I am remiss, I have not ventured near the website for weeks, recovery from the heart attack has been tough, and the drugs do not help, but that is a different story.

Last week I was thinking again about that situation in the Garden of Eden, and particularly the two trees and their effects on mankind.

If the tree of life meant that we could use the tree of knowledge the way Yah uses it, but eating of the fruit meant that Adam was able to use knowledge the way he, himself, interpreted it, then it would explain a lot about man’s subsequent behaviour.

Let me explain. If the tree of life allowed pre-fall Adam to see ‘knowledge’ through Yah’s eyes then Adam would always be seeing Yah’s truths, but if upon eating the forbidden fruit he came to see ‘knowledge’ according to his own fancy; out of context and subject to human interpretation (fantasy), then what we see consequently would make a lot of sense.

Adam was created in perfection, and was the crowning glory of Yah’s creation, he was the ‘tov’ in ‘tov mehod’ but he chose to eat of the forbidden fruit (the woman was tricked, whilst Adam knew exactly what he was doing).

Adam immediately starts ‘interpreting’ Yah’s truths and putting in his own spin (“she did it, the woman that you gave me”) and man has been interpreting and editing Yah’s truths ever since.   This process we call religion; Yah’s truth needs to be embellished and prettied up to increase it’s appeal (and provide a living for the priests and rabbis).

But Yah’s will is that we have a personal relationship with Himself, not one where our behaviour is prescribed by the sages.

The priests of Mosaic law were responsible for the nitty-gritty of the temple ritual, but if the Children of Israel had not rejected a personal relationship with Yah on mount Horeb then none of it would have been required.

Many times Yah had to deal with the anomalies that man’s knowledge produced, whether in the choosing of a king or in reminding the people that they were going to be punished if they worshipped other gods.

So the most difficult part of living a Toraic life, the most difficult part of living in synergy with Yah’s creation is not throwing my godship in Yah’s face.

We ‘spin’ Yah’s words to try and mitigate their impact, Yah is almost vague in some of His instructions, purposely so, because He wants us to purposely seek His truths direct from the source, but our tendency is to let other men ‘interpret’ and fill in the ‘gaps’, allowing us to shirk our duty to seek His face and turn from our wicked ways.

It is the serpent who is at the back of religion, as the most subtle of the created entities, the fall was his brainchild and he has remained as the inspiration behind man’s use of his view of ‘knowledge’ ever since, and there he is whispering in our ear, telling us that there are alternatives, telling us that we too can ‘touch’ the tree and we will not die.

That we too can meddle with powers and principalities of the earth and of darkness and not get burnt.   That if we keep ourselves ignorant of Yah’s word, then we too can blame someone else.

The world is quirky because mankind is screwy, and if we live in a quirky, screwy environment without our hearts and minds firmly fixed on Yah and His Knowledge, then we become part of the problem.

When we start seeking Yah’s truths not man’s opinions, then we enter into a journey of discovery, Yah reveals Himself to all who seek him!