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Tree of life vision
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Tree of life vision
The tree of life vision is, according to the Book of Mormon, a vision received in a dream by the prophet Lehi, and later in vision by his son Nephi, who wrote about it in the First Book of Nephi. The vision includes a path leading to a tree of life symbolizing salvation[citation needed], with an iron rod along the path whereby followers of Jesus[clarification needed] may hold to the rod[clarification needed] and avoid wandering off the path into pits or waters[tone], symbolizing the ways of sin[citation needed]. The vision also includes a large building where the wicked look down on the righteous and mock them.
The vision is said to symbolize the spiritual plight of humanity and is a well-known and cited story among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Corbin T. Volluz, a Latter-day Saint lawyer, reflected a common belief of church members that the vision is "one of the richest, most flexible, and far-reaching pieces of symbolic prophecy contained in the standard works [scriptures]."
According to the Book of Mormon, the prophet Lehi received the vision in a dream during his exile in the Arabian wilderness sometime after 600 B.C. He awoke and recounted it to his children as described in the 8th chapter of the First Book of Nephi. Lehi's son, Nephi, recorded the vision on the golden plates, and later had the same vision, albeit a more detailed version, which he records later in the same book. Nephi's vision also included an interpretation of the vision.
In the vision, Lehi is in a "dark and dreary" wilderness, where he follows a man in a white robe to a "dark and dreary waste" where he travels in darkness. After praying for mercy, he sees a tree next to a river and eats its fruit, which makes him joyful. Wishing to share the fruit with his family, he sees his wife, Sariah, and two sons, Nephi and Sam, who come and eat it with him. His two oldest sons, Laman and Lemuel, stay near the river and do not eat the fruit. Then Lehi sees a "rod of iron" and a "strait and narrow path" which leads to the tree. People try to get to the tree, but are lost in the "mist of darkness". Some are able to hold to the rod and make it to the tree, but they are ashamed when they eat the fruit. Across the river, a "great and spacious building" is full of people who are making fun of the people who ate the fruit, and subsequently, the fruit-eaters become lost.
The story of the vision is well known among members of the LDS Church and is widely cited. The "rod of iron" specifically is mentioned often referring to the scriptures or the words of the Lord, in order to convey the importance of heeding God's teachings.
Book of Mormon scholars have used multiple interpretive lenses to interpret the tree of life vision, which were popular in different eras of Book of Mormon scholarship. Historical interpretations were popular from the mid-1940s up through the 1980s. In his summary of tree of life visions in Approaching the Tree, Joseph Spencer writes that the first academic analysis of the vision was in Sidney Sperry's Our Book of Mormon (1947), which described Lehi's dream as a type of "symbolic prophecy". Hugh Nibley placed the dream in an ancient eastern context, stating that the elements of the vision reflected Lehi's experience wandering the deserts of Arabia, and large fields were reminiscent of desert plains.
Literary interpretations of the vision started in the 1970s. Writing in 1977, Brigham Young University (BYU) English professor Bruce Jorgensen introduced an interpretation of the tree of life vision as a key to understanding the Book of Mormon's typological unity. Lehi's dream enacts the pattern of moving from a wasteland to a land of promise, a pattern which occurs several times in the Book of Mormon, both in earthly and spiritual realities. Alma's experience being dramatically converted by an angel reflects a transformation from darkness into light. Alma's sermon on faith compares faith to a seed that can grow into a "tree springing up unto everlasting life". He tells his listeners that they can "taste the light". These references are, for Jorgensen, clear allusions to the tree of life vision. He sees Jacob's Parable of the Olive Tree as the other side of the figural coin to Lehi's dream.
BYU religion professor Charles Swift sees the vision as part of visionary literature. Citing Leland Ryken's work, Swift shows that visionary literature, including the tree of life vision, includes a strange, imaginary other world rich in symbolism, a reversal of ordinary reality, elements of transcendence, and a "kaleidoscopic" structure. There are imaginative elements in the vision: the fruit doesn't fill Lehi's stomach, but his heart; a rod of iron appears in the wilderness, not attached to another structure; the great and spacious building floats in the air. The reversals include subverting our expectations, like the guide taking Lehi to another dreary wilderness and people who eat the fruit but are ashamed and become lost. Elements of disconnect are when objects like the rod suddenly appear, and when scenes and groups of people do not interact with one another.
