An original thesis on space-time.
A JOURNEY INTO THE UNIVERSAL MATRIX
” Those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries. “
Carl Sagan (1934-1996)
INTRODUCTION
Published October 28, 2021
Pre
Scriptum :
this text was originally written in French. Unfortunately, when it comes to
semantics, etymology, and homophony, no translation can effectively preserve
the original meaning. To remedy this, and to preserve the explicit content, I
have decided to keep the original French words and put their English
translations in parentheses.
First of all, I would like to clarify that
this is not an academic thesis, as many people automatically associate it. If
we follow the definition of the word « thesis » given by the Larousse
dictionary: « theoretical proposition, opinion, position on something,
the truth of which is sought to be demonstrated », my work can have
this title without the recognition of the system or of any ‘authority’; it
doesn't need it and doesn't care about it. In this way, with complete,
uncompromising freedom of thought and, above all, without having to answer to
anyone, we can study all the subjects dear to our polymathic enthusiasm from
any point of view.
Thanks to this state of mind, original ideas
have been able to flourish, blossom, and reveal themselves outside the
plantation to which our curiosity is usually confined. To be enlivened by such
openness is a blessing. I'd like to share the rose of its quintessence with you
without blushing.
•••••
The genesis of this thesis goes back to the
day when my eyes turned to the sky, or at least to the night when I realized
that the starry vault was turning inexorably around a fixed point, like a wheel
around an axle. As I contemplated this awe-inspiring spectacle, I never
imagined that my open-minded reflections on the workings of the cosmos would
lead me to study a plethora of disciplines, linking astronomy to the seemingly
immovable spheres of mineralogy.
I turned first to academic science, and
despite compelling discoveries in certain areas, such as quantum physics, I
found many theories and very few theorems.
Unlike a theorem, a theory is based on speculation: it's a system of
hypotheses that tries to find coherence with established principles, whether
philosophical or mathematical. In other words, a theory does not define rules
and laws that are immutable in the real world.
And surprising as it may seem, this explicit observation seems to have
escaped the notice of some members of the scientific community, those who
continue to mistake the smoke for the fire.
In fact, contemporary scientific dogma is
based on complex theories that cannot be demonstrated outside a mathematical
language whose abstraction borders on increasingly surreal horizons. This is all the more true since this language
is based on a semantic architecture in which equations tend to feed on, intertwine
and reflect each other in a closed circle, inevitably forming an artificial
body on which we continue to build without worrying about the actual solidity
of its foundations. Theoretical science can then be compared to the Tower of
Pisa, whose body holds together admirably, but which threatens to collapse
under the weight of the sum of its aberrations each time a division is added.
The lines of glyphs highlighted in the equations are certainly very impressive
to the average person, but, as René Guénon pointed out, they are far removed from
the sensible reality they claim to explain. String theory is undoubtedly the
most revealing example of how the synthetic complexity of mathematics can be
confronted with the rationality of the biological environment. The question
then arises: why do we continue to spend so much time and energy studying
spaces that have no reciprocal relationship to the metrology of terrestrial
life?
Before turning their attention to areas
invisible to the naked eye, from the infinitely large in astrophysics to the
infinitely small in particle physics, perhaps the scientific elite would gain
in authenticity if they spent more time reflecting on the manifestations of the
laws of nature with the seriousness they deserve. It's paradoxical that at the dawn of the 21st
century, the physiognomy of life remains a stubborn mystery in a community that
prides itself on knowing the beginnings of our cosmos and constantly pushing
back its boundaries. Perhaps it should take a step back and focus more on the
essentials. The causes (the cause?) of life deserve much more attention than
its effects. By attempting to impress us with conceptual abstractions that have
absolutely no basis in fact, university prestidigitators mask their
incompetence and their lack of knowledge of the elementary principle(s) of
observable reality by subjugating their audience – their students and
science-fiction fans alike – with an undeniably fascinating smoke and mirrors.
The day when academics distance themselves
from a theoretical science that leads nowhere, perhaps the great mysteries of
nature will finally be reconsidered in their lecture halls. When that day comes, science will once again
be in symbiosis with the universal foundations of physics. There will be no
shortage of research topics. We could begin, for example, by studying the
influence of lunar radiation on the vertical growth of a plant, or the
analogous polarized relationship between the bronchi of a lung and the branches
of a tree (the former protected from sunlight, inhaling oxygen and exhaling
carbon dioxide, while the latter absorbs carbon dioxide and releases oxygen
under the direct influence of the sun).
At the beginning of the 20th century, Nikola
Tesla (1856-1943) – the visionary of invisible physics – had already warned us about the
mystifying excesses of theoretical science (embodied in his time by Albert
Einstein) in the American newspaper The New York Times: « Einstein's work on
relativity is a magnificent mathematical garment that fascinates, dazzles and
blinds people to its underlying errors. The theory is like a beggar dressed in
purple, whom ignorant people mistake for a king... Its exponents are brilliant
men, but they are metaphysicians rather than scientists. »
Indeed, the case of Albert Einstein is more
than symptomatic of the intellectual morass in which we find ourselves. By ‘borrowing’ the main lines of his theory
of general relativity from the French physicist Henri Poincaré (1854-1912), we don't take
much of a risk in asserting that the fame of the multigenerational icon of
science is more a matter of social engineering than genuine genius. These lies
don't just affect the honesty and morality that are the pillars of our society,
they also affect the technology we use on a daily basis. At a time when
electromagnetic waves connect everyone on earth, the anachronism between the
engineering of a cell phone and that of a car's gasoline engine, whose basic
technology is about one hundred and seventy years old, is more than laughable
and raises a question that should be seriously considered: is it only the
‘scientific’ work that the system is proud of that does not threaten its
hegemony and the prosperity of its economic model? It's a question worth investigating...
So beware ! If you want to graduate from
a prestigious university and make a career, it's best to avoid certain
subjects. To conduct your research outside the framework imposed by conformism,
especially when it attacks the theories of the indestructible gods of the
scientific pantheon, is a mistake not to be made. Today, despite the obvious
impasses, it is unthinkable to question the structural beliefs of the
scientific church; refusing to bow down before its idols would mean
excommunication, loss of credibility and respectability.
Since I have nothing to lose, gain, or even
prove, it's easier for me to be honest and point out the frivolity of
extraterrestrial physics when it comes to the primary interest of this study:
the revolutions of the stars above our heads.
Although astrophysicists are still light years away from revealing the
underlying mechanics of these revolutions, they still insist, rooted in the
dogma of their upbringing, on demonstrating this phenomenon through Isaac
Newton's (1642-1726) universal law of gravitation.
The equation of this theory quantifies the
parameters of the fall of an object to the Earth and provides a mathematical
solution to explain the equilibrium between two celestial bodies, but it does
not specify the cause of their displacement, which is, to say the least,
regular. Since the former president of the Royal Society made his pronouncement
on the law of gravity, no member of the establishment has attempted, with
applied seriousness worthy of the scientific method, to expand on the cause of
the force of rotation (vectorized by f in the figure below, where the orbit
of the Moon around the center of the Earth is taken as an example). This force,
to use the current nomenclature, is never taken into account: and that's
precisely where the problem lies.
