The Crucifixion, explained (part 2).

(:title The Crucifixion, explained (part 2).:)

(:title The Crucifixion Explained, pt. 2.:)

(:title Crucifixion Explained, pt. 2:)

Explicandum

Apostles’ Creed

(:quote:) [Christ] suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. (:endquote:)

Explicans

Genesis 3:5, words of the serpent

(:quote:) …your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods… (:endquote:)

Noble Truth number one of four

(:quote:) Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering. (:endquote:)

Meta-explicans

The serpent’s words were correct, but the direction of the inference for the second assertion must be reversed from the standard interpretation.

Autobiographical note on the meta-explicans

When I was a child, I not infrequently thought, “If only I had been ‘born’ the soul of God, rather than the soul of myself, how much easier would life be!”

At that time, I had not yet fully come to understand the significance of the crucifixion nor that of Matthew 11:30, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”