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Metacognizant
Wed Nov 15 2000 at 10:03:31
Here's the thing though: Most of you seem to be saying that it was not until
after
Adam and Eve
ate from the Tree of Knowledge that they were given
free will
. But keep in mind,
God
had
command
ed them NOT to eat from the tree. If they had no free will at this point, how were they able to chose to disobey him?
The classical and modern
Jewish
commentators address this question and conclude that the "
Knowledge of Good and Evil
" which
Adam
and
Eve
acquired was
not
free will at all. According to
Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin
(and many others) they were created with free will, but also with perfect
perception
, so that every choice they had to make was simple. An analogy is made to the choice I have right now: Will I or won't I drown myself in the fishtank a foot and a half to my left? Now,
assuming
I am not
suicidal
(whether or not that is a valid assumption is not the point), I will obviously choose not to. Why? Because I clearly see that one choice is good for me and the other is bad for me. (In that case, if the choice was so clear, why did they still sin? The inconclusive answer of "
curiosity
" is given. I mean, maybe I just feel like
finding out
what it feels like to drown.) This is as opposed to the "
knowledge
" of good and evil that Rabbi Chaim says was foisted upon Adam and Eve after their
sin
. He understands the knowledge of evil as the "
evil inclination
" (
yetzer hara
). Meaning, whereas beforehand Adam and Eve could make decisions
objective
ly, now they had
desire
s within them that made them
subjective
.
OK, this is where I take Rabbi Chaim's line of reasoning and twist it 180 degrees, simply by following it to its natural conclusions. The tree is referred to in the
Bible
text as "The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil". Obviously, there is a
symmetry
between good and evil (claiming a symmetry such as this one is not my own trick, it is a typical
exegetical
method). So, if after the sin Adam and Eve first acquired an evil inclination, they must have first acquired a
good inclination
(or
conscience
)then, too. Rabbi Chaim says, "The (evil) inclination...is within a man himself, and makes it seems to him as if he himself (man) is the one who wants...to do the sin." Meaning, the evil inclination has a
will
of its own. Naturally, man/woman does not want to sin. Satan, or this evil will,
convinces
him/her to sin. In that case, a person's good inclination, or conscience, is ALSO an external consciousness, and man/woman does not naturally want to do good!! He/She does not naturally want to do anything, except to survive and do what is best for him/herself.
And who are these two entities battling for a person's
loyalty
? Could it be, God and
Satan
? Or could it be, a cruel, devious
creator
who takes the place of two opposite wills implanted within a person's brain and pulls each of us in two directions at once?!?
Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
It was all God's fault
Original Sin Genetic Patent Infringement
missing the point
Tree of Life
Interview with God
true knowledge
Penitentiary of the Gods
the poet and the scientist
Yggdrasil
Lilith
Latin Pun
I remember endless white corridors
Reading seasons between the lines of a palm
Ayurveda
Warrior Princess: Eve's Progeny
Kabbalah FAQ II
You can never go home again
Rings on the Awkward Shadow
Psychotic
Law of the Eternal
Attempting to harness the engine of our own destruction, only humans are so foolish.
teeth for eyelids
Now I am become grey, the creator of worlds