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fandomhigh2007-03-14 09:12 pm
blossomsofice.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2007-03-14 09:12 pm
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Folklore and Fact: Mystical Artifacts, Week 10 [Thurs/2nd Period]
Today, the display screens at the front of the classroom featured a painting of a naked man and woman in front of a fruit tree that might be familiar to most of the students. There was no lockbox present this week; instead there was a large, grapelike red fruit prominent on the table. If anyone was giggling or acting childish at the nudity on the screens, Sakura was ignoring it. She might be giving a mental eyeroll of "bitch, please," but outwardly she was ignoring it.
"The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil," she said, "is best known from the Biblical story of Adam and Eve. You here at Fandom High are fortunate to have as one of your teachers someone with firsthand knowledge -- please pardon the pun -- of this tree. Mister Aziraphale has courteously agreed to visit our class here today and share his experiences of the Tree with you . . . although details may vary from his dimension to mine. Or to yours."
Sakura nodded to Aziraphale and stepped back, letting him have the spotlight.
With a smile and a courteous nod in reply to Sakura's introduction, the angel walked forward to address the class. "Er...as I suppose some of you already know, I was, er, present at the Creation. And at the Fall of Man. Many people have the misconception that the Tree was an apple tree, but actually it was figs. So the Temptor didn't give Eve an apple, he gave her a fig."
Looking a little nervous, Aziraphale paced a bit as he talked. "But, er...perhaps I ought to start at the beginning. Or, well...the Beginning," he added with a chuckle. "You see, when the Garden was created, HE put a Tree, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, in it. And then HE told the First Man and First Woman not to eat from it. They obeyed for a while, but the Temptor -- who's really not a bad sort once you get to know him -- came along and talked Eve into trying a taste. And then she talked Adam into it, and...well, that was that. You don't disobey a direct order from Above without repercussions. So Man learned about Good and Evil, learned about morality and sin, and was banished from the Garden forever."
Then he looked back at Sakura, to see if she had questions, or wanted more.
Sakura quirked an eyebrow. "You speak of the Temptor in familiar terms. How exactly do you know him?"
"Ah...well, you see...we were both there, at the Beginning. And at the Fall. And since we did rather a good bit of work together over the years, we just became friends, I suppose." Aziraphale smiled a little sheepishly at the class. "Really, there's a much finer line between Good and Evil than the world would have you believe. And tempting a person to do evil isn't so very different from encouraging them to do good, in practice anyway."
He took a breath, glancing at Sakura to make certain she wasn't yet ready to cut him off, and continued. "I actually did witness the Temptation, and the Fall. It was rather sad, but...I also believe that it must have been part of the Ineffable Plan. Else, why would HE have put the Tree there, and told them not to touch it? HE must have known, of course, that eventually they would, and so it only stands to reason that it happened because HE wanted it to. I suppose so that Man would go out and learn and invent and grow. And really, you've done very well!"
Aziraphale took a moment to think about what else the class might want to hear about the Tree, and then added, "Some people think that eating from the Tree caused Mankind to do evil, or to become sinful. But actually, what happened was that it gave them just exactly what the name of the Tree suggests -- the idea that there was a difference. A sense of morality, as I said before. And that's what makes the difference between Adam and Eve, and all of you today. You have an inate sense of right and wrong, whereas that wasn't a concept that the first Man and Woman were given, when they were created."
Sakura nodded; she'd taken mental notes on the entire thing, and planned to sit down and compare them with her own experiences later on. The differences were interesting. "Thank you, Mister Aziraphale; would you be averse to having the students ask you some questions after class?"
Aziraphale smiled and shook his head. "Oh, not at all, my dear. I can't promise answers, but I'm quite happy to hear the questions."
Sakura offered him one of her rare smiles in return and faced the class. "As you may have noticed by now, different accounts of various artifacts exist across cultures, and across dimensions. In my world, the tree that came to be known as the Tree of Knowledge bore much fruit, but only one fruit every thousand years, out of all its crop, would grant the eater that gift of knowledge -- and it was not so much knowledge of right and wrong as it was simply a heightened intelligence. But as many philosophers have theorized, too much knowledge can often be dangerous to the one who knows it: what happens to a creature whose innate innocence is suddenly replaced by the comprehension that other creatures have committed wrongs against it, and its world? This may, perhaps, be the origin of the notion that eating from the Tree, as Aziraphale has said, caused mankind to become sinful, and this is the question I want you to discuss today."
