Apple

If my story on choosing to have surgery before holiday is the tip of an iceberg, then medical decision is an iceberg at the edge of north pole - and not a big one.

There are so many things that we have to make decision - many of them have no right-or-wrong answer. Should I spend tonight with my family, or out with my friends ? Should I follow my interest to choose my job, or take the one with better prospect ? Should we respect privacy, or the right to know of the public ? (For some of our friends in the new world: Should I vote for the shrewd woman, or the black idealist ?) I touch the piece of apple stuck in my throat; it is not yet digested to give intelligence.

No, here is Satan's trick. No kind of intelligence could give us the black-and-white answer to these questions (that's why the apple was meant for Adam's throat, not his stomach) because there is actually no such answer - and probably no such answer for most of the questions in life. God is the one who tell us there are definite answers: you should do this and that. (No. I should follow the idea of Spinoza: God does not tell us the definite answer; god is the definite answer.) When we realize there is no definite answer and we can - alas, have to - choose, god leaves our soul - and we leave Eden.

Then, where does intelligence come along ? Here is what you've been fooled: intelligence is merely the bait on Satan's hook. He makes us believe that there are definite answers - and we can know the answer after taking the apple of intelligence. Once we eat the apple, our eyes open and realize, as Nietzsche said, god is dead.