Tree of life is a rubber tree

[helemon]

I was reading about the upcoming movie the fountain which lead me to the Mayan tree of life myth which led me to Stella 5 at Izapa. As I looked at the image I noticed that it looked like sap was flowing down the bark this made me wonder if the tree could be a rubber tree and the image was about making rubber not Lehi's dream. Granted, the Mayans used rubber to make balls for their sacred ball games so there may still be a religious connotation with the image. I looked up some images for rubber trees and they have long dangly roots like the Stella 5 tree has they also have leaves that are of a similar shape to the Stella 5 tree and they have small roundish fruit like the tree in the Stella has. Rubber is made by boiling down the tree sap which we see happening by the figure to the left of the tree.

http://www.hear.org/starr/hiplants/images/600max/html/starr_010424_0012_ficus_elastica.htm
http://www.hear.org/starr/hiplants/images/thumbnails/html/ficus_elastica.htm
http://www.hear.org/starr/hiplants/images/thumbnails/html/ficus_elastica.htm

The image on the bottom which Mormons would identify as Lehi's boats sailing from the pyramids of Egypt could be a depiction of trade in rubber with people of the Pacific or Caribbean Islands. Seems a lot more believable than the Lehi's dream story. I just looked at Chiapas on Google Earth and there is a curving body of water and mountains around the Chiapas area. So the water and triangles on the bottom could be a stylized map of the location of the rubber manufacturing. Chiapas is to this day a center of rubber production.

The chicle fruit in mature form looks even more like it could be the round globe in the stella image.
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ecoph13.htm
Wouldn't it be great if the "fruit of eternal life" which Mormons believe represents the love of Jesus was the stuff of chewing gum? The flavor goes on and on and on!

[papa]

interesting theory, helemon. Now that you mention it, the tree really does look like a rubber tree, and there's collectors and boilers adding plant materials to the pot, etc. .

[helemon]

interesting theory, helemon. Now that you mention it, the tree really does look like a rubber tree, and there's collectors and boilers adding plant materials to the pot, etc. .

I really think this is what the image is depicting. I am not sure where the experts are basing their ideas about this representing some religious myth. Given that Chippas was a center of rubber production and had water as well as some famous waterfalls makes me think that is what the glyphs on the bottom are indicating. I think the bird masks are because the natives probably first noticed the rubber tree sap from birds pecking at the tree. They may have worn masks when collecting the sap to make the tree spirits think they were birds. The kid with latex over his face may have similarly been hiding his face in order to fool the tree spirits. I can see how they may have thought the sap was liquid flesh since it would be white like semen and when cooked becomes rubbery like skin. Europeans of a similar time period had various ideas about tree spirits and such. I can also see how they could atribute qualities of eternal life to a substance that could be chewed and never breaks down like most food.

So next time you meet a TBM friend offer them a piece of juicy fruit and quote:
"12 And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great ajoy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit.";)