The Forbidden Fruit is Poison. Tasty Poison.

  Everybody has been a child and understands that innate burning desire for knowledge that accompanies youth. Many of us have gotten ourselves into trouble by snooping in and around things that we had been told not too. Despite the ever prevalent fear of punishment, why do we actively question things we are told not too and open doors we have been ordered to keep closed? Moreover, what are we expecting to discover, and is it worth the repercussions that we might have to endure? 

   There have been many stories through time that warn us about the dangers of defying orders in the pursuit of knowledge. In Ovid's Metamorphoses there is the story of Actaeon and his plight when he stumbles upon Diana bathing with her nymphs. Despite being told to look away, the foolish boy does not avert his eyes, and for his disobedience, Diana turns him into a stag. Shortly after his transformation, his hunting crew kills him and only once he had suffered tremendously was Diana appeased.  Another story many are familiar with is the tale of Pandora and her box. Pandora was a woman the Grecian gods created. They bestowed Pandora with many gifts such as beauty, speech, and curiosity. Among these gifts, Zeus gave her an exquisite container and ordered her not to open it. Unfortunately curiosity overcame Pandora and she removed the lid. Once the lid had been removed, all of the evils that plague men came swarming out, forever punishing mankind. Now, to venture into some Christian mythology. I can guarantee that almost everyone is familiar with the story of Adam and Eve. "God" created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden which contained everything necessary to sustain them. God told his creations that they were allowed to eat from anything in the garden except for the tree in the center, for if they did, they would be punished with mortality. Eve ventured out and after some urging from a sly serpent, she ate the forbidden fruit and so did Adam. They ate this fruit despite the looming threat of death because the serpent said that it would give them the gift of knowledge. Adam and Eve gave up immortality for the sake of knowing. 

   All three of these stories have three things in common: Curiosity, Defiance, and Punishment. The punishment for knowledge seems to involve death in each of the tales, but that raises the question: Is knowledge worth death? Being only 20 years old, I do not think I am qualified to present a definitive answer to this question, so all I have to go on is my opinion. 

  I believe that knowledge is completely worth the threat of punishment and death. Many people throw around the saying that "ignorance is bliss", but I could not disagree more. Ignorance is simply ignorance. If, as a population, we did not strive to educate ourselves we would end up as opinion-less automatons marching through a haze of blind obedience. Personally, I do not want that as a life. If ignorance is bliss, it is a shallow and falsely won victory. Without the awareness and experience of suffering, how could we recognize what happiness truly is? Speaking for myself, I would rather take a big, juicy bite out of the forbidden fruit that is education. 

 Adam and Eve, 17th century, Oil on Canvas, Peter Paul Rubens