Five Trees

rdf:langString Five Trees

rdf:langString "Five Trees" in Paradise is a mysterious allegory or concept from famous Coptic Gospel of Thomas NHC 2: (gnostic library from Nag Hammadi in Egypt) 19th saying/logia of Jesus and other sources of religious mythology. Blatz Translation: (19) Jesus said: Blessed is he who was before he came into being. If you become disciples to me (and) listen to my words, these stones will minister to you. For you have five trees in Paradise which do not change, either in summer or in winter, and their leaves do not fall. He who knows them shall not taste of death. "Blessed is he who was before he came into being," is similar to other enigmatic statements commonly found in mysticism across cultures, referring to the benefits of self-awareness (knowledge of one's true nature) before development of ego identity beliefs. "If you...listen..., these stones will minister to you," may refer to both "listening" to the true self within – which would allow one to accurately trace internal/cause from observing external/effects (physical reality/stones), or that only through this "self-awareness" are we able to understand Jesus' symbolic language and master external reality. The word, tree, is a creative (manifesting) symbol in Jewish and Christian sacred texts, descriptive of both ingesting (taking in) fruits and/or producing fruits (Genesis and Four Gospels). In the Acts of Thomas, Chapter 27, during an anointing ceremony, the apostle implores, "Come, elder of the five members of mind, communicate with these young men;" the five words for 'mind' according to Theodore Bar Konai are the equivalents of hauna (sanity), mad'a (reason), re'yana (mindfulness), mahshebhatha (imagination), tar'itha (intention) – considered the Five Manifestations of the Father of Greatness which may provide the clue to the meaning of the five trees. These five would therefore be the causal factors in the experience of the Real. Marvin Meyer writes: "The "five trees" in paradise are mentioned frequently in gnostic texts, ordinarily without explanation or elaboration. In Manichaean Psalm Book 161,17-29, it is said that various features of life and faith are put together in groups of five. This section opens with the statement, 'For [five] are the trees that are in paradise ... in summer and winter.' On the trees in paradise according to Genesis, see Genesis 2:9."