If no answer can be formulated to the
question of the origin of the force f, gravity
cannot be validated as presented by contemporary cosmology. And let's not
forget that no instrument can detect it, and no scientist can reproduce its
field in the laboratory. Of all the fundamental interactions, and because it
defies our understanding the most, this so-called cohesive force remains one of
the greatest mysteries in physics today. Consequently, we shouldn't be afraid
to admit that the lack of scientific rigor surrounding this concept is not
reassuring for the quality of expertise and weakens the pillars on which its
reputation rests. Despite all this, speculations, each more improbable than the
last, continue to make their presence felt on the scientific scene. In fact, we haven't made a single step
forward since the theory of the curvature of space-time and the hypothetical
subatomic particles of the quantum world called « gravitons ». Why not? Simply
because the origin of this natural phenomenon remains inscrutable to the
science of our peers, who are content to explain that the kinetics of the
celestial bodies is the reminiscence of a hypothetical explosion at the origin
of our universe – the so-called ‘Big Bang’ – presented to the world by the
Jesuit Georges Lemaître at the end of the 19th century.
In any case, Newtonian gravity poses another
problem: the unification of quantum mechanics and general relativity. If
gravity can't be taken out of the equation, we must recognize that theoretical
physics is once again reaching the limits of its own extravagance.
Once we accept the fact that certain theories
are currently taught as truths, it's easier to see that science has lost the
core of its immanent beauty; the glorious hours that made its reputation are
behind it, and the torches that separated it from religion now cast a more than
faint light. Richard Feynman (1918-1988), winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics
for his work in developing quantum electrodynamics, had no problem admitting
this: « Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts. »
Even if the standard model of astrophysics
seems to be satisfied, our understanding of the universe is still juvenile,
inaccurate, and stitched with white threads.
The human race will never be able to emancipate itself from its cosmic
Stone Age if we insist on building ever higher on the foundations of a
‘science’ that has demonstrated its limitations and that is more the stuff of
fantastic theory than empirical theorem. It's a fact that science has sunk into
doctrinal systems that it finds difficult to exorcise. It is a fact that science
has sunk into doctrinal systems from which it is difficult to exorcise. And the academic guardrails, in their vanity,
never miss an opportunity to ridicule anything that doesn't fall within their
realm of possibility. Such a mentality will never be able to initiate the
paradigm shift that the scientific world needs to evolve. On the day that our
approach merges with the principles at the source of creation, perhaps nature
will once again reveal to us the gears used by the governor of her masterful clock.
Despite this consensus, annoying as it may
be, we shouldn't fall into the trap of extremism and dismiss all theories out
of hand; some are worthy of interest because they come not from mathematics but
from pure intelligence. We are thinking in particular of the somewhat obscure
concepts of dark energy and dark matter, which set the scientific community
abuzz after Edwin Hubble's observations in 1929. Since then, many
astrophysicists believe that the expansion of our universe is linked to a
dynamic phenomenon that is invisible and intrinsic to space. Previously thought to be 96% empty, this
space would not be empty at all. It would be filled with an energetic substance
indescribable to our tangible world, yet interacting with it. The vacuum would
therefore be full of a more or less dense kinetic essence that nobody can
explain, measure or reproduce at the moment. So it's not impossible that behind
the world accessible to the human senses lies a continuum about which we know
nothing. And it's not David Böhm (1917-1992), one of the fathers of quantum physics, who
will bring us the contradiction, because he declared: « Space is not empty,
it's full. The universe is not separate from this cosmic sea of dark energy ».
As far as academic cosmology is concerned,
many fundamental questions about celestial mechanics remain unanswered. Here,
in my opinion, are the most pertinent:
-
What makes the Earth rotate?
-
What makes the Earth orbit around the Sun
-
What makes the solar system orbit around the center of the galaxy?
-
Why do the planets orbit the Sun on a common plane?
-
Why do the planets revolve around themselves?
-
Why is it possible to predict the motion and position of stars over time
with such great accuracy?
-
Why are the Earth, the Sun, and all the planets spherical?
-
According to the empirical law of action-reaction physics, what kind of energy is consumed in the motionof
stars?
-
Is it possible that the circular motion of our stars is a reaction to the
action of the mysterious dark energy
-
Could the mysteries surrounding the mechanics of universal gravity be the
observable effects of an unseen cause within dark energy?
In fact, I believe that the answers to these
questions lie at the heart of this abstraction of the material world known as «
dark energy». But knowing that this
space is invisible, unknown and unexplored, how can we grasp it from the
material world? If modern science has reached its limits, where can we turn?
•••••
At the age of 30, I got my hands on a book entitled « Le mystère des cathédrales,
esoteric Intrepretation of the Hermetic Symbols of The Great Work »,
written by Fulcanelli, the famous French Adept. This book, a classic and
indispensable reference on alchemy, gave me the keys I was looking for to
unlock the doors to the metaphysical realm of dark energy: it was the spark
that lit the fuse.
However, these keys were preciously guarded
behind the smokescreen of a ‘pictorial’ cryptographic language called «
cabale ». Strangely enough, the mysterious essence of this Art embalmed my
mind from the very first paragraphs written by the master, and despite my inability
to fix its fragrance, its vibration was not foreign to me, its aroma already
resonated in a very significant way, naturally, intuitively, in my innermost
being since my earliest childhood, without knowing that this axiom existed
outside the understanding of my secret garden.
The best way to enlighten you is to define « Cabale » (from the
Latin « cabbalus ») with the words borrowed from an author whose name my
notes have forgotten: « It's a language of hieroglyphic type theta
plays on all the registers of expression: images, words, letters, numbers,
sounds, colors, shapes, weights, etc....
It also uses secret conventions, the most widespread of which are
metaphor and emblematic rebus. It does not have a specific form and depends
only on the culture and imagination of those who use it. »
Today, unfortunately, the only « kabbale » known to the atrophy of
Western culture and speculative masonry appeared in rabbinic tradition in 13th
century Spain, throught the Zohar – Book of Splendor. Contrary to the proselytizing
consensus, « kabbale » or « kabbalah »,
or even « qabbalah » to serve a more effective
mystification, is not an original, isolated and predominant trend, but the
simple reflection that Jewish mysticism gives to an ancestral tradition that
preceded it. In fact, the word «
kabbale »is not of Hebrew origin, since its etymology comes from the
Greek « kabbalès ».
Therefore, in order to avoid the trap of homophony, to promote the nonsense of
popular culture and to assert the universality of its affiliation, scholars
prefer to use the term « Hermetic
Cabale », in honor of the Greek
god Hermes.
