God, the Devil and Elephants

There’s that famous observation that if someone tells you to not think about an elephant, then that’s the exact thing that will leap to your mind. Pretty much all of us know that’s how our minds work, right? Reverse psychology is the technical term for the phenomenon.

Except, it turns out only we humans know that. The Gods apparently didn’t know. At least not the Western ones anyway. Remember what they told Eve in the Garden of Eden? Eat anything except that apple. No prizes for guessing what she was going to do, is there? She didn’t need a snake to “make her do it”; she’d have done it anyway. That’s just the way we humans are wired.

Or take that tale about Pandora’s box: the Gods gave her a box and tell her to not open it. Yeah, like she was not going to let curiosity or rebellious tendencies get the better of her!

Almost makes you think that the (Western) gods were either dumb or wanted some wicked fun, doesn’t it? Take your pick which reason it was: it’s kind of like the Devil’s choice, isn’t it? Which is so ironic, if you’re a believer…

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