The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad (TKGB)
The tree of life was in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad
One of the most puzzling elements in the story of the Garden of Eden is probably the symbolism of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad. At first glance, the narrative implies that these trees are opposites, but there are also suggestions that they are one and the same
God said to Adam, “From all the tree of the garden you must eat, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat, lest you die…”
In biblical cosmology, humanity’s purpose in the universe is to know God as the perfect answer to the riddle of life and death. However, in the story of the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were not fully prepared to deal with this paradox at greater scales. Therefore, they were strictly forbidden from eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge.
As shown in the following diagram, the tree of the knowledge of good and bad is itself an unresolved “tree of life.” In other words, the tree of knowledge poses the possibility of transcending “good” versus “bad” with a higher identity. The answer to the riddle is a higher form of Life that transcends regular life. In this case, the tree must no longer be referred to as the “tree of the knowledge of good and bad” because the bad has been transmuted into a higher good.
Ultimately, all the stories in the Bible are about the problem of transmuting the “evil of change” into a higher good that can properly host the Creator of all things. Unfortunately, this mysterious operation is risky, because eating from the tree of knowledge without the ability to answer this paradox causes “exile from the garden.”