In any case, whether « cabbalus » in
Latin or « kabbalès » in Greek, these terms both define the animal that
has been thesymbol of knowledge since antiquity: the horse. The semantic
relationship between « cabaliste » (cabalist) et « cavalier » (horseman)
becomes more clear, coherent and justified in the light of the initiatory
tales written by Chrétien de Troyes since the first crusades and the discovery
of oriental folklore. From the height of the astronomical sympathies we share
here on Earth, how can we fail to see the stories of the Knights of the Round
Table, King Arthur and the quest for the Holy Grail – the chalice of chalices –
from a different angle than the Hermetic prism? It's no coincidence that the
Day of the hero – always embodied by a brave knight (the expression of the
Donum Dei) – is so emblematic of an initiatory tradition that goes back to the
dawn of time. It's a fact, and we will have the opportunity to dprove it in
greater detail, that the Pegasus mount was already being ridden under the
starry dome of the Chaldean-Egyptian priesthood.
To understand how the spirit of the Hermetic
Cabale is articulated, let's take a literary example using the word « occult » (this choice is not insignificant, as it will help to distance
your thoughts from the association that vulgar culture makes with demonic
practices). The structure of this word breaks down into « o », « c » and
« cult ». For a Hermeticist, the « o »
is the hieroglyphic sign for the Sun and the « c », in its curvature, for the
Moon; consequently, « occult » emphasizes the cult of these two
luminaries. From an operative point of
view, this reading resonates with the definition given by the Larousse
dictionary: « That which acts, or which is done in a secret way, whose aims
remain unknown, hidden: an occult influence ».
Before the universality of the Hermetic
cabale was misled by the Kabbalah and l´École des Beaux-Arts feigned
amnesia, all artists (worthy of this capital letter) used it in their works to
perfect beauty under its best arcana until the end of the 10th century. When I became fully aware that these
aesthetes were using their creation as an initiatory canvas, my feet didn't
touch the ground for a few days and my excitement bordered on enlightenment.
Indeed, the importance of such a practice in my relationship with Art, both for
the interpretation of the concept and for the exegesis of culture in general,
was a revelation without precedent in my life, for I could never have imagined
that the natural predisposition to find analogies between things that, a
priori, had none, would one day prove to be one of my greatest assets in my
quest for the absolute. What I had
always considered a curse – a psychological pathology – now seemed like a gift
to be exploited. A sign had just been sent to me, and I took its message with
the utmost consideration: Hermeticism embodied me.
The facetiousness that surrounds destiny is
decidedly more than romantic, for the path of this tradition had the potential
to become an inexhaustible source of inspiration and to channel my most my most
metaphysical thoughts. I knew then, without a shadow of a doubt, that the doors
to this mysterious kingdom of the invisible were no longer sealed forever. At
the dawn of my 33rd birthday, I turned from the sublunary world to
the rising sun.
•••••
Before continuing, it seems important to open a brief parenthesis in order
to explain why Hermetic Philosophy and its operative applications – alchemy,
magic and astrology – are no longer respected and valued as they were by the
science of our ancients.
Certainly, the mere mention of one of them is
enough to provoke a snigger from our contemporaries. This mentality, as
contemptuous as it is, was supported by a current of thought born in the 18th
century that dared to hijack the meaning and use of the word « Philosophy ». Let's be clear on
this point: authentic philosophy has nothing in common with the ‘philosophy’ of
the Age of Enlightenment; the sociological, humanistic, and naturalistic
speculations of the latter were never the salvific interests of ancient
philosophers such as Zarathustra (c. 6th century B.C.), Plato (427-348
B.C.), or Confucius (551-479 B.C.). Certainly, the search for spirituality,
wisdom, and truth was not of the same purity among the editors of the
encyclopedia and their Germanic counterparts.
Moreover, why not call its intellectual
current « la philosophie de la Lumière »
(« the philosophy of the Light ») instead of « la philosophie des lumières » (« the philosophy of lights » which is the true translation of « the philosophy of enlightenment ») ? The pluralization of the word « light » is a
diabolical attempt to fragment what cannot be fragmented. Through this
apparently harmless manipulation, truth no longer exists as such, but becomes
falsely multiple and variable, depending on one's orientation.
Above all, let's not be dazzled by the
worldly tartuferies of a certain bourgeoisie. Let's not lose sight of the fact
that the true definition of Philosophy, in its etymological excellence, is the
love of wisdom. Pythagoras (6th century B.C.) said: « I am a philosopher, not one who claims to possess
wisdom, but one who aspires to it. » Ascribing a new architecture to words,
in order to divert the power of their egregores, is one of the perversities
that have been used and financed by a domineering ‘elite’ to consolidate its
power by destroying the traditional heritage of our past.
Under the revolutionary impulse of the Age of
Enlightenment, which our history books wrongly attribute to the people, society
fell into an unbridled and deadly obscurantism. Everything associated with the
beliefs of the previous culture had to disappear, fade away, be forgotten, and
as a symbol, our majestic cathedrals were sacked.
The Jacobin mentality, perfected by deceptive
initiations that swallowed up upstarts of all kinds, delivered the final blow
with the humiliating idea that man could now be considered equal to God. This
kind of doctrine is blasphemy according to 1 Corinthians 6:19 : « Do you
not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom
you have received from God? You are not your own ». From then on, the Gnostic doctrine of divine
transcendence had no place in the temple. And the operative was cunningly
replaced by the speculative: why bother to look at the sky and its planisphere
of stars, since in the eyes of these merchants, who never really left the
temple, there is no truth outside that of the all-seeing eye?
Since the advent of illuminism:
materialistic, naturalistic and nominalistic, anything that cannot be
demonstrated, qualified or measured no longer exists. Like St. Thomas,
encyclopedic science now believes only what it sees, and hermetic teachings
have been relegated to the shelves of superstition. And let's face it, this
triumphant rationalism is at the root of the immobility, conformism and
rationalism of today's scientific community. René Guénon explained: «
Rationalism is essentially defined by the belief in the supremacy of reason,
proclaimed as a true dogma, which implies the negation of pure intellectual
intuition, which logically leads to the exclusion of all true metaphysical
knowledge ».
With the parenthesis closed, let's return to
a more vertical approach to our considerations.
•••••
Since the societies are only initiatory in
name, the only way to find the grace you're looking for is to help yourself.
The first step is to assimilate the secrets of Hermetic Philosophy, and within
this the study of its texts is inevitable. For an occultist, this is no easy
task, for this literature is full of pretense.
If you didn't know that the initiates, with the help of the Hermetic
Cabale, always veiled their writings to keep the envious away, their grimoires would
be useless. Many aspirants were thus led astray. Michel Sendivogius, the famous
17th century alchemist better known as the Cosmopolitan, warned us: « If
Hermes, the father of the philosophers, were to rise today, along with the
subtle Geber, the profound Raymond Lulle, they would not be considered
Philosophers by our vulgar chymists, who would hardly deign to include them
among their disciples, because they would not know how to proceed with all
those distillations, circulations, calcinations, and innumerable other
operations that our vulgar chymists have invented because they have
misunderstood the allegorical writings of these Philosophers ».
