DORMER
The Pythagorean Tradition in Freemasonry
by Wor.Bro. The Rev. J. R. Cleland, M.A. D.D.
Source : http://www.boudicca.de/areas-e.htm
Over the Gates of the ancient
Know Thyself".
It meant that each Candidate must try to contact that Inner Self which
is the
only Reality, - Paul Brunton calls it the Overself, - that Self which lies at the very
Centre of his Being, in the Silence and Darkness of
the Holy Place which, to those who
have
penetrated to the Sanctum Sanctorum, becomes the deafening Music of the
Spheres and the blinding Light of Truth. As the DORMER is the window giving light to
the
Sanctum Sanctorum, it is but right that here, among your members who have
chosen to
work under that name, one should attempt to find some light upon the Secret
of
Secrets, which each must ultimately solve for himself, which "no man knoweth" save
"he that overcometh", he that has mastered it for himself. It
"passeth all understanding"
and is
the mystery of his own being.
Freemasonry is closely allied to the ancient Mysteries
and, if properly understood, and
in spite
of repeated revision and remoulding at the hands of
the ignorant and sometimes
the
malicious, it contains "all that is necessary to salvation",
salvation from the only "sin"
that
ultimately matters, that which lies at the root of all other sin and error, the
sin of
ignorance
of the self and of its high calling.
The First T.B. opens with the statement that "the
usages and customs among
Freemasons have ever borne a near affinity to those of
the Ancient Egyptians; The
Philosophers of
their
systems of learning and polity under heiroglyphical
figures, which were
communicated
only to their chief priests and wise men, who were bound by solemn
oath
never to reveal them. The system of Pythagoras was founded upon similar
principles
and maintained under the same conditions."
We might, therefore, reasonably expect that a study of
the system originated, or
adopted,
by the great teacher, Pythagoras, would tend to throw some light upon this
Masonic Craft of ours. There are four questions which we might put to
ourselves in this
connection:-
1. Who was Pythagoras?
2. What was the basis of his philosophy?
3. What are his and its connections with Freemasonry
as we know it?
4. Can we from a study of these, formulate a code, and
by following it, open up a path,
whereby,
if trodden by the individual student, he can, and should, reach that state,
which,
for want of a better name, we may call "Realisation",
- the full knowledge of that
which
alone is real, - The Oneself?
I believe that all these questions can be answered
and, tonight, I am going to make an
attempt
to condense the answers, as I see them, into one short paper. It would be
impossible
to go into each one fully, and, in process of condensation, the answers will
overlap;
but I will try to state them as simply as possible and I hope I may succeed in
making
the general outline, at least, clear. It
can only be an outline, for that which must
ultimately
be sought is beyond form, formless. It
can never be filled in fully in words.
The connection with Freemasonry will, I think, make
itself clear, if we attempt to answer
the other
three questions.
First, then, just who was, or rather in,
Pythagoras. As the most famous of Greek
Philosophers, he was born at
man of
learning and of noble birth. As a boy, Pythagoras had every advantage of
education
and, later, seems to have travelled all over the
world and to have formulated
his
philosophy upon basic principles culled fron the
various systems to which he gained
access.
Thus he studied Astronomy and Astrology both in Chaldea and in
the
Esoteric Sciences among the Brahmans of
preserved
in
Europe, he settled at
which
were attracted all the best intellects of the civilized world. He left no writings
himself,
so we have to piece together the details of his philosophy from the writings of
his
followers. To him we owe the word Philosopher. He was the first to teach the
heliocentric
system in
Not only was he the greatest mathematician, geometer
and astonomer of historical
antiquity,
but he also held highest place among scholars and metaphysicians. His fame
cannot
perish. He taught much of the Ancient
Secret Wisdom, the truth of
re-incarnation, the necessity for return to a natural system of diet, the rule of
Justice in
the whole
Universe and the certainty of ultimate attainment of perfection by all beings.
He realised that the
solution of the great problem of Eternity belongs neither to religion,
to
superstition not to gross materialism.
