The 'Tree of Life' – An Enduring Symbol

[Resource Manager]

Of interest:

The 'Tree of Life' – An Enduring Symbol

Niki GAMM

 

May 03, 2014

"Did the idea of a world tree or tree of life, present in the mythology of the human race, arise from the millions of years that evolutionary biology states human beings lived in trees as primates? The tree supports the heavens and the trunk or world connects the latter with the underworld through its roots.

From Ireland across northern Europe throughout Central Asia and North America, the mythology of the world tree or tree of life spread.

As so often happens, some of the oldest accounts of the sacred tree come down to us from Babylonia and have been dated to 3,000 – 4,000 BC. The Babylonian tree was at the center of the universe at the mouth of the Euphrates River. The roots of the tree extended into the waters of the abyss which was guarded by Ea, the god of wisdom, who produced the water necessary for agriculture in the land between the two rivers. The leaves of the tree were where the goddess of the heavens resided and the trunk held the earth goddess and her son.

The tree of life appears several times in the Old Testament of the Bible. It is one of two trees that stand in Paradise; however, the other one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, achieved greater prominence as time went on."

Continued