Even amid shame and degradation may be found two qualities of thought which, if nurtured, can spring up, reverse the downward trend, and raise the individual to heights of spiritual vision and expression. These qualities are self-knowledge and humility.
The allegory of Eden represents various types of depraved human thought: disobedience, self-will, self-justification, to name a few. But among them one may detect these two redeeming qualities which are fundamental to all spiritual progress and healing. They are expressed by Eve when she says, "The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat."
Gen. 3:13
Mrs. Eddy comments on Eve's willingness to admit a fault and to accept the responsibility to correct it without any attempt at self-justification. In Science and Health she writes: "She has already learned that corporeal sense is the serpent. Hence she is first to abandon the belief in the material origin of man and to discern spiritual creation. This hereafter enabled woman to be the mother of Jesus and to behold at the sepulchre the risen Saviour, who was soon to manifest the deathless man of God's creating. This enabled woman to be first to interpret the Scriptures in their true sense, which reveals the spiritual origin of man."
Science and Health, pp. 533– 534
