"The Holy Grail of Speculative Freemasonry,
Meditations On "Unity in Duality".
Reaching Out To Find God's Presence.
Copyright © 2010 RWB Wesley F Revels.
One of the most enigmatic symbols in Freemasonry is the "Point In A Circle". No one is able to date exactly when it came to be used as a tool for plane geometry much less know how the symbol came to be used in spiritual teaching, which means it was probably in use before the last cataclysmic ice-age which based on ice core samples would be before 12,000 B.C. It can be dated to the Middle Kingdom in Egypt according to Emmanuel Velikovsky to 1,640 B.C. when the symbol was used to represent the planet Jupiter. In Christian mythology, this first "Circle of Unity" corresponds with the Golden Age, the primeval perfection, the allegory of the Adam and the Eve, in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve partook of the fruit of the Tree Of knowledge Of Good And Evil, they were cast out from the eternity of divine unity, into the realm of time, and conflict symbolized as duality.
In recent history, Euclid (323-283 B.C.E.), included it in Book I Postulate 3 of his book "Elements". Defined as drawing a circle with a compasses, there is a certain point in the center of the circle such that all straight lines from the center to the boundary are equal. That is. "all radii are equal". In his Book III Proposition 18, Euclid teaches that a line drawn from the center intersects with a tangent and for Freemasons there are two parallel tangents. One represented as Saint John the Baptist and the other Saint John the Divine. It is a tradition among religious doctrines dating before Freemasonry in Great Britain that Saint John the Baptist is celebrated on the Summer Solstice and Saint John the Divine celebrated on the Winter Solstice. In his book "Egyptian Dawn" © 2010 by Robert Temple, the original builders at the Giza Plateau used measuring rods to determine the longest and shortest shadows cast by the sun around which to show the longest and shortest days of the year circumventing the full length of a year of 365.24219 days. The culture who observed this method of time keeping lived before 2,500 B.C. For a detailed study of the early megalithic civilization responsible for casting shadows to calculate time it is highly recommended that you read Temple's books.
Traditionally in Sacred Geometry, the ancient Gnosis teaches that the point or "inmost center" is described as the Pre-manifest Creator "Deity" from which all life originates thus uniting humankind with the "Eternal Source" from which all life manifests. Thus the expression, "Unity In Duality". The circle circumventing the point being the divine nature or lens through which all things are created in material form with the Word or "Logos" personified as Christ Incarnate, proclaiming God's Word or "Logos", through the Holy Text. As The Christ Jesus, taught to his disciples as told in the book of Matthew 6th Chapter Verse 10, "Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done In Earth, As It Is In Heaven".
Traditionally in Sacred Geometry, the ancient Gnosis teaches that the point or "inmost center" is described as the Pre-manifest Creator "Deity" from which all life originates thus uniting humankind with the "Eternal Source" from which all life manifests. Thus the expression, "Unity In Duality". The circle circumventing the point being the divine nature or lens through which all things are created in material form with the Word or "Logos" personified as Christ Incarnate, proclaiming God's Word or "Logos", through the Holy Text. As The Christ Jesus, taught to his disciples as told in the book of Matthew 6th Chapter Verse 10, "Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done In Earth, As It Is In Heaven".
The symbol as taught in the lectures of Freemasonry shown above left as traditionally shown is in 2D, when actually it is a 4D symbol as shown on right. The traditional symbol is made by creating a circle with a compasses placing two parallel tangents 180 degrees from the center and placing the Holy Word "Logos" on the circumference; The circumference made by the compasses represents the boundaries established in the Holy Word which a Freemason uses for his Moral Compasses in life. The two parallel tangents are explained in the 2nd Degree as the process by which is shown the progression of creation beginning with that of a Point, to a Line, from a Line to a Superfices, and from a Superfices to a Solid. Viewing this symbol as exists in real life, it more resembles what is seen at right. A living vibration of energy. More detail will be included as this series progresses.
