![]() The Tree of Life could be considered either a divine creation of the world, or a rather improbable explanation for the evolution of life on Barsoom this latter explanation is presented as scientific fact, nearly verbatim to Xodar's words, by Ras Thavas in Synthetic Men of Mars. "The Tree of Life is dead, but before it died, the plant men learned to detach themselves from it and roam the face of Barsoom with the other children of the First Parent." There is but one race of true and immortal humans on Barsoom. "The therns are but the result of ages of evolution from the pure white ape of antiquity. "The pure strain of the blood of this first black man has remained untainted by admixture with other creatures in the race of which I am a member but from the sixteen legged worm, the first ape and renegade black man has sprung every other form of animal life on Barsoom. ![]() Prompted by curiosity, he broke open other shells and the peopling of Barsoom commenced. "Countless billions died before the first black man broke through his prison walls into the light of day. For countless ages they lived their long lives within their hard shells, hopping and skipping about the broad planet falling into rivers, lakes and seas, to be still further spread about the surface of the new world. ![]() "Thus as time went on, all Barsoom was covered with these imprisoned creatures. "When the bud burst the plant man remained dangling at the end of his stem, but the other three sections fell to the ground, where the efforts of their imprisoned occupants to escape sent them hopping about in all directions. In one section grew the plant man, in another a sixteen-legged worm, in the third the progenitor of the white ape and in the fourth the primeval black man of Barsoom. "The buds from which the plant men blossomed resembled large nuts about a foot in diameter, divided in double partition walls into four sections. At length the fruit tree consisted in tiny plant men, such as we now see reproduced in such huge dimensions in the Valley Dor, but still hanging to the limbs and branches of the tree by the stems which grew from the tops of their heads. Many forms of life came and went upon the Tree of Life, but still all were attached to the parent plant by stems of varying lengths. "Then, with the development of perceptions came a comparison to them judgements were reached and compared, and thus reason and the power to reason were born upon Barsoom. In the first stages the fruit of the tree possessed only the power of independent muscular actions, while the stem remained attached to the parent plant later a brain developed in the fruit, so that hanging there by their long stems they thought and moved as individuals. "For countless ages the fruit of this tree underwent gradual changes of evolution, passing by degrees from true plant life to a combination of plant and animal. We trace our lineage, unbroken, direct to the Tree of Life which flourished in the centre of the valley Dor twenty-three million years ago. "The First Born of Barsoom are the race of black men of which I am Dator or.prince. Here then is the Tree of Life of Barsoom as related by Dator Xodar to John Carter: Most earthly religions contain a reference to trees as a tenet of those beliefs because the tree is an easily obtainable example of the many different directions and paths possible for life. The Tree of Life, the beginning of creation on Mars, bears some similarity to the beliefs of the Hindu religion, and ERB used his Tree of Life to populate the young Barsoom of twenty-three million years ago. ![]() The fact remains, however, that John Carter and other Barsoomian heroes unearth a number of ugly truths pertaining to religions mentioned as integral story lines these faiths were based on deception for the purpose of control, power, wealth, or, in worst cases, as breakfast, lunch, and dinner!īurroughs gave us a wonderful tongue-in-cheek and quite brilliant creative twist on Christianity's version of creation. In every case a religion or belief is mentioned, used, or was part of the story line, Burroughs invariably exposed it as a hoax on Martian society.ĭoes this then mean that Burroughs was apathetic toward religion specifically or in general? Or was this merely a dissatisfaction regarding the workings of human superstition and deep-set traditions? Short of interviewing ERB, an impossibility, or talking with his immediately family, I will never know the answer to the above questions. This section will attempt to explore the thought processes of Edgar Rice Burroughs as well as the facts contained in the Barsoom Saga.
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