John Doyle,

self-awareness is characteristic of a fully sentient being feels a bit strange to me. The text seems to say that this self consciousness, the whole idea of self and other is the most obvious sign of being wrong, of having wrong in relationships.

The main reason for God making Eve was so that mankind could be completed by the oneness that was then a reality. So, while Adam and Eve are two separate sentient beings, they are one and are also not conscious that they are imperfect in their otherness to God. The idea of not being one is first subtly proposed by the serpent in introducing the possibility that God may not have told the whole truth about something that really would be good. Adam and Eve are together when they eat the forbidden fruit.

Finally, while being deceived may have been Eve’s fault it is Adam who is cursed and the ground along with him. Collectively it was Adam and the Ground, but now, the ground becomes AN OTHER, a rival and a hindrance.

We are conscious of our otherness and this consciousness is a reflection of the reality that we are not one either with each other or with the very world that has birthed us. 

Live to serve : Serve to live