In his blog, Paulo Coelho asked this question:
In the Genesis it is told that once Adam ate the forbidden fruit God said: “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever “. How do you interpret this passage?
Love,
Paulo
I had just come from my morning walk (the one I intend to take regularly) and had just read a few pages of The Celestine Prophecy before beginning my day. I suppose it’s no wonder, then, that this was the answer my fingers typed out (rather hastily, too, so please pardon spelling and minor grammar errors):
If we look at humankind's evolution, it has always been about a search for something greater--some knowledge, meaning, and purpose.
At first it was about survival. The earliest human beings did what they did because they had to fight off predators and find ways of beating the odds.
Then, humans learned how to fashion tools for themselves, and science and technology were born. As the centuries passed, we learned more and more to control our environment to make it comfortable for us. Once the prey struggling for survival, we now became the predators--searching for conquest and control. This is what the great wars were all about. Until now, we seem stuck in this "mode" of conquering and controlling.
The tree of knowledge taught us truths that we learned to understand and use. Now we want the tree of life to ultimately control everything and make ourselves masters of the Universe, of creation.
However, this is not our true purpose here. Humankind was made to be STEWARDS of creation, and not its lords or masters. Interpreted in a negative way, we human beings have become so used to control and power that we now are using technology to achieve the impossible: immortality. This is not wrong or bad, per se, but it leads to a way of thinking that is unhealthy--because we are not the Ultimate, our lives are not the Ultimate. We are just threads in the greater fabric of creation.
Looking at this in a positive way, human beings can "take from the tree of life" and use this to make life better for everyone else. Just as we are finding ways to live healthier, grow stronger, and look younger, we are also now realizing the mistakes of our past actions and are trying to somehow reverse the ecological damages brought upon by past generations. We are trying to reduce carbon emissions, we are trying to save endangered species, we are trying to right the wrongs that ignorance has caused our forefathers to do.
So, yes, we once acquired knowledge and learned how to use it. Now we want Life, and it is up to us to decide how this will be done--and, ultimately, what kind of Life we do want to have for humankind as a whole.
In the Genesis it is told that once Adam ate the forbidden fruit God said: “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever “. How do you interpret this passage?
Love,
Paulo
I had just come from my morning walk (the one I intend to take regularly) and had just read a few pages of The Celestine Prophecy before beginning my day. I suppose it’s no wonder, then, that this was the answer my fingers typed out (rather hastily, too, so please pardon spelling and minor grammar errors):
If we look at humankind's evolution, it has always been about a search for something greater--some knowledge, meaning, and purpose.
At first it was about survival. The earliest human beings did what they did because they had to fight off predators and find ways of beating the odds.
Then, humans learned how to fashion tools for themselves, and science and technology were born. As the centuries passed, we learned more and more to control our environment to make it comfortable for us. Once the prey struggling for survival, we now became the predators--searching for conquest and control. This is what the great wars were all about. Until now, we seem stuck in this "mode" of conquering and controlling.
The tree of knowledge taught us truths that we learned to understand and use. Now we want the tree of life to ultimately control everything and make ourselves masters of the Universe, of creation.
However, this is not our true purpose here. Humankind was made to be STEWARDS of creation, and not its lords or masters. Interpreted in a negative way, we human beings have become so used to control and power that we now are using technology to achieve the impossible: immortality. This is not wrong or bad, per se, but it leads to a way of thinking that is unhealthy--because we are not the Ultimate, our lives are not the Ultimate. We are just threads in the greater fabric of creation.
Looking at this in a positive way, human beings can "take from the tree of life" and use this to make life better for everyone else. Just as we are finding ways to live healthier, grow stronger, and look younger, we are also now realizing the mistakes of our past actions and are trying to somehow reverse the ecological damages brought upon by past generations. We are trying to reduce carbon emissions, we are trying to save endangered species, we are trying to right the wrongs that ignorance has caused our forefathers to do.
So, yes, we once acquired knowledge and learned how to use it. Now we want Life, and it is up to us to decide how this will be done--and, ultimately, what kind of Life we do want to have for humankind as a whole.
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