The harmony and balance of the two- fold
evolution
- of Spirit and of Matter, - have been made clear only in the Universal
Numerals of of Pythagoras,
who built his whole system entirely upon the so-called
"Metrical Speech" of the Vedas. In both
Pythagorean and Brahman Philosophy the
esoteric
significance is derived from numbers. One of the few commentators who have
paid just
tribute to the high mental development of the old Greek and Latin writers,
Thomas Taylor, says "Since Pythagoras, as Iamblichus informs us, was initiated in all
the
Mysteries of Byblus and
Mysteries of the Phoenecians,
and also that he spent two and twenty years in the adyta
of the
by them
in their venerable knowledge, it is not at all wonderful that he was skilled in
Magic, or theurgy, and was
therefore able to perform things which surpas merely
human
power,
and which appear to be perfectly incredible to the vulgar."
For entrance to the School ot Pythagoras the qualifications were high and
rigorously
enforced
and, once entered, the candidate came under very strict rules as regards diet,
exercise
and study. Besides this outer discipline there were pledged disciples who were
expected
to pass through three degrees, during a probation of five years. Of the outer
disciples,
leading an ordinary family social life, G.R.S. Mead says, "The authors of
antiquity
are agreed that this discipline had succeeded in producing the highest
examples,
not only of the purest chastity and sentiment, but also a simplicity of
manners,
a delicacy and a taste for serious pursuits which was unparalleled. This is
admitted
even by Christian writers". The
three degrees of the
HEARERS, who studied for three years in silence.
MATHEMATICI, learning Geometry and Music, the nature
of Number, Form, Colour,
Sound.
PHYSICI, who learned to master Cosmogony and Metaphysics. They were then
prepared
for the Mysteries.
The School at
persecuted
by the Civil Power; but other communities carried on the tradition. Mead
says that
Plato intellectualized it to protect it from profanation, which was on the
increase,
and the Mysteries of Elusis, although they had lost
its spirit and substance,
still
preserved some of its rites.
The root of all such teachings seems to have lain in
spread to
every land, carrying the same doctrines, using the same methods, working
towards
the same final goal. There was a common language and symbolism which
served
for intercommunication. Pythagoras in
Appolonius
of Tyana followed in his steps. Typically Indian are
the dying words of
Plotinus, noblest of the Neo-platonists
"Now I seek to lead back the self within me to the
All-self." One great teacher has said, "The end of knowledge is to know God
- not only
believe;
to become one with God - not only to worship afar off." We gain a hint in
the
Kathopanishat (V1- 17) "Let a man with firmness separate it (the soul) from his
own
body, as
a grass stalk from its sheath," to which point we will return later.
Pythagoras gave the "knowledge of things that
are" to his disciples and his knowledge
of Music
is said to have been such that he could use it to control men's wildest
passions
and to illuminate their minds. Iamblichus quotes
instances and advises
Porphyry to remove from his thoughts the image of the
thing symbolised and to reach
its
intellectual meaning. Of the use of symbols Proclus remarks, "The Orphic
method
aimed at
revealing divine things by means of symbols, a method common to all writers
of divire lore." Great stress was laid upon the fact that
numbers should be studied for
the
better comprehension of life, and not or use in commerce.
I am tempted to think that Pythagoras is a title,
rather than a real name and it is
significant
that his father Mnesarchus, the nearest translation
of which is "Ruler of
Memory." Pythagoras, as a title, is
identical, in root meaning, with Hiram Abif and with
the
Egyptian Thoth-Hermes. The root Pytha is the Sanscrit Pitta and the Latin Pater and
the Greek,
, all meaning Father. It is again the
same root as the Egyptian Phtha, one
of the
names of Thoth and Abif also means Father. Goras is the Sanscrit root Guru
meaning
Teacher, and the same root is found in Huram or
Hiram. The Egyptian root is
ChR Horus. ChR-Mes or
Horus-Moses means Son of Horus. We may
note here that
Mercury, the latin
equivalent of the Greek Hermes is a corruption of the
Syrian Mar-Kurios meaning
Son of the Lord.
