subject: The Garden of Eden: The birh of Good and Bad (Duality) [print this page] The Garden of Eden: The birh of Good and Bad (Duality)
The story of Adam and Eve is a METAPHOR about childhood. Every child is born innocent just like Adam and Eve. There is no right' or wrong' because they are both abstractions'. They don't exist in the real world they are concepts. Different societies and cultures have different standards about what is right or wrong.
Anyway God also gave Adam and Eve a standard to live up to. He told them it was wrong' to eat from the one tree. All else was fine.
This tree was called the Tree of what? The KNOWLEDGE of GOOD and BAD. I am paraphrasing slightly as it is called evil' but evil does mean bad' (i.e. the opposite of good).
First thing to understand is that GOOD cannot exist in isolation from BAD. They come as a pair it is DUALITY. Everything has an opposite. GOOD cannot exist and is meaningless if there is no BAD.
The tree is called the KNOWLEDGE of good and bad. So this means that Adam and Eve did not KNOW what is good or bad. Just as every child does not know. Hence every child is innocent. Adam and Even were innocent.
We are all innocent as long as there is no good or bad. The tree is the knowledge of good and bad.
The moment you BUY INTO the concept of good and bad your innocence in gone. This is called the fall of Adam and Eve into sin.
There is no sin but as soon as they ate of the tree (bought into the idea that good and bad exist) you are trapped into duality.
Enlightenment means to come out of this duality and to realise that you cannot do any wrong' because in the real nature of things it does not exist.
In order for good' to exist you need a point of view some involvement. For example in a war when one country is winning it is only good if you are a supporter of that country. If you are not involved the event is neutral.
All events by their nature are neutral. It is only when you want a certain outcome that good' and bad' arise.
It a police officer catches someone speeding it is good' in the officer's point of view. It is bad' in the view of the person who is caught.
In reality it is neither it is simply an event. A person is speeding and an officer catches them speeding. It is neither good nor bad.
Enlightenment is the return to innocence the absence of judgement of good and bad. Beyond duality.
