Knowledge

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

What was Adam's fault or guilt or if you prefer, his 'transgression' of God's command? He simply, innocently wanted to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree! The tree of knowledge, named by God personally before he took the Sabbath. Had he eaten the Apple God's creation would not have collapsed. He would have gained knowledge about God's creation, could have participated in God's wonderful creativity, even could have assisted him in creating a larger, more beautiful symmetry of God's nature. Why was man punished? Why do we name man's first curiosity the Original Sin? Is it a sin to taste a new 'fruit' - be it knowledge or poison? Did Adam know that it was a sin to defy God's command ? Why couldn't God pardon man's first sin? Those who evangelize should pause and think whether God's first human creation was a victim of Satan's provocation or God's first man was a defective product and hence could be provoked to transgress his creator's decree! Why didn't God create a provocation proof, manipulation- proof, persuasion proof man? Adam was asked to obey, the Master's word was supreme, the first creation of God didn't have any freedom, did not have any choice. What was God's purpose in creating a yesman, one who didn't have the ability to ask questions or to live life as per his own desires. Eve was carved out of his rib cage  to beguile his loneliness (and perhaps sex drive) but in truth to be a partner of  his ignorance and live in the closed contours of a sequestered mind. But if Eve could be tempted by Satan to defy God and Adam acquiesced in the first humans definitely had some choice whether to accept the temptation ; and if she exercised her choice and could prevail upon Adam how is she or he to blame? And if God  felt insulted why didn't he  kill Satan? He alone made the Archangel the Archdevil and He alone created Adam perhaps out of his  own loneliness and boredom. He punished Adam because he could not kill the Serpent who Chameleon like changes shapes and disharmonises God's arcane enchantment. But what has been the result?  

    

The result is Adam has multiplied. Today man has grown into a 70 billion force. The apple he ate has given him such powers that he challenges God everywhere on all fronts. To counter the unfriendly and uncomfortable elements this Apple fed Adam has mastered the earth. He invades the space. Today in the outer space thousands of satellites explore all the multilevel vastness of the universe.  He has conquered, at least controlled the three major enemies of life- hunger, sickness and 'death'. The primal hunger for more knowledge which man calls information,  grows but the hunger of the belly is almost gone. Medicines are invented every  moment to keep him fit for long years. Yes, mortality has not been conquered but he now goes beyond a century. He has created weapons of  mass  destruction and also anti- missile weapons. His knowledge is so potent  that sitting in a remote corner of the world he can bring  a vast  prosperous country to a stand still.  Pentagon sedrets could be hacked, countries could be at war  by misinformation, diseases  can be spread. Artificial intelligence can simulate almost everything. He can dry up a river, vanish a mountain, spy on a country without creating  honeytraps or Vishkanya.  He has now reached the Moon and Mars, getting ready to face the sun from zero distance. If there is news fakery also comes to create confusion hate and wars. He creates laws, breaks them; he makes law courts and disrespects them, goes back on his words, stabs from behind-  All with his knowledge which God had denied him in the Garden.

Did God deny knowledge to Adam for he knew  its true potential? Knowledge could have made Adam rival God. He can do and undo. He creates religion to spread the message of Love of man but  the same religion kills for supremacy. He creates truths, scientific, poetic, social, religious and philosophical truths. And he fights the same truths by a  perverse sense of logic. Political Parties create ideologies and come to ideological clashes much to the detriment  of human welfare. Is the opposite of knowledge a better option for man today, which god desired  but could not enforce thanks to his own judgement vitiated by his Anger? If ignorance is the contrapuntal note to knowledge did God want man to be less curious, less inquisitive, less intelligent and more statusquoeist  in his bearing? Those who say ignorance is Bliss, do they mean Bliss to be a sort of stasis which endures and accepts the given frame of things? But I think , better to be in conflict than in agreement with everything. Knowledge makes us suffer but the nuances of suffering alone enlighten us.