The Pythagorean system of Cosmology is based upon the Decad, 10, or to use the
name of
the symbol associated with its name, the Tetractys. This Tetractys is
represented
in United Grand Lodge of England by a single great Hebrew Yod,
or "I,"
placed
immediately over the Grand Master's Throne, Yod being
the tenth letter of the
Hebrew alphabet and that also being its numerical
value. The "pillar and
circle," also 10,
the
perfect number of the Pythagoreans became later, among th
Jews, a pre-eminently
Phallic number, among whom it represented Jehovah as
Male-Female. This Decad,
representing
the Universe and its evolution out of Silence and the Unknown depths of
spirit,
was presented to the student in Dual Aspect. It applied first to the Macrocosm,
from
which it descended to the Microcosm. To-day, upon four-square bases, we have,
in our
Lodges, or should have, two pillars, each bearing aloft a circle in
perpetuation of
this
symbolism.
Both the purely intellectual and metaphysical, or
"inner science" and the purely
materialistic or "surface science", can be expounded by, and contained in,
the Decad,
study
being by the deductive method of Plato or by the inductive method of Aristotle.
Plato commenced with Divine Comprehension,
and multiplicity proceded step by step
from
Unity, the digits appearing only to be returned to the Circle of the
All-pervading
Absolute. Aristotle started with perception by the
senses, the Decad being regarded
either as
the unity which multiplies or as the matter which differentiates, its study
being
limited
to two dimensions, to the Cross, or the 7; proceeding from the 10, the perfect
number,
on Earth as in Heaven. The whole
conception apppears originally in
we cannot
go into that now. The Western Teacher
who first formulated it was
Pythagoras.
Primarily numbers are symbols of the beginning and development
of a universe, so the
simplest
way of bringing home to you their significance will be to take the first cycle
of
Creation, leading to full manifestation of the
ultimate physical atom, and the building
therefrom of matter, as we
know it. I shall run through the
stages very rapidly and
leave it
to you to go more fully into the subject should it appeal.
First, then, we have the Zero, nought, the Circle appears
the Point at the Centre,
potentiality,
showing the Circle as not barren. In Arithmetic "0" is nothing, but,
added to
other
numbers, is all things. Without it multiplicity cannot go beyond 9. This
Circle-potential is the first number of the Cosmos,
symbol of the Unknown, the
Illimitable, containing all numbers as possibilitiss, as sunliqht contains
all colours in
whiteness.
The 0 the Circle or Ovum is Passive, and requires
vivification before it can fructify and
produce. The point, or centre, then becomes active
and from it arises the Line, - the
diameter
which bisects the Circle, thereby polarising it. This is the Monad, the First
Power of the Universe creating Polarity, opposites in
Unity.
Some ancient philosophers spoke indiscriminately of
Monad and One, but the Platonists
drew
sharp distinction, speaking of the Monad as that containing distinct yet profoundlly
united
multitude, whereas the One is the "sumnit of the
Many" and simpler. One is the
first of
a series, nonexistant unless followed by other
numbers, whereas the Monad
includos all numbers, holds division in check. One is the apez of
all numbers which
spread fron it to the base, 10.
Pythagoras realised the fundamental basis of
numbers
as
Rhythm. In it was based the generation of all things. Numbers, to Pythagoras, were
names and
descriptions of Cosmic Ideas and Happenings.
One writer quotes him as
saying,
"There is a mysterious connection between the gods and numbers, on which
the
science of arithmancy is based. The soul is a world that is self moving; the
soul
contains
in itself, and is, the quaternary, the tetractys, the
perfect cube, and another
says
"Pythagoras is not reported as saying that the gods are numbers, or that
all things
are
numbers, as some of his followers and critics affirm." Everything with the
Pythagoreans, ideas, injustice, separation, mixture
and even man and his horse, were
all
numbers" according to Aristotle. When speaking of the Monad or One, they
actually
referred
to that which was before Creation, and, if philosophically minded, referred to
it as the
"Primordial Cross," if religiouis, as God,
both understanding the same thing.
They had many names for such number. Their One corresponds to the Advaitya, the
one
without a second of the Hindoos, creator and cause of
all numbers.
The Duad, 2, is termed the
cause of dissimilitude, matter. It is considered to be
feminine,
as the matrix or all things, and is the symbol of growth. Two cannot be
produced
from One, so duality is considered as the actual begining
of manifestation;
It is the drawing apart of God as Life and God as
Substance, 1 X 1 is l and nothing but
1 so 1 needs 2, as Life needs Substance for
manifestation and multiplication.
1 entering into relation with 2 gives rise to 3. Life,
1, ensouling Form, 2, becomes linked
to it, 3,
after being polarised, 2, from itself, 1. Opposites are essential to any creative
purpose.
