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Tree of life is a mystical concept within the Kabbalah of Judaism which is used to understand the nature of God and the manner in which He created the world ex nihilo. The Kabbalists developed this concept into a full model of reality, using the tree to depict a "map" of Creation. The tree of life has been called the "cosmology" of the Kabbalah.
Some believe the tree of life of Kabbalah corresponds to the Tree of Life mentioned in Genesis 2:9.
This mystical concept was later adopted by some Christians, Hermeticists, and even pagans.
Diagram of the Sephirot
The earliest texts which describe the tree of life are the Bahir, Sefer Yetzirah, Sefer Raziel Hamelech, and—probably the most influential—the Zohar. The latter describes the tree of life as being a sort of diagram (although not necessarily a physical one) that has 10 (sometimes 11) Sephirot and 22 (sometimes 24) paths which interconnect the various Sephirot. Each Sephirah and path is said to have a different characteristic—for example, a different number, letter, physical feature, planet, etc. There is much disagreement over the attributes which each Sephirah and path possess. Even the earliest texts have major disagreements with each other and with themselves, depending on the edition.
Assyrian mysticism
Dr. Simo Parpola, a researcher at the University of Helsinki, has suggested that the oldest versions of the Sephirot extend from Assyrian theology and mysticism. Noting the general similarity between the Sephirot of the Kabbalah and the tree of life of Assyrian mysticism, he reconstructed what an Assyrian antecendent to the Sephirot would look likeParpola, S. (1993). The Assyrian Tree of Life: Tracing the Origins of Jewish Monotheism and Greek Philosophy. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 52 No. 3, pp. 161-208 . Matching the characteristics of Ein Sof on the nodes of the Sephirot to the gods of Assyria, he found textual parallels between these Assyrian gods and the characteristics of the Jewish God.
The Assyrians assigned specific numbers to their gods, similar to the way the Kabbalah assigns numbers to the nodes of the Sephirot. However, the Assyrians used a sexagesimal number system, whereas the Sephirot use a decimal system. Using the Assyrian numbers, additional layers of meaning and mystical relevance appear in the Sephirot. Normally, floating above the Assyrian tree of life was the god Assur—this corresponds to Ein Sof, which is also, via a series of transformations, supposedly derived from the Assyrian word Assur. Dr. Paropla re-interpreted various Assyrian tablets in the terms of these primitive Sephirot, such as the Epic Of Gilgamesh, and concluded that the scribes had been writing philosophical-mystical tracts rather than mere adventure stories. Traces of this Assyrian mode of thought and philosophy eventually reappeared in Greek Philosophy and the Kabbalah.
Notes
See also
Sephiroth | Sefirot (religión) | Albero della vita | Árvore da vida
"Tree of life (Kabbalah)"