The Tree of Knowledge

This is my latest image ‘ The Tree of Knowledge’. I have always been fascinated by the metaphor of the eating of the forbidden fruit in that international best seller the bible. The translation I have goes as follows:-

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying: ‘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.’

So what does it all mean? Well what it means is open to heated debate, but for me it suggests the worst thing man ever did was start thinking. In fact billions of people a day meditate in an attempt to escape their over heated brains. I’m sure before Eve came along and started eating everything in sight, Adam was blissfully at one with the natural order of things much like all undomesticated animals. Suddenly, the what, the why and how came into his brain and the pooh has been hitting the fan ever since. This was mainly spurned on through history by Christian theologians and Augustus of hippo who proposed ‘original sin’ was physically transmitted through the generations so suggesting we are all guilty simply by association with Adam and Eve.

Eve never really happened neither did Adam but what the story points to is man’s greatest folly:- A constant thirst for knowledge that has brought us to this point in history where we can destroy the very planet we live on with a press of a button…

The fascinating thing is that whoever wrote Genesis (no it wasn’t Peter Gabriel) knew that too much thinking would only bring mankind a whole bucket load of problems…
So what is the solution, lobotomies for all ? While that would work I think the Garden of Eden tale points to the answers:- a respect and alignment with the natural order that operates beyond our feeble physical control and a severe reduction in the need to eat from the tree of knowledge .

There are as many version of the Garden of Eden as there are Christian religions and even amongst them they can’ really agree on whether there was a tree of knowledge or even a Garden of Eden. But one things for sure without all that supposed knowledge from smart asses like myself the world and the web would be a much quieter place.
Any way I am off to eat an apple and ponder the problem some more.

The Tree of Knowledge will be available as a 16×12 only from Oct 17th.The picture represents the following:- On the left hand side there is a wave of knowledge flooding into Eves mind, filling it with thought as she takes a bit of the apple. In that instant she becomes she believes separated from her natural state of being, hence why she is rising out of the tangle wood behind. In the bottom right hand corner of the picture is a flame which represents the serpent disappear out of shot and beginning to burn up the perfection of the garden. In the distant you can see a perfect grove with a rainbow falling down into it, this part is Eden as yet untarnished the part we all pine for. And above is a tumultuous sky line anticipating the events to come.  Don’t forget the image like the tale it’s self is a metaphor.