[Junior]

I don't know what all the fuss is about the "Fall." Eating of the forbidden fruit only gave man knowledge of good and evil. Before that, man was, like the animals, blissfully unaware of the distinction. I've always looked at this as an allegory for the development of consciousness in hominids.

[Elsie]

Are you saying that Adam was UNCONSCIOUS when he NAMED the animals?

[Virginia-American]

[The "Fall"]

I've always looked at this as an allegory for the development of consciousness in hominids.

Pretty much my interpretation too.

[js1138]

I don't know what all the fuss is about the "Fall." Eating of the forbidden fruit only gave man knowledge of good and evil. Before that, man was, like the animals, blissfully unaware of the distinction. I've always looked at this as an allegory for the development of consciousness in hominids.

One of my favorite bits of fringe speculation is the theory that people didn't associate sex with babies until they started domesticating animals. This may have been within the last 10,000 years, which would coincide with the age of the earliest religious stories.