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Tree of life vision
The tree of life vision is, according to the Book of Mormon, a vision received in a dream by the prophet Lehi, and later in vision by his son Nephi, who wrote about it in the First Book of Nephi. The vision includes a path leading to a tree of life symbolizing salvation[citation needed], with an iron rod along the path whereby followers of Jesus[clarification needed] may hold to the rod[clarification needed] and avoid wandering off the path into pits or waters[tone], symbolizing the ways of sin[citation needed]. The vision also includes a large building where the wicked look down on the righteous and mock them.
The vision is said to symbolize the spiritual plight of humanity and is a well-known and cited story among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Corbin T. Volluz, a Latter-day Saint lawyer, reflected a common belief of church members that the vision is "one of the richest, most flexible, and far-reaching pieces of symbolic prophecy contained in the standard works [scriptures]."
According to the Book of Mormon, the prophet Lehi received the vision in a dream during his exile in the Arabian wilderness sometime after 600 B.C. He awoke and recounted it to his children as described in the 8th chapter of the First Book of Nephi. Lehi's son, Nephi, recorded the vision on the golden plates, and later had the same vision, albeit a more detailed version, which he records later in the same book. Nephi's vision also included an interpretation of the vision.
In the vision, Lehi is in a "dark and dreary" wilderness, where he follows a man in a white robe to a "dark and dreary waste" where he travels in darkness. After praying for mercy, he sees a tree next to a river and eats its fruit, which makes him joyful. Wishing to share the fruit with his family, he sees his wife, Sariah, and two sons, Nephi and Sam, who come and eat it with him. His two oldest sons, Laman and Lemuel, stay near the river and do not eat the fruit. Then Lehi sees a "rod of iron" and a "strait and narrow path" which leads to the tree. People try to get to the tree, but are lost in the "mist of darkness". Some are able to hold to the rod and make it to the tree, but they are ashamed when they eat the fruit. Across the river, a "great and spacious building" is full of people who are making fun of the people who ate the fruit, and subsequently, the fruit-eaters become lost.
The story of the vision is well known among members of the LDS Church and is widely cited. The "rod of iron" specifically is mentioned often referring to the scriptures or the words of the Lord, in order to convey the importance of heeding God's teachings.
Book of Mormon scholars have used multiple interpretive lenses to interpret the tree of life vision, which were popular in different eras of Book of Mormon scholarship. Historical interpretations were popular from the mid-1940s up through the 1980s. In his summary of tree of life visions in Approaching the Tree, Joseph Spencer writes that the first academic analysis of the vision was in Sidney Sperry's Our Book of Mormon (1947), which described Lehi's dream as a type of "symbolic prophecy". Hugh Nibley placed the dream in an ancient eastern context, stating that the elements of the vision reflected Lehi's experience wandering the deserts of Arabia, and large fields were reminiscent of desert plains.
Literary interpretations of the vision started in the 1970s. Writing in 1977, Brigham Young University (BYU) English professor Bruce Jorgensen introduced an interpretation of the tree of life vision as a key to understanding the Book of Mormon's typological unity. Lehi's dream enacts the pattern of moving from a wasteland to a land of promise, a pattern which occurs several times in the Book of Mormon, both in earthly and spiritual realities. Alma's experience being dramatically converted by an angel reflects a transformation from darkness into light. Alma's sermon on faith compares faith to a seed that can grow into a "tree springing up unto everlasting life". He tells his listeners that they can "taste the light". These references are, for Jorgensen, clear allusions to the tree of life vision. He sees Jacob's Parable of the Olive Tree as the other side of the figural coin to Lehi's dream.
BYU religion professor Charles Swift sees the vision as part of visionary literature. Citing Leland Ryken's work, Swift shows that visionary literature, including the tree of life vision, includes a strange, imaginary other world rich in symbolism, a reversal of ordinary reality, elements of transcendence, and a "kaleidoscopic" structure. There are imaginative elements in the vision: the fruit doesn't fill Lehi's stomach, but his heart; a rod of iron appears in the wilderness, not attached to another structure; the great and spacious building floats in the air. The reversals include subverting our expectations, like the guide taking Lehi to another dreary wilderness and people who eat the fruit but are ashamed and become lost. Elements of disconnect are when objects like the rod suddenly appear, and when scenes and groups of people do not interact with one another.
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