I can get behind this interpretation of “original sin”. As in it’s not something we’re being punished for, it’s just a state of our existence as conscious beings.

I’ve found it interesting that the authors of Genesis made it a point to call it the “tree of knowledge of good and evil”. This hints to me of dualities, and the primal duality of good/evil, which I believe to be core to our existence as biological beings rooted in our our survival instincts. Things are only “good or bad” as they relate to our survival and well being. Otherwise there is no good or evil “out there” outside of our feelings.

So “falling” into a biological body as you describe is precisely what I think the Eden story and doctrine of original sin is about. My only qualm with this and other interpretations is that (as you’ve questioned in your article) it places things in a hierarchy. The spiritual is “higher”, the physical and biological is “lower”. There is something “bad” that we’ve done to be paid for. We “chose” to be here in this physical body. And somehow God didn’t intend for any of that to happen but he figured out a way, through Jesus, to make it “good” anyway?

I gotta call bullshit on that. How can God’s creation NOT turn out as she intended? What need does God have for intentions or plans? That sounds like some dualistic, “caught up in time”, narrative devices created by egotistical narrative creatures, aka humans.

Do I believe there to be wisdom in these stories? Absolutely! And I think you are correctly interpreting that wisdom. My only addition is to say “keep going”. Go where wisdom leads. Lean on what you do not know. That is our “original state” and it’s always here and present. Like the prodigal son, our “current state” is entirely self-inflicted. The only thing we need to be “saved “ from is our selves (ego).