The knowledge of good and evil is simply an awareness.

When a lion kills another lion, they don't consider that act of killing to be "evil."

That is because "evil" like "sin" are terms that are defined within the confines of religious doctrine.

Animals don't have a clear sense of right or wrong do they?

What about primates? Chimps? Apes? Do they have a limited sense of right and wrong?

(I think they might, but not like humans.)

Therefore I think that the knowledge of "good and evil" is actually an increased awareness of self.

Could there be a fruit that could expand your awareness?

JB

I am aware of lots of things when I eat mangoes.... does that help?


As to knowledge....

I would rather leap off the ledge of knowing, and into the pool of being.

Do Mangos raise your awareness? Personally I like bing cherries.

I am aware of summer... of the sweet ripeness as it drizzles down my arms... the smell of the tropics... the taste of divinity...

that's my fruit of knowledge...

I like Goji berries too..

Eagle Chief (Letakos-Lesa) Pawnee

In the beginning of all things, wisdom and knowledge were with the animals, for Tirawa, the One Above, did not speak directly to man. He sent certain animals to tell men that he showed himself through the beast, and that from them, and from the stars and the sun and moon should man learn.. all things tell of Tirawa.
All things in the world are two. In our minds we are two, good and evil. With our eyes we see two things, things that are fair and things that are ugly.... We have the right hand that strikes and makes for evil, and we have the left hand full of kindness, near the heart. One foot may lead us to an evil way, the other foot may lead us to a good. So are all things two, all two.

most animals as well as humans know right and wrong, for they know about their own balance... also, there was a leapord that killed a baboon, and there was an unknown baby klinging to her, and the female leapords instincts took over, and not only did she not kill the cub, but nurtured it for quite a while, and returned it to the baboon pride.....true story. there are many stories like this one....it is the arrogance of man, thinking he's the only one able to be with true compassion.

WOW that is an awesome story! Thanks.

I'm a believer.

I was having my dog trained for protection and he hated it. He could not get past a certain point. I asked the trainers why he was taking so long and they said that he did not hold his bite long enough.

He was too gentle. I believe he did not feel what he was doing was right. So I took him out of training. Indeed he was a very gentle dog. He loved to play with the children in the neighborhood.

JB

i understand about the dog....i've seeen that before.

"Beans, Beans, the magical fruit." Or is it mushrooms?

Anyway...

I don't think the concepts of good and evil are always necessarily religion-based. For example, I have heard that burping after a meal is considered a compliment to the cook in some societies. But in others, it is considered a gross insult to the entire dinner party. So good and evil would appear to be just a matter of agreed upon standards of conduct - whether they are self-imposed or enforced from outside.

And in that light, I see "the knowing of good and evil" as being simply the decision to agree to a particular standard of conduct.

In other words, "I know that such-and-such is right because it conforms to the standard of conduct with which I have agreed."

as far as i'm concerned animals are much smarter than people, you don't see them on date sights talking about whether humans are smarter than them - they already know the answer.

Amen!

Going scuba diving already proves that humanity is not top of any food chain!!!

(If you had seen some of the people I had to try and teach to dive, you would know what I mean)

Ascribing human emotions and characteristics to any animal is a very big mistake.

Compassion is not an animal trait, it is a human one.

The mothering instinct is just that - an instinct.

Dolphins have got it right ... their lives revolve around playing, eating and having sex.

The dolphins are ok, personally im a patriots fan

ok, seriously, i think the smartest animal [as to instincts] in the seas is the octopus [and relatives] but dolphins are up there also,as the whales to.

I stopped following the dolphins when Marino retired ...
The rest of the team were crap, but he was one of my heroes, even in the UK!

Actually octopi are very intelligent. They have the same level of intelligence as a domestic cat.

They can be tamed the same way as a cat, by food, and their range of emotions is startling.

They show colour and texture in the skin pigmentation.

They are my favourite invertebrate.

The fact I was lucky enough to have one touch me and crawl up my arm, enhanced their attaction for me.

I was scared witless, but patience and stillness allowed this beautiful animal to explore me and then swim off!

The Knowledge of Good and Evil could mean the journey through the illusion of there being either one or the other (black or white instead of black AND white). One becomes imprisoned by a desperate need to run from the truth of their own bad. In adamantly denying the bad that one holds in equal parts with good, one creates more "bad" around them. One suffers immensely.

Animals don't seem to be vexed with this "knowledge"...

Lucky Bastards

Instinct. Thats what animals use better than us.

They have so many more forms of non-verbal communication than us.

I think its 80% of our communication is non-verbal. So although we say something it might be an untruth that another part of our body will belie

Social structure is also important to animals. Heirarchy is very prevalent in animal body language.

Watching a pack of stray dogs play a couple of nights ago, it was easy to distinguish the social structure between the majority of the animals due to the understanding we have with dogs.

Natural Instinct gets clouded by having to be "good". One begins to question their every motion through space.

Maddening, I tell you.

But as they dont have guilt or remorse, how can they be good or bad in terms of emotions?

They know when they have chewed your $400 table that they are in the "dog"-house, but only because you are the head of the pack and they are down the pecking order.
After the slink away from fear of a beating from you as you give them negative body language, they will return to you in as little as one second if you lighten your mood.

They look for the non-verbal body language.

They are not bad nor good in terms of evil, they are just instinctual.

As humans we want to give them emotions they just dont posses.
We want them to be like us as they are our best friends, whose total loyalty we cannot hope to find in another human being.

Hmmm? - so iguess the extremely intellectual though brief conversation i had with a McCaw awhile back is instinctual huh? well such wisdom as he spoke everyone should take to heart.

Well unless your name is Polly and you are attractive, then his comments should be taken with an enormous cracker!