The One Exception

Trey Smith

Whether Christian or not, most people know the Christian creation story. God made Adam out of the dust (the woman, Eve, came about AFTER that) and plunked him down into a beautiful paradise. Adam was told he could do anything he wanted to do. He could eat anything he wanted to eat. The first man had absolute free rein...with one exception. Under no circumstances whatsoever could he eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge.

Unfortunately, to illustrate humankind's inherent disobedience, Adam and Eve violated the one exception and the rest is, well, history!

That's one way to look at this little story. From my perspective, there is another way. For me, biting into the forbidden fruit is what made Adam and Eve truly human! Had they been ever obedient drones, they would have been little more than high functioning robots. So, rather than rue the moment of their so-called disobedience, we should celebrate it.

If we look at the history of our species, we have made the greatest strides when someone ignores the exceptions set down by the civilization or society. There was a time when everyone knew the planet was flat and people were told they could theorize to their hearts content...except they were not allowed to question this fact. Fortunately, some folks questioned it and we now know that "fact" is no such thing!

All the legions of religions and philosophies -- including Taoism -- came about because some people decided to disobey the accepted thought of the time. They decided to go to a forbidden place and, through their efforts, new ways of conceptualizing the world were born.

While I certainly don't believe in the story of Adam and Eve as a factual event, what I take from the allegory is something far different than what the Christian church teaches. To me, it is the cause of what makes humanity beautiful.