Judaism and Christianity – two of the religions that have some form of the Golden Rule – also have the concept of a fallen species that is not what it was intended to be.
Now, whether you buy the specific concept of an Adam or not (literally or symbolically), the fact is that the idea seems to be true. We’re can be pretty rotten. But – bizarrely – we know that we can be pretty rotten, we recognize our rotten behavior as rotten behavior (usually), and don’t want to be rotten. But we keep being rotten, and are not what we feel like we should be. It’s hard to figure out how this is even possible, for an animal being to decry and abhor its own behavior. It’s a conundrum.
Judaism and Christianity – two of the religions that have some form of the Golden Rule – also have the concept of a fallen species that is not what it was intended to be.
Now, whether you buy the specific concept of an Adam or not (literally or symbolically), the fact is that the idea seems to be true. We’re can be pretty rotten. But – bizarrely – we know that we can be pretty rotten, we recognize our rotten behavior as rotten behavior (usually), and don’t want to be rotten. But we keep being rotten, and are not what we feel like we should be. It’s hard to figure out how this is even possible, for an animal being to decry and abhor its own behavior. It’s a conundrum.