THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL 143 



THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL 



By Professoe T. D. A. COCKERELL 



UNIVERSITY OF COLOEADO 



IN an ancient story, it is told how primitive man ate of the tree 

 of knowledge, and thus lost his original simplicity. " And the 

 Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good 

 and evil." In later years, we have reason to suspect, our ancestors re- 

 turned at frequent intervals to the fateful tree, and took therefrom 

 cuttings to plant in their own gardens. The universities, if I mistake 

 not, had their origin in this manner; and it is even possible that the 

 faculties within them have a distant relationship to the serpent of Eden. 

 The modern Adam and Eve are perhaps not so easily beguiled ; but, on 

 the other hand, the fruit has been improved by selection and cultivation, 

 and it is no longer necessary to go to the trouble of picking it off the 

 tree; it is served up in dainty dishes, cooked, flavored and predigested. 

 Even those who will not taste acknowledge that it pleasantly stimulates 

 the olfactory nerve. 



For all this, the curse has not been lifted. Our animal ancestors 

 were, under ordinary circumstances and for vast periods of time, 

 strictly orthodox. They traveled the straight and narrow path, turning 

 neither to the right nor to the left. Life to them meant the perform- 

 ance of certain acts as their fathers performed them, under conditions 

 such as their fathers enjoyed. Mediocrity — the middle line — was the 

 true standard of excellence. They were not conscious of sin, for they 

 sinned not. 



Man, with his dawning self consciousness, found himself in posses- 

 sion of a new power. From this moment he must choose and judge; 

 and thereby usurping the functions of God, be to a considerable extent 

 his own creator. His whole history is a story of how well or ill he 

 played this part, his whole future depends upon his ability to face this 

 responsibility. The ancient curse of failure serves but to spur him on; 

 it is the whip which awakens him from the constantly recurring tend- 

 ency to sink back into mere animality. 



This is the truth at the bottom of the doctrine that all men are 

 evil, and must become conscious of the fact before attaining salvation. 

 Progress depends upon a " divine discontent," and this, like charity, 

 may best begin at home. It has been well said that he who has reached 

 the age of twenty-five without at any time holding himself to be a fool, 

 is indeed one, with small chance of cure. It is a common error to sup- 



