(idea) by Metacognizant Wed Nov 15 2000 at 10:03:31
Here's the thing though: Most of you seem to be saying that it was not until after Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge that they were given free will. But keep in mind, God had commanded them NOT to eat from the tree. If they had no free will at this point, how were they able to chose to disobey him?

The classical and modern Jewish commentators address this question and conclude that the "Knowledge of Good and Evil" which Adam and Eve acquired was not free will at all. According to Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin (and many others) they were created with free will, but also with perfect perception, so that every choice they had to make was simple. An analogy is made to the choice I have right now: Will I or won't I drown myself in the fishtank a foot and a half to my left? Now, assuming I am not suicidal (whether or not that is a valid assumption is not the point), I will obviously choose not to. Why? Because I clearly see that one choice is good for me and the other is bad for me. (In that case, if the choice was so clear, why did they still sin? The inconclusive answer of "curiosity" is given. I mean, maybe I just feel like finding out what it feels like to drown.) This is as opposed to the "knowledge" of good and evil that Rabbi Chaim says was foisted upon Adam and Eve after their sin. He understands the knowledge of evil as the "evil inclination" (yetzer hara). Meaning, whereas beforehand Adam and Eve could make decisions objectively, now they had desires within them that made them subjective.

OK, this is where I take Rabbi Chaim's line of reasoning and twist it 180 degrees, simply by following it to its natural conclusions. The tree is referred to in the Bible text as "The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil". Obviously, there is a symmetry between good and evil (claiming a symmetry such as this one is not my own trick, it is a typical exegetical method). So, if after the sin Adam and Eve first acquired an evil inclination, they must have first acquired a good inclination (or conscience)then, too. Rabbi Chaim says, "The (evil) inclination...is within a man himself, and makes it seems to him as if he himself (man) is the one who wants...to do the sin." Meaning, the evil inclination has a will of its own. Naturally, man/woman does not want to sin. Satan, or this evil will, convinces him/her to sin. In that case, a person's good inclination, or conscience, is ALSO an external consciousness, and man/woman does not naturally want to do good!! He/She does not naturally want to do anything, except to survive and do what is best for him/herself.

And who are these two entities battling for a person's loyalty? Could it be, God and Satan? Or could it be, a cruel, devious creator who takes the place of two opposite wills implanted within a person's brain and pulls each of us in two directions at once?!?
I like it! This writeup has been cooled by:  
yamX 1 C!