Genesis2_9

Genesis 2:9

And out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

In the normal situation, what is pleasant to us comes from God through our sight. But after the fall, our sight became an entrance for various desires. When we see someone rich or beautiful, we envy them and want to be better than them. We often desire more than what we need. Although our basic needs are satisfied, we still feel empty and unsatisfied. A better way is to focus our sight on the matters of God, keeping our eyes away from allure and desire.

This is the first time the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are mentioned. The tree of life represents God, who is the original source of life. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents death. This was the first test of humanity’s free will. Knowledge is the ability to define, describe, and simulate real existence in our minds, which belongs to our soul. The final form of knowledge is like a tree, including roots, a trunk, branches, leaves, and so on. If you recall what you have learned before, you may find that the structure of some knowledge is similar to a tree. Good and evil are the driving force of knowledge. On the one hand, they are a unity of opposites; on the other hand, they are the basis of logic—true and false—and the grammar of thought. Our modern society is built on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.