"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:5
"Where are you?" Genesis 3:9
Most people think the image on the right is a dog because, as William James said, we learn new things by comparing them with the old things we already know. This image is actually just random splotches of ink--it is nothing--but it is impossible for us to see nothing because our brains have to make sense of everything, so we organize all new things to fit with the old. This image looks more like a dog than anything else so we "see" a dog. This is automatic, almost instantaneous, and we cannot stop from doing it. This is how we learn, and there is no shortcut, the serpent's promise notwithstanding.
One of my MBA students at Xiamen University had seen the image before and knew its origin so he proudly insisted, "Well, I see nothing!" I finally said, "The only way to see nothing is if your brain has nothing in it to compare it with. So are you sure you see nothing?" As the other students laughed, he said sheepishly, "Actually, I do see something. I see two pretty girls facing each other."
"There you go!" I said. "Motivation affects perception too!"
If we learn the new by comparing with the old, imagine what a bright and exciting world it was in Eden, where everything was new! Adam and Eve were put in Eden not just to enjoy it but to learn--and what a capacity for learning mankind was given. Adam was given not just the responsibility but also the ability to name every animal on the planet. (Which leads us to think he must have been there a long time before being evicted).
Master of Misperception's Shortcut There was (and is) so much to learn, but learning is a process, and the master of twisted perceptions offered what appeared to be a shortcut, but Satan was subtle. Rather than lie, he asked a question that in itself twisted the truth. "Is it true you cannot eat of any of the trees' fruit?" Eve protested that only one tree was forbidden, but the seed of doubt was planted, and the promise of instant God-like knowledge was too much too resist. It was like graduating from college without having to take classes or do homework, and Eve and Adam enrolled.
Where are You? After they had eaten the one fruit that had been forbidden, Adam and Eve heard God walking in the garden in the cool of the evening for the very last time. He called, "Where are you?" He of course knew right where they were, but they had never hidden from him in shame before, and rather than ripping the bushes open and dragging them out, He called to them, and left it up to them to answer. And then He sent them into the world to learn on their own, as they wished. But like the parent of a prodigal child today, He hoped that after they had matured and learned, they would return.
Our Father still seeks us today, even as He sought Adam and Eve in the garden. He seeks us because He wants a restored relationship--but the decision is up to us.
Our Father does not force himself on us, even as He did not force himself on Adam and Eve. It was they who left Him, and not the other way around. But He meant the separation to be only temporary, until they were ready to return, and accept the inheritance they had given up.
Back to the Garden? Adam and Eve chose to learn on their own terms, and we do the same today. All of life is a journey of learning, each day building upon the old, as William James said. But when we see the seemingly random world around us do we see the same as those who have gone before us, or do we see the new creation in progress that Christ said must begin not in the world but within us? "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you," he said. And if that is true, imagine how that affects our perception, and our lives, and our Hope.
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