Egyptian Foundation and the Tree of Life

The tree of life bears its fruit recognized in the Bible as the “forbidden Fruit” i.e. the “Flower” from the Tree of Life. The ‘flower’ is a representation of knowledge and is why Da Vinci took to the study of deciphering the mystery contained therein, of which some believe contains the mystery of human DNA. The first representation appears, of course, in Egypt and has been duplicated throughout the known world for thousands of years. Please read the article below and I’d love to get some feedback as to the origin of many of these so-called secret societies..
en.wikipedia.org...

Don't expect any Masons here to help you out regarding this question, because "it's a secret" (shhhhh, can't share sacred wisdom).

reply to post by OmegaPoint

Truth be told; I dont want an explanation - I just want a reason!?

reply to post by akjen


I think your confusing the tree of knowledge with the tree of life.

And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Genisis 2:9

It was the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden that had the forbidden fruit.

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it:

Genisis 2:17


So what of the tree of life then?

And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

Genisis 3:22

So the tree of life is not forbidden and is very special indeed but I don't think it is written that the tree of life bears fruit.

the forbidden fruit is the orgasm.
the animal spasm.

-

reply to post by Devino

"In Chinese mythology a carving of a Tree of Life depicts a phoenix and a dragon – in Chinese mythology the dragon often represents immortality. There is also the Taoist story of a tree that produces a peach every three thousand years. The one who eats the FRUIT receives immortality."
"The Tree of Life is shown to Lehi and then also to his son Nephi in a dream or vision, between 600 and 592 B.C. according to the Book of Mormon. Lehi recounted the tree as "a tree, whose FRUIT was desirable to make one happy." (1 Nephi 8:10)"
The tree of life generaly represents 'above and below' the interconnection of all things. Some cultures proclaim the 'below' to represent the underworld. The tree of life is also depicted in many instances with a SERPENT coiled within including in the Qabbalah. I guess Ive always sort of combined the tree of life and the tree of knowlege as one and the same for obvious reasons.

I supose what I'm trying to get my mind around is if the origin of the symbolic representation of many secret societies decends, in fact, from Egypt and the significance/reason for it. Also, a timeline would be nice .. I truly have no interest in the 'secrets' of these societies - just a history...

Originally posted by OmegaPoint
Don't expect any Masons here to help you out regarding this question, because "it's a secret" (shhhhh, can't share sacred wisdom).

Must have been omitted from my curriculum, the 'flower of life' is not part of any Masonic instruction. And any correlation that Masonry may draw with the tree of life, it is purely speculative.

Although quaballistic study is typically a part of any basic mystery school oriented philosophy, most of its teachings are left open for interpretation.

Originally posted by akjen
I supose what I'm trying to get my mind around is if the origin of the symbolic representation of many secret societies decends, in fact, from Egypt

I would say yes, and I've actually read a reasonable amount on the subject. The Egyptians also have a giant wheel depicting the sky on the ceiling of one of their temples, divided into 12 equal parts with mythic figures by each section: the Zodiac. The ankh, obviously, but also the cross and a lot of other geometrical symbolism also goes back either to the Egyptians or at least to their philosophical successors.

And then there's their myths.. Ra, Horus, all those guys and the things they (symbolically) did. There have been many books written about their huge influence on all cultures to come afterwards, and it's part of the same legacy. Just most of it because corrupted into later religious doctrine.

and the significance/reason for it.

That's the "secret," and you'll never understand the symbolism without it. The symbols are all tools, but if you don't know what they're used for, then you're not going to understand them at all. You may think you can understand them as part of some intellectual, scientific exercise, but you must have no idea what you are really dealing with. The minds that use these symbols INVENTED science. There was a big knowledge gap even in those times between "those in the know" and everybody else, and modern times have made that gap into a canyon (unless you're "elite" ).

The symbolism is passed down from Egypt and other ancient cultures simply because they knew it before the rest of us, and though we change symbols around as cultures change, they still always represent the same things ultimately. Some even argue that the Egyptians intentionally changed their own symbols and obscured their "meanings" just to keep the un-knowing from even thinking that they really understood. Nobody really understands, that's why we are studying a great "mystery," but these ancient schools still offer much more than 99.9% of people realize.

[edit on 23-4-2009 by bsbray11]

reply to post by bsbray11

Very informative - Thanks and no I cant complete the spectrum of thought simply, I suppose as you say, because I dont know what I'm dealing with and have NO desire to find out on that particular level. We all live in a very complex enviroment and I cant help but find all the historical influences very interesting and very much a part of the grand old story.

To the best of my knowlege there is 13 Zodiacs - the Serpent Man is the 13th, as far as I know, just forgotten.

There's nothing in Masonry about the flower of life. In some of the lectures there are references to geometry.

Those lectures are freely available on the web and are not secret.

In my years in Masonry I haven't been asked to believe one thing or another. Symbols and lectures are presented and then it's up to each Mason to interpret them and apply them to his life. or not.

I still think all the secret societies and mystery schools probably all originated from one place and time. It seems like a lot of them can be traced back to Egypt.

Hi!

Nasim Haramein explains the tree of life
It will cost you some time. Part 1 is 4 hours long and very interesting.
But dont be upset after watching! There is also a part 2! And also 4 hours long

Link

[edit on 23-4-2009 by Lunica]

Originally posted by akjen
To the best of my knowlege there is 13 Zodiacs - the Serpent Man is the 13th, as far as I know, just forgotten.

