Claim. SMM reads the “tree of life” and “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” as the male and female sexual organs — the original royal palace of love, life, and lineage, whose misuse converts them into the holy place’s defilement.
Elaboration. The two-trees-as-organs reading is given systematically: “the fruit of the tree of life is the male sexual organ, and the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the female sexual organ. They must not even be touched. And if one eats of these fruits, it will be a disaster” (CSG 8.2 §4.2, 199-93, 1990.2.15). The “eyes will be opened” verse is re-read sexually: “For a man it means to know a woman, and for a woman it means to know a man; it means nothing else than the knowledge of the opposite sex” (ibid, 178-52, 1988.6.1). The sexual organs are framed as the holy of holies: “Where is the royal palace of love, life and lineage? It is that important organ of the man and woman. It was the holy place at the time of God’s creation… If it is invaded, everything is destroyed” (ibid, 205-328, 1990.10.2). Source-note: this H2 heading has the prose-only-heading bug; citation uses file-level wikilink with |CSG 8.2 §4.2 display alias.
See also. fall