A road less taken

This may seem like quite the diversion, but bear with me. The inherent difficulty with the "freedom" notion makes it however necessary.

We here in the West, whether we like it or not, have been massively influenced, and not always negatively, by the Bible. No, no, I'm not going to start thumping. I'm not that way. Regardless of what we may think about it otherwise, it is full of very helpful, illustrative stories that can help us get a different take on many things that we simply take for granted. We have to keep in mind that almost all of us have only ever read it in translation, and anyone who has ever taken a foreign language (let alone actually learn one) knows unequivocally that a simple one-to-one transfer of concepts, thoughts and ideas from one language another is as good as impossible. I think that we can agree, however, that the basic facts are there, but as with any story, there may be an accepted, traditional, even "official" interpretation, but that doesn't mean by a long shot that this particular interpretation is the best interpretation, whatever that may be.

From my days of studying literature, I'd like to propose that the "best" interpretation is the one that fits the facts of the story as presented, free from as much prejudice, ideology or pre-conceived notions as possible. In other words, I think it's a good idea to acknowledge when these factors are at work and not just act as if they're not there. What is more, I would like to propose that each and every story has something to tell us, and whatever that is should be discoverable in the story itself; that is, we don't need to go outside somewhere to find the justification for the story's existence. It can, in a word, stand on its own. Yes, I agree, this is just a bit simplistic, but I'm looking for the common denominator between those who see everything in this particular book, and those who see nothing.

Oh, the story ... well, we'll have to get to that next time, but so you know: it's a story about an (alleged) apple.