[OOC: Many, many thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
a_phale for agreeing to guest lecture today! Please note that SP is the keyword for both of us today due to RL factors, for which I heartily, heartily apologize. Class Info Post is here, and OCD is up! Also, er, yeah, that first link might be classic art but might not be work safe.]
"The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil," she said, "is best known from the Biblical story of Adam and Eve. You here at Fandom High are fortunate to have as one of your teachers someone with firsthand knowledge -- please pardon the pun -- of this tree. Mister Aziraphale has courteously agreed to visit our class here today and share his experiences of the Tree with you . . . although details may vary from his dimension to mine. Or to yours."
Sakura nodded to Aziraphale and stepped back, letting him have the spotlight.
With a smile and a courteous nod in reply to Sakura's introduction, the angel walked forward to address the class. "Er...as I suppose some of you already know, I was, er, present at the Creation. And at the Fall of Man. Many people have the misconception that the Tree was an apple tree, but actually it was figs. So the Temptor didn't give Eve an apple, he gave her a fig."
Looking a little nervous, Aziraphale paced a bit as he talked. "But, er...perhaps I ought to start at the beginning. Or, well...the Beginning," he added with a chuckle. "You see, when the Garden was created, HE put a Tree, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, in it. And then HE told the First Man and First Woman not to eat from it. They obeyed for a while, but the Temptor -- who's really not a bad sort once you get to know him -- came along and talked Eve into trying a taste. And then she talked Adam into it, and...well, that was that. You don't disobey a direct order from Above without repercussions. So Man learned about Good and Evil, learned about morality and sin, and was banished from the Garden forever."
Then he looked back at Sakura, to see if she had questions, or wanted more.
Sakura quirked an eyebrow. "You speak of the Temptor in familiar terms. How exactly do you know him?"
"Ah...well, you see...we were both there, at the Beginning. And at the Fall. And since we did rather a good bit of work together over the years, we just became friends, I suppose." Aziraphale smiled a little sheepishly at the class. "Really, there's a much finer line between Good and Evil than the world would have you believe. And tempting a person to do evil isn't so very different from encouraging them to do good, in practice anyway."
He took a breath, glancing at Sakura to make certain she wasn't yet ready to cut him off, and continued. "I actually did witness the Temptation, and the Fall. It was rather sad, but...I also believe that it must have been part of the Ineffable Plan. Else, why would HE have put the Tree there, and told them not to touch it? HE must have known, of course, that eventually they would, and so it only stands to reason that it happened because HE wanted it to. I suppose so that Man would go out and learn and invent and grow. And really, you've done very well!"
Aziraphale took a moment to think about what else the class might want to hear about the Tree, and then added, "Some people think that eating from the Tree caused Mankind to do evil, or to become sinful. But actually, what happened was that it gave them just exactly what the name of the Tree suggests -- the idea that there was a difference. A sense of morality, as I said before. And that's what makes the difference between Adam and Eve, and all of you today. You have an inate sense of right and wrong, whereas that wasn't a concept that the first Man and Woman were given, when they were created."
Sakura nodded; she'd taken mental notes on the entire thing, and planned to sit down and compare them with her own experiences later on. The differences were interesting. "Thank you, Mister Aziraphale; would you be averse to having the students ask you some questions after class?"
Aziraphale smiled and shook his head. "Oh, not at all, my dear. I can't promise answers, but I'm quite happy to hear the questions."
Sakura offered him one of her rare smiles in return and faced the class. "As you may have noticed by now, different accounts of various artifacts exist across cultures, and across dimensions. In my world, the tree that came to be known as the Tree of Knowledge bore much fruit, but only one fruit every thousand years, out of all its crop, would grant the eater that gift of knowledge -- and it was not so much knowledge of right and wrong as it was simply a heightened intelligence. But as many philosophers have theorized, too much knowledge can often be dangerous to the one who knows it: what happens to a creature whose innate innocence is suddenly replaced by the comprehension that other creatures have committed wrongs against it, and its world? This may, perhaps, be the origin of the notion that eating from the Tree, as Aziraphale has said, caused mankind to become sinful, and this is the question I want you to discuss today."
[OOC: Many, many thanks to
a_phale for agreeing to guest lecture today! Please note that SP is the keyword for both of us today due to RL factors, for which I heartily, heartily apologize. Class Info Post is here, and OCD is up! Also, er, yeah, that first link might be classic art but might not be work safe.]
Re: Discussion [FaF, Week 9]