|
Is this the greatest mashal-generated understanding?
Editor’s note: I’m offering this about 20 years after writing the main article on the mashal principle.
In the early chapters of Genesis, we find a proverbial story of two trees: one representing “knowledge of good and evil” and the other that of “life.”
Are we to compare these two using the mashal device?
What if both trees – not just the first -- are symbols of two different processes of accessing information, making decisions, solving problems, concerning the world, existence, and God?
What if "the tree of life" also signifies a mode or method of gaining knowledge?
If so, “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” might become a universal metaphor of humanity’s long trek of stumbling through history experimenting with what Herodotus called local “nomos”: tribal customs and conventions, parochial laws and precepts, every kind of life-style, all manner of trial-and-error.
We’re reminded of Churchill’s wry comment: “The Americans can be counted on to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.” That is, after suffering one’s way into a better view.
All this, set against “the tree of life" -- a different method of determining right and wrong, good and evil, wise and foolish. It is the path of accessing “God within,” the “inner light of the soul,” the way of the Spirit, our direct link to God.
What does the apple represent?
The “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” comes with two supporting images:
- the apple
- the agent of deception
Keep in mind that none of this literally happened, there is no historical basis. We’re talking about teaching metaphors.
The “forbidden fruit” – traditionally said to be an apple – is a symbol of something that satisfies an appetite. It’s meant to signify anything external which people imagine will fill up the existential emptiness within. On Word Gems, we often call this a sense of “I don’t have enough” because “I am not enough.”
The “deception” here has been a near-universal illusion. Almost everyone believes, to various degrees, that “If I can just get enough money, win the right pretty girl, if I can be a big shot and push my way to the head of the line, if I could have power over others, get a fancy house with great curb appeal, and a few other things – then I’ll finally be happy, then the cravings within will be silenced, and I’ll have peace of mind.”
But, eating of this "forbidden fruit" has never made anyone happy. That’s the deception.
Does anything satisfy the inner cravings? Will peace of mind be ever elusive?
Only eating of the “tree of life” can quiet existential terrors. The great mystics have well described. See Emerson’s essay as one of the very best explanations.
The two trees represent two broad approaches on how to live life.
Relatively few, in the history of the world, have eaten of the tree of life. And this deficit is the hidden cause of humanity’s endless and dreary rise-and-fall of civilizations. It's happened "seven times," which is Revelation's number for an infinite series of times.
And it all started when the first humans, the mythical primordial parents, were ejected from a garden paradise -- a venue of possibility concerning living "in the Spirit" -- but now compelled to live out their choice of eating the bitter fruit of denying the “inner guidance.”
|