2 is therefore called the "First
Number". Cornelius Agrippa calls it
so because
"it is the first
magnitude and the common measure of all numbers, or, as the
Pythagoreans term it, a confusion of unities. Thus, God, as One, the producer and
clause of
Persistence, polarizes, His Unity and draws apart from His substance,
Subsistence, and, then vivifies it, producing
Existence. 1 is potentially 2 for polarity is
everywhere,
as are pairs of opposites.
Avicebron
of Cordova (1021-70) speaks of the affinity between "to be" and
numbers and
says 3 is
tte root of all things; for Spirit, 1, and Matter, 2,
linked by Will, the bond
between,
form the Triad. He
ways, "All existing things are constituted after the nature
of
numbers.....The Highest Abstract God is the indivisible, metaphysical
unity". So 3, as
relating
the action of the two opposites is rightly considered the number of true
beginning,
without which no production is possible. One, potential, like a ring of
magnetized
steel, is powerless until broken, or polarized, and the opposites are
themselves
useless until there is a relation between them. 3 is then the number of active
growth
and production. There are three distinct steps to be taken by the student
before
he can
enter the "outer court" of the Mysteries:-
1. He must collect together his forces and prepare to
learn.
2. He must eliminate and subtract gross matter.
3. He must amalgamate or synthesise
the result.
or in
more familiar words
1. He must come of his own free will and accord.
2. He must be deprived of all metals and material
valuables.
3. He must be properly prepared.
The third step of apprenticeship gains approbation
from a master and leads the student
to a
position where he can grasp the work with his whole nature.
The number 3 is most important and, masonically, so far as the Craft is concerned,
must be
studied in conjunction with 5 and 7. I
will return to this point.
The idea of the fundamental Trinity presupposes a
condition of being before the worlds
were
created.
4 is significant of system
and order. Plutarch states that it is
because of 4 that every
body has
its origin. It is Foundation, and does not relate to the building of physical
forms and
bodies, which is the function of 8, but to that of the Cosmic stones, the
ultimate
atoms out of which these forms will be built.
Philo says it is the first number
to show
the nature of solidity. Mathematically it is Foundation, for, without it, no
progression
beyond 6 is possible, but with it completion in 10, that is, the complete
cycle,
can be reached. Three components
blending equally gives 6 and no more but
predomination of any one of them would lead to 7 or more, for 1 plus 2 plus 3 equals
6 and also 1 X 2 X 3 equals 6 each of which requires
the addition of 4 to complete the
cycle (or
circle).
5 has a root meaning of "harvesting", the
arranging in sheaves of produced substance,
hitherto
potential, now becoming matter. Five forms are combined in the foundation of
the
chemical atoms. It is a matter of rebirth and actual material
commencement. That
matter
should be ensouled is not sufficient. Both matter and
life must be qualified that
gradation
and diversity may result. Each chapter
of the first ten chapters of Genises is
said to
refer to one of these numerical steps and it should be noted that chapter V
contains
a description of all emanated things and is devoted solely to generation.
D'Olivet
reads it as a story of Cosmic generation. The
Pythagorean name was cardiatis
or cardialts, as the heart of things manifest, change of
quality, the fire which "changes
all
things triply extended or which have length, breadth and depth into the
sameness
of a
sphere and producing light." It is eminently a "circular number"
and spherical,
restoring
itself in every multiplication. Note here the F.C's
steps. By 5 arranging matter
ready for
use, three fundamental qualities are produced in the prepared matter and the
three
aspects of Diety find reflection in them, Will or
Strength to Create, Love or Wisdom
to
Preserve, and activity or Beauty to Transmute or to send forth Creation,
producing
6, representing that period in the creative process in
which Triple spirit enters into
Matter, already prepared as a triplicity
to receive it. The double triangle
is its symbol.
Allendy
defines it as a static correspondence between two analagous
terms and not a
transitory
action or passage from one state to another. It is the instrument of
progression
but not the progression itself."
7 represents the progressive
atomization of matter, without which building is
impossible.
