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-- comes. "Devil" and "divine" both come from the same root. So it seems that the Christian story is a misrepresentation, somehow incomplete. One thing is known: the Devil himself was a rebellious god, a rebellious angel who rebelled against God. But he was a god himself.
Why am I saying this? Because to me there are not two forces in the world of God and the Devil; that dichotomy is false. There is only one force! And the dichotomy is not of two enemies, but of two polarities of one force: God and the Devil. It is one force working as two polarities, because unless a force works in two polarities it cannot work.
So to me this Biblical story takes a new meaning. God prohibited because you can tempt only if you prohibit. If the Tree of Knowledge had not been mentioned at all, it seems improbable that Adam would ever have thought of or imagined eating of this particular tree. The Garden of Eden was big, there were infinite trees. We do not even know the name of any other tree.
This tree became important because it became prohibited. This prohibition became an invitation; this denial became the temptation. It is not really the Devil who tempted. In the first place, God himself tempted. This was the temptation: "Do not go near the Tree of Knowledge; do not eat the fruit of it. Only one tree is prohibited; otherwise you are free." Suddenly this one tree becomes the most important in the Garden.
And to me "devil" is just another name for the Divine -- the other polarity, and the Devil tempted Eve because then she could be "like the gods": this was the promise. And who would not like to be like the gods? Who would not like it?
Adam and Eve were tempted and then they were expelled from Heaven. But this expulsion is part of the process. Really, this Heaven was an animal existence -- blissful, but ignorant. Because of this eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Eve became human beings. Before that they were not human beings at all. "They became human beings": when I say this, I mean they became problems.
It is reported that the first words Adam asserted just coming out of the gate of the Garden were this: "We are living
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