Moreover, after the tsunami of Illuminism
between the 18th and 19th centuries, false prophets took the liberty of
‘enriching’ the legacy of Hermes with texts straight of their own imagination
in order to captivate their audience. Knowing that these deceptions must be
circumvented, the essence of our exegesis must therefore focus on the texts of
the Eastern tradition, translated into Greek since the conquests of Alexander
the Great in the 4th century B.C.
When the Macedonian conquered Egypt and
installed one of his generals as the new Pharaoh (« Pharaoh » is a term of Greek origin that
translates as « he who carries the sun »),
the horizon of this ancestral land was revived by the luminous flame of a new
lighthouse. Most of the time, the annexation of a land sounds the death knell
for the local culture, bbut this was not the case with the Ptolemaic
pharaohs. Instead of destroying the land
to impose their vision, the new legislators restored the land to its former
glory. Inspired by Aristotelian Philosophy, Greco-Hellenistic culture blended
with the teachings of the Egyptian mystery schools and the ancient traditions
of the Mesopotamian world. Whether it came from one of the first Persian
prophets, in the person of Zarathustra (whose name means « the golden star » or
« the splendor of the sun »), or from the temples on the banks of the Nile, the
initiatory teaching of the priestly castes received by the Greeks was certainly
not new, as it is often repeated that Plato (428-347
B.C.) and Pythagoras (570-495 B.C.) had
already benefited greatly from it in their time. The city of Alexandria – so
renamed after its conqueror – became a popular meeting place for Hermetic
occultists from all over the Mediterranean basin. In this prodigious and marvelous hotbed of
scholars, scientists and magicians, Gnosis (« Gnosis » translates from
Greek as « knowledge » and derives from the desire to know God and His secrets)
was incredibly magnified. But, unfortunately for the salvation of humanity,
most of the manuscripts produced during this spiritual effervescence seem to
have perished in the flames of the memorable library. This ultimate barbarism
against the heritage of our historical peers not only signaled a change in
mentality, it also marked the entry of our civilization under the temporal yoke
of the Roman hegemon for millennia to come.
Even if the power of Rome is not as visible
as it once was, you can be sure that its power has endured through the ages:
after conquering its lands with the sword, the Catholic Church – the direct heir of the Empire – went on to conquer souls with the crucifix.
Fortunately for tradition, 17 manuscripts of
Egyptian Philosophy from the Ptolemaic era resurfaced under the translations of
Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) – the inescapable luminary of the Italian
Renaissance. Collected under the name of Corpus Hermeticum, these texts
are considered the founding texts of Hermeticism; on the path of the sages,
their radiant Philosophy acts as a natural prism, breaking down the Light of
divine revelation into the following themes:
-
Order
of the Cosmos
-
Unity
(Omniscience, Omnipotence and Omnipresence of God)
-
The
Sun
-
The
Demiurge
-
Cohesion
of the spheres
-
Fusion
of opposites and polarity
-
The
visible and the invisible
-
Truth
and illusion of our reality
-
Creation
through the circular motion of unity
-
Noos
and the creative will
-
Time,
space and matter
-
Body,
soul and mind
-
The
good, the beautiful, the right and the just
-
Vices
and Virtues
-
Creation
as Art and the concept of harmony
-
The
Ogdoad
-
Intelligence
and its relation to the God-Man
-
The 12/10 (or 6/5)
ratio
-
The
Zodiac and Astrology
Obviously, the inclusion of astrology in this
list could not be more surprising, but despite its current fate, the magi have
always made it the cornerstone of all the sciences of antiquity. Along with
magic and alchemy, this esotericism brings together, under the heading of
theurgy, the 3 operative paths of the
Hermetic philosophy. They form a harmonious whole, inseparable from each other.
It is therefore unlikely that an alchemist could define himself as such without
having been initiated into the magisteria of the other two disciplines.
The importance of this trinity was well
understood by the Greeks, as it is suggested by the name of the mythological
caracter associated with the father of the Philosophers, the aptly named Hermes
Trismegistus. In fact, in addition to the generally accepted translation of
« trismegistus » as « the 3 times very great », we can, thanks to phonetics, hypothesize another level
of reading, i.e. « the 3
magisteria ». Although the Trinitarian doctrine of unity has passed through
time via the Pantheon of the Greek world, its historical origin is well and
truly Egyptian. The splendor of this testament is echoed on the Giza Plateau,
where the 3 Pyramids remind the
contemplative mind that the Divine Trinity is timeless, immortal and indestructible.
How can we fail to be overwhelmed by the majesty, grandeur and genius of the
civilization that built them? The geometric, astronomical and energetic
properties implicit in these volumes reveal to all eyes, but especially to
those who know how to see beyond appearances, the beauty of a way of thinking
that ours has never been equaled by ours.
The legacy of this intelligence from the
mists of time is also embodied in the attributes of the Egyptian messenger of
the gods, Djéhuty-Thot, whose
tradition has always drawn comparisons to Hermes-Trismegistus. The pen
of the late Jean Phaure (1928-2002) described Djéhuty-Thot as follows: « He is the scribe of the divine
Ennead, the brush with which the God of the Universe writes, the creator of
languages, the great magician of the spheres who presides over the primordial
creation to bring the world into existence through speech, alongside Ptah.
Above all, he is the one who presides over the order of the world, the great
calculator, the master of the cycles of time ».
It's
important to note that in the Egyptian theogony, Djéhuty-Thot was
not considered a god in the strict sense of the word, but rather a neter (very
close phonetically to « nature
»); in other words, the anthropomorphization
of a Force, an action of divine immanence in the manifested world, a kind of
hypostasis or æon, as the Gnostics liked to define it. We can no longer
be so charitable as to offer you the key that opens access to the 12
verses of the Emerald Tablet (Tabula Smaragdina in Latin or Lawḥ
al-zumurrudh in Arabic), on which the entire firmament of Hermetic
Philosophy is synthesized.
All occultists, lulled by the history of
religions, have fallen in love with these writings engraved on an emerald – a
green gemstone. Depending on the culture or period, the most literate among
them produced a multitude of translations, more or less representative of the
first version written in Arabic in the 9th century: the Appendix to the Book of
the Secret of Creation (Kitâb sirr al-Halîka). From the point of view of
the tradition, the Arabic affiliation is not without significance, since the
descendants of the Persians expelled the Byzantines from Alexandria in the 7th
century, and became, by force of circumstance, the active vectors of the
transmission of the initiation.
Personally, I prefer Hortulain's 14th century
translation of the Latin Vulgate :
I.
It is true without lying, certain and very true
II.
What is below, is what is above: and what is above, is what is
below, to work the miracles of one thing.
III.
And as all things have been, and have come from one, through the mediation of one: so all things
have been born of this one thing, by
adaptation.
IV.
The Sun is its father, the Moon is its mother, the wind carries it
in its womb; The earth is his nurse.
V.
The father of all the Telesme of everyone is here. His Force
or Power is whole,
VI.
