Wikipedia | The tree of life (Heb. עץ החיים Etz haChayim) in the Book of Genesis is a tree planted by God in midst of the Garden of Eden (Paradise), whose fruit gives everlasting life, i.e. immortality. Together with the tree of life, God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:9). According to some scholars, however, these are in fact two names for the same tree.[1] According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, both are forms of the world tree.[2]The Biblical account states that Adam and Eve were exiled from the Garden of Eden after eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to prevent them from eating from the tree of life:
“ And the Lord God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." (Genesis 3:22)[3] ”
By questioning God's word and authority, the serpent, who is regarded as Satan in Christianity but not in Judaism, initially tempted Eve into eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, an act explicitly forbidden by God. The serpent tempted Eve by suggesting that eating the fruit would cause her to become as wise as God, having knowledge of good and evil. Eve ate the fruit, against God's command to Adam and later so did Adam, despite God's warning that "in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:17). As a consequence of their transgression, the land, the Serpent, Adam, and Eve were each cursed by God. To prevent them access to the tree of life God separated them from the tree of life, casting them out of the Garden. The banishment from the Garden of Eden is balanced in the New Testament by the planting of the tree of life on mankind's side of the divide.[citation needed]
In the Book of Revelation, a Koine Greek phrase xylon zoës (ξύλον ζωής) is mentioned 3 times. This phrase, which literally means "wood of life" is translated in nearly every English Bible version as "tree of life", see Revelation 2:7, 22:2, and 22:19.
23 comments:
Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it
African Proverb
Evil enters like a needle and spreads like an oak tree.
Ethiopia
mm,hmm..,
well, from solid though clearly liminal scholarship - I've uncovered, documented, communicated, and embraced the specific mycological entheogenic origins of the christian religion.
everything else is merely conversation....,
Here's an observation of the pictures you've posted...
The Catholic Church representations are clearly Amanitas. The other representations appear to be Psilocybes.
Help me out here magne.
Which one of these Catholic representations do you not consider Catholic? (I'm guessing the Eadwine Psalter) but need you to be specific.
Help me out here magne.
Which one of these Catholic representations, the Spanish, French, English, German or even colonial Brazilian - isn't passing muster with your Catholic filter?
Hmm, I assumed some of them weren't Catholic but early Christian. Maybe there is some other qualifying criteria... but the pics are not all Amanitas nor Psilocybes.
I'm wondering if I assumed the differences due to the ritual differences in consuming either type of mushroom and the clear tie that you've made between Amanitas and Roman Catholic ritual behavior.
Oops, got caught with an unquestioned assumption. Removing the assumption. I retain the observation that some are Amanitas and others are Psilocybe.
Hold that thought.
Peep this link http://www.johnnyfincham.com/history/eadwine.htm
Forgetting about the details for a moment, and I suggest forgetting altogether about a psilocybe connection to any of this, think about the ergodic nature of alchemical texts and the state of mind in which said texts are supposed to be "read".
Then think about really perplexing medieval texts like the Voynich manuscript.
jes sayyin...,
Why forget about the Psilocybe-specific connection? Are you suggesting that the source is less important than the affect? That Amanitas are extremely toxic and Psilocybe are not would strike me as an important distinction.
Very, very interesting supposition about the reading of alchemical texts... that could potentially provide the necessary functional 'transform' to make them accessible.
Why forget about the Psilocybe-specific connection?
I'm unaware of any ethnomycological evidence that psilocybe was familiar to any of the people(s) outside of mesoamerica - and - I'm not seeing any indication that the reported Abrahamic varieties of religious experience are in any way whatsoever consistent with the effects produced by teonanacatl.
Very, very interesting supposition about the reading of alchemical
texts... that could potentially provide the necessary functional
'transform' to make them accessible.
A veritable "philosopher's stone" as it were..., certainly a line of inquiry I now intend to pursue as ruthlessly as possible.
Adam and Eve and the strangely named tree of knowledge of good and evil? There is no need to be esoteric. Just do a search: First Scandal.
um..., Robert?
Whom do I petition for the return of my scandalously squandered 8 minutes?
Are you re: the poetry of the Yahwist, as the threshold to Christianity, where your symbol is a mushroom, yet; I can perceive it as a phallic symbol given the consciousness attack of male priest, on the once complementary dualism of the perceived divine? And making the temptation of the feminine the greatest sin for the male, to the extent that self-flogging became a way of preventing lustful thoughts. As we in America are still stuck on this nauseating circus of sexual malfeasance by our Calvinist roots. I presume that the poets always smoked entheogenic mushrooms, and crafted the Genesis Moral Story, that shaped Western Ethics and Law. That in itself is deep!Everything else is mere conjectures.
