In the Garden, with the Serpent: the importance of careful choices.

• Position: The Constant Choice - Book review

In a quarter hour, at 10:45 a.m., the amphitheater will fill with Chautauquans, who will have assembled to hear Elie Wiesel, Nobel Prize winner, Holocaust survivor, speak on the subject of good and evil. Needless to say, I want to hear his words more than those of any other speaker scheduled this summer.

When he speaks about the myth of the Serpent in the Garden, about the Fall, he suggests that Adam and Eve's failure had more to do with their lack of curiosity about consequences--rather than the reverse, which is the usual interpretation. Most would see them as too curious, too eager to taste the fruit and know its flavor, yet Wiesel tells us they failed to ask God why they shouldn't eat from the Tree of Knowledge. They should have been more skilled in conversation and dialectic. In essence, they should have grilled their Creator about the rules until they understood the game.

I like this. This is exactly the way I would have looked at this myth: It's their fault for breaking the rules without understanding the implications. It wasn't a matter of too much curiosity, but too little. If they'd understood the nature of their choice...