[true]

I was reading Don Miguel Ruiz's "The Voice of Knowledge". In the first chapter he shares his understanding of the Adam and Eve, Garden of Eden story. It's funny how my knowledge of this myth has changed over the years. A christian sees this story as man's first disobedience to God and the resulting punishment and living in sin, the temptation, the guilt, etc. Then there are many systems (gnostic, greek mysteries, serpent cults...) that turn it around and see God as the enslaver and the serpent as the liberator. It seemed odd that God wouldn't want us to have knowledge. He must be an enslaver. But now from a non-dual perspective, which agrees with Don Miguel's view, the serpent is the bad guy once again, the liar... knowledge is lies and limitations. If you eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, you WILL die, because seperation is born with knowledge. The mind - the tree of knowledge - loves knowledge, thinks knowledge is the answer to everything. But silence/not-knowing removes the questions, the answers, the problems and solutions... it's all inapplicable. We return to the innocence of the Garden of Eden. We are no longer seperate from God/stillness-silence.