Explained within the Torah, we find Man in the Garden of Eden, tilling the ground, living amongst the trees. Of those with names, in the midst of the garden we have the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Homey G-to-the-D goes on to tell Man that he may freely eat of any tree, except of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. For on that day, Man shall surely die.
First off, what does it mean to eat of a tree? We have references to fruit, so is it literally just picking fruit off a tree and eating it? It could be, but nobody truly knows if the Torah is a literal or metaphorical text. For that very reason, since we can not reasonably take for granted either, without stepping all over each other’s ideas and concepts, we won’t. Someone’s beliefs are just that, their beliefs. The vocabulary clearly exposes themselves at the center of their beliefs, and for that very reason, we choose no sides on this argument. We agree with all sides of the literal and metaphorical debate, as we all live together, as one energy with the Universe. So what does it then mean to eat fruit of the tree?
Eating, in both the literal and metaphorical sense, is to consume, to gain, to ingest, to bring something into you. Therefore, eating the fruit of the tree, is to acquire something that the tree has to offer. And now we have the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. What does it have to offer? How will consuming its offering, or learning of its ways, bring death to Man?
This tree contains the Knowledge of Good and Evil, therefore eating of its fruit is truly acquiring this Knowledge of Good and Evil for yourself. Knowledge generally comes from experiencing, or learning about, things or events. Therefore, a Knowledgeable person about a certain thing can utilize that thing to a better degree than his counterpart who is not yet as Knowledgeable. Here we follow that if Man is equipped, or skilled, in the ways of Good and Evil, his demise will be at hand.
If an entity contains both Good and Evil, he is neither one nor the other, but simultaneously both. ... Continue reading here |