“In the beginning, one treats the tree incident in Eden as occurring ‘in the past’ — or in the mythic prehistory of our emergence as a species, or perhaps as spiritual beings.

Erroneous as this is, it has utility, for during this phase one may acquire metaphors and perspectives appropriate to the shock that will occur when something a bit more like the truth becomes apparent. That something is this: the Garden of Eden is a timeless figure that stands as a symbol of the nature of humans in time. It is happening in every now there may be.

It is always, not past. It is forever, not then. The incident at the tree is happening over and over again, in every moment, in nearly every human life. But everyone is convinced that it lies in the distant or mythical past, and, this being the case, they can neither deploy nor activate the medicine encoded in those metaphors. That is the medicine that amends the judgment and the ejection, returning filial unity and balance to the array of forms there active.”

— an anonymous informant