Zzyzx wrote:
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Genesis 2:17 KJV But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Adam and Eve of bible tales were humans, weren't they?
What fruit of what tree will impart knowledge of any kind (including good and evil) if eaten by humans?
What fruit of what tree will kill humans the day they eat it?
The bible tale is very specific in regards these conditions.
Is the tale NOT true (literally)? If not, why is it presented as truthful?
Basically, there was a tree in the Garden of Eden that grew mind-altering fruit? Is that similar to the DMT-containing vine that ayahuasca is brewed from? Or like peyote buttons? I've always thought of this Tree as being some kind of supernatural thing, but perhaps it was completely natural. Fruits, leaves and vines galore have been used to alter human (and other animals') sensoriums forever.
I've always been WAY too big a chicken to try mushrooms or god forbid, ayahuasca, a few bong hits was more than plenty for me! The evidence for altered perception with DMT has been studied with scientific rigor, it obviously stimulates the human brain in common ways, as the experiences of persons who take DMT (much less other psychedelics) are remarkably similar -- they 'see further' under the influence of these chemicals, or claim to 'see more' than routine consciousness permits.
The only natural explanation for Adam and Eve's 'loss of innocence' after eating the forbidden fruit is that ingesting it drastically altered their sensorium, it allowed them to access 'knowledge' that threatened their authority figure(s) (THAT tired old conspiracy theory).
Anecdotal retellings of DMT trips are at least as reliable as mythical First Human fables. I believe they have greater evidential value simply because their experiences are first hand, as opposed to 4000 year old creation myths.
Claims that Adam and Eve
actually lived and were who Genesis says they were, including the Garden, the Tree of the Knowledge and the Serpent,are nothing more than deliberate lies.
Persons who go to great lengths to insist these claims are literally true have voided common respect and credulity. Faith and Holy Spirit widgets that assist 'proper' reading and comprehension of Biblical scripture are impossible to demonstrate or describe; thus claims of literal truth deserve no 'special' regard or leniency (although this has been demanded and enforced for thousands of years).
The only possible 'usefulness' of this particular fable is in attempting to use it to connect dots, to flesh out the human history of a particular group of humans fortunate enough to have had their fables recorded by someone literate.
If many many more humans were literate (than there apparently were) we'd have a lot more mythic epics to squabble over. That this particular one was written down in the first place, much less survived the eons to modernity is more about the Hebrew commitment and devotion to their sacred stories than some ineffable truth.
"The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this." -- Albert Einstein -- Written in 1954 to Jewish philosopher Erik Gutkind.
