BELINDA HENDRA LESTARI 110222415029/FINAL GREEK MYTHOLOGY THE TREE OF LIFE Myth is an ancient story, especially one invented

in order to explain natural or historical events (Longman Dictionary). As cited in handout of Greek Mythology, Myth, or

better, myth are stories that continue to engage the imagination of a society over a long period of time (Martin, 2003). Greek Mythology, are beliefs and ritual observances of the ancient Greek, who became the first western civilization about 2000 BC. It consists mainly of a body of diverse stories and legends about a variety of Gods (anonymous). All of societies in every part of this world have their own myth, but the most famous myth in this world is the Greek Mythology. Greek mythology has a lot of stories about the ancient society. Stated before that Greek mythology is belief of the ancient Greek, or in another word it is also a part of religion in ancient Greece. It attempts to explain the origins of world, Gods, Goddesses, wars, heroes, and heroines. Well, the mythological creatures are also interesting to be discussed, but it is not the main focus in this essay. Thus, it is similar to belief in Islam and Christian religions. In Holy book of Islam and Christian, Quran and Bible, explained the origin of world, the creation of man and human, the creation of nature, and wars. This essay is focus on the existence of the tree of life. Tree of life is one of the trees in heaven which is forbidden to eat. The story of the tree of life is stated in Quran and Bible. The story told about the first humans, Adam and Eve. When Adam and Eve still living in heaven, God forbidden them to eat the food from tree of life. But, evil made them eat it and broken the Gods rule. Then God sent them to the earth. Here is the story of tree of life in Bible: 002:009 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. 002:016 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

002:017 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 003:001 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 003:002 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 003:003 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 003:004 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 003:006 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 003:011 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 003:012 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 003:013 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. From Quran, it is stated in several ayat, for instance: QS Al-Baqarah (2) ; 35

And We said, 'Adam, dwell thou, and thy wife, in the Garden, and eat thereof easefully where you desire; but draw not nigh this tree, lest you be evildoers.' QS Al-Araaf (7) ; 19

'O Adam, inherit, thou and thy wife, the Garden, and eat of where you will, but come not nigh this tree, lest you be of the evildoers.' QS Al-Araaf (7) ; 20

Then Satan whispered to them, to reveal to them that which was hidden from them of their shameful parts. He said, 'Your Lord has only prohibited you from this tree lest you become angels, or lest you become immortals.' QS. Thahaa (20) ; 120

Then Satan whispered to him saying, 'Adam, shall I point thee to the Tree of Eternity, and a Kingdom that decays not?' From the Freemasonrys point of view, the tree of life expresses as the forbidden tree or leave of knowledge. The ancient Masons manuscripts said when Adam and Eve ate leave from the forbidden tree in heavens garden and God punished them by sent them into earth. The leave is leave of knowledge, so that the God forbid them to eat it. Dr. Albert Mackey, a 33rd degree of Mason, written in Encyclopedia of Freemasonry that those leave of knowledge inherited to Adam and Eve daughter and son, Seth and Nimrod entitled The Tower of Babel. Then Seth and Nimrod composed a language which will inherit to the next generation of human being. The manuscripts told that the God was messing up the human language. It made the secret of knowledge that inherited by Adam who ate the leave from the forbidden tree was gone, and the generation after Seth and Nimrod did not know about it. In music industry, for instance, we can found the figure of tree of life in many Koreans music video. There are a lot of scenes from Korean groups music videos which showing the existence of the tree of life. The examples are come from some music videos of Exo and G.Dragon. Here are the analyses: 1. Exo MAMA Music Video In the beginning of the music video, there is an intro narration like this: "When the skies and the grounds were one of legends through there twelve forces nurtured the tree of life. An eye of red forces created the evil which covered the heart of the tree of life and the heart slowly grew dry. To intent an embrace for heart of tree of life, the legends hereby divide the tree in half and hide each side hence time is

overturned and space turns askew. The twelve forces divide into two and create two suns that look alike, into two worlds that seem alike. The legends travel apart. The legends shall now see the same sky but shall stand on different grounds, shall stand on the same ground but shall see different skies. The day the grounds beget a single fault before one sky in two worlds that seem alike, the legends will greet each other. The day the red forces purify and twelve forces reunite into one perfect root - a new world shall open up." When the narrator read the first sentence, the music video is showing this picture: The narrator mentioned about the skies, the grounds and the tree of life. That is so clear enough from the picture that those picture represent three of it. The ground still empty because there is no life yet in the earth (ground means earth). The tree hang up on the sky means that there is life in the heaven. The legends represented Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve have their first life in heaven as mortal creature. In their first life, the trees already created for support their lie as food. But, in the music video, there only has one tree. Thats the tree of life, the tree that gave them life for real as immortal creature. Then the tree is going to dry. It related with the story that the Eve has already ate the leave. Because of they have already eaten the leave, their life as mortal creature is messed up. It symbolized the tree is broken into two part. The picture of planets shows that God is going to punished them by sending them into a new life, in one of those planets, called earth. There is a sentence The Legends travel apart, means that the legends (Adam and Eve) are separated.

A religion said that God sent the Adam and Eve to earth in different part of the world. And the story said that someday they will meet again.

The legends shall now see the same sky but shall stand on different grounds, shall stand on the same ground but shall see different skies. Means that Adam and Eve (legends) separated in the different part of the world (grounds), but they are under the same sky. On the other hand, they are in the same ground (earth), but they live and see the different sky, like what they saw in heaven. The dark picture showed about the different sky and ground. They see the sky in their previous live like this kind of rotated picture. So, their heavens life and their earths life are so much different. The day the grounds beget a single fault before one sky in two worlds that seem alike, the legends will greet each other. It means that Adam and Eve have met each other and make a new life in this world. 2. Exo Wolf Music Video

Once again, Exo showed the viewers about the tree. In the beginning of the song, the Exos members make a shape of tree in their choreography.

3.

G.Dragon Coup DEtat Music Video

This scene have a feel like its heaven not in the earth. The tree and the ground is white. It symbolizes as the tree of live in heaven. Behind the tree, there are women who bring saw. It can be interpret as an evil which want to mess the tree of life up. The fruits of the tree that all around the tree have the face of skull. It describes that the fruit of the tree is forbidden to eat.

In conclusion, the tree of life or the forbidden tree is exist in several believes. The Quran of Moslem, the Bible of Christian, and the ancient Freemasons manuscripts are stated about the existence of the tree of life, but in the different perception of each belief. Nowadays, the music industry also put the tree of life in scenes of music videos. It becomes the hottest concept of music videos.

References : http://www.theonlyquran.com/quran/Albaqara/English_Arthur_John_Arberry/?ayat=1&pagesize=0 http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Adam-and-Eve-1628-1629-Posters_i1591540_.htm http://www.youtube.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_mythology http://history-world.org/greek_mythology.htm