from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
This is a sort of mixed blessing/curse. We are no longer in Paradise, but we are also free to explore the whole of God’s creation with eyes open.
There are those who shoulder the burden and choose to separate the good from the evil, and there are those who only look and see that there exist good and evil and choose for themselves which is which.
Ours is not to choose.
There is a Hebrew term “beirurim” I’m not sure of I’m spelling it right but it sort of means separating the wheat from the chaff- not in the ordinary way but to separate the good from the bad, by which the bad loses it’s power. If I recall correctly this is part and parcel of the lifes ambition of Chassidim, to be a participant in uplifting the good and starving the evil. My Jesuit theology teacher instructed me that Science is a window into the Mind of God, and is, I think, consistent with the idea of separating what is good from what is not good.
There are people who simply don’t understand what is good and what is evil, and choose for themselves, and they are mostly misguided. Then there are people who know right from wrong, and choose wrong. They are the deceivers who want to destroy G-d by denying he exists. Their contingency plan is to drag others (The misguided) down into evil with them, thinking in a sea of sinners their sins will seem small.
Knowing Good and Evil does little good if you cannot determine which is which. Would that we had a Tree of Discrimination in all our gardens.