If it is converted to land.
VII.
Thou shalt separate the earth from the Fire, the subtle from the
thick gently, with great industry.
VIII.
He ascends from earth to heaven, and again he descends to earth,
and he receives the Force of higher
and lower things. Thou shalt have by this means the glory of all; and for this
all darkness will flee from you.
IX.
It is the strong force of
all Force: for it will overcome every subtle thing, and penetrate every
solid thing.
X.
Thus, the world was created.
XI.
From this will come admirable adaptations, the means of which is
here.
XII.
That's why I was called Hermes-Trismegistus, having the 3 parts of everyone's
Philosophy. What I have said of the operation
of the Sun is accomplished, & completed.
These verses have a curious resonance with
the prologue to St John's Gospel, quoted below:
I.
In the beginning was the Word (the Logos), and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God
II.
The Word was with God in the
beginning.
III.
All things were created by him, and
apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.
IV.
In him was life, and the life was
the light of humanity;
V.
And The Light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness did not
overcome it.
VI.
A man came, sent from God, whose name was John.
VII.
This one came for a witness, in
order that he could testify about The
Light, so that all would believe through him.
VIII.
hat one was not the light, but came
in order that he could testify about the light.
IX.
The Word was the true Light, which enlightens
every man by coming into the world.
X.
He was in the world, through whom the world was made, but the world did not
recognize him.
Indeed, the similarities between the two
texts are more than striking. Consequently, the scribes of the Catholic Church
were probably inspired by the wisdom contained in the breath of the Hermetic
texts.
In the creation of the ‘Holy Scriptures’, the
plagiarism of earlier manuscripts by the Church Fathers is confirmed in two
ways. On the one hand, the Gopsel of St. John bears a striking resemblance to
the Gnostic Gospels of Cerinthus, written in the first century of the Christian
era. On the other hand, the Apocalypse (« apocalypsis » translates from
the Greek as « revelation »), written by St. John, is a compilation of a number
of sacred texts, such as the Book of Enoch and the Book of Ezekiel.
In a sense, the desire to incorporate ancient
knowledge into the message of Christ's favorite apostle, who in iconography is
always adorned with a green mantle, indicates that Catholicism was shaped on
the basis of pre-existing pagan doctrines. Moreover, let us not forget that
before the invention of printing in the 15th century, forging a manuscript was
child's play, and the forgers, thirsting for religious supremacy, carried out
this practice with the success we know. For example, when it comes to the Old
Testament scriptures, aall exegetes know that the Ten Commandments supposedly
given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai are nothing more than a vulgar plagiarism
of paragraph 1:125 of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Like it or not,
Judeo-Christian theology is a pale copy of the Gnostic precepts of the Neter
with the one green eye: Hor or Horus – the Egyptian light-bearer. There's nothing new under the sun:
even the Hebrews recycled what camd before. This is why the various biblical
texts, the Pentateuch and the canonical Gospels, can never be considered
historical truths or incontrovertible theological references.
In spite of all this, the sacred literature,
even if it has been modified, still contains initiatory treasures that should
be studied, because the theosophical syncretism found in the texts of different
civilizations irrevocably suggests a common origin, a syncretism, a kind of
primordial tradition, as René Guénon liked to define it.
Let's return to the verses of the Emerald
Tablet.
•••••
The first thing that strikes us in these
verses is the totally innovative principle that a power (« the Word » in the
Prologue of St. John) is linked to the creation of the world, to the action of
the sun (symbol of light) and to the mediation of unity. This ancestral
conception of the genesis of matter is uniquely close to the statement made by
Max Planck, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1919: « All matter
exists only because of a Force that makes the particles vibrate and maintains
this tiny solar system of the atom. Behind this force we must assume the
existence of a consciousness and an intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix
of all matter. » We cannot help but marvel at the knowledge of the
ancient initiates, who understood what 20th century man has only just begun to
discover. And make no mistake, it is indeed the existence of God that this
leading figure of the scientific community is suggesting. The reality of
inaccessible, indescribable, and incommensurable realms can no longer be dismissed
as the stuff of science fiction movies or the ravings of Eastern wisdom
masters. It's true that my generation automatically thinks of the films of
George Lucas when the idea of a Force is mentioned. It's also true that no one
doubts Master Yoda's description of the Force to his young apprentice: « My
ally is the Force, and it's a powerful ally. Life creates it, makes it grow,
its energy surrounds and binds us. We are luminous beings, not this brute
matter. You must feel the Force around you, between you, me, the tree, the
rock, everywhere » is similar to the tradition of the Magi. To master the
Force is, as you may have guessed, to attain the rank of Knight... After long
centuries of religious ineptitude, adogmatic science and popular culture can
finally be reconciled on the fertile ground of Gnostic clairvoyance.
Thanks to these revelations about the power
that equates creation with the will of an intelligent consciousness or
demiurge, the 12 verses of the Emerald
Tablet direct everyone's consciousness to the primacy and accuracy of the
vision of Hermes' disciples. Where our peers limit themselves to a science of
effects: material, our ancestors already transcended the intelligible world and
focused directly on the cause of manifestation: spiritual, beyond time and space.
In Hermetic culture, initiates have always
compared the properties of the spiritual substance that precedes matter to that
of an ocean, because its waters fill the ‘void’ (« vidia » in Sanskrit means «
knowledge ») like would water in any container. This ocean echoes the cosmic
sea of dark energy alluded to by David Böhm. Since the homophone of « mer »
(« sea ») : « mère » (« mother »), comes from (« mater ») in
Latin, we can weave interesting semantic links between « mer » (« sea
»), « mère » (« mother »), « mercure » (« mercury ») (the Latin
avatar of Hermes-Trismegistus), « matière » (« matter »), «
matrice » (« matrix ») and « Marie » (« Mary ») (« Marie » is
an anagram of « aimer » (« to love »)).
If this invisible matrix is at the origin of
all manifestation, the assumption that she is a virgin is self-evident, and the
emblem of the Black Virgin (black, in contrast to the synthesis of the 6 colors of the visible spectrum, expresses
the absence of light), like that of the Virgin Mary, becomes more explicit from
the point of view of Theosophy, since the Blessed Virgin, the Queen Mother, «
la mère divine » (« the divine sea »), is the ordinary figuration of the
Philosophers' mercury. Curiously, the
anagram for « énergie noire » (« black energy ») is « reine ignorée »
(« ignored queen »), which reminds us of the parable in verse 1:5 of the biblical poem Song of Songs, probably born of the
love affair between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba: « I am black, but I
am beautiful (…) ».
In his 12th century work, Livre secret
traitant de l'art caché et de La Pierre Philosophale, the alchemist Artéphius
described « l’eau des sages » (« the water of the wise »)
as follows: « Oh, how precious and magnificent is
this water! Without it, the work could not be completed:
thus it is called the vessel of nature, the womb, the matrix, the receptacle of
the tincture, the earth and its nurse, it is the fountain in which the king and
the queen wash themselves, and the mother who must be placed and sealed on the
womb of her child, who is the Sun ».