Through a knowledge of this higher plane of consciousness immediately above, or rather within, being infinitely more real than the physical world alone there is Unity In Duality. This is the potential divinity of every human-being in the power of the Indwelling Christ or Christos Principal that Jesus the Christ and his Disciples show through the Holy Texts. And this is what the early Christian Sects taught for the first 3 centuries A.D. The individual must have a knowledge (Gnosis) as well as faith (Pistis). For is it not ignorance that is the cause of humanity's great pain? By the fourth century A.D., what was originally intended to be an inner spiritual teaching had evolved into a dualistic false teaching.
It is through meditation and contemplation on the symbol currently in study that the Freemason develops a higher plane of consciousness recognized as the Indwelling Christ Principal. Although some cultures identify this point of origination for creation differently, there is a commonality to all Monotheistic belief systems. For example in Brahman teaching, Vedic spiritual texts explain that the root or "Cause" of the universe is actually the reality underlying it. The principal is the same. Some cultures anthropomorphize or deify the "Point In A Circle" attaching attributes that are really human character traits. Astrology, for example, is used as a pseudo program to categorize and determine character traits. Vedic scholars however in the Shankaracharia tradition recognize the Ultimate Cause as neither an object or subject but rather a Supreme Self or Atman underlying both that is Self-realizing and Non-personal. One Infinite Cause interweaves the two without personal attributes recognized as emotions in the human consciousness. Therefore there is Unity In Duality. For this reason, although Yin and Yang are traditionally interpreted as positive and negative, they are actually without emotions we humans perceive as being good or bad, right or wrong.
The symbol of the "Point In A Circle", alluding to mathematics dates long before the Christian Scriptures or even Pythagoras and Euclid for that matter. In Egypt about 3,600 years ago the Egyptian mathematician Ahmes, formulated a rule for determining the area of a circle corresponding to 3.16. In ancient China Liu Hui, approximated Pi up to 6 digits by approximating the areas of polygons to determine the area of a circle.
By measuring the outside circumference of a circle and dividing the number by the circle's diameter, the answer obtained is irrational or what is called a transcendental number 3.1415926 >. Pi, is not an exact number because it cannot be duplicated or constructed in a material form therefore is transcendent meaning it continues into infinity. To more understand the concept of the transcendental number, the human consciousnesses must transcend the material and conceive the non-material pre-existent. This is the goal of the Freemason who studies Gnosis or Transcendentalism. And this is the central theme taught in the symbol being studied by meditation and contemplation. The concept of a transcendent reality relative to the material universe will be described in greater detail in future installments. The "Point" within the circle, is pre-existent, meaning it is un-manifest or infinite and the "Cause" of that which is manifest or finite or material in the universe.
In consciousness, the finite (manifest) world cannot be self-aware or "self-operative" because it does not have the binding force or "Cause" (un-manifest) and therefore there is no absolute order either singularly or jointly. This explains the constant change in nature or what would be called the cycle of life and death of all that is created. In Dualism the manifest and un-manifest realities of life are only reflections of each other. We can realize this when seeing a reflection of ourselves looking at a pool of water or in a mirror. We see our self but it is only a reflection. Our real Self is the underlying cause of the reflection. Both are separate but still one reality. A conscious understanding in the relationship between that which is the Cause and its' reflection is needed if one is to transcend the material reality of life and integrate the two in daily life. Therefore, when we become Self-aware as a component of the "Cause" we become aware that we are a part of and have a relationship with all that is the Cause and there is "Unity In Duality".
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Upcoming Article:
Mystical Consciousness!
qu'est ce que c'est?
"Walking The Mosaic Pavement Of Life In Deity".
qu'est ce que c'est?
"Walking The Mosaic Pavement Of Life In Deity".
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"All that man has here in multiplicity is One.
Here, all blades of grass, wood and stone....
All Things Are One".
All Things Are One".
Meister Eckart, 1260 A.D. - 1329 A.D.
