The Tree of Knowledge

"KNOWLEDGE: Evidence obtained from the five corporeal senses; mortality; beliefs and opinions; human theories, doctrines, hypotheses; that which is not Divine and is the origin of sin, sickness, and death; the opposite of spiritual Truth and understanding." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 590, Lines 4-8

"Question: What is Substance? Answer: Substance is that which is eternal and incapable of discord and decay. Truth, Life, and Love are Substance. The Spiritual universe, including individual man, is a compound idea, reflecting the Divine Substance of Spirit." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 468, Lines 17-18, 23-24

Have you ever heard someone say that a book or a dissertation has no substance? We look at knowledge as having substance if it is new or novel, or if it presents 'acceptable' theories in a new light, with tons of physical and theoretical evidence. There is a saying in academe that we must do research to 'add to the body of knowledge.' Hmmmm... as Mary Baker Eddy wrote, "There is no Life, Truth Intelligence, nor Substance in matter." And we might add, no knowledge in the affairs of matter, nor in the ideas that swirl around and around in the dream we call life.

We dedicate ourselves to gaining knowledge. Even if you're someone who never picks up a book, you try to gain street smarts or skills that will serve you in the world. We literally worship what we call education. But what exactly are we educating ourselves for? What are we trying to gain? Jesus said, "What profit is it to gain the world if you lose your soul?" A Course in Miracles says that all appetites, whether for food or love or knowledge (temporal or spiritual) are "appetites [which] are 'getting' mechanisms, representing the ego's need to confirm itself. This is as true of bodily appetites as it is of the so-called higher order needs." (ACIM Chapter 4, Section II, 7:5-6)

So we come to the crux of it. What are we gaining knowledge for? In The Bible allegory of the Garden of Eden, God said, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17) We think that the more we know the more we can keep ourselves autonomous, separate, and safe. We think that we can gain the ability to call certain things good, certain things bad, certain things right, and certain things wrong. In other words, we think we can KNOW something, anything, apart from the whole. What nonsense! What happens to a hand that is cut off of the body that is its life? What happens to a leaf pulled off of a tree branch, or a flower pulled from its stem? These are all projections within the dream of death, projections of our insistence on an imaginary existence apart from God, separated from Omnipresent Goodness and Love. And so we experience, over and over in the dream, the death and suffering of the separated illusory self.

Did you notice that in the allegory, God said that EVERY tree in the garden was O.K.? And then God said not to mess with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Which implies that this tree, the tree of knowledge wasn't in the garden. The alleged tree of knowledge is the symbol of the crazy notion that we can think and dream apart from God, and judge what is what. It's an illusion, and as soon as we begin to think we know and judge, we fall from the garden all over again. That's the dream of samsara, the wheel of suffering. As ACIM says, "How can God's Son awaken from the dream? It is a dream of judgement. So must he judge not, and he will awaken." (ACIM Chapter 29, Section IX, 2:2-5)

We can return to innocence any day, any time. And it has nothing to do with knowing anything at all. Judgement, the need to see projected separation and differences wherever we look, can be released. This is called forgiveness, and is the happy dream that the Holy Spirit holds out to us continually. We forgive and let go of all need to know... and we are restored to the garden. The need for differences and drama is again the illusory self clamoring for existence. And it was doomed before it started. The Holy Spirit will translate every dream of knowledge into a happy dream of Awakening to the Oneness of Self. We have only to ask.

"You will not remember change and shift in Heaven. You have need of contrast only here. Contrast and differences are necessary teaching aids, for by them you learn what to avoid and what to seek. When you have learned this, you will find the Answer that makes the need for any differences disappear. Truth comes of Its Own Will unto Its Own." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 13, Section XI, 6:1-5

"Heaven is not a place, nor a condition. It is an awareness of perfect Oneness." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 18, Section VI, 1:5-6