The Tree Of The Knowledge of Good And Evil
The Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil
In the Book of Genesis, the Bible tells us their version of the “Beginning”.
For hundreds of years, humankind has been looking for the answers in what started “all these”.
Yes, “all these” that we see all around us, the earth, the sea, the sky, the sun, the planets, the stars, the galaxies, the universe, diamonds, gold, silver, pearls, and all things nice.
And for me, we are probably the only species on our planet at least, who have really “pondered” about this and for a select few of us, they have even made it their life’s work or their lifelong quest or purpose in life and that is to look for the origin of “all these”.
In science, there is a specific study for this, where people who want to study the origins and everything there is know about the universe. And this is called “Cosmology”. No, not “Cosmetology”, that’s totally a different study even though it does sound almost like they are related studies, but believe me, they aren’t. Or maybe they are.
Cosmology
Now all this studying have divided humankind as to what we want to believe in, in terms of where we came from, where did all these come from and where are we all heading to.
Although to me, almost everybody are already convinced where we are all heading to, and for most the coming future isn’t really going to be sunny and bright and happy and joyous. In fact, we already have seen what the future could very well be, just by watching all the movies about the future. And if you have been watching them, you know that the future as foreseen by our movie makers, are all bleak and dark and a not so happy place to live in.
Going back to our origins at least many people have taken sides and among the more popular and acceptable ones are “The Big Bang Theory” or the many different kinds and variations of “Big Bang Theories”, the “Genesis” narrative, the Buddhists have their own version, and the many other faith-based beliefs as well as the many other science-based theories. And we can throw in all the “let’s grab a barrel of beer and drink ‘til we drop-based theories” out there.
But for our purpose here, we will presume to believe or at least consider the Genesis Version or the Judeo-Christian Version.
And in Chapter two of the Book Genesis, we can read the following passages.
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (NIV)
Now this happened after the Creator of the Universe, have made the heavens, the earth, all there is on the earth, plants, animals, and then humankind. And yes, I believe even after all the gold, the diamonds and the silver have been made.
And it is good to note that as humans, we are the last to be “created”.
Yes, like we are the latest iPhone, we are the iPhone 4.
And all the others species are either the first generation iPhone (4 Gigs), some the higher-end 8 Gigs, then still others are the iPhone 3G (8 Gigs) or even the higher one, the (16 Gigs), yes moving up the ladder now. Still others are the upgraded version, iPhone 3GSes, yes now up to 32 big Gigs.
And some of us probably didn’t even know that there have been so many iPhones just in the last what three, four years. And yes, I didn’t even know there was no iPhone 2, duh, yes probably they have gone extinct even before we knew about them. (Dead as a Dodo)
But we as humans, we are even higher-end than all of that, as we are the iPhone 4s!
Some of us are the 16 Gigers, some are the 32 Gigers and yes some have the dreaded iPhone 4 death grip and other defects, bugs and flaws.
And why not?
We cannot all be Albert Einsteins or Lebron Jameses, but yes we are all on top of the food chain, on top of every other species on planet Earth. We are the Kings and the Queens of the planet!
What is the difference between the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4?
Yes, very good question, and I am guessing not really all that much. And that is why many people believe in “Evolution” as against maybe “Creationism” and any other “ism” theories in terms of how we all came about.
What is the difference between animals and humans?
Yes, we are all the same.
We are all alive, we have brains, we have limbs, we have eyes, a nose, ears, a mouth and many other things. And we share our more prized possession, our opposable thumbs, two of them, only with monkeys and apes. Why yes, how can we ever use our iPhone 4s if we don’t have those, right?
Anyway, what is all these got to do with the Book of Genesis and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?
Good question!
And I am just about to get to that. Yes, typical humans. We cannot wait, we all want it instant this and instant that, fast food this and fast forward that, and let’s just get it on.
In Genesis
Okay, in the Book of Genesis (if you believe in it anyway and if you don’t then why bother continuing to read all this time then?), yes in Genesis it says that the Creator of the Universe told the first human, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden…”
Yes, you can do pretty much what you want to do in this world at least. But he continued on…
“But,..”
Yes, with your luck there should be a “but” there somewhere. And there was.
“But, you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…”
Yes as in, the what?
“You (yes you), you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…”
Errr, why? Yes, like any five year old who just cannot do as they are told.
(Why, you may ask?)”For when you eat of it you will surely die."
And there it is, the only difference there is for us to know about us and all the other (lower) species on the planet. It may not be the difference between the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4 that you were looking for, if that was ever your question that is.
But there you have it, the big difference why even though you ape out, or you pig out, or you act like an animal every once in a while or during the full moon at least, or during that time of the month, or if you haven’t had your morning cup of coffee or your first stick of cigarette for the day, or if you haven’t had at least five hours of sleep last night, or if you haven’t had something you terribly needed for a while and you act like an animal or a beast of burden or something, you are still are very much different from them, just because of one thing.
You surely know that you will surely die!
And why do you think, medical professionals and other scientists have burned the midnight oil to find the cure for our ills?
Why do you think doctors fix us up as needed?
Why do you think you pay health insurance?
Why do you think you get life insurance?
Why do you think you buy a burial plot or something similar?
Why?
Why?
Why?
Because, we surely know that we will surely die… maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not for a long while. But surely, we know that we will die, freeze-drying our bodies for the purpose of possible future resuscitation notwithstanding. (It might take even more faith to believe in that than in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil).
We know we will surely die and yes, no other animal or species in our planet know this. Well, yes maybe the wildebeest knows that if he does not outrun the lion that has been chasing him, he knows he will definitely have a bad hair day, a very painful bad hair day.
And yes, maybe all the born-preys in this world know at the final few minutes (or seconds) of their life that something terribly painful will happen to them (death by violence) because the born-predators in the wild are chasing them down.
But certainly, they do not know it long before that or at least they do not think about it, they do not ponder about it and study and ask themselves questions such as “Why am I here?” “Where did we all come from?” “Where are we going?” “What shall I wear today?”
No, it’s only us iPhone 4 or us humans that do those sorts of things and we have been doing that for hundreds of years. In the end that makes us know something that any other species do not and we are not like any other species at all.
And thus, maybe, just maybe, we got that because our great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather had foolishly eaten out of the tree that he shouldn’t have eaten from. We are all related you know, even we if we all look, act and think differently. No kidding? Yes, no kidding.
And that tree that our grandfather ate from is in all probabilities, and as recorded in the Book of Genesis, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Tell me, do wild animals know that it is bad to not wash their paws before they eat their prey?
Do wild animals know that it is bad to eat the Mama deer if she has Baby deers that they didn’t notice? No, I'm guessing they will eat the Baby deers too.
And tell me, do animals know about the good and the bad or about good and evil?
“Honey, get me the axe quick! On second thought, never mind, I’ll get myself a chain-saw. I just have a sudden urge to cut down one very old tree down!
Lighter Side?
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