The secret teachings of all ages by manly P hall 1928 the human body in symbolism brought to you by Masonic audiobook Library dot the oldest the most profound the most universal of all symbols is the human body the Greeks Persians Egyptians and Hindus considered a philosophical analysis of
Man’s Triune nature to be an indispensable part of ethical and religious training the mysteries of every nation taught that the laws elements and powers of the universe were epitomized in the human Constitution that everything which existed outside of man had its analog within man the universe being immeasurable in its
Immensity and inconceivable in its profundity was beyond mortal estimation even the gods themselves could comprehend but a part of the inaccessible Glory which was their source when temporarily permeated with Divine enthusiasm man May transcend for a brief moment the limitations of his own personality and behold in part that Celestial effulgence
In which all creation is bathed but even in his periods of greatest illumination man is incapable of imprinting upon the substance of his rational Soul a perfect image of the multiform expression of celestial activity recognizing the futility of attempting to cope intellectually with that which transcends the comprehension of the
Rational faculties the early philosophers turned their attention from the inconceivable Divinity to man himself within the narrow confines of whose nature they found manifested all the mysteries of the external spheres as the natural outgrowth of this practice there was fabricated a secret theological system in which God was
Considered as the grand man and conversely man as the little God continuing this analogy the universe was regarded as a man and conversely man as a miniature universe the greater Universe was termed the macrocosm the great world or body and the Divine Life or spiritual entity controlling its functions was called the macroprocyphus
Man’s body or the individual human Universe was termed the microcosm and the Divine Life or spiritual entity controlling its functions was called the microprocyphus the Pagan Mysteries were primarily concerned with instructing neophytes in the true relationship existing between the macrocosm and the microcosm in other words between God and man
Accordingly the key to these analogies between the organs and functions of the microcosmic man and those of the macrocosmic man constituted the most prized possession of the early initiates in Isis unveiled HP blavatsky summarizes the Pagan concept of man as follows man is a little world a microcosm inside the great universe
Like a fetus he is suspended by all his three Spirits in The Matrix of the macrocosmos and while his terrestrial body is in constant sympathy with its parent Earth his astral Soul lives in unison with the sidereal animal Mundi he is in it as it is in him for the
World pervading element fills all space and is space itself only shoreless and infinite as to his third Spirit the Divine what is it but an infinitesimal Ray one of the countless radiations proceeding directly from the highest cause the spiritual light of the world this is the Trinity of organic and
Inorganic nature the spiritual and the physical which are three in one and of which proclus says that the first monad is the Eternal God the second eternity the third the Paradigm or pattern of the universe the three constituting the intelligible Triad long before the introduction of idolatry into religion the early priests caused
The statue of a man to be placed in the sanctuary of the Temple this human figure symbolized the divine power in all its intricate manifestations thus the priests of antiquity accepted man as their textbook and through the study of him learned to understand the greater and more abstruse Mysteries of
The celestial scheme of which they were apart it is not improbable that this mysterious figure standing over the Primitive altars was made in the nature of a mannequin and like certain emblematic hands in the mystery schools was covered with either carved or painted hieroglyphs the statue may have opened thus showing
The relative positions of the organs bones muscles nerves and other parts after ages of research the mannequin became a mass of intricate hieroglyphs and symbolic figures every part had its secret meaning the measurements formed a basic standard by means of which it was possible to measure all parts of Cosmos
It was a glorious composite emblem of all the knowledge possessed by the sages and hierophants then came the age of idolatry the Mysteries decayed from within the secrets were lost and none knew the identity of the mysterious man who stood over the altar it was remembered only that the figure
Was a sacred and glorious symbol of the Universal Power and it finally came to be looked upon as a God the one in whose image man was made having lost the knowledge of the purpose for which the mannequin was originally constructed the priests worshiped this Effigy until at last their lack of
Spiritual understanding brought the temple down in Ruins about their heads and the statue crumbled with the civilization that had forgotten its meaning proceeding from this Assumption of the first theologians that man is actually fashioned in the image of God the initiated minds of past ages erected this stupendous structure of theology
Upon the foundation of the human body the religious world of today is almost totally ignorant of the fact that the science of biology is The Fountainhead of its doctrines and tenets many of the codes and laws believed by modern divines to have been direct Revelations from Divinity are in reality
The fruitage of Ages of patient delving into the intricacies of the human Constitution and the infinite wonders revealed by such a study in nearly all the sacred books of the world can be traced in anatomical analogy this is most evident in their creation myths anyone familiar with embryology and
