Dr. Dylan Johnson

God is said to have been walking around the garden in the cool breeze.

So he's very anthropomorphic here, right?

Again, we're in antediluvian times when God and humanity interacted in different ways.

And so we get this very human exchange between Eve, Adam, or I should say the man, and God.

And God says, why are you wearing clothes?

Only to realize that, of course, they've eaten from this tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And what the tree gives them, or what the fruit gives them, which is not an apple, what the fruit gives them is essentially consciousness.

They're aware of themselves, and they become aware of shame, they become aware of humility, whatever you want to describe why they clothe themselves.

But it's consciousness, essentially.

And this is the running theme throughout the whole story.

Wisdom, knowledge, awareness.

This is what the tree, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil gives them.

Consciousness.

which we should note is not necessarily a bad thing, right?

We leave that childlike state behind and become sentient beings.

And so the story goes on.

Of course, humanity is punished for this quote-unquote original sin, for eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and we get

collectively, reciprocal punishments.

And it's very poetic, the punishments that we receive.

So the snake has to crawl on its belly.