"Just as a child needs to say no, the mature person one day needs to say yes. If the child cannot say no to the parents, to the authorities, to the teachers, if the child is unable to disobey, he will not attain to any individuality; he will not have any form, shape. He will be just part of the mob mind, the crowd. He will be impotent, he will not be able to stand on his own. He will not have any self-respect. He will remain hotchpotch, an ugly mess. He will not really be born; he will remain in a psychological womb his whole life, ungrown up. He has to learn how to disobey. And the wise parents will help him to disobey in such a way that disobeying does not distort him. They will give him opportunities to disobey, they will give him opportunities to say no.

"That's exactly the meaning of the biblical parable. God said to Adam, 'Don't eat the fruit of this tree, the Tree of Knowledge. If you eat the fruit of this tree you will be expelled from paradise.' It is a great temptation. It is giving Adam an opportunity to disobey.

"And God also said to Adam, 'If you eat the fruit of this tree you will become a mortal; right now you are immortal. Secondly, if you eat the fruit of this tree you will become like gods, all-knowing.' You see the temptation, the multi-dimensional temptation? First: 'You will be able to become like gods, all-knowing.' Who would not like to become like gods, all-knowing? And the second, the danger, the risk: 'If you eat from this tree you will become mortal; death will start happening to you.' Now it is a challenge. Danger always attracts, and death is the greatest danger.

"God did not leave any possibility for Adam to remain obedient. There must have been millions of trees in the Garden of Eden and only one Tree of Knowledge; if Adam had been left alone, on his own he might not have discovered it yet. But God didn't leave it up to him; he pointed out the tree and created the temptation. You think the serpent did it? If the serpent did it, then he must have been in the service of God."