Obstetrics will have no difficulty in recognizing the basis of the allegory concerning Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden the nine degrees of the elusinian Mysteries and the brahmanic legend of vishnu’s incarnations the story of the universal egg the Scandinavian myth of janungagap the dark
Cleft in space in which the seed of the world is sown and the use of the fish as the emblem of the paternal generative power all show the true origin of theological speculation the philosophers of antiquity realize that man himself was the key to the riddle of life
For he was the living image of the divine plan and in future ages Humanity also will come to realize more fully the solemn import of those ancient words the proper study of mankind is man both God and man have a twofold constitution of which the Superior part is invisible and the inferior visible
In both there is also an intermediary sphere marking the point where these visible and invisible Natures meet as the spiritual nature of God controls his objective Universal form which is actually a crystallized idea so the spiritual nature of man is the invisible cause and controlling power of His visible material personality
Thus it is evident that the spirit of man Bears the same relationship to his material body that God Bears to the objective universe the Mysteries taught that Spirit or life was anterior to form and that what his anterior includes all that is posterior to itself spirit being anterior to form form is
Therefore included within the realm of spirit it is also a popular statement or belief that man’s spirit is within his body according to the conclusions of philosophy and theology however this belief is erroneous for spirit-first circumscribes an area and then manifests within it philosophically speaking form being a
Part of spirit is within Spirit but spirit is more than the sum of form as the material nature of man is therefore within the sum of spirit so the universal nature including the entire sidereal system is within the all-pervading essence of God the universal spirit according to another concept of the
Ancient wisdom all bodies whether spiritual or material have three centers called by the Greeks the upper Center the middle Center and the lower Center an apparent ambiguity will here be noted to diagram or symbolize adequately abstract mental verities is impossible for the diagrammatic representation of one aspect of metaphysical relationships
May be an actual contradiction of some other aspect while that which is above is generally considered Superior in dignity and Power in reality that which is in the center is superior and anterior to both that which is said to be above and that which is said to be below
Therefore it must be said that the first which is considered as being above is actually in the center while both of the others which are said to be either above or below are actually beneath this point can be further simplified if the reader will consider above as indicating degree of proximity to source
And Below as indicating degree of distance from source source being posited in the actual Center and relative distance being the various points along the radii from the center toward the circumference in matters pertaining to philosophy and theology up may be considered as toward the center and down as toward the circumference
Center is Spirit circumferences matter therefore up is towards Spirit along an ascending scale of spirituality down is toward matter along an ascending scale of materiality the latter concept is partly expressed by the Apex of a cone which when viewed from above is seen as a point in the
Exact center of the circumference formed by the base of the cone these three Universal centers the one above the one below and the link uniting them represent three Suns or three aspects of one Sun Centers of effulgence these also have their analogs in the three grand centers of the human body
Which like the physical universe is a demiurgic fabrication the first of these Sons says Thomas Taylor is analogous to light when viewed subsisting in its Fount in the Sun the second to the light immediately proceeding from the Sun and the third to the Splendor communicated to other Natures by this light
Since the Superior or spiritual center is in the midst of the other two its analog in the physical body is the heart the most spiritual and mysterious organ in the human body the second Center or the link between the superior and inferior worlds is elevated to the position of greatest
Physical dignity the brain the third or lower Center is relegated to the position of least physical dignity but greatest physical importance that generative system thus the heart is symbolically the source of Life the brain the link by which through rational intelligence life and form are united and the generative
System or infernal Creator the source of That Power by which physical organisms are produced the ideals and aspirations of the individual depend largely upon which of these three centers of power predominates in scope and activity of expression in the materialist the lower Center is the strongest in the intellectualist the
Higher Center but in the initiate the middle Center by bathing the two Extremes in a flood of spiritual effulgence controls wholesomely both the mind and the body as light Bears witness of life which is its source so the Mind Bears witness of the spirit an activity in a still lower
Plane Bears witness of intelligence thus the Mind Bears witness of the heart while the generative system in turn Bears witness of the Mind accordingly the spiritual nature is most commonly symbolized by a heart the intellectual Power by an opened eye symbolizing the pineal gland or cyclopeani which is the two-faced Janus
Of the Pagan Mysteries and the generative system by a flower a staff a cup or a hand while all the Mysteries recognize the heart as the center of spiritual consciousness they often purposely ignored this concept and used the heart in its exoteric sense as the symbol of the emotional nature in this Arrangement