The ancient Greeks called it Justice and represented it as a pair of scales,
the bar
pivoting about a point and supporting two hemispherical pans, each supported
by 3
chains. 7 is to 3 as 3 is to 1. As 3 represents the
development of a principle, so
does 7
represent it doubly represented, that is to say not only manifested but
objectively
realised. Everywhere in nature we find this 7, in ourselves,
in colour, music, the Arts, in
healing
and so on, balancing three on the life side against three on the form side with
one
giving synthosis.
Now, I think we may stop here, for this is the point
to which the Craft of Freemasonry
brings
us. To complete the major cycle one has
to consider the Holy Royal Arch and
the
Installation of W.M. which leads to it.
Before passing to one last point I want to take up,
let me give the parallels briefly:-
In the making of a Freemason there must first be the
man himself, the Circle,
No-number.
Next comes that preparation in the heart which makes him the
Circle-potential. The Unknown God, transcendent within-all men has become immanent
in him.
Then he takes his first step towards the door of the Lodge, The
First step of a
Series, he separates himself from the vulgar crowd and
becomes a free unit, "Free and
of Good
Report." He becomes polarized, realising dimly that to is not only Body but
also
Spirit, he gains forward "In Strength." The E.A. degree is founded upon the number
3, and in it, by the union of his opposites, he makes
production possible, he reaches
"Plenty". In the F.C. degree he is able "To
Establish" himself upon a sure foundation,
begins to
realise his real self. He gains control of matter and of
"Worldly Possessions",
producing
multiplication of ports. The M.M. degree
is founded on the number Seven,
which, so
we saw represented full atomization.
Here the One Rock of the Quarry has
become
the individualized multiplicity of prepared stones, ready for the building.
Each
is a
complete work in itself but has to die as such in order to reach a reunion with
the
companions
of its toil and take its place in the building of the
7 which it inaugurates.
Now for my last point. Several of the ancient Philosophers, including both both Plato
and
Aristotle, hint that man is something more than the three-dimensional being
that he
appears
to be, at first sight. We cannot go into full evidence here, but Plato's
beautiful
allegory
of the men chained in a cave with the light behind them and seeing only their
own
shadows and those of the passersby, thrown upon the flat surface of the
opposite
wall,
should be called to mind. He tries to
show how difficult it would be for one who
had
escaped and returned to his chained companions to bring to them any realisation
of three
dimensions. This seems to be a clear hint, and a study of Dimensional Masonry
bears it
out.
Before entering the Lodge for the first time, the
Candidate is symbolically unaware of
the
existence of Spiritual Dimensions: Yes, in this three-dimensional world of
ours, he
has
reached a stage where the unfolding of spiritual consciousness has become for
him
a
definite aim. He has, in this sense,
become one-pointed. So, when he comes to
the
door of
the Lodge, he enters upon an undimensional Euclidean
Point, having neither
length,
breadth nor thickness. Only at a later stage, when he has been restored to
light,
is it rivealed to him that this point was attachad
to and formd part of a straight line, a
one-dimensional instrument, held by a brother whose grip was separated from it by a
cross-piece,
which, by its very position, indicated its two-dimensionality. Thus, the
candidate
transcended the first dimension of space and became a two-dimensional
being.
Advancing to the E. he passes through a symbolic
figure of 9, 12, and 15 units,
indicating
the Pythagorean proportion found in
second
dimension of space and becomes a three-dimensional beinp
capable of ruling
and
preparing a plate surface by knocking off all superfluous knobs and
excrescences,
roughly squaring
the faces of the Ashlar in its rough form and
preparing it for the hand
of the
more expert workman. This stone is placed upon the pedestal of the J.W. and
should
appear in the Ceremony in the N.E. corner of the Lodge.
Proceding
onwards he enters upon the next stage upon an instrument which, although
it is
used upon three-dimensional work, is itself two-dimensional and which can be
used
to test
the rectangularity of the previous advance. He then advance in a manner typical
of
three-dimensional motion. Under no
conceivable circumstances can this advance
take
place in less than three dimensions. Now he produces a smooth stone, the
Perfect
Ashlar,
which has place on the pedestal of tho S.W. ard appears ceremonially in the
S.E. corner of the Lodge.
Once more he passes on his way and enters upon,
another stage of his quest, this time
upon an
instrument which is used in the depicting and measurement of the three-
dimensional
advance he has previously made. He now
reaches the supreme test.
