Trees of Life
In Eden, there were two trees. One was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – its name describes what fruit it bears. But the other was the tree of life. And like the golden apples trees of the Gardens of the Hesperides, its fruit grants immortality. To make a meal of the fruit of those two trees would be to become a God.
The tree of life has been granted its own immortality, too. It’s a mytheme – a foundational image that is ubiquitous in the mythologies of diverse human cultures.
The tree of life has been granted its own immortality, too. It’s a mytheme – a foundational image that is ubiquitous in the mythologies of diverse human cultures.
And on the pages of celtic catalogs, etsy and pinterest:
But as an organizing principal, the tree of life takes its most meaningful shape as a metaphor deployed by Charles Darwin On the Origin of Species:
The affinities of all the beings of the same class have some-
times been represented by a great tree. I believe this simile
largely speaks the truth.
The affinities of all the beings of the same class have some-
times been represented by a great tree. I believe this simile
largely speaks the truth.
That image of a tree, growing its branches in ever-increasing intricacy, unfurling sunward: it is the best tool we have to understand the relationship of organism to phyla, self to others, self to the world.
It is there inside each of us, inverted, cradling our hearts, bronchi drawing life from the air exhaled by terrestrial trees.
It is there inside each of us, inverted, cradling our hearts, bronchi drawing life from the air exhaled by terrestrial trees.