There are of course many ways of understanding the story of the garden of Eden and the “fall”, each with some validity to them.
Any story, including the ones from mythology and religion, can be seen as reflecting something here and now.
So one of the simpest ways of understanding this story, and one of the almost literal interpretations, is that eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil is a reflection of taking stories – specifically stories of good and evil, right and wrong – as true. When I “eat” the stories of good and evil, I take them as true and somehow inherent in reality. It’s something that happens here and now for most of us, and it is a “fall”, a loss of paradise.
All that’s needed is clarity about the stressful story that’s here now. Christ may represent that clarity, and Christ may especially represent clarity around the story of I. When any story is seen for what it is, Christ reveals itself to some extent. The wisdom and kindness that’s always here can shine through our lives a little more clearly. And when the story of I is seen for what it is, Christ reveals itself even more clearly to itself and in our lives. Even here, there may still be beliefs in stories. There may be a fall, being thrown out of paradise, and (the opportunity for) another redemption through clarity.
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– many ways of understanding it, using it as a metaphor for something already noticed or as fresh inquiry
– tree of knowledge of good and evil, stories believed in about good and evil, thrown out of paradise
– an almost literal interpretation