[Zelia sent me a beautiful video, set to music, called the Tree of Life (see my page) which reminded me that I had not started this discussion, even though I had planned to.Next to that video I I spotted another one called the Children of the Tree of Life, a 12-minute-long story of a girl's Dream-time conversation with a Tree. Be warned - not all the voices she hears are pleasant, but then not all people are pleasant; But the story-teller has a lovely voice and her Dream is fascinating. (See Comment 1)]The Tree was used by Charles Darwin (1809-82) to demonstrate his theory of evolution and how branches of species forked unevenly down through time to create the diversity of life we see now.
The Tree of Knowledge in the Bible lived in the Garden of Eden and bore the 'Forbidden Fruit', which caused the 'Fall of Man' which sowed many a seed for Man to discover.
There is disagreement between the 'evolutionists' and the 'creationists' about the origins, purpose and method Life used to appear on Earth - but appear it did. And Life of Man is co-dependent with Trees.
The Tree-of-Life or Kabbala (Qabbalah), has been studied for millenia, and presents a sacred symbol to help Man understand his origin and purpose.
Ab-original rock carvings have been discovered showing the 'seed', 'flower' and 'tree' of life.
The Buddha, having walked away from his earthly and princely life of wealth and privilege, sat under a great Tree and meditated on the Meaning of Life - giving rise to his revelations and wisdom.
Sir Isaac Newton watched an apple fall from a Tree and realised something about gravity.
Fractals, a term coined in 1975 by Benoit Mandelbrot, a math genius, show how the two 'unequal branches' of an equation that repeats itself continually, demonstrates how Nature becomes so diverse yet has an aesthetically beautiful order - shells, cones, trees, mountains, clouds - all demonstrate this patterning. (It is found extensively in mystical art, especially Indian)
Trees have been referenced for so many things it leads one to suspect that almost all knowledge can be found via the Tree, and that somehow the Tree holds the answer to Life.
Is the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life the same thing?
Let's explore...