There’s an old story in the Bible about Adam and Eve who lived in paradise, untouched by sorrow or doubt. But one day, a serpent tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. She did, and offered it to Adam as well. That fruit, we’re told, was the fruit of knowledge. And with that single act, they were cast out of Eden.

(pixabay free image)

It’s not a historical account, of course (the devoted Christian may ignore this sentence). It’s a myth. But myths, sometimes speak to something deeper. This one, I believe, is a metaphor for the human condition. It suggests that our suffering began with disobedience and awareness. The moment we began to think, to question, to seek meaning—we lost our innocence. And this makes rulers and religious authorities uncomfortable.

Animals don’t suffer in the same way (and this is a wrong concept). They live by instinct, responding to nature without overthinking. But humans? We reflect, we analyse and we think. We ask “why” even when there’s no answer. And in that relentless pursuit of meaning, we often find pain.

We looked at life and find pain and suffering. We wanted to understand its cause. And when no clear cause emerged, we imagined gods. Later, rulers realized that a pantheon of gods made society harder to control. So they conceived of one supreme deity who was omnipotent, omniscient and who governed all. This gave kings a divine mandate, a way to justify their authority over people.

Humans crave for purpose of life. We want to believe that our lives matter, that our actions have consequences. If there were no God, no one to reward or punish human actions, chaos would spread across the world. Without that belief, the world feels chaotic. And chaos terrifies us. So we cling to structures like religion, nationalism, materialism, even nihilism. Anything that gives us a framework to live by, we accept it, we adopt it and we spread it.

Some people become extreme patriots, i.e. chauvinistic. Others lose themselves in spiritual dogma. Some become hedonistic and chase wealth and pleasure. They even find pleasure in torturing others. Others renounce everything and spiral into despair. Thus, they destroy themselves. These are all responses to the same fear: the fear of uncertainty.

But there is another way.

An awakened person doesn’t fall into these traps. They live consciously. They explore the world for not to escape from it, but to understand it. They seek joy not just for themselves, but for others too. They don’t need rigid ideologies to feel anchored. They find meaning in presence, in compassion, in curiosity.

And that, I think, is the real challenge: to step outside our conditioning, to think freely, to get over our metal slavery and to hold our intellect gently. We have to use our intellect not as a weapon, but as a tool to make this world a better place. We should live not to dominate, but to illuminate.

We can never return to Eden because it doesn’t exist. But perhaps, by embracing thought without being enslaved by it, we can build something better, something that is better than the imaginary paradise which requires blind faith.