VII
EARLY WRITINGS
[These articles and letters are taken from a manuscript book containing copies of “pieces,” as they are called, written previous to the first volume of articles, which was begun in October, 1859. Most of the pieces were written before 1856. They were copied by Miss Emma Ware from the originals, and are here printed without any changes whatever.]
Thought, like the blossom of the rose, or tree, contains all the elements of the tree or rose. Now as the law of vegetation governs the tree or rose, so the law of mind acts upon the idea or spiritual tree, known by the name of good or evil. Now although this tree differs from all other trees in the garden of man, it cannot be detected except by its fruits, and as the fruits appear pleasant to the eye of the mind, and are supposed to make men happy, it is cultivated without knowing the peculiar properties it contains.
Now as this tree grows it sends forth its thought like blossoms, and as it is looked upon as a fruit much desired to make one well it is received with joy and cultivated in the garden of our minds. Now in the beginning of the creation of man this tree was a tree that differed from all others in man and was very like the tree of life. The fruits of this tree have been the foundation of all the philosophy of man ever since man was created.
Now as man's natural body contains the soil for this tree to grow, as the earth is the soil for the rest of the trees and herbs and creeping things that have life, it is the duty of man to investigate this tree and see what its fruits contain. The tree is to be known by its fruits. This tree is an idea like all other ideas in man, but differing in one peculiarity, happiness and misery. All the rest of the trees of knowledge contain right and wrong without any regard to happiness or misery. This is the difference between the trees.
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