Are
you beginning to understand how the cabalists have deliberately blurred the
trail back to the primordial ocean, using a deliberately convoluted lexical
field to define a single thing, in this case the uniqueness of matter – the materia
prima ?
In the Corpus Herméticum,
verse 16 of an excerpt from
a speech by Hermes to Tat states that « All that exists is in motion;
non-being alone is immovable. » Unity, the preliminary state to
divine manifestation, could then
be imagined as energy in the form of stationary waves, and when this energy
is vectorized, the whole is set in motion to create space, time and, consequently, matter. The universal matrix is born from the rupture of the
spatial equilibrium of unity: this
first impulse is the Strong Force of all forces, its Spiritus Mundi and
its Holy Spirit (« Saint-Esprit » in French).
This is the passage from Ain
Soph to Ain Soph Aur
in the Tree of Life of the Hebrew
Kabbalah.
A skilled cabalist would break down the word « saint » (« holy ») into 3 parts: « s », « ain » and « t ». The silent « t » is
the outline of a cross, expressing
the center, « ain » is the principle that precedes matter and defines « abyss »
and « non-existence » in Hebrew, and «
un » (« one ») is the number
of unity in French, and « s » is
the letter of manifestation, because
it undulates like the graphic representation of a
pulse. In other words, the
saint is a person whose vibratory signature resonates with the first impulse that emanates from
the center of unity. That's
why a saint's soul – his or her spirit – will always be
as close as possible to the divine, creative resonance of God.
The different
states of matter could then be compared
to the rungs of a ladder, on which
the matrix Force gradually crystallizes,
or condenses, into more or less
regular forms. This is supported up by the best definition of alchemy you'll find, Fulcanelli's:
« Alchemy is the
permutation of the form by Light, Fire
or Spirit ».
Even if, according to the testimony of Irénée
Philalèthe (1628-1665), the transmutation of metals seems to be a
reality, making gold to enrich oneself has never been the ultimate goal of
alchemy. Again, many have gone astray by not understanding the cabalistic
writings of our elders. To separate the pure from the impure is to go from the
vile matter to the rectified matter. As the molecular arrangements become
simpler and more orderly, matter and the matrix Source gradually tend toward
reunification, toward unity. Matter is purified in a revolution that is
reversed from the Luciferian fall (« Lucifer » is « Lightbearer » in
Latin, it first appears in Greek mythology, where he is the guardian of the
horses of the sun god Apollo), hence the Nietzschean concept of eternal
return. The famous immortality about which dreamers fantasize so much is
perhaps, in the end, nothing more than the search for eternity, for the
absolute immobility in which God rests, as close to unity as possible. The realm
of the science of the adepts is therefore, by definition, outside of time and
space. Moreover, unlike modern science, which deals exclusively with matter,
alchemy, magic and astrology focus directly on the matrix and the invisible
laws that animate it.
-
Astrology measures the energetic variations of the celestial Fire.
-
Alchemy is the manifestation of this Fire in organisms that are a priori
inanimate (minerals and plants).
-
Magic channels this fire directly into the body of the adept. The adept is
a magician in the noblest sense of the word, and has always had perfect mastery
of this cosmic Fire, this Force, which he channels through the chakras of his
body, modulating and redirecting it according to its intended use. Either for
positive purposes, when God's love fills his heart (white magic), or to sow
division and destruction, when the dark side (black magic) has definitely
seduced him.
On the
horizon of our conclusions, it appears that the driving principle of all
existence – the Force underlying life – is
generated by a matrix that originates outside the boundaries of our reality.
This conclusion seems to be shared by Niels Bohr, winner of the Nobel Prize in
Physics, who stated in 1922: « Everything we call real is made of things
that cannot be considered as real. » Since the matrix Spirit is outside the sensible, measurable field, how is
it possible to perceive its substance in the world accessible to humans ?
•••••
In my opinion, if this creative Force is the
cause of tangible effects, then its signature must be observable in nature.
It's possible to glimpse the mechanisms of this matrix by adopting the
mentality of an insatiably curious person, in other words, by opening our eyes
wide. It would be a serious mistake to specialize in one field or another; the Philosopher of nature must open up the field of
possibilities to all scientific fields, from astronomy to mineralogy – in other words, to all visible phenomena
between heaven and earth. The imprint of the Force must be present everywhere,
and as the Emerald Tablet suggests, in the infinitely large as well as the
infinitely small. The task is to identify the traces of this Force and then to
find the analogies that connect them.
It was while working on this task that the
mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci, in the 13th century A.D., noticed that an
arithmetic sequence was linked to generation in the biological world. In the
progression of this sequence, each new number is the sum of the previous two,
i.e. 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55,
89, 144... and so on. As the numbers become larger,
the ratio between one number and the next tends to a mathematical constant with
a value of 1.618. This ratio of proportion was defined by the father of Greek
geometry, Euclid, as the division in between extreme and mean reason. This
relationship, of which the phyllotaxis of the plant world is undoubtedly the
most explicit example, is repeated in all of nature's creations.
Spiral
arrangements of this digital matrix can be seen in flowers, romanesco cabbage
and pine cones, as well as in nautilus and gastropod shells. These analogies
are astonishing because they are not limited to these few examples, but find a
universal echo in the 3 kingdoms of the living world: mineral,
vegetable and animal. Nature makes geometry, automatically, without square or
compass. Nature doesn't need a plan, it is the plan. Its architecture, especially when expressed in
a helical (« helical
» and « helix » have the same etymological root as Helios, the
Greek sun god) and logarithmic fashion, is simply dazzling. I'll never
understand why most of us remain stoic in the face of such beauty and elegance?
Don't they have eyes to see?
Today, the ratio equal to 1.618 is better
known as the « nombre d’or » (« golden ratio »). Popularized by Matila Ghyka in the 20th
century, it is the result of a cross between semantics and mysticism. The
etymology of the word « or » (« gold ») comes from « aor », « aour »,
« aur » or « our » in Semitic languages and its
ttranslations is « the Light ». When we
recall the prologue of St. John's : « The Word was God (...) The Word was
the true Light », the correlation between God, the Word, Light and the
golden ratio becomes more than obvious for one of the Magi's modes of thinking:
synonymic reasoning. If you were looking for concrete proof of the existence of
God, of the Creator, the golden ratio would give your argument a factual
dimension that would be difficult to refute. All the more so since the Greek
symbol for the golden ratio, Φ, was used by the early Christ worshippers to
define « the Force of God », « the Will » (« the Telesme» of the Emerald Table)
or the principle of the concentration of the Spirit in matter.
