Wisdom of the Idiots; part 30

Wisdom of the Idiots; part 30 – An Introduction to Wicked Things


When Eve ate the apple, actually a pomegranate in the original Earth Goddess tradition, she gained the knowledge of good and evil. Essentially, several things occurred here.
First she became self-aware. Until that point she was merely an animal without higher cognitive abilities. Why would she need them? What would or could she think about, without knowledge? She would not have needed higher cognitive functions living in a continuum because there would be no past to review and no future to anticipate.
She knew free will. Free will gave her choice and, because she had knowledge of both good and evil, she was introduced to wicked things. She had self-consciousness, the free will to choose and the knowledge of the existence and availability of forbidden, but pleasurable, things. Lastly she experienced desire, conscience arrived, personal responsibility was attached to her and the eternal conflict of 'good' and 'evil' became part of the human condition.

The Cathars say there are two gods – one good and one bad. This world was made by the bad god.
Would it be any different if the good god made it given that there are no absolutes and the existence of good is relative to, and dependent on, the existence of bad? We can't have one without the other, which is why the pre-Socratic Greek philosophers invented the harmonious conflict of opposites model of existence to explain the dichotomy of oneness. Our choices would remain exactly the same whichever god made the world and, certainly in religious terms, for exactly the same reasons.

The knowledge of good and evil is a necessary prerequisite to right action if you're burdened by free will, but desire complicates the obligation to make choices that will determine our future because Man avoids unpleasant experiences and seeks to repeat pleasant ones. This is the root not only of all addiction but also the roots of ignorance. It calls to the animal in us. The Buddha knew this.
An animal withdraws from pain but a man can tolerate any pain. The difference between them is seen in the test of crisis and observation - and then in the choices made. Children are animal-like, self-indulgent and limited thinkers; men acknowledge the outer world and fulfil its demands.
Musashi.