The telling point in the fable of Adam is that he didn't really want to eat the fruit. He didn't seek it out. Nor for that matter, did Eve. The serpent beguiled her, and that was that.

But what triggered that first instance of succumbing to desire? Genesis blames the Evil inherent in Existence – the fly in the ointment – but has humanity paying the price.

What it seems to be about is the creation of desire: for objects of perception, for knowledge.

Before the Fall, Adam had no desires because he was looked after by God, much alike a house pet today. He didn't even ask for a mate: God decided he shouldn't be alone. And without the knowledge of good & evil, Adam & Eve presumably didn't even “know” one another, so there was no sexual desire either.

Desire enters into the story by the back door, a stage device. The serpent is the gun on the wall. If no serpent, then no temptation, and no Fall.

Does this point to an early human condition in which it did not occur to people to want things? They satisfied their physical needs when such needs were felt, but there was no sense of calculation or covetousness.

Perhaps there was no sense of boredom either. (Do animals get bored? My cat, doing nothing all day? Cows in a field? Chickens? The burro forced to follow the same circular path giving rides to children?) We can suppose that before the Fall Adam didn't get bored because he didn't have desire and didn’t crave experience.

Desire arises out of the process of comparison: we see something that we recognize as “better” (or perhaps only different) than what we have.

Perhaps the crux of the allegory is the creation of woman: the creation of difference where there had been none, the invitation to compare (“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours”). From that standpoint, it was God who planted the seed of desire.

And just look at what desire creates: attachment, identification of the self with things outside it. And attachment breeds seeking advantage, because when we identify with things and concepts we want to protect them, to solidify our positions, so we need to gain the upper hand against the possibility that we might lose them.

And seeking advantage creates all kinds of problems, because what might help me in my advantage might in some way disadvantage you. So swallow that fruit and let the games begin!