The Tree in paradise is not a test
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It is not an apple tree, it is a metaphor, the ancient understanding seems to have been lost, but there are two trees, the tree of life and the tree of death, they are dichotomous of the same trunk, as above so below. The tree of death is hierarchy, the tree of life is anarchy.
The tree of life is rooted deep upon the tree of death, from the compost of past perceptions new life emerges; to the compost all must return.
Each soul is born and must grow in the dark seeking the light, to be denied the light is to suffer death.
The tree is in symmetry, as below so above, its branches spread outward just as its roots, the roots spread in darkness, the branches spread in light.
The tree of death has roots that take from the rotting, they draw from the dead, and the filth, it has no fruits to give, it can only take; while in dichotomy the tree of life has branches that give beauty, drawing in the light; they blossom in the spring, they fruit in the summer, and their leaves fill the autumn with colour; the colour of the branches return to the earth. Just as a soul is born to blossom, to bring forth their fruits of love, labour and imagination, and to fill perception with the colours of their efforts, their wisdom, their experience and their guidance forming a rich compost for souls to be born into.
The tree of death is rooted in the earth, the perception of the hedonistic seeing only the elements of the worldly, in the Hellenistic tradition, the mind of selfish advantage, greed, lust, hatred and envy. The tree of death is a pyramid, drawing from the many to the one, in hierarchical domination, a parasitical force; you must overcome the one who subjugates the body, to reach the tree of life, in the journey through the body.
The tree of life branches out into the light, experiencing the perception of unity with all life, free of hierarchy, the tree of life is the one that draws from the light of the many, within anarchic freedom, holding all souls equal in reciprocation, and accepting full responsibility for all they do and say.
The tree of death is a childish place of costumes and fictions, hierarchies only exist for children, a child lives in subjugation, a child is not fully responsible for all they say and do, and does not reciprocate what they receive.
The tree of life is a place for adults free of costumes and fictions of invented perceptions; anarchy exists only for adults.
Within the tree of death if you eat your own fruits in subjugated, or take the fruits of others as a granted right, you inequitably consume the fruits of the souls around you. Likewise if you eat from the tree of life without the consent of the creator of those fruits, you also consume inequitably the fruits of those around you, and you would quickly descend back into the tree of death.
A free soul can only consume the fruits they themselves create, or the free bounty of nature.
Death is imposed just as hierarchy; all imposed hierarchies exist upon fear, which is a state in perception of perpetual death. Life is a gift, a wonder to behold, that exists in love; all souled life is created from a bilateral union, just as all community. Common unity is always anarchic; always free of hierarchy, always based upon the bond of surety, a bilateral union of two souls. As life is a common unity, a bilateral union that forms life; life must be a bilateral union forming common unity.
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A friend from another forum pur forward that the tree in question is genealogical tree. The human species is now one but there have been several of them. So the "do not touch this tree" might have been meant do not mix with this species of humans or humanoids. They were already mortal but the mixing of those living in the garden with those outside might have resulted in infertility or death of the mothers at births if the difference posed to great a strain for reproduction.
Salaam
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Satan is a Hebrew word meaning adversary, any soul opposing the wickedness of those calling themselves Jews was labelled Satan, eventually it was extended into the new Jewish religion of Christianity, transformed into a personification, having no basis in reality or creation; there?s no spirit of destruction. There can be no fundamental duality of evil in creation. Shaitan is the Arabic term claimed to mean Satan, which is not the case, if you consider the original meaning of Satan, then Shaitan means the opposite; it means a soul that acts excessively, or who is inordinately proud or corrupt, or who refuses to believe substantive truth, or who is rebellious against their community, or one that is insolent and audacious in pride and commits indiscriminate acts of violence against a community of souls.
The idea of the devil was simply a slanderer, these terms were made comparable as a personification which was derived from the invented Greek God of nature, Pan, the concept of Pan was that his power worked for good while ever-scheming ill. Good and evil are not distinct dualities they are different aspects, good is reasoned, judicious and equitable, evil is excessive, inequitable and self-serving. Good and evil, or if you like balanced and excessive, are simply different expressions of free choice, there can be both good and evil within any choice for that reason. Good must be the intention in reciprocal unity, evil which can be excessive on both sides of the balance, is much easier to establish, but must have no reasoned expression once unity is realised, meaning if you create a balanced community evil cannot be easily realised because you understand the reciprocal nature of unity. Reason is the key to good, because it determines truth and therefore balance can be understand, and the key to evil, if a soul wished to become excessive, is in the isolation of egotism, the more egotistical you are the more prone to excessive acts, and the more unbalanced you would become.