The generative Center represented the physical body the heart the emotional body and the Brain the mental body the brain represented the superior sphere but after the initiates had passed through the lower degrees they were instructed that the brain was the proxy of the spiritual flame dwelling in the innermost recesses of the heart
The student of esotericism discovers erlong that the Ancients often resorted to various blinds to conceal the true interpretations of their Mysteries the substitution of the brain for the heart was one of these blinds The Three Degrees of the ancient Mysteries were with few exceptions given in Chambers which represented the three
Great centers of the human and Universal bodies if possible the temple itself was constructed in the form of the human body the candidate entered between the feet and received the highest degree in the point corresponding to the brain thus the first degree was the material mystery and its symbol was the
Generative system it raised the candidate through the various degrees of concrete thought the second degree was given in the chamber corresponding to the heart but represented the middle power which was the mental link here the candidate was initiated into the mysteries of abstract thought and lifted as high as the mind was capable
Of penetrating he then passed into the third chamber which analogous to the brain occupied the highest position in the temple but analogous to the heart was of the greatest dignity in the brain chamber the heart mystery was given here the initiate for the first time truly comprehended the meaning of those
Immortal words as a man think in his heart so is he as there are seven hearts in the brain so there are seven brains in the heart but this is a matter of superphysics of which little can be said at the present time proclus writes on this subject in the
First book of on the Theology of Plato indeed Socrates in the first alcibiades rightly observes that the soul entering into herself will behold all other things and deity itself for verging to her own Union and to the center of all life laying aside multitude and the variety
Of the all manifold Powers which she contains she ascends to the highest Watchtower offerings and as in the most holy of the Mysteries they say that the mystics at first meet with the multi-form and many-shaped Genera which are hurled forth before the gods but on entering the temple unmoved
And guarded by The Mystic rights they genuinely receive in their bosom heart Divine illumination and divested of their garments as they would say participate of a divine nature the same mode as it appears to me takes place in the speculation of holes for the soul when looking at things
Posterior to herself beholds the shadows and images of beings but when she converts herself to herself she evolves her own Essence and the reasons which she contains and at first indeed she only as it were beholds herself but when she penetrates more profoundly into the knowledge of herself she finds in herself both
Intellect and the orders of beings when however she proceeds into her interior recesses and into the additum as it were of the Soul she perceives with her eye closed without the aid of the lower mind the genus of the Gods and the unities of beings for all things are in us psychically and
Through this we are naturally capable of knowing all things by exciting the powers and the images of holes which we contain the initiates of old warned their disciples that an image is not a reality but merely the objectification of a subjective idea the image of the gods were nor designed
To be objects of worship but were to be regarded merely as emblems or reminders of invisible powers and principles similarly the body of man must not be considered as the individual but only as the house of the individual in the same manner that the temple was the house of God
In a state of grossness and perversion man’s body is the two more prison of a Divine principle in a state of unfoldment and regeneration it is the house or sanctuary of the deity by whose creative Powers it was fashioned personality is suspended upon a threat from the nature of being declares the
Secret work man is essentially a permanent and Immortal principle only his bodies pass through the cycle of birth and death The Immortal is the reality the Mortal is the unreality during each period of Earth life reality thus dwells in unreality to be liberated from a temporarily by death and permanently by illumination
While generally regarded as polytheists the pagans gained this reputation not because they worshiped more than one God but rather because they personified the attributes of this God thereby creating a Pantheon of posterior deities each manifesting a part of what the one God manifested as a whole the various pantheons of ancient
Religions therefore actually represent the cataloged and personified attributes of deity in this respect they correspond to the hierarchies of the Hebrew kabbalists all the gods and goddesses of antiquity consequently have their analogies in the human body as have also the elements planets and constellations which were assigned as proper vehicles for these celestials
For body centers are assigned to the elements the seven vital organs to the planets the 12 principle parts and members to the Zodiac the invisible parts of man’s divine nature to various super mundane deities while the hidden God was declared to manifest through the marrow in the bones
It is difficult for many to realize that they are actual universes that their physical bodies are a visible nature through the structure of which countless waves of evolving life are unfolding their latent potentialities yet through man’s physical body not only are a mineral a plant and an animal kingdom evolving but also unknown
Classifications and divisions of invisible spiritual life Justice cells are infinitesimal units in the structure of man so man is an infinitesimal unit in the structure of the universe a theology based upon the knowledge and appreciation of these relationships is as profoundly just as it is profoundly true
