Our world is not a conflict or contest between good and evil. We have been sold a bill of goods. The Cartesian dualism of good verse evil is rooted in a bedtime story told to the kiddies by the dualist in Chief, Plato. His intent was to give the very young a handle to navigate the blessings and risks of life. Question, could there be another answer to explain our fragile lives? Many of us have been thinking on that one for a long, long time.
Recent Old
Testament scholarship (Copenhagen International Seminar) has dated the Genesis story
of the Tree of Good an Evil at 325 B.C., at Alexandria Egypt, by a large group
of Hebrew and Hellenist scholars. Moses had been dead for some 1500 years,
leaving no material of this sort that can be dated to his time. As a result and
as Karl Marx rightly told us, these (bedtime) stories have become the opiate of
the people. How so?
The bedtime
stories place the ultimate victory of Good verses Evil beyond this life and our demise. Therefore, the one who believes is shielded against the ravages of today
and tomorrow because they are not of ultimate consequence. The reality of this believed victory, may or may not be true, but
certainly it will never be verified in this life. Some say, when bad things happen to good
people just believe, have faith in the ultimate victory of God over Satan. This
is the “whatever comes my way” opiate.
