This is a long post but the beginning is TL;DR.

I read a discussion about original sin in one of the comment sections recently. I remember there was a show quite some time ago where Stefan talked about the fall from Eden and its meaning. I can’t seem to find it, but if I recall correctly his argument was that eating the fruit from the tree did not give mankind the knowledge of what actions are good and evil, but the ability to make up subjective morality. It gave us the ability to imagine subjective and limited standards for good and evil, instead of accepting objective and universal standards. I think what the idea of original sin is trying to convey is that every person has this temptation to create subjective morality and not that we are somehow born evil, which seems to be a common understanding.

That’s the short version but keep reading for an expanded exploration of meaning. Lets apply this theory to “The fall”, chapter 3 of Genesis, I’ve put my notes within parentheses. Some parts lack notes because I don’t know what to make of it.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%203&version=KJ21

1 Now the serpent (frontal cortex) was more crafty than any of the wild animals (parts of brain) the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree (entertain ideas, create inventions) in the garden (the mind or thoughts)’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, (objective morality is the center of the soul, mind and life) and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God (universal objective morality) knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gaining ability for subjective limited morality)

(The serpent (frontal cortex) is lying, claiming that mankind can create it’s own subjective limited morality and also make it universal and objective! Basically it’s: “You can make square circles!”)

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree (subjective limited morality) was good for food (physical objects) and pleasing to the eye (inner eye, mind’s eye or ego), and also desirable for gaining wisdom (how to manipulate?), she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes (self reflection) of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; (morally naked, immoral) so they sewed fig leaves (imagery) together and made coverings (lies and excuses) for themselves.

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound (empiricism) of the Lord God (universal objective morality) as he was walking in the garden (the mind or thoughts) in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees (ideas, ideology) of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked (immoral); so I hid. (hid from conscience)”

11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? (proposed actions to ideal standards) Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
(About creating generational trauma perhaps?)

16 To the woman he said,

“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. (difficulty breaking patterns of abuse, immoral norms and values, painful to fail then norms and values are passed down)
Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife (men defer to women) and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. (immorality rules the earth, you’ll be subjected to it)
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat the plants of the field. (You’ll use it too and it will hurt you, it will be used against you)
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. (“Women play a crucial role in both preserving cultural heritage and driving cultural evolution, making them integral to the development and progression of society” // Call-in-AI)

21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
(Paradise/a free society will not emerge from subjective limited morality and won’t allow subjective limited morality if it does emerge)

23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

If eating the fruit from the tree indeed means the ability to make up subjective morality, then this story becomes different than I had previously imagined. What do you all think about this possibility?