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Post by leonardo on Apr 7, 2005 10:15:31 GMT
Leo, I would consider the meaning of the word "esoteric". The etimology: from the Greek word "eso" = in; "teron" = this is a suffix for "more", like English "er" (great ; greater). So esoteric means interior. A very interesting explanation and one I had never thought of before. When you use the word "interior" are you applying that we should look at the interior of one's self? For example; looking within, as opposed to looking with-out; towards the exterior.
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giovanni
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odi profanum vulgus, et arceo
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Post by giovanni on Apr 7, 2005 12:30:59 GMT
yes, of course in metaphoric sense. I don't mean X-ray!
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Post by foxcole on Apr 10, 2005 18:34:28 GMT
Great thread. I wish I could contribute to the discussion but I have no knowledge at all on the subject. What I'm about to offer is therefore perhaps a little off topic, but it's beautiful to me and I hope you won't mind my sharing it.
When I read this, from Yoki...
... I was somehow reminded of a poem that I'm waiting to write, about this:
Think of our human diversity, of all the individual variations and differences that make each of us who we are: every station in life, every race, every form of religious view, ability, disability, good and evil, preferences and mindset and culture, thought patterns, learning or inability to learn, political attitude, physical configuration, personal chemistry, wealth and welfare, abuse, opportunities, effort---the diversity even within the smallest remote community, the diversity even within our own self as we change through life---and imagine the nearly unimaginable vastness of individuality over every part of our globe, representing every known and unknowable possibility of human being, all inward and outward distinction among and within us all.
Now, hold that immensity in mind and step back a little into space, pull away until you envision our globe, glowing, exquisite and beautiful. Turn it to crystal. Every person, every individual paints its unique color visible and invisible, and the multifarious colors fill the world, gleaming all around and through it.
Take that vision and spin it from the end of time to the beginning, through every human life, all the future and history of mankind from the end of time to the beginning. It becomes a portrait of God.
* * * But this isn't the full vision; the poem isn't yet ready to be written. What I've written doesn't emphasize the necessity of each human life to make the portrait complete. It doesn't explain the influence of a color on others, or that the visible colors turn to the invisible, and that through the forward progression of time, the invisible colors in some way change, and mingle. These thoughts, and some others I haven't found yet, have yet to work their place in the vision.
But even in its raw unfinished form, it is beautiful, I think.
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Post by a on Apr 10, 2005 21:39:25 GMT
Great thread. I wish I could contribute to the discussion but I have no knowledge at all on the subject. Foxcole, I used to think that. You have more knowledge that you may imagine, or you may simply be being diplomatic.
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Post by whistler on Apr 11, 2005 10:05:19 GMT
We rumble on about Esoteric Masonry - Freemasonry isn't esoteric at all what happens in lodge just happens and it is for all to see - even for with those who "see' a little more than others things aren't esoteric - If they should be called esoteric than that word should be used elsewhere as well. Staffs what happens to your pipes and tanks would be to me Esoteric. In fact i will start a new thread
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Post by taylorsman on Apr 11, 2005 10:29:51 GMT
If we are going to use this broad spectrum meaning for "Esoteric" then it could be argued that to some my field of Electronics is an Esoteric matter. Many people take their TV, Computer, Mobile Phone for granted and know how well to use them but have little understanding of how they work. Likewise a qualified Doctor like Brother Andrew will comprehend matters of physiology which would baffle the likes of myself. Is this then "Esoteric"?
We are in danger of muddying the waters, of devaluing our currency if we diverge too far from what is accepted to be the context of "Esoteric" on this Forum.
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staffs
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Post by staffs on Apr 11, 2005 16:54:50 GMT
Whistler ,what happens to pipes is not esoteric at all. To me Esoteric is what happens to myself spiritually and internal and relates to things that happen that helps my inner self development. I think some people mix up symbolism with esotericism. They are different things. A symbol may have a meaning .it may help you to understand your inner self as it is up to you to understand it but the symbol is not esoteric. There is a fine line between the two whereby one helps to describe the other. But as you say this topic is ongoing and very open to interpretation and :
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staffs
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Post by staffs on Apr 11, 2005 17:32:18 GMT
Is this not similar to a point within a circle from which no mason can err ?? Well i understand this phrase far much more today than i did before Friday
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staffs
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Post by staffs on Apr 11, 2005 19:04:10 GMT
"There is nothing so indestructible as a symbol; but nothing is capable of so many interpretations."
Goblet d Alviella
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