Interesting.
You've expressed your thoughts regarding amanita consumption before. Has that changed? Or, do you think psilocybe, lsd, or even S. divinorum would be equally (or more) effective?
Did some looking around and amanita intoxication looks downright unpleasant in comparison.
where your symbol is a mushroom
Nana, do you ever view the videos or read the links?
The "mushroom" is not a symbol of/for anything. It is nothing less than the entheogenic source of this whole and entire cycle of so-called religious behavior.
I can perceive it as a phallic symbol given the consciousness attack of
male priest, on the once complementary dualism of the perceived
divine? And making the temptation of the feminine the greatest sin for
the male, to the extent that self-flogging became a way of preventing
lustful thoughts.
What you refer to as "symbolisma" in antiquity was the literal magical-thinking preservation, transmission, celebration, and evocation of the amanita fruiting body as the vehicle for divine inspiration. Subsequent to these ancient origins, cultic reference to the amanita became increasingly symbolic and occulted within the "religious" traditions - due to the necessity of hiding these practices from "authorities."
I presume that the poets always smoked entheogenic mushrooms
No. no smoking mushrooms. Drying and eating the dried mushroom caps and stems. Eating the fresh fruiting body is too dangerously poisonous, and the image of Eve clutching her aching stomach is indicative of the expected physiological consequence of eating even the dried mushroom cap and stem.
The serious business redounds now to tracing the history of suppression of the amanita cultic knowledge and practice, and finding out where the occulted streams of such knowledge and practice flowed forward through time to the present day.
As for those lost in absurd just-so stories used by their forbears to secretly represent their actual cultic practices, well, those poor souls are too confused to worry about. None of what's going on here is conjectural, all of what's going on is hidden in increasingly plain sight. It's just a matter of focusing attention and looking directly at what's quite plainly there.
I just did a little bit o' looking around and every non-analogue hallucinogen works through very different pathways to induce a serotoninergic state. Fascinating. At a minimum, we know it has great potential at completely eradicating the widespread dopaminergic state M0. I'm now wondering how each substance might alter the reading of an ergodic text.
Your opinion of amanitas appears to be altering ;-)
Your opinion of amanitas appears to be altering ;-)
Ah..., you-so funny-man got jokes. (^;
Revelation 10:8-11 - 8 Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me, and saying, "Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land." 9 So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he said to me, "Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey." 10 I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey ; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. 11 And they said to me, "You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings."
Fascinating. At a minimum, we know it has great potential at completely eradicating the widespread dopaminergic state MO
History shows precisely the opposite. The magical world of the pilzbaum, was a dominant byzantine and medieval motif up until shortly after the conquest of the new world and the inquisition. Various ecclesiastical and secular authorities appear to have collaborated in the successful eradication of these practices, of the knowledge relating to these practices, and of the wholesale occultation of what was formerly (if the pervasiveness of the motif is any indication) of a widespread way of life.
Looking now for more dense data and imagery relating to the pilzbaum or german for "mushroom tree".
I don't save my jokes only for BD!
It does sound, though, that like it or not, amanitas may provide that proper reading state you're looking for.
History shows precisely the opposite.
Let me restate... using serotoninergic substances will eradicate M0 in an individual. M0 will respond through it's zombie army to isolate and eliminate any threats to dopamine hegemony.
The magical world of the pilzbaum, was a dominant byzantine and medieval motif up until shortly after the conquest of the new world and the inquisition.
Interestingly, that seems to coincide with the birth of Protestantism.
using serotoninergic substances will eradicate M0 in an individual.
In an individual - absolutely concur.
Interestingly, that seems to coincide with the birth of Protestantism.
and/or the advent of widespread, affordable, mass quantities of sugar, tobacco, and hard liquor from the "new" world...., all these factors coincided - and - all these factors remain in place right up to this minute.
Don't forget about corn ;-)
Ah yessss...., how could I have forgotten about that one?
Possibly in your advanced years the detrimental impact of the environment on your brain cells? ;^)
Either that, or all the fresh cobs we've been grilling and eating the past 6 weeks or so have acted to symbiotically cloud my mind and obscure the nefarious influence of he who walks behind the rows..., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_the_Corn
Post a Comment