The "Fall" Revisited, Richard Chilson

For what would be our lot had Adam and Eve not partaken of the fruit?  We would still be in that childlike garden, just half a step more evolved than the rest of the animal kingdom.  Our fall from that dreamlike existence of Eden provides us with our real humanity.  We would have remained children in Eden, for children are those who are ignorant of the difference between good and evil.  Would we wish our own children to remain ignorant of this distinction?  Would we want them to grow up with no conscience, no knowledge?  
  

By eating the fruit, Adam and Eve took a giant step forward, even though suffering became their lot.  For they left behind the smothering nursery of the garden and walked forth into the world as adults.  
   
Each of us has taken this step in our own life.  When examine our lives in terms of this story, we can find that movement from the protected garden into the world.  At some time, perhaps not traceable to any one event, we have fallen from the world of the child into that of the adult.  And it is truly described as a fall, for we have indeed lost something important: the nursery and its comfort.  Nor is it always obvious that we gain.  
       
Richard Chilson, The Way to Christianity: In Search of Spiritual Growth, pp 62-63 
    
TALK ABOUT IT
Can we get a glimpse of that fall in our own lives?  When and where did the world of childhood close us to and force us into the less secure and frightening world of adults?  
  
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THE "FALL" REVISITED, RICHARD CHILSON:  CHURCH OF RECONCILIATION