myphilosophersworld

[myphilosophersworld]

The tree of everything

In the tutorial and lecture of this week we have talked about many interesting things. The one thing that stood out to me the most was the mode of knowing Arabic philosophers had in medieval times and how that related to God. This interested me, as it made me think, as a Christian, what the relation is between knowledge and God.

We discussed in the lecture the concept of unification. Through the object and the intellect becoming one with each other, one gains knowledge of the object and this is called unification. Arabic philosophers back in the day thought clarifying modes of knowing and philosophy in general was important. Philosophy falls under hikmah and hikmah translates to: refrain, withhold and prevent. In other words, philosophy or hikmah is supposed to protect you from ignorance, injustice, acting unwisely and neglecting caution. Philosophy and thinking of modes of knowing is seen as protection, something worthwhile doing.

As a matter of fact, Al-Kîndi has claimed that philosophy is our ticket to gaining knowledge of God. We strive to be like God, to resemble Him and all His qualities more. It would be safe to say that Arabic philosophers thought of hikmah as a journey to become in likeness of God. This is thus both an epistemological and spiritual journey that is good. It is this, that has stood out to me from the lecture.

When I compare this to my limited view of Christianity – I have been raised Christian and I am not ignorant of the Bible and its teachings, however I have never delved into theology nor have I had ‘proper’ training, hence I call it a limited view. I do hope we can allow me to still make some claims about Christianity – I find this a very interesting way to think. Allow me to explain.

When you read Genesis and the story of creation and the fall of it, you come across these things. Firstly, when God created man and woman, He said of them this: ‘Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ (Genesis 1:26). So it is that humans are like God. Then God commanded Adam and Eve to not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil or they would both die.

The tree of knowledge of good and evil can have several meanings, all which have to do with imparting some kind of knowledge. Looking at the translations, you can interpret the meaning of good and evil as the meaning of everything. ‘I want to know everything, good and evil.’ Good and evil being used as opposites here to indicate ‘everything’. So God forbade them to eat of the tree of everything. And then a snake came to persuade Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of the tree. “‘You will not certainly die,’ the snake said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” (Genesis 3:4).

Curiosity killed the cat and Adam and Eve cursed all other humans to live separated from God and in sin. And it is in this day and age, in which all Christians know and acknowledge that the way in which we live is not God-like at all and that by following principles of the Bible (What would Jesus do?) we become more like Him. When made in the image of God, of course we are not exactly like God. I explain that this as modern day Christians also try to ‘become’ like God, like Arabic philosophers tried. I will delve into the difference of the God of the Old Testament and then the God of the New Testament, of modern Christians. As it seems that there’s conflicting views on what the acquiring of knowledge (and becoming like Him) means to God and Christians.

You can assume that God merely wanted to provide Adam and Eve a test. That disobedience was the ultimate sin and it had nothing to do with gaining knowledge of everything. However I do not think this is completely true. For God did not create Adam and Eve with knowledge of good and evil to begin with. They were ‘unashamed’ and maybe perhaps ‘ignorant’. He created Adam and Eve this way, on purpose. Furthermore, “And the Lord God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and live for ever.’” (Genesis 3: 22). God didn’t want Adam and Eve to have this knowledge and maybe we can assume that it is for this reason that He forbade them from eating of this tree.

The point which I’m getting at, is that gaining knowledge was a sin that we humans committed. We became God like and that was wrong. This is opposed to what Arabic philosophers think, who think becoming like God is a good thing. And the interesting thing is that modern day Christians think in similar ways. Imitating God or Jesus’ ways is good and it is the way we are supposed to live. The contradiction of modern Christians’ God and God of the Old Testament is interesting to me. Why did God in the Old Testament believe us imitating Him or becoming more like Him, was sinful back then? Meanwhile, now imitating God’s qualities is encouraged and on top of that, Christians believe we carry God in us (The Holy Spirit).

It is funny to me how religious texts and views can be contradictory from time to time, to me at least. However this is not a bad thing. Religion can be understood and believed even with seemingly contradictory notions. Furthermore I enjoy the bravery of humans to believe they can and should become like God, as Arabic philosophers did back in the day. Their spiritual journey through philosophy is an ambitious quest. Specifically the constructing of a mode of knowing and combining religion in it, has made me think of my own mode of knowing and my religion. I hope to understand my mode of knowing through this course and how I involve my religion in it. For now, these are only some thoughts I have on God and what He thinks of knowledge, so don’t take them seriously.