand. They might even argue that being tempted, and overcoming that temptation is a necessary step in developing our sense of morality. And this is a contentious topic. On one hand, from afar we might know intuitively why certain things are evil or bad, but it ultimately takes committing the sin for us to fully appreciate the gravity of it. On the other hand, each time we overstep a boundary that we have set for ourselves, the lines get blurrier. The voice within us that tells us to do right softens with each time we carelessly allow ourselves to disregard our conscience. Eventually, this leads us down a path where we grow numb to our own intuition. There exist also some wrongs that are so devastating and destructive that when committed callously makes one feel as if they are beyond all hope of redemption. Thus, despite the lessons that sin teaches, it’s not always necessary to take on this burden in our lives because we have the wisdom of our ancestors to lean on for guidance.
This is where obedience truly begins to shine as a virtue. Trust and faith in the truths that our ancestors have figured out, or life itself becomes the teacher. If we are obedient and faithful, the words of our forefathers guide us and keep the darkness at bay. But if we choose to be prideful and rebellious, life finds a way to humble us and teaches us the lesson anyway.
tossyturny 