There has probably been no previous epoch in history when the claim to autonomy, the self being the ultimate arbiter of good and evil, was so widely spread as in ours. Theologies are not lacking that cultivate this false gospel. One could add to those observations drawn from Genesis, which apply to our mission today, that the Serpent figure had strong connotations in the ancient Middle-East: the emblem of occult science, of the mastery of forbidden secrets, and also, with phallic symbolism, of sexual power. Who can deny the fascination for the same around us today?