The fruits of your labours in the tree of life you must earn yourself and are yours to do with as you wish, while those same fruits within the tree of death are not your own, because you are the slave of another and must through the threat of violence or intimidation or want surrender the fruits of your labours to a superior.
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I don't think it's a metaphor either.
Why not question our current understanding of QA. ?grh ?
Does it lit. mean "tree" ? Etymology ? Contextual consistency ?Well we're not supposed to treat it as a metaphor if that's what you mean? Again we go back to Muhkamat vs. Mutashabihat verses.
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I'm not sure I get what you're saying @Osman !
Are you implying that mt?bht () means metaphorical ?!
One thing for sure, ayeh doesn't denote a "verse" ~ but a sign/clue, ...Plz rephrase.
Salute
Haha - are you trying to be ironic?
meaning allegorical/metaphorical take your pic i.e. clear as opposed to esoteric. etc etc etc etc ad nauseum.
In answer to the question, is the tree.
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I think the Tree in paradise as well as the Tree in hell are fundamental judeo-christian concepts. They were evolved in Judaic mysticism, where the tree of Life is called the Sephiroth, its counterpart the Qlippoth
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This is my interpretation based on the fact that we are told that Iblis lied about the promise of immortality. Considering what happened next in Satan's favor I think the opposite was true, that we already were immortals and the fruit gave us mortality.
I must disagree. If they were already immortals, they wouldn't need the promise of immortality, would they?
I think the tree bore the fruit of Discord, given this ayah God then told them, "Get out of here all of you; you are each other's enemies." (20123)
Though I do agree with the tree being a warning rather than a test, because Allah already knew when He made Adam that he would live on Earth. It was pre-planned.
??Verily, I am going to place mankind generations after generations on earth.? They said ?Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood, while we glorify You with praises and thanks and sanctify You.? God said ?I know that which you do not know.?? (Quran 230) -
Peace Jack, I'm confused.
If Satan promised immortality by eating the fruit, wouldn't that mean that they were already mortals?
Well Satan was lying, so what he was promising was the opposite i.e. they were immortals already and he turned them mortal by guiding them towards the tree. Adam/his mate, their way of being changed immediately after they ate from it. I wouldn't say I am entirely sure they were immortals, but it's just a theory to make sense of the story.
I must disagree. If they were already immortals, they wouldn't need the promise of immortality, would they?
I think the tree bore the fruit of Discord, given this ayah God then told them, "Get out of here all of you; you are each other's enemies." (20123)
Though I do agree with the tree being a warning rather than a test, because Allah already knew when He made Adam that he would live on Earth. It was pre-planned.
??Verily, I am going to place mankind generations after generations on earth.? They said ?Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood, while we glorify You with praises and thanks and sanctify You.? God said ?I know that which you do not know.?? (Quran 230)
They may need the promise because they were naive and unaware of what they were. How would they know? Satan could tell them whatever he wanted and they'd be none the wiser. We've been told Satan lies/manipulates/makes promises. The reason why I think they were immortals is because of the descriptions that tell us that they didn't hunger etc and their state of consciousness was as such that they didn't know what they were and their bodies became aware to them as they started covering themselves with leaves soon as they ate. I am interested in understanding this state of being because the descriptions makes it sound other-worldly.
Re Metaphors
I agree that the story is metaphorical. But before we can interpret the story metaphorically we have to make sense of it literally.
Adam is us, literally meaning man. Fruit stands for temptation and the fact that we can't stand not knowing. If I tell you never go near x, you'll want to know why and go that place. We are curious beings (both good and bad). And temptation is the devil's tool. Fruit may also stand for impulse/hedonism. We are impulsive, emotional creatures and like a thing that feels good, the forbidden thing, even if it's bad for us. Another way to look at is all fruits are poison.
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Except that there is no mention of any fruit in the quranic story of Adem and (mind you) his mate*
- If Adem is us, instead of our primeval father/ancestor, then who's "our" mate (in metaphor) ?! Are we not labeld 'Adem's descendants' (bny adm) in the Quran ?!
Reassess.
