Post by giovanni on Jul 31, 2005 13:44:20 GMT
JMD reviewd my translation: my heartfelt thanks to him.
The cross is, at least in my opinion, the symbol that explains the mystery of the divine as diversity in unity far better than any other. This same, however, either by tradition, or mental laziness, has been indissolubly tied to Christianity. Yet, to the contrary, the cross is very ancient; man discovered archaeological finds of the Palaeolith, and then also the Egyptian ankh, the Tibetan swastika or the Aztec cross of Tlaloc, all prior to the Christian era. The circumstance that the same symbol can be found in different times and socio-cultural contexts, with however analogous if not identical meaning, stirs up deep emotions and invites us not to identify the cross with Christianity: the limits of any particular religion, whatever its dignity, appear to be constrained before the Infinite.
The most common attribution of the cross is as symbol of the sun. In ancient times the sun was considered as a divinity, it being associated with the idea of life. The Egyptian ankh was so called because the relevant hieroglyph means life. In some Tibetan drawings the arms of the swastika are superimposed so that it symbolizes the coitus of a man and a woman, which is the starting moment of the human life. (fig. 1)
The sketch depicting two people of opposite gender who unite, thus creating a new life, makes us think about another meaning of the cross, i.e. the dialectics of opposites: male/female; life/death; rationality/intuition; and so on. These opposites are the arms of the cross that, being absorbed in one unified context, the same cross, appear no longer antithetical, but, rather, complementary.
It can be deduced that every phenomenon whose existence is perceived by us, is the sensible manifestation of another reality that cannot be perceived through our senses: to exist, in its etymology – Latin: ex stare – indicates an essence or being that is dependent on a different principle than that by which it has emanated. As a consequence hereof, all phenomena that our senses perceive as different are actually such only seemingly, because they stem from the unique principle to which they will converge, reassembling in full harmony.
I quote from chapter VI of Bhagavad-Gita:
A true yogi observes Me in all beings, and also sees every being in Me. Indeed, the self-realized man sees Me everywhere.
For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.
The yogi who knows that I and the Supersoul within all creatures are one worships Me and remains always in Me in all circumstances.
The two arms of the cross can also be considered as four half-lines which stem from the same point, thus dividing the plan in four equal parts (fig.2).
No initiate may ignore the pregnant meaning of the number four. Four was the number, according to the Pre-Socratics, of elemental out of which is composed our world: earth, air, water and fire; four was also considered to be the numbered man’s composite parts: body, mind, soul and spirit, respectively corresponding to each element.
Four are the journeys also taken by the candidate, the first in a convenient room adjoining the Lodge, but outside of the Temple, in what is usually referred to as the Chamber of Reflection, the remaining three within, where he receives purification through the symbolic tests of water, air and fire.
The four elements, each having their own characteristics, differ from each other, but all in strict harmonious, complementary reciprocity. The Pythagoreans then suggested a fifth element which they called “olkós”, rein, considered, due to its harmonizing activity, the restoring inner principle of the universe. From it depended the movement of the stars, the procession of the seasons - in a word: the perennial cycle of the life. This concept may be symbolized by the circumference, the geometric figure in which cannot be distinguished the beginning and the end. Let us remember, in this regard, that Christian iconography meaningfully depicts Jesus with Alpha and Omega placed on alternate sides, these being the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet.
The rays radiate the four elements to the circumference; the centre, which is also the central point of the cross, is not only the starting point from which the rays spring, but also the converging one, symbolic of the Principle from which everything originates and to which everything returns.
Man's task is to move from the circumference and reach the centre, where, in communion with the Principle, will live with wisdom his earthly life, distant from his passions.
To do this, man must allow his “talents” to bear fruit. It is quite evident that the result shall be different from individual to individual, taking due account of conditions, internal as well as external.
