Dr. Wansegamila
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 3, 2012
- 2,968
- 8,139
Why is Eve blamed for eating the fruit?
Because people are not good at reading comprehension.
There’s a garden, and in it are a pair of humans, but those humans literally cannot distinguish good from evil.
There is a tree in that garden, and it has fruit which grant the eaters the knowledge of good and evil.
The man and woman are immortal, and again, don’t know good from evil, so inevitably, eventually, it’s going to happen that one of them eats from the tree. It can’t not happen.
Now, in the story, Eve happens to be the first to do so, and it happens she does so at the suggestion of a serpent, but those elements are actually not important to the story. She was in no position to resist the suggestion, nor would it have been amazing had she done so, as she had no reason to do one or the other… you must keep in mind here, for her, there is no difference between right and wrong. Blaming her for eating is like blaming a coin for coming up heads instead of tails.
Similarly, Eve gives the fruit to Adam and he eats, but that’s not his fault, he knows no better, and would not be worthy of applause if he had resisted, it would still be a random meaningless act.
No, blaming Adam or Eve for eating the fruit is nonsense.
BUT
You CAN blame Eve for one action. She offers the fruit to Adam, when she knows good from evil.
Now, you can say she was wrong to do that. But here’s an interesting take on that… she knows, from the source, what good and evil are. And her first ethical act is to have Adam join her in that knowledge. And the result of that is that they leave the garden, and begin living actual lives, having children, spawning all humanity, instead of remaining as little random NPCs in the newbie garden of the universe.
What if she was right?
Look, this is a myth, a fable. It’s older than Christianity, older than Judaism. And like any ancient myth, it has things to say. But you need to look closely into it to see if you agree, or even if that’s really what it is saying.
Eve, in my view, is the Prometheus figure, bringing enlightenment to humanity.
Because people are not good at reading comprehension.
There’s a garden, and in it are a pair of humans, but those humans literally cannot distinguish good from evil.
There is a tree in that garden, and it has fruit which grant the eaters the knowledge of good and evil.
The man and woman are immortal, and again, don’t know good from evil, so inevitably, eventually, it’s going to happen that one of them eats from the tree. It can’t not happen.
Now, in the story, Eve happens to be the first to do so, and it happens she does so at the suggestion of a serpent, but those elements are actually not important to the story. She was in no position to resist the suggestion, nor would it have been amazing had she done so, as she had no reason to do one or the other… you must keep in mind here, for her, there is no difference between right and wrong. Blaming her for eating is like blaming a coin for coming up heads instead of tails.
Similarly, Eve gives the fruit to Adam and he eats, but that’s not his fault, he knows no better, and would not be worthy of applause if he had resisted, it would still be a random meaningless act.
No, blaming Adam or Eve for eating the fruit is nonsense.
BUT
You CAN blame Eve for one action. She offers the fruit to Adam, when she knows good from evil.
Now, you can say she was wrong to do that. But here’s an interesting take on that… she knows, from the source, what good and evil are. And her first ethical act is to have Adam join her in that knowledge. And the result of that is that they leave the garden, and begin living actual lives, having children, spawning all humanity, instead of remaining as little random NPCs in the newbie garden of the universe.
What if she was right?
Look, this is a myth, a fable. It’s older than Christianity, older than Judaism. And like any ancient myth, it has things to say. But you need to look closely into it to see if you agree, or even if that’s really what it is saying.
Eve, in my view, is the Prometheus figure, bringing enlightenment to humanity.