As man’s physical body has five distinct and important extremities two legs two arms and a head of which the last governs the first for the number five has been accepted as the symbol of man by its Four Corners the pyramid symbolizes the arms and legs and by its
Apex the head thus indicating that one rational power controls four irrational corners the hands and feet are used to represent the four elements of which the two feet are earth and water and the two hands Fire and Air the brain then symbolizes the sacred Fifth Element ether which controls and
Unites the other four if the feet are placed together and the arms outspread man then symbolizes the cross with the rational intellect as the head or Upper Limb the fingers and toes also have special significance the toes represent the Ten Commandments of the physical law and the fingers the
Ten Commandments of the spiritual law the four fingers of each hand represent the four elements and the three phalanges of each finger represent the divisions of the element so that in each hand there are 12 parts to the fingers which are analogous to the signs of the zodiac whereas the two phalanges and
Base of each thumb signify the threefold deity the first phalange corresponds to the creative aspect the second to the preservative aspect and the base to the generative and destructive aspect when the hands are brought together the result is the 24 elders and the six days of creation in symbolism the body is divided
Vertically into halves the right half being considered as light and the left half as Darkness by those unacquainted with the true meanings of light and darkness the light half was denominated spiritual and the left-half material light is the symbol of objectivity darkness of subjectivity light is a manifestation of life and is
Therefore posterior to life that which is anterior to light is darkness in which light exists temporarily but Darkness permanently as life precedes light its only symbol is darkness and darkness is considered as the veil which must eternally conceal the true nature of abstract and undifferentiated being in ancient times men fought with their
Right arms and defended the vital centers with their left arms on which was carried the protecting Shield the right half of the body was regarded therefore as offensive and the left-half defensive for this reason also the right side of the body was considered masculine and the left side feminine
Several authorities are of the opinion that the present prevalent right handedness of the race is the outgrowth of the custom of holding the left hand in Restraint for defensive purposes furthermore as the source of being is in the Primal darkness which preceded light so the spiritual nature of man is in the
Dark part of his being for the heart is on the left side among the Curious misconceptions arising from the false practice of associating Darkness with evil is one by which several early Nations use the right hand for all constructive labors and the left hand for only those purposes termed
Unclean and unfit for the sight of the Gods for the same reason Blackmagic was often referred to as the left-hand path and heaven was said to be upon the right and Hell upon the left some philosophers further declared that there were two methods of writing one from left to right which was considered
The exoteric method the other from right to left which was considered esoteric the exoteric writing was that which was done out or away from the heart while the esoteric writing was that witch like the ancient Hebrew was written toward the heart the secret Doctrine declares that every
Park and member of the body is epitomized in the brain and in turn that all that is in the brain is epitomized in the heart in symbolism the human head is frequently used to represent intelligence and self-knowledge as the human body in its entirety is the most perfect known product of the
Earth’s evolution it was employed to represent Divinity the highest appreciable state or condition artists attempting to portray Divinity often show only a hand emerging from an impenetrable cloud the cloud signifies the unknowable Divinity concealed from Man by human limitation the hand signifies the Divine activity the only part of God which is cognizable
To the lower senses the face consists of a natural Trinity the eyes representing the spiritual power which comprehends the nostrils representing the preservative and vivifying power and the mouth and ears representing the material demiurgic power of the lower world the first sphere is eternally existent and is creative the second sphere
Pertains to the mystery of the creative breach and the third sphere to the creative word by the word of God the material Universe was fabricated and the Seven creative powers or vowel sounds which had been brought into existence by the speaking of the word became the seven Elohim or
Deities by whose power Administration the lower world was organized occasionally the deity is symbolized by an eye an ear a nose or a mouth by the first Divine awareness is signified by the second Divine interest by the third Divine vitality and by the fourth Divine command the Ancients did not believe that
Spirituality made man either righteous or rational but rather that righteousness and rationality made men spiritual the Mysteries taught that spiritual illumination was attained only by bringing the lower nature up to a certain standard of efficiency and purity the Mysteries were therefore established for the purpose of unfolding the nature
Of man according to certain fixed rules which when Faithfully followed elevated the human consciousness to a point where it was capable of cognizing its own Constitution and the true purpose of existence this knowledge of how man’s manifold Constitution could be most quickly in most completely regenerated to the point of spiritual illumination constituted
The secret or esoteric doctrine of antiquity certain apparently physical organs and centers are in reality the veils or sheaths of spiritual centers what these were and how they could be unfolded was never revealed to the unregenerate for the philosophers realized that once he understands the complete working of any system