So, if we consider the crossing point as a symbol of human potential, we will have segments of different length, which are, in turn, symbolic of various achievements. (fig.3)
Nevertheless, considerations of the cross is always the same, or, better, the same cross is depicted in three different manners, hence a further consideration: the variety of the forms is put in order in accordance with a hierarchical principle which, on one hand, does not affect the substantial equality of the structure; on the other hand amplifies the diversity of functions.
Virtue and knowledge are the tools which permits man to reach the central point. These tools, in my opinion, are the two arms of the cross, the vertical and the horizontal one, or, if we prefer to borrow from Islamic esotericism, “amplitude” and “exaltation”.
However in the cross is contained a warning: virtue and knowledge must be held in equilibrium if we desire to maintain harmony in both the image and in human conscience. Harmony is a cosmic law, the crossing point between Being and Becoming, between the immutable, natura naturans, that can be known by intuition only, and the phenomenal realm perceived by the senses, natura naturata. According to Epicarmus, visible harmony points to another harmony, unmanifest but as real.
“Armonie afanes, du bist Gott” - Secret harmony, you are God: so Diels exclaimed from the verses of the Greek poet.
Thereby, on one hand it is surely blameworthy to create a religion based on reason (fig. 4)
yet, on the other, however, it is equally in error to turn exclusively to mysticism, oblivious to the care for the actual problems of worldly life (fig. 5)
Est modus in rebus, wrote Horace, there must be moderation in every aspect of the human life.
To achieve his aims the initiate must abandon his passions, vanquish his prejudices, get rid of the “metals” that tie him to the materiality, hindering him to ascend towards higher spiritual goals. He must “die” because only by so doing will he be able to be reborn to a different and better life.
Let us recall that the cross was the alchemical hieroglyph of the crucible, in late Latin called crucibulum, a word stemming from crux, cross: The crucible is that tool wherein the matter finds its death by fire and is reborn and transformed into new ones.
Death, in its initiatic intent, marks the time in which the material, which is none other than the ephemeral, is abandoned: an essential moment towards the true Life.
This process can be easily read in the cross if one just imagines its arms at four different points, corresponding to the main cardinal points, fixed by the movement of the ray (fig. 6):
North is the starting point, symbolic of sensorially oriented biological and animal life, and is typical of the superficially thinking man who selfishly considers only himself.
West, positioned on the horizontal, is the moment of the humiliation, the fall and even death. It often happens that a man who is seeking after success stumbles and falls. He will then feel humiliated, a failure, mortified, and will probably think to death as an escape. Let us reflect on the assonance between occasus, sunset, and occidere, to die.
Man alone can look over his life. Looking at who he was and what he did, he passes through a crisis, i.e. he judges himself – the Greek verb “krino” means to judge – meditating and reflecting on what he has been but does no more want to be. This phase of reflection is symbolized by South, that shows the descent into Hell, or, as suggested by Bro. Guénon, the recollection of the inferior states of conscience, that each of us undertook in the Chamber of Reflections, taking his first journey, that on the Earth.
The ensuing position, the east, symbolizes instead the process of gestation of the “new” man who will awake to see the Light.
To be sure, the enterprise is neither easy nor susceptible of being put into effect in a short time. To this purpose it appeals to us to remember the words that Goethe has put in the mouth to Mephistopheles, who enjoyed seeing Faust torment himself in search of the unattainable:
"If also now it serves to me alone in a confusing tremor, I will soon lead it to clarity". The italics are mine, wanting to emphasize that along the path man proceeds by degrees, and 'degree' means step, highlighting the idea of the difficulty that man meets during the way towards perfection.
And, finally, is resurrection. We should not be surprised to find here a co-incidence with the point of departure - and I add: meaningfully - arriving, the co-incidence being far from accidental. The soul - said Tommaso Campanella- proceeds from the Infinite and once this has been unveiled, destroys itself, losing its individuality and becoming Infinite with it.
From the Word that was made flesh, therefore, to the flesh that is made Word: the cycle has been closed, the adventure of man is complete.
