Symbols reflecting original wisdom

The seven trees are seven ways in which the human being can be himself. Here we have man’s past, present and future. First there is the physical vestment (sthula sarira), then the ether body (prana), with powers of reproduction, nutrition and growth active in it, thirdly the part of essential human nature in which drives and passions are active, the astral body. Only then comes the most central principle, the fourth, human self-awareness. The human being received his fourfold nature unconsciously, without contributing to this himself. As soon as he had gained self-awareness he began to work on himself and organize his astral body. He is now gradually shining through his astral body from the inside. This work will come to its conclusion at the end of our post-Atlantean period, when the astral body will be steeped in manas.