A man May accomplish a prescribed end without being qualified to manipulate and control the effects which he has produced for this reason long periods of probation were imposed so that the knowledge of how to become as the gods might Remain the sole possession of the Worthy lest that knowledge be lost however it
Was concealed in allegories and myths which were meaningless to the profane but self-evident to those acquainted with that theory of personal Redemption which was the foundation of philosophical theology Christianity itself may be cited as an example the entire New Testament is in fact an ingeniously concealed exposition of the
Secret processes of human regeneration the characters so long considered as historical men and women are really the personification of certain processes which take place in the human body when man Begins the task of consciously liberating himself from the of Bondi IJ ignorance and death the garments and ornamentations
Supposedly worn by the gods are also keys for in the mystery’s clothing was considered as synonymous with form the degree of spirituality or materiality of the organisms was signified by the quality Beauty and value of the garments worn man’s physical body was looked upon as the robe of his spiritual nature
Consequently the more developed were his super substantial Powers the more glorious his apparel of course clothing was originally worn for ornamentation rather than protection and such Practice still prevails among many primitive peoples the Mysteries caught that man’s only lasting adornments were his virtues and worthy characteristics that he was
Clothed in his own accomplishments and adorned by his attainments thus the white robe was symbolic of Purity the red robe of sacrifice and love and the blue robe of altruism and integrity since the body was said to be the robe of the spirit mental or moral deformities were depicted as deformities
Of the body considering man’s body as the measuring rule of the universe the philosophers declared that all things resemble in Constitution if not inform the human body the Greeks for example declared Delphi to be the navel of the Earth for the physical planet was looked upon as a
Gigantic human being Twisted into the form of a ball in contradistinction to the belief of Christendom that the Earth is an inanimate thing the pagans considered not only the Earth but also all the sidereal bodies as individual creatures possessing individual intelligences they even went so far as to view the
Various kingdoms of nature as individual entities the Animal Kingdom for example was looked upon as one being a composite of all the creatures composing that Kingdom this prototypic Beast was a mosaic embodiment of all animal propensities and within its nature the entire animal world existed as the human species
Exists within the constitution of the prototypic atom in the same manner races Nations tribes religions States communities and cities were viewed as composite entities each made up of varying numbers of individual units every Community has an individuality which is the sum of the individual attitudes of its inhabitants
Every religion is an individual whose body is made up of a hierarchy and vast host of individual worshipers the organization of any religion represents its physical body and its individual members the cell life making up this organism accordingly religions races and communities like individuals pass through Shakespeare’s Seven Ages for the
Life of man is a standard by which the perpetuity of all things is estimated according to the secret Doctrine man through the gradual refinement of his vehicles and the ever-increasing sensitiveness resulting from that refinement is gradually overcoming the limitations of matter and is disentangling himself from his mortal coil
When Humanity has completed its physical Evolution the empty shell of materiality Left Behind will be used by other life waves as stepping stones to their own liberation the trend of man’s evolutionary growth is ever toward his own essential selfhood at the point of deepest materialism therefore man is at the greatest
Distance from himself according to the mystery teachings not all the spiritual nature of man incarnates in matter the spirit of man is diagrammatically shown as an equilateral triangle with one point downward this lower point which is one-third of the spiritual nature but in comparison to the Dignity of the other two is much
Less than a third descends into the illusion of material existence for a brief space of time that which never clothes itself in the sheath of matter is the Hermetic anthropos to Overman analogous to the Cyclops or Guardian demon of the Greeks the angel of Jacob boom and the oversoul
Of Emerson that Unity that oversoul within which Every Man’s particular being is contained and made one with all other at Birth only a third part of the divine nature of man temporarily dissociates itself from its own immortality and takes upon itself the dream of physical birth and existence animating with its
Own Celestial enthusiasm of vehicle composed of material elements part of and bound to the material sphere at death this incarnated part awakens from the dream of physical existence and reunites itself once more with its Eternal condition this periodical Descent of spirit into matter is termed the wheel of life and death
And the principles involved are treated at length by the philosophers under the subject of Madame psychosis by initiation into the Mysteries and a certain process known as operative theology this law of birth and death is transcended and during the course of physical existence that part of the
Spirit which is a sleep in form is awakened without the intervention of death the inevitable initiator and is consciously reunited with the anthropos or the overshadowing substance of itself this is at once the primary purpose and the consummate achievement of the Mysteries that man shall become aware of
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