"What, then, was the knowledge that God wanted to keep from Adam and Eve in the Garden? Theologians will debate this question without end, but it seems to me the most important answer is hidden in plain sight. The content of the knowledge that Adam and Eve could gain by tasting of the fruit does not matter nearly as much as its form—that is, the very fact that there was spiritual knowledge of any kind to be had from a tree: from nature. The new faith sought to break the human bond with magic nature, to disenchant the world of plants and animals by directing our attention to a single God in the sky. Yet Jehovah couldn’t very well pretend the tree of knowledge didn’t exist, not when generations of plant-worshiping pagans knew better. So the pagan tree is allowed to grow even in Eden, though ringed around now with a strong taboo. Yes, there is spiritual knowledge in nature, the new God is acknowledging, and its temptations are fierce, but I am fiercer still. Yield to it, and you will be punished. So unfolds the drug war’s first battle."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Chapter 3 (p. 176)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Pollan
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Michael Pollan
30 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Michael Pollan →
Related Quotes
"Of course it’s also a lot easier to slap a health claim on a box of sugary cereal than on a potato or carrot, with th…"
"Nutrition science is where surgery was in about 1650, you know, really interesting and promising, but would you want …"
"The industrial animal factory offers a nightmarish glimpse of what capitalism is capable of in the absence of any mor…"
"The industrialization — and brutalization — of animals in America is a relatively new, evitable, and local phenomenon…"
"It's [a kitchen/dining table] where we teach our children the manners they need to get along in society. We teach the…"
"We forget how much time it can take simply to avoid cooking: all that time spent driving to restaurants or waiting fo…"
"…the microwave is an individualistic serial machine – it can only do one at a time so if you've got four people eatin…"
"Home cooking is good for you, and I eat out less. But that's the least of it. What has surprised me is how stimulatin…"
"Evolution doesn’t depend on will or intention to work; it is, almost by definition, an unconscious, unwilled process."
"Design in nature is but a concatenation of accidents, culled by natural selection until the result is so beautiful or…"