The order of the gods of the three worlds, grouped in Chaldean triads, is here set forth according to the doctrines of Orpheus. This mystery was concealed by the first symbolists under the figures of the dot, the line, and the circle. To the mystic, the fables of the ancients are indeed resplendent with unsuspected truths. MPH
It is proper that the Leader of Universals should be regarded as the head of the world and that its three complexions should be symbolized by faces. Speaking its word of power, each face causes to issue from its mouth a sacred syllable, by which the surfaces of the three worlds are agitated and caused to assume the semblance of creation. MPH
In this figure is set forth the constitution of the Intermediate Sphere, by which the extremes of Spirit and Matter are reconciled and the harmony of the universe preserved. The ancients unite in the recognition of three worlds existing within one eternal and unlimited state. Philosophy is the science of relationships of these worlds. MPH
The pathway of the generating soul is here represented by a converging line of force which, piercing the wall of the Auric Egg, descends, as is shown on the left, into the Demiurgic sphere. The soul then begins the ascent of the seven spirals, by which it is ultimately liberated and diffused back again into First Cause, as shown on the right. MPH
The Oriental mystic is here diagrammatically shown seated in the midst of his own area of consciousness. Through the disciplines of his order he is enabled to so withdraw himself from the concerns of the outer life as to dwell in samadhic felicity. Thus the aspiring soul seeks Self in the selflessness of the Great Law. MPH
The fundamental motion of the One toward the Two and from their sum the triad is established. The triangle is the skeleton of the universe, the whole diversity of life being erected upon a threefold foundation. The complicated order of manifestation may cause the uninformed to lose sight of the unchanging Three, which is indeed the God of the wise. MPH
Herein is revealed the mystery of the Universal Soul and the redemption of man through the doctrine of grace. When atonement is understood in its Platonic interpretation as an “at-one-ment,” or reconciliation of the not-self and the Self through the disciplines of philosophy, we come to sense the magnitude of spiritual redemption. MPH
The Universal Germ, stirring within the Egg of Creation, established the worlds and generations by three "gestures." It fashioned the souls of things according to Virtue, the bodies of things according to Beauty, and the laws by which souls and bodies are maintained according to the Necessary. Together these comprise the Work which is called The Good. MPH
Man is ever ascending from an inferior to a superior state according to a law which was established coeval with the foundation of generation. This law is the philosophic ladder which is treated more in detail in Chapter Seventeen. It is likewise the mysterious Masonic ladder—that ancient symbol of the Secret Work. MPH
There was once a Daitya who desired to rule the earth. He grew so powerful that he stole the planet and carried it with him into the depths of the ocean. Vishnu, in the form of a boar, dived into the abyss and slaying the evil one restored the earth by raising it upon his tusks. MPH
The upper and light half of the diagram represents the casual universe. The thread of manifestation is seen unwinding from the archetypal germ to descend into the globe of the soul. From thence it falls into the irrational sphere to end in the radiant solar center. MPH
The upper and light half of the diagram represents the casual universe. The thread of manifestation is seen unwinding from the archetypal germ to descend into the globe of the soul. From thence it falls into the irrational sphere to end in the radiant solar center. MPH
The sphere of the Absolute is here shown centered as a radiant power denominated the Divine Soul. While this Soul maintains its equilibrium, spiritual consciousness remains unbroken; but by the soul inclining toward the extremes is created the illusion of the rational and irrational souls as positive and negative poles. MPH
Assuming the illusion of form, the spiritual life descends out of its own radiant nature and takes upon itself in sequential order a mental constitution, an emotional (or astral) constitution, a vital constitution, and, a lastly, a physical constitution. These four constitutions are united to the non-incarnation spiritual self by a thread of life. MPH
In symbolism the straight line is considered masculine and significant of strength, the curved line feminine and significant of beauty. In the Cabala the two pillars, Strength and Beauty, support the arch of the Universal House. In the above face the male and female elements are combined, and thus Cosmos, the Divine Androgyne, comes into being. MPH
The ancient initiations were given in three chambers which signified the worlds of the Body, the Soul, and the Spirit. After passing successfully through the hazards of the rituals, the neophyte ascended to a vaulted room in which stood the robed figure of the Great Mystery. Thus the secrets of self-mastery were revealed to the candidate. MPH
In this diagram the divine nature of man is represented by an inverted triangle with its lower point resting in the heart. The spheres of power upon the upper points of the triangle are the Anthropos, or Oversoul. From the spirit in the heart come forth two poles, one ascending to become the mind and the other descending to become the generative system. MPH
The ziggurats, or observation towers, of the Chaldeans rise in seven spiral terraces and signify the astral sphere composed of the sidereal agencies of the seven sacred planets. In its ascent to the gods the regenerated soul climbs the spiral pathway, returning to each of the planetary spirits the respective soul qualities they had originally bestowed. MPH
While the body of the candidate lay in the stone sarcophagus, the soul, hovering in the air above it, assumed the form of a bird, and passing upward out of the crypt through the vent or chimney of the planets entered into the presence of the great Osiris, lord of decarnate souls. After remaining three days in the Fields of Amenti, the soul returns to its body amidst the rejoicing of the priests. MPH
The city of the philosophic elect rises from the highest mountain peak of the earth, and here the gods of the wise dwell together in everlasting felicity. In the foreground are the symbolic pillars of Hercules which appear on the title page of Bacon's Novum Organum, and between them runs the path which leads upward from the uncertainties of earth to that perfect order which is established in the sphere of the enlightened. MPH
Erasmus of Rotterdam
Championed the freedom of the will, as a crucial point in his De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio (1524)
"To exist is to change, to change is to mature,to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly."
- Henri-Louis Bergson