* * *
The cross is, at least in my opinion, the symbol that explains the mystery of the divine as diversity in unity far better than any other. This same, however, either by tradition, or mental laziness, has been indissolubly tied to Christianity. Yet, to the contrary, the cross is very ancient; man discovered archaeological finds of the Palaeolith, and then also the Egyptian ankh, the Tibetan swastika or the Aztec cross of Tlaloc, all prior to the Christian era. The circumstance that the same symbol can be found in different times and socio-cultural contexts, with however analogous if not identical meaning, stirs up deep emotions and invites us not to identify the cross with Christianity: the limits of any particular religion, whatever its dignity, appear to be constrained before the Infinite.
* * *
The most common attribution of the cross is as symbol of the sun. In ancient times the sun was considered as a divinity, it being associated with the idea of life. The Egyptian ankh was so called because the relevant hieroglyph means life. In some Tibetan drawings the arms of the swastika are superimposed so that it symbolizes the coitus of a man and a woman, which is the starting moment of the human life. (fig. 1)
The sketch depicting two people of opposite gender who unite, thus creating a new life, makes us think about another meaning of the cross, i.e. the dialectics of opposites: male/female; life/death; rationality/intuition; and so on. These opposites are the arms of the cross that, being absorbed in one unified context, the same cross, appear no longer antithetical, but, rather, complementary.
It can be deduced that every phenomenon whose existence is perceived by us, is the sensible manifestation of another reality that cannot be perceived through our senses: to exist, in its etymology – Latin: ex stare – indicates an essence or being that is dependent on a different principle than that by which it has emanated. As a consequence hereof, all phenomena that our senses perceive as different are actually such only seemingly, because they stem from the unique principle to which they will converge, reassembling in full harmony.
I quote from chapter VI of Bhagavad-Gita:
A true yogi observes Me in all beings, and also sees every being in Me. Indeed, the self-realized man sees Me everywhere.
For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.
The yogi who knows that I and the Supersoul within all creatures are one worships Me and remains always in Me in all circumstances.
The two arms of the cross can also be considered as four half-lines which stem from the same point, thus dividing the plan in four equal parts (fig.2).
No initiate may ignore the pregnant meaning of the number four. Four was the number, according to the Pre-Socratics, of elemental out of which is composed our world: earth, air, water and fire; four was also considered to be the numbered man’s composite parts: body, mind, soul and spirit, respectively corresponding to each element.
Four are the journeys also taken by the candidate, the first in a convenient room adjoining the Lodge, but outside of the Temple, in what is usually referred to as the Chamber of Reflection, the remaining three within, where he receives purification through the symbolic tests of water, air and fire.
The four elements, each having their own characteristics, differ from each other, but all in strict harmonious, complementary reciprocity. The Pythagoreans then suggested a fifth element which they called “olkós”, rein, considered, due to its harmonizing activity, the restoring inner principle of the universe. From it depended the movement of the stars, the procession of the seasons - in a word: the perennial cycle of the life. This concept may be symbolized by the circumference, the geometric figure in which cannot be distinguished the beginning and the end. Let us remember, in this regard, that Christian iconography meaningfully depicts Jesus with Alpha and Omega placed on alternate sides, these being the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet.
The rays radiate the four elements to the circumference; the centre, which is also the central point of the cross, is not only the starting point from which the rays spring, but also the converging one, symbolic of the Principle from which everything originates and to which everything returns.
* * *
Man's task is to move from the circumference and reach the centre, where, in communion with the Principle, will live with wisdom his earthly life, distant from his passions.
* * *
To do this, man must allow his “talents” to bear fruit. It is quite evident that the result shall be different from individual to individual, taking due account of conditions, internal as well as external.
