We All Know That People Are The Same Where Ever We Go
There Is Good And Bad In Ev'ryone,
We Learn To Live, We Learn To Give
Each Other What We Need To Survive Together Alive.

Ebony And Ivory Live Together In Perfect Harmony
...

Original sin... hmmm.

Let's review:

Eve ate an "apple" which gave her knowledge. She convinced Adam to eat the apple and then he gained knowledge. They were then cast out of Eden because they became “aware”. The apple then becomes a symbol of the original sin. Over the years we give this symbol of the apple to teachers.

So maybe another question here is: Why is knowledge a sin?

All I believe in is a original skin....

"Why is knowledge a sin?"

I think that what you mean is why is knowledge of good and evil a sin? A baby is unaware of what it is doing is good or bad. As they grow this is instilled in them by their parents and others. One of the first words a baby understands is "NO". Once you understand what is good or bad you can then choose which to do. This is why the criminally insane recieve treatment vs. the criminal that goes to prison. The insane don't have a choice.

Although the whole concept of the criminal having a choice is now being debated in head shrinker circles.

hmmm... how to say this ...
People are who they are. The environmental and social influences have a great deal to do with your opportunities in life and can create biases and habitual responses. But essentially you come into the world with your own 'path' and a purpose. In reincarnation the model of a divine soul fits the physics of the universe perfectly. It's the only religious system that science could embrace at it's deepest level. The idea of one God who is the creator of all we see also fits at the outer theoretical boundaries of quantum physics. All the physical properties and natural laws of the universe are expressed by the smallest and simplest equations. The simplest laws are the ones that truly govern our lives. They are ones in which you find an expression of creation. Most of the physical, social and secular laws which govern our actions are our own invention. If we must force people to act civil to each other then we have deviated from nature. We deviate from the perfect path when we try to act correctly as well as when we knowingly act incorrectly. But deviation and attempting to change is part of the interaction of all souls. Just as an atom is made up of smaller particles, and all matter is made up of atoms, we as individuals are just smaller particles of a larger being which is another small bit of a larger consciousness which ultimately makes up "everything". Thus our inability to perceive the whole picture gives us a narrow view of the cosmos in which there is good vs evil, light vs dark etc. This perception is what forces us to continue living.

After you have lived your life, the energy which is you (your soul) continues on in the same direction it was already moving. You are presented with a review of your incarnation which allows you to see the consequences of all you've done. You have a few chances of escaping the cycle of births at this point. For most people it's a strange and confusing experience and the natural laws move them along to the next stage. Very few religions have any guidance for their followers to help with this process.Then you spend some time in the void (Bardo) waiting for your next life. When you are born your memories can range from a complete memory of your past life to just the circumstances of your death or nothing at all. The circumstances into which you are born are determined by the direction your previous incarnation was taking you. If you have generated a lot of negative energy by causing pain or suffering you will probably continue along the same line without knowing why. Escaping the laws of motion, or changing the direction of your life is a conscious act that can only be done by the individual and requires a great deal of effort. Growth is a natural consequence of positive activity or forward motion. The spiritual beings that we are develop through this cycle of lives, attempting to become older and more in tune with natural law. There is a relationship between the mind and spirit that can propel a soul to greater heights of awareness or drag a soul down to a stagnant state of material dependency.

It's easy to see why the concepts of original sin, heaven and hell and good and evil carry so much weight in organized religions. Someone needs to point people in the right direction, give them a reason to strive to be good so that we can all benefit from the advance of the one spirit that is made up of all our individual energies.

This got a lot wordier than I wish it had...

i'm good, and the rest of you are evil. i've never been a blank slate...

Hmm... Those that cannot state their opinion in less than hundred words or quote others are evil!

people are devious like that

this is a bit tricky, since "evil" and "good" are often used as relative terms.

i am inclided to view human society as evil, since it tends to exert large amounts of unpleasent preasure on people who are "different".

having been in this position for many years, i have developed a jaundiced view of many human groups.

however, this is hardly the same statement as groups of humans are inately evil.

If anyone starts quoting Star Wars and Jedi 'force' I'll be compelled to hit them..

Beer Wars....Dark Lager...may the Froth be with you...

Desiderada lost all its appeal when the send-up was released...

Good and Evil are socially contrived concepts based on common acceptable standards of social conduct.
I think you are born aberrant, and grow to be abhorrent...[sorry, Doreen].
There has to be something in the way that children who are cruel to pets become serial killers...[or is that the other way round?...]

Frogboy has a 'Rose-coloured glasses' approach to his fellow man, that is not well supported with historical reality.
If 990 out of a 1000 people were inherently 'good' then global conflict would be quashed by the overwhelming powers of 'good' at the ratio of 99 to 1.

What is more realistic is that there 'may' be 10 in 1000 who are particularly 'evil' and a further couple of hundred sufficiently self-serving to support and condone the 'evil' ones, for their own agendas, which at best are just not self-less.

What you get then is total spectrum of shades of 'good' blending with 'evil' until you have a reasonably equally split system wher 50% are more good than bad, and vice versa.

Now if only we can 'push' people further one way than the other through reasoned argument, then the world may just become a better place....

Wow, you are an insightful man Koop.

Jafo,
If you judge what you read asking your self "who wrote that?" and not "what it means?", it is like you buy a CD, because you have read somewhere that it is no 1 in the Hit Parade With a few words I don't think that "Desiderata lost all its appeal" at all.

Nice thoughts you have Larry!