Religion in the age of reason

You said:
You should protect the soul
Not from the murmur of the flesh
But from the whisper of the mind:
The voice that exiled you from paradise,
Whatever paradise means.
My friend, he answered.
You have exiled yourself twice:
Once from paradise
And once from yourself.
The old Adam in you is alone. So alone.

Background: the brother alludes here to the exile from paradise, from innocence, after eating the fruit of knowledge and to the constant struggle of religion against the 'sins' of the body.