So, if we consider the crossing point as a symbol of human potential, we will have segments of different length, which are, in turn, symbolic of various achievements. (fig.3)
Nevertheless, considerations of the cross is always the same, or, better, the same cross is depicted in three different manners, hence a further consideration: the variety of the forms is put in order in accordance with a hierarchical principle which, on one hand, does not affect the substantial equality of the structure; on the other hand amplifies the diversity of functions.
Virtue and knowledge are the tools which permits man to reach the central point. These tools, in my opinion, are the two arms of the cross, the vertical and the horizontal one, or, if we prefer to borrow from Islamic esotericism, “amplitude” and “exaltation”.
However in the cross is contained a warning: virtue and knowledge must be held in equilibrium if we desire to maintain harmony in both the image and in human conscience. Harmony is a cosmic law, the crossing point between Being and Becoming, between the immutable, natura naturans, that can be known by intuition only, and the phenomenal realm perceived by the senses, natura naturata. According to Epicarmus, visible harmony points to another harmony, unmanifest but as real.
“Armonie afanes, du bist Gott” - Secret harmony, you are God: so Diels exclaimed from the verses of the Greek poet.
Thereby, on one hand it is surely blameworthy to create a religion based on reason (fig. 4)
yet, on the other, however, it is equally in error to turn exclusively to mysticism, oblivious to the care for the actual problems of worldly life (fig. 5)
Est modus in rebus, wrote Horace, there must be moderation in every aspect of the human life.
* * *
To achieve his aims the initiate must abandon his passions, vanquish his prejudices, get rid of the “metals” that tie him to the materiality, hindering him to ascend towards higher spiritual goals. He must “die” because only by so doing will he be able to be reborn to a different and better life.
Let us recall that the cross was the alchemical hieroglyph of the crucible, in late Latin called crucibulum, a word stemming from crux, cross: The crucible is that tool wherein the matter finds its death by fire and is reborn and transformed into new ones.
Death, in its initiatic intent, marks the time in which the material, which is none other than the ephemeral, is abandoned: an essential moment towards the true Life.
This process can be easily read in the cross if one just imagines its arms at four different points, corresponding to the main cardinal points, fixed by the movement of the ray (fig. 6):
North is the starting point, symbolic of sensorially oriented biological and animal life, and is typical of the superficially thinking man who selfishly considers only himself.
West, positioned on the horizontal, is the moment of the humiliation, the fall and even death. It often happens that a man who is seeking after success stumbles and falls. He will then feel humiliated, a failure, mortified, and will probably think to death as an escape. Let us reflect on the assonance between occasus, sunset, and occidere, to die.
Man alone can look over his life. Looking at who he was and what he did, he passes through a crisis, i.e. he judges himself – the Greek verb “krino” means to judge – meditating and reflecting on what he has been but does no more want to be. This phase of reflection is symbolized by South, that shows the descent into Hell, or, as suggested by Bro. Guénon, the recollection of the inferior states of conscience, that each of us undertook in the Chamber of Reflections, taking his first journey, that on the Earth.
The ensuing position, the east, symbolizes instead the process of gestation of the “new” man who will awake to see the Light.
To be sure, the enterprise is neither easy nor susceptible of being put into effect in a short time. To this purpose it appeals to us to remember the words that Goethe has put in the mouth to Mephistopheles, who enjoyed seeing Faust torment himself in search of the unattainable:
"If also now it serves to me alone in a confusing tremor, I will soon lead it to clarity". The italics are mine, wanting to emphasize that along the path man proceeds by degrees, and 'degree' means step, highlighting the idea of the difficulty that man meets during the way towards perfection.
And, finally, is resurrection. We should not be surprised to find here a co-incidence with the point of departure - and I add: meaningfully - arriving, the co-incidence being far from accidental. The soul - said Tommaso Campanella- proceeds from the Infinite and once this has been unveiled, destroys itself, losing its individuality and becoming Infinite with it.
From the Word that was made flesh, therefore, to the flesh that is made Word: the cycle has been closed, the adventure of man is complete.