밀턴의 지식의 나무와 아담의 교육

Milton’s Tree of Knowledge and Adam’s Education

In Paradise Lost, the tree of knowledge can be a decisive touchstone for discerning and practicing God’s will for humans. With the tree of knowledge as the center, God conditions Adam to be a vicarious ruler who governs Eden, and Adam absolutizes God as the creator who grants him the authority and the means to rule. The tree of knowledge is at the core of the relationship between God and human beings, beyond simply the problem of knowledge derived from the tree’s name. Adam’s right understanding of the tree of knowledge is especially Milton’s core educational content about Adam. In this education of Adam, factors such as reason, free will and obedience can be verified in the process of securing the subjectivity by which Adam establishes himself as a true human being. In regard to Adam’s education, the important thing is that Adam should yearn for the presence of God himself and the Holy Being before making a decision not to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. This is because the Divine Presence is the perfect signification of the tree of knowledge and the aggregate of all reference systems. The power to refuse the fruit of the tree of knowledge depends not on Adam’s effort but on the presence of God, and the initiative of whether or not to eat the fruit of this tree belongs to God, not Adam. In fact, God’s command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not a law but an ethic, a matter not of coercion but of spontaneity. Man cannot be saved by the law and the efforts to obey it, but he can achieve everlasting and real life only by the presence and love of the Holy God. God alone can guide Adam on the path to life and salvation, the ultimate meaning of the tree, overcoming the temptations of the tree of knowledge and its superficial signs. In conclusion, the lessons that Adam must realize through the tree of knowledge come down to the question of who the Holy Being is and who Adam is, which is also the essence of Adam’s education on the tree of knowledge.