The signature of Φ can also
be seen in human anatomy. Among the many of examples, we could cite, the case
of the position of the navel is the most significant. In fact, knowing that the
word « nombril » (« navel ») is the phonetic
counterpart of « nombreel
», the cabalists would break it down into « nombre » (« nomber ») and « el » in order to find its essence. As el is the name given to God by the
ancient Semites, this point, so special to the Vitruvian man, is the physical
revelation of the divine signature in the proportions of the human body. On the
one hand, it was from here that the nourishing energy of the mother was
breathed into us, and on the other – and this is what interests us here – it divides the average
distance between the feet and the head by the golden ratio. Therefore, verse
1:27 of Genesis, which says that « man was created in the image of God », is therefore not a
parable, but must be taken literally, at the first degree.
The Larousse dictionary explains: « Φ «
phi » is the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet (21=3x7), corresponding, in ancient Greek, to an
aspirated « p » and, in modern Greek, to an « f ». It is transposed by « ph »
in French words derived from Greek. » The first syllable of the words « Philosophy
», « physics », « phyllotaxis », « firmament », « Force » and « Fire »
underscores the close relationship these words have with the golden ratio.
Etymology is a science to be treated with the utmost seriousness, because, as
you may have already noticed, the keys of investigation offered by this tool
are incomparable.
With all these sympathies, it hardly seems
presumptuous to me to assert that Φ, the veritable whirling fulcrum of
universal harmony (to be understood as « uni vers al », « uni vers el »
(« united toward el ») or « uni vert sel » (« united green salt
»), i.e. « the green salt that unites » for a right-to-left reading), is the
organic imprint of a creative matrix, whose structure is subject to the laws of
geometry and arithmetic. Plato understood this very well when he declared: «
God always makes geometry » and « Geometry draws the soul toward
truth, and forms the Philosophical Spirit, by forcing the soul to raise its
gaze upward, instead of lowering it. »
Historians tell us that the golden ratio was
called « phi » in honor of the sculptor Phidias (480-430
B.C.), famous for his
contribution to the construction of the Pantheon in Athens, where the precious
ratio is exalted in the proportions of the facade. Should we be surprised to
learn that the golden ratio was already used five centuries before the
Christian era by Greek architects, but also, according to the work of René
Adolphe Schwaller de Lubicz (1887-1961), by their Egyptian counterparts? Absolutely not,
because all the artists worthy of this capital letter have always tried to make
their works resonate with this particular signature. In their desire to mimic («
singer » in French, to be heard « saint G » (« holy G »),
where G is a graphic representation of the spiral), they attributed to Φ the
ultimate canon of beauty. Every time Φ is used, it's a syncretic tribute to
nature and the Creator. From the grandiose pyramids of Giza to the abstract
paintings of Kandinsky, Φ has always been the prerogative of artistic genius
and the mark of a symbiotic relationship with the universe. This form of
expression was certainly born out of necessity: to reveal and glorify in the
material world the invisible intelligence of divine creation.
•••••
Whether our contemporaries like it or not,
the art of the 20th century has nothing in common with the ‘works’ of today,
and the word « art » has become a catch-all term for any kind of
plastic creation. One only has to visit the galleries to realize that ‘art’ has
become an intellectual masquerade and a visual pollution on which bad people or
charlatans try to make their fortune. In 1973, Jean Phaure described this trend
with the objectivity it deserved: « modern art is black magic, sometimes in
the most operative sense of the term, and has the eschatological function, like
psychoanalysis, of bringing back into the field of our consciousness our
infra-psychism, populated by all the psychic and demonic residues that, in the
previous phases of the cycle, were contained in these cellars by sacred art,
religions, and initiatory knowledge. » It doesn't take a Ph.D. in art
history to realize that creativity, compared to the achievements of our past,
is the victim of a controlled process of destruction. Indeed, how can we place
the paintings of Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) on the same pedestal as those of
Michelangelo (1475-1564), Raphael (1483-1520) or Botticelli (1445-1410)? Unfortunately for our enlightenment and
well-being, this imposed form of intellectual terrorism is not limited to the
boundaries of art, but rots all the pillars on which the emancipation of a
healthy, balanced society rests.
To this we must add that a person's
creativity does not necessarily make him or her an artist. The Masters are
formal and are always there to testify: you don't become an artist overnight,
and perfecting your art requires a lot of hard work and constant spiritual
asceticism. Without having gone through the purification and rectification of
one's soul – the demonstration of holiness – it is virtually impossible to
receive divine inspiration, to resonate with the Force and become one with the
grace of its quintessence to produce anything. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) drives the
nail a little deeper into the flesh of the often talentless pretenders by
suggesting that the qualification of artist is actually earned in high places: «
The artist, ceaselessly engaged in the contemplation of creation, pays
everlasting homage to the Creator. Our patient study of God's work requires
more effort than singing matins. »
Art thus creates a fusional relationship with
the sacred, and in this sense it must be a reflection of the matrix space. To
achieve this, every detail must be carefully thought out, measured and weighed.
Nothing can be left to chance. And as Jean Phaure pointed out, this kind of
work is the antithesis of spontaneous art. And as Jean Phaure pointed out, this
kind of work is the antithesis of spontaneous art. Arithmetic proportions and
regulating geometric lines organize a harmonious, resonant composition. The
choice of colors corresponds to the symbolism of the figures and volumes.
Mythological and religious archetypes mix with cabalistic references of all
kinds. And, of course, never forgetting the hermetic nature of the form, that
is, as the traditional saying goes : « to show, to signify, and to hide...
all at the same time. » Divinity doesn't show... It suggests !
In this highly creative magma, and since it
is often considered the cornerstone of all the arts, architecture occupies a
privileged place in its relationship with the natural elements. The
synchronization between the characteristics of the temple and the temporal
cycles has always been one of the best-kept secrets of the high initiatory
spheres of the priestly castes. By squaring the circle, the building is
elevated to the sacred and thus asserts its operative function by combining celestial
and terrestrial energies within it. When a temple is built according to the
rules of art, its geometric form gives orientation to space and, like a hand on
a sundial, gives the measure of time. In this respect, the scientific knowledge
of the cosmic cycles elevates the architect to the rank of initiate, and in
this sense it cannot be otherwise.
Unfortunately for humanity, few people truly
understand the coding systems used in the artwork of our ancestors. And even
when their attempts are successful, the academic doxa automatically labels them
as mildly enlightened. This label makes it all the more appropriate for modern
artists to approach art through the prism of psychology, since we must try to
explain, even in a phantasmagorical way, the allegories, metaphors, and
parables of the traditional culture of our masters. In any case, in this work
we will try to decipher some works for what they really are. In this sense, the
best way to do this is to use the tools that have been bequeathed to us, and in
this virtuosity, the measure of the Liberal Arts are inescapable.
There are 7 Liberal Arts, divided into two
paths: the Trivium and the Quadrivium.
-
The Trivium is defined by the expression of the Word (the Light)
through words. It is divided into 3 subjects: grammar, dialectic and rhetoric.
-
The Quadrivium refers to the powers of numbers, or the expression of
the Word through mathematics, and is divided into 4 subjects: arithmetic,
music, geometry and astronomy.