That sounds like a reference to the center of the zodiac, which is also associated with the cross, as the movie "Zeitgeist" mentions. The Sun is also a big symbol at the center of the zodiac, and all of these are references to the fully-realized human being, which is why they're sacred. Relating to the cross derived from the center of the zodiac (dividing it into 4, a very appropriate number representing completeness, as Jungian psychologists would quickly notice -- read "Man and His Symbols" by C.G. Jung), the cross is associated with Jesus mythologically because Jesus is also a symbol for the fully-realized human being. The "second coming of Christ" to the inner traditions is the coming of "Christ consciousness" or the full realization of the consciousness. According to these traditions, when Jesus "comes back," "he" is "inside" you, or more appropriately the state of consciousness he represents has merged with your sense and state of being. I'm sure you've at least heard of the historical evidence suggesting Jesus never actually existed as a real person. I don't really want to get into that but imo "Christos" references in those debates are just being misinterpreted by "Christians".

Look at Egyptian mythology the same way. Everything that happens to those gods is symbolic to what every individual must experience to obtain the heightened state of consciousness that lies at the heart of the mystery school. They're dismembered, killed, have to rise from the grave. Not necessarily literally, but symbolically all of these functions of life must be mastered if one is to be free in the broadest sense. Medieval alchemy produces a lot of the same symbolism in chemical terms, and even Jungian psychology interprets all of these symbols and gives them meaning in relation to the full realization of the self. The book I mentioned earlier, "Man and His Symbols," talks about all sorts of religious symbolism and what they mean to our subconscious, coming from a founder of modern psychology.

Excellent post. Thank you and I agree for the most part. However, I don't that the emergence of Christianity can be understood absent the historical person of Jesus, or his meaningful death within the contextual framework of the Jewish Temple, and I do find it interesting how no one denies the historical authenticity of Saul (Paul) nor that Paul was contemporary to Peter (though much younger than Peter at that time).

But surely the second coming comes not by expectation or from any particular direction, implying that it is an emergent simultaneous phenomenon eminating from consciousness (from everywhere), and even the "clouds of the heavens" could refer to the star clouds of the milkey way, and coming on the clouds from east to west may very well represent the dawning of a new age, a new sun.

But I find Zeitgeist's attempt to eliminate Jesus to be sad and pathetic, and born of extreme contempt and presumption.

Originally posted by OmegaPoint
But I find Zeitgeist's attempt to eliminate Jesus to be sad and pathetic, and born of extreme contempt and presumption.

Interesting emotions you associate with the issue, but I didn't actually come to my opinion by watching Zeitgeist. I had read a book previous to that called "Jesus and the Lost Goddess: The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians" by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, and read other related material. Basically the Jesus myth borrows heavily, sometimes almost verbatim from many other symbolic ancient myths (even stories already in the OT), the names and languages were just reworked as always to introduce fresh associations. Not that I really care either way, and not that it even makes a bit of difference now either way, since you and I only know "him" through symbolic representations anyway.

The zodiac wheel divided into 12 constellations each representing a sign has been found all over the world in ancient civilizations, origin unknown. And there is a 13th sign, Ophiuchus or the snake bearer, which is outside of the zodiac wheel between Scorpio and Sagittarius.

The Dragon motif that appears in mythology possibly represents an observed plasma interaction between a very large comet and the Earth. The astrological glyph for Earth is a cross, or +, inside a circle and Venus is a + bellow a circle similar to the Egyptian ankh.

The Egyptian ankh seems to represent immortality, female, Aphrodite and the planet Venus. Is there a connection with this symbol and the mythological dragon motifs found around the world? The Maya also have a myth pertaining to a dragon or a feathered serpent named Quetzalcoatl which also represents the planet Venus. The commonality here seems to be life, knowledge, immortality and the planet Venus.

Cosmic Unveiling

The Forbidden Fruit = Da'at & the Serpent that tempted was the Hebrew Letter Teth as it has a value of 9 & it's meaning is Snake/Serpent & it's power is T. If you look at the Tree of Life you will notice the Serpent / Hebrew letter Teth & above it is the hidden sephirot Da'at now you will notice with Da'at all sephirot exist in their perfected state of infinite sharing. Of course to really grasp this You will need to have read The Story of the Hebrew Letters of Creation Which is from the Zohar of the Kabbalah

Mankind as a Whole ate from pure knowledge as before they was eating the divine which was wisdom & wisdom is knowledge properly applied. Since man is relatively new he profanes it & starts producing his own agriculturing needs by producing his "OWN" bread instead of eating the fruit of the divine placed before him in Gods own garden from which he was made.

This was the insult that caused his fall from grace. & now everyone walks around with what's this life for. You're here to reintegrate back into paradise! as Heaven/Paradise = 1 Rule to his Majestic as the Abyss/Qliphoth = 100's 1000's 10,000's if not 100,000's upon 1,000,000's the deeper you fall from grace. You at first see chaos is needed but the deeper you go into chaos the more rules it has & the more hell it provides you because that's the way it works it never ends chaos has no ending just as Heaven has no ending to it's Glory of Bliss as well. It does take a finer mind to wrap around to really enjoy its finer enjoyment So the more complex you make things with knowledge & over complicate things when it's not needed be honest it's hell isn't it?!

But when you take Wisdom which is knowledge applied & make it simple but yet hidden like the Ain Soph Aur where people can't copy your craft & handy work & thoughts you marvel in enjoyment & pure rest as you stretch out & enjoy the "FRUITS" of your labor yes? because you mybe have a family or friends who eat of your delights such as the food, electricity of the roof you put over their heads & provide smiles & warm hearts of joy for them that enchant back into your & provide such warmth yes?

At first it was easy for man. Divine grace was provided through the fruit of Wisdom in his own garden from which man was made


Allegory

13=???