Three stops he takes, each indicating an advance in a
different direction and together
showing
that conquest of the three-dimensional world has been achieved. Then, boldly
he
marches forward, and indicates, in a very beautiful piece of symbolism, his
passage
into a
new world, a world almost inconceivable to our untutored finite minds,
the
FOURTH DIMENSION of space. The Stone he can now prepare is of a shape
normally outsite our consciousness.
It may be noted here that the W.T.'s
in each degree of the Craft, and those of an I.M.,
indicate
work in 1, 2, and 3 dimensions, the conquest, in each case, of the three
boundaries
of our three dimensional existence, length, breadth and thickness.
This third stone is one over which there has been much
wrangling, discussion and wild
speculation,
yet its essential qualities would seem to be sufficiently obvious. Most
writers
tacitly accept the Perfect Ashlar as the last
possible stage in the preparation of
of the
stone, but this is true only of the three-dimensional world. If there are other
dimensions,
there will be further stages in the preparation, and it is significant that we
find
references to yet another stone, whose true place is on the Master's Pedestal,
and,
it its
ceremonial position, "With the centre", perpendicular, perpendicular,
or perpend,
to
three-dimensional space. This is the PERPEND ASHLAR, and the reason why it
cannot be
seen in its completeness in the Lodge is that, existing in the Fourth
Dimension, the only part we could perceive would be a
perfect cube, suspended in
space, to
ever point to which it would be perpendicular. Mr. C.H. Hinton (in "The
Fourth
Dimension" calls it the Tessoract. It is to be noted that each Regular step is
rectangular,
taken
symbolically at right angles to the last position. We move a point to produce a
line; we
move a line at right angles to the previous motion to obtain a
superficies. This
is the
First Regular Step and from it we obtain a rectangular plane figure, a square;
we
now move
our square at right angles to both the former directions of motion and the
result is
a solid cube, the Second Regular Step; and now we move this cube at right
angles to
all three directions of motion already used, and produce; by our Third
Regular Step, a four-dimensionial
figure, the Tesseract. Even then the
journey is
incomplete,
for, as an I.M., the zealous brother uses tools belonging to the three
dimensions
of our space to prepare himself to work freely in the four-dimensional
atmosphere
of the Holy Royal Arch, wherein the whole scheme of Creation of Man as
a
reflection or form created by God "in the image of His own Eternity"
and the method
of the
return of that image into the substance of T.G.A.O.T.U. in unfolded in the
consciousness of the Initiate.
Thus far I have tried to answer the first three
questions put at the beginning of this
paper.
Pythagoras, is, we have seen, fundamentally involved in our symbolism. We
have
taken a very hurried glance at the relevent portions
of his Philosophy, and
we have
seen the same fundamentals running through our rituals.
Now, very briefly to answer the fourth question.
We can, I think, say definitely that there is no
a way for
himself. But signposts are not wanting, for to those who choose to raise their
eyes from
the plane of Matter, they point a clear way. The first and most important
comes
early in our Masonic knowledge." This can only come from the age-old
three-fold
method of
advance being applied; CONCENTRATION, MEDITATION, CONTEMPLATION.
These we must apply daily to some portion of our
Ceremonies, Tools and other
Symbols, seeking ever to find their irrer significance.
At no time in the Era of Recorded History has the
application of these methods been
more
difficult than it is to-day in the Western world, but at no time has so much
help
been
available to those who conscientiously attempt to apply them. In this
Machine-tyrranized Age it is
difficult to attain the necessary leisure, peace, quiet,
stillness
and silence, and the forgetfulness of the rush and hurry of the world in its
search
for the transient and worthless. Yet,
even now, there are many signs that the
world is
getting tired of its own shallowness and sensationalism and is turning to
things
that are
more worth while.
Perhaps the time is nearer than we think when men will
at last seek the Middle Chamber
of their
own Tomple, to find the wages of Truth. Tired of
chasing an illusion, thay may
seek the
reality within, the Overself, which lies sheathed, as
lies a grass-stalk in its husk,
within
the husk of Personality, ready to be drawn out into tho
Light of T.G.A.O.T.U.
Peace to All Beings, Amen.
Source : http://www.boudicca.de/areas-e.htm
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History of Science, Mathematics,
Technology, #158
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