In addition to these 7 paths, a linguistic axiom of the Hermetic Cabale,
known as the Language of the Birds, completes the artist's already extensive
palette. Described as a solar language whose principles are sanctified by the
appearance of its ibis-headed initiator, Djéhuty-Thot, it is based exclusively
on the assonance of words, without ever considering the rules of spelling and
grammar. Richard Khaitzine (1947-2013) – a friend we'd like to have around – put it this way: « This Language of the
Birds is the language that Jesus revealed to the apostles through His Spirit,
the Holy Spirit. Remember this episode from the Gospels. It's Pentecost, and
the apostles receive the gift of tongues in the form of tongues of fire, fire
being a synonym for the Spirit. But then, you ask, why is it called the Language
of the Birds? Because the Holy Spirit, being volatile by nature, is often
symbolized by a bird, often a dove ».
In order to overcome the weaknesses of language and to provide the final
keys needed to open the closed realm of the Magi, The disciples of Hermes
used another means of transmission, one that is still poorly understood today:
the symbol.
••••
The symbol plays a more than singular role: stimulating only the psyche,
this figurative sign links man to his imagination and connects his thought to
spheres indescribable by words. In fact, the sound of a word is a vibration
that can be heard, and in this state it already has a material manifestation. A
word clumsily cuts off the dynamics of the idea it seeks to define; it is
precisely to remedy this weakness that the use of the symbol proves its
effectiveness : by creating a bridge between the created and the
uncreated, this mode of reading allows the mind to pass through the mirror of
appearances, to see the other side of the image, outside of space and
time.Ferdinand Brunetière (1849-1849) wrote: « The symbol is an image, it is
thought...It makes us grasp between the world and ourselves some of those
secret affinities and obscure laws which may be beyond the reach of science,
but which are no less certain for that; every symbol is in this sense a kind of
revelation ».
If a picture is worth a thousand words, as
ancient Taoist wisdom suggests, then a symbol is worth a thousand images.
We
couldn't continue this introduction without paying tribute to René Guénon (1886-1951),
because his life and work alone crystallize an uncompromising spirituality. In
his book « Symboles
de la Science Sacrée », he wrote: « We
have already had occasion to speak of the importance of the symbolic form in
the transmission of traditional doctrines (...) Why is there so much more or
less open hostility to symbolism? Certainly because it is a form of expression
that has become completely alien to the modern mentality, and because man is naturally
inclined to distrust what he does not understand. Symbolism is the most
suitable means of teaching the higher religious and metaphysical truths, in
other words, everything that the modern mind rejects or neglects; it is the
very opposite of what is appropriate to rationalism, and all its opponents
behave, some without realizing it, as true rationalists (...). In this way, the
supreme truths, which would not be communicable or transmittable in any other
way, become so to a certain extent, when they are incorporated, as it were,
into symbols which will undoubtedly hide them from many, but which will reveal
them in all their brilliance to the eyes of those who know how to see (...) If
the Word is thought within and spoken without, if the world is the effect of
the divine Word uttered at the beginning of time, the whole of nature can be
considered a symbol of supernatural reality. Everything
that is, in whatever form, having its principle in the divine intellect,
translates or represents that principle in its own way and according to its own
order of existence; and thus, from one order to the next, all things are
related and correspond to each other in order to coincide in the universal and
total harmony which is like a reflection of the divine Trinity itself. This
correspondence is the true foundation of symbolism, and it is for this reason
that the laws of a lower realm can always be taken as symbolizing the realities
of a higher order, where they have their profound reason, which is both their
principle and their end. »
In its
vulgar figuration, the « saint bol » (« holy
cup »)
takes the form of a cup or chalice. In the magical ritual of the Mass, at the
moment of the Eucharistic Sacrament, it collects the Christic Blood, a
metaphorical liquid for the cosmic fluid.
The evocation of a watery substance inevitably recalls the way in which
the Hermetists associated the behavior of the Mercurial spirit with a
primordial ocean. By analogy, the symbol fulfills exactly the same function as its
homophone revealed by the Language of the Birds, namely that the « saint bol » (« holy
cup ») is
the receptacle and revelation in the tangible world of the ineffable principles
of the universal matrix.
I am
aware that for most of you Hermeticism seems mysterious, even chimerical, all
the more so because this philosophical current proposes historical and
scientific perspectives that mainstream thinking considers irrational from the
outset. I can already hear the rhetoric
of the most indoctrinated: « How could the men of the past have known what
modern science is just beginning to glimpse?
Aren't we superior to those hicks ? »
Yes, and no matter what he thinks, man today
is unaware of his ignorance. But it's important not to blame him, because from
kindergarten benches to university lecture halls, he is driven to naively
repeat what he has been taught. And since the majority have grown up in the
same system, it's logical that "normal" people are all formatted in
the same way. To their credit, the pursuit of knowledge and intellectual and
cultural enrichment is no longer a valued activity. Absolutely nothing is
organized to encourage us to read library books and to multiply our general
knowledge; this sad fact is the inexorable consequence of a royal education
that is constantly being dumbed down, of the propagation and standardization of
the culture of the artificial (to the detriment of the natural), of the
promotion and standardization of mediocrity by the dominant media, and of the
dumbing down and hypnotic manipulation of the masses by television. And above
all, the growing denial of a transcendent, saving spiritual realm. It's a fact
that there are now countless friends who are very proud of their agnosticism...
How sad!
At the beginning of the 21st century, the
collapse of thought reflects the decadence, degeneration and decline of our
civilization. This intellectual sclerosis has become an increasingly thorny
obstacle to overcome for those who follow the path of spiritual evolution,
personal emancipation, or the Gnostic path. Social conditioning is so powerful
that the intrepid, those who still dare to think for themselves, are often
benched and ridiculed. It takes great strength of character to free oneself
from the vindictiveness and judgment of others. This work requires deep and
delicate self-introspection, and very few people are willing to suffer in order
to dissolve the illusions of daily life and become completely free. To be able
to empty one's chalice of all dross and then fill it anew with a brighter light
is an accomplishment that must be earned over time.
Prudence,
temperance, fortitude and justice are the cardinal virtues needed to open the
Kingdom of God; if perseverance and truth are our faithful servants on the path
of truth, the vertical essence of the Solar Fire will illuminate our hearts and
the work we undertake will always be crowned with success. Without this
spiritual quest, I probably wouldn't have found the courage to share these few
lines with you, because the metaphysical currents on which the winds of this
demonstration will carry us are ridiculed by the orthodoxy of the educational
system and very poorly understood by today's globalized culture.
To this end, the scientific and syncretic
study of the major religious symbols is the main axis – axis mundi – around
which this thesis will unfold. Like a modern-day Jason in search of the Golden
Fleece, guided by the clarity of the North Star, we will navigate the most
mystical and unimaginably vibrant oceans. So I invite you to explore sacred
science aboard my ship, to lift the veil on the naturalistic nature of the Holy
Spirit, and to cast off for the most absolute mysteries of all: creation and
the origin of space-time.
Ludovic Nicolas