Die uralte Weisheit. Eine kurzgefasste Darstellung der Lehren der Theosophie

...for sale for money, so that he might have Wucher usury or excessive profit from the precious tree. For the Prince of Fierceness demanded this of his merchant because the tree had grown in his land and was ruining his field.

39. Now when the pagans saw that the fruits of the precious tree were for sale for money, they ran in crowds to the Kramer shopkeeper or petty trader and bought the fruit of the tree. They even came from distant islands to buy there, even from the ends of the world.

40. Now when the shopkeeper saw that his wares were worth so much and were so pleasant, he devised a cunning plan so that he might collect a great treasure for his lord. He sent merchants out into all lands and had his wares offered for sale and highly praised; but he adulterated the wares and sold other fruit in place of the good, fruit which had not grown on the good tree, simply so that his lord's treasure would grow large.

41. But the pagans and all the islands and peoples who dwelt on earth had all grown out of the wild tree, which was both good and evil. Therefore they were half-blind and did not see the good tree, which nevertheless stretched out its branches from the Aufgang East to the Niedergang West; otherwise they would not have bought the false wares.

42. But because they did not know the precious tree, which nevertheless stretched its branches over them all, they all ran after the shopkeepers and bought mixed, false wares for good ones, thinking they served their health. But because they all lusted so strongly for the good tree that hovered over them all, many of them became healthy from the great desire and longing they bore for the tree. For the scent of the tree that hovered over them made them healthy from their fierceness and wild birth, and not the shopkeeper’s false wares; this lasted for a long time.

43. Now when the Prince in the Darkness, who is the source of fierceness, malice, and destruction, saw that people were becoming healthy from his poison and wild nature because of the scent of the precious tree, he became angry and planted a wild tree...

Of the Author.

...against Mitternacht the North. This tree grew out of the fierceness in Nature, and he had it proclaimed: "This is the Tree of Life; whoever eats of it will become healthy and live eternally." For the place where the wild tree grew was a wild place, and the peoples there had not recognized the true light from God from the beginning until that time, nor even today. And the tree grew on Mount Hagar, in the house of Ishmael the mocker.

44. When it was proclaimed of the tree, "Behold, this is the Tree of Life," the wild peoples ran to the tree. They were not born of God but of the wild Nature; they loved the wild tree and ate of its fruit. And the tree grew and became large from the sap of fierceness in Nature, and spread its branches from the North toward the East and West. But the tree had its source and root in the wild Nature, which was evil and good, and so its fruit was also the same.

45. Because the people of this place had all grown out of the wild Nature, the tree grew over them all and became so large that its branches reached into the worthy land, underneath the holy tree.

46. This was the reason that the wild tree became so large: The peoples under the good tree all ran after the shopkeepers who sold the false wares. They ate of the false fruit, which was also evil and good, and they thought they would become healthy by it, while they always left the holy, good, powerful tree standing there. Meanwhile, they became ever blinder, more weary, and weaker, and they could not prevent the wild tree in the North from growing. For they were much too weary and weak. They saw well enough that it was a wild, evil tree, but they were too weary and weak and could not prevent its growth. If they had not run after the shopkeepers with the false wares and eaten the false fruit, but had instead eaten from the precious tree, they would have become powerful enough to resist the wild tree.

47. But because they committed harlotry with the wild Nature in the land of men in the desires of their hearts and in hypocrisy, the wild Nature also ruled over them, and the wild tree grew...