I believe that there is a kernel of truth in everything because all of manifest creation rests on the foundation of Eternal Truth. If there is truth in everything, then there must be truth in all religions as well. More to the point, religions are shaped around powerful realizations of Eternal Truth, and though the details of those realizations are often lost in translation, the force of that truth carries forward through the ages as generation upon generation of suffering human souls seek a place to finally rest their weary minds and find peace.
I bring this up because I was thinking about the Judeo Christian Creation story the other day and it suddenly occurred to me how Zen the tree of Knowledge and the story of original sin really is.
And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
At first blush this doesn’t sound anything like Zen, however, Zen teaches us that instructions are like a finger pointing at the moon; if we concentrate on the finger we will never see the moon.
Notice that neither the Tree of Knowledge, nor knowledge itself is prohibited in The Garden of Eden story; it is only eating the fruit that is forbidden. Knowledge itself is unavoidable. In the modern western world, we generally think of knowledge in terms of the ideas and concepts we possess as a result of studying, but this is not a very accurate understanding. The word knowledge comes from the greek gnosis, which denotes actual and immediate realization in the present moment. To have knowledge is not the same as “to have concepts”, in fact, even in the modern dictionary you can find this definition of knowledge:
- the fact or condition of being aware of something.
So let’s say you are aware of an apple. You have direct knowledge of the apple, even before you have called to mind the term “apple”. As your mind sorts through it’s associations with the word apple, you may decide that an apple is a semi-sweet, reddish colored fruit with a thin edible skin and that you might like to take a bite of it and experience the sweet, crisp, cool, juicy taste that you assume this apple must have.
However, you would be far from pleasantly surprised if you tried to take a bite out of the aluminum framed 27 inch plasma screen computer I am writing this article on even though it is, in fact, an apple.
Symbols and concepts are limited. They are the fingers pointing at the moon, but they are also the direct consequence of knowledge in the human system. As we have knowledge of something our mind naturally attempts to categorize, conceptualize, and draw conclusions about whatever that thing may actually be.
This is the Tree of Knowledge. From the fertile soil of the immediate realization of the present moment, our minds grow symbols, ideas and concepts to contain that realization. If we swallow those concepts, if we mistake those concepts for Truth, we may go through life always tasting our own idea of an apple, rather than experiencing the taste as it actually is.
We do this very literally when we are distracted while we eat. We just assume that we are tasting an apple because we accept the concept of an apple. But we are actually “tasting” the experience that we are focused on, whether that be the stress of paying the bills, the anxiety of an action thriller on TV, or the happiness of a conversation we are enjoying with loved ones. In any event, when we swallow the concept of the food we are eating, we stop experiencing that food as it actually is.
To eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge is to imagine that the finger is the moon, and in doing so you will surely die.
Well wait a minute! Die!?!? I’ll die if I swallow this fruit? That’s not very Zen is it?
Actually yes. Zen we should seek to “die” to whatever is an illusion, to die to any impermanent object including concepts and ideas. The mortal form is an illusion and if you “swallow” that illusory concept, if you believe that you are actually this swirling field of identities and feelings and physical matter, then that which you believe to be “you” will surly die.
Only that which has knowledge of “you” is eternal. The self, or the ego, is the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge about you. If you swallow that fruit, if you truly believe it, then what you call “me” will come to know death.
The good news that they don’t tell us in the Book of Genesis, is that we can spit out anything we may have swallowed. We can release ourselves from the imprisonment of all concepts and saturate ourselves in the invisible light of the self evident Truth. We can rest against the roots of the Tree of Knowledge, shaded by it’s branches in the quiet gnosis of God.
Wishing you the truest taste of Life and Love,
Michael SunSpirit
