Now that a
few “illustrations” have been given of what has been
called the “solidification” of the world, there remains
the question of its representation in geometrical symbolism, wherein
it can be figured as a gradual transition from sphere to cube.
Indeed, to begin with, the sphere is intrinsically the primordial
form, because it is the least “specified” of all, similar
to itself in every direction, in such a way that in any rotary
movement about its center, all its successive positions are strictly
superimposable one on another.
The sphere, then, can be said to be the most universal form of all,
containing in a certain sense all other forms, which will emerge from
it by means of differentiations taking place in certain particular
directions; and that is why the spherical form is, in all traditions,
that of the “Egg of the World”, in other words, the form
of that which represents the “global” integrality, in
their first and “embryonic” state, of all possibilities
which will be developed in the course of a cycle of manifestation.
It is as well to note in addition that this first state, so far as
our world is concerned, belongs properly to the domain of subtle
manifestation, inasmuch as the latter necessarily proceeds gross
manifestation and is its immediate principle. This is why the form
of the perfect sphere, or that of the circle which corresponds to it
in plane geometry (as a section of the sphere by a given directional
plane) is in fact never realized in the corporeal world.
On the
other hand, the cube is opposed to the sphere as being the most
“arrested” form of all, if it can be so expressed; this
means that it corresponds to a maximum of “specification”.
The cube is also the form which is related to the earth as one of
the elements, inasmuch as the earth is the “terminating and
final element” of manifestation in the corporeal state;
and consequently it corresponds also to the end of the cycle of
manifestation, or to what has been called the “stopping point”
of the cyclical movement. This form is thus in a sense above all
that of the “solid”,
and it symbolizes “stability” in so far as this implies
the stoppage of all movement; and it is evident that the equilibrium
of a cube resting on one of its faces is in fact more stable than
that of any other body. It is important to note that this stability,
coming at the end of the descending movement, is not and cannot be
anything but an unqualified immobility, of which the nearest
representation in the corporeal world is afforded by the minerals;
and this immobility, if it could be entirely realized, would really
be the inverted reflection at the lowest point of the principal
immutability of the highest point. Immobility or stability thus
understood, and represented by the cube, is therefore related to the
substantial whole of manifestation, just as immutability, in which
all possibilities are comprehended in the “global” state
represented by the sphere, is related to the essential pole;
and this is why the cube also symbolizes the idea of “base”
or “foundation” which again corresponds to the
substantial pole.
Attention must also be drawn to the fact that the faces of a cube
can be considered as being oriented in opposite pairs corresponding
to the three dimensions of space, in other words as parallel to the
three planes determined by the axes forming the system of
co-ordinates to which that space is related and which allows of its
being “measured”, that is, of its being effectively
realized in its integrality. It has been explained elsewhere that
the three axes forming the three-dimensional cross must be looked
upon as being traced through the center of a sphere which fills the
whole of space by its indefinite expansion (in the three planes
determined by these axes also necessarily pass through the same
center, which is the “origin” of the whole system of
co-ordinates), and this establishes the relation which exists between
the two extreme forms, sphere and cube, a relation in which what was
interior and central in the sphere is so to speak “turned
inside out” to become the surface or the “exteriority”
of the cube.
The cube
also represents the earth in all the traditional meanings of that
word, that is, not only the earth as a corporeal element in the sense
in which it was mentioned above, but also as a principle of a much
more universal order, the principle designated in the Far Eastern
tradition as Earth (Ti) in
correlation with Heaven (Tien).
Spherical or circular forms are related to Heaven, cubic or square
forms to Earth; since these two complimentary terms are the
equivalents of Purusha
and Prakriti in the
Hindu doctrine, which means they are simply another expression for
essence and substance taken in their universal meaning, exactly the
same conclusion as before is arrived at in this instance. It is also
evident that, like the conceptions of essence and substance, the same
symbolism is always susceptible of application at different levels,
that is to say, either to the principles of a particular state of
existence, or to the integrality of universal manifestation. Not
only are these two geometrical forms related to Heaven and to Earth,
but so also are the instruments used to draw them, namely, the
compass and the square, and this is so in the symbolism of the
Far-Eastern tradition as well as in that of the Western initiatic
traditions;
in the different correspondences these two forms give rise in
different circumstances to multiple symbolical and ritual
applications.
Another
case in which the relation of these same geometrical forms is in
evidence is that of the symbolism of the “Earthly Paradise”
and of the “Heavenly Jerusalem”, to which reference has
already been made elsewhere;
and this case is specially important from the point of view adopted
in this book, since the symbolism in question is in fact concerned
with the two extremities of the present cycle. Now the form of the
“Earthly Paradise”, corresponding to the beginning of the
cycle, is circular, whereas that of the “Heavenly Jerusalem”,
corresponding to its end, is square;
and the circular boundary of the “Earthly Paradise” is
none other than the horizontal section of the “Egg of the
World”, that is, of the universal and primordial spherical
form.
It could be said that this circle itself is finally changed into a
square, since two extremities must join, or rather (the cycle never
really being closed, for that would imply an impossible repetition)
they must correspond exactly; the presence of the same “Tree of
Life” in the center in each case shows clearly that it is only
actually a question of two states of one and the same thing; and the
square here represents the accomplishment of the possibilities of the
cycle, which were in a germinal condition in the circular “organic
girdle” of the beginning, subsequently fixed and stabilized in
a state of definition so to speak, at least in relation to the
particular cycle concerned. This final result can also be
represented as a “crystallization”, again showing
affinity with the cubic form (or the square in the plane section): it
becomes a “city” with a mineral symbolism, whereas at the
beginning there was a “garden” with a vegetable
symbolism, vegetation representing the elaboration of the germs in
the sphere of vital assimilation.
Reference was made above tot eh immobility of minerals as being an
image of the final state towards which the “solidification”
of the world is tending: but it is as well to add that in considering
the “Heavenly Jerusalem” the mineral has been regarded as
already being in a “transformed” or “sublimated”
state, for it figures as precious stones in the description of that
City; that is why the fixation is only final with respect to the
present cycle, and beyond the “stopping point” the same
“Heavenly Jerusalem” must, by virtue of the casual
linkage which admits no actual discontinuity, become the “Earthly
Paradise” of the future cycle, the end of the one and the
beginning of the other being actually one and the same moment viewed
from two opposite sides.
It
is none the less true that, if consideration is confined to the
present cycle, a moment finally arrives at which “the wheel
stops turning”, and here, as always, the symbolism is perfectly
coherent: for a wheel is circular in shape, and if it were to get out
of shape in such a way as to end by being square, it is obvious that
it could not do otherwise than stop. This is why the moment in
question appears as an “end of time”; it is then,
according to the Hindu tradition, that the “twelve Suns”
will shine simultaneously, for time is in fact measured by the
passage of the Sun through the twelve signs of the Zodiac, making the
annual cycle, and when the rotation is stopped, the twelve
corresponding aspects will so to speak be merged into one, thus
returning into the essential and primordial unity of their common
nature, since they do not differ except in their relation to the
universal manifestation which will then be at an end.
Moreover, the changing of the circle into an equivalent square
is also what is known as “squaring of the circle”; those
who declare that this is an insoluble problem, though they be wholly
unaware of its symbolical significance, are thus right in fact, since
the “squaring” understood in its true sense cannot be
realized until the end of the cycle.
A
consequence of all this is that the “solidification” of
the world appears to some extent to have a double meaning: considered
in itself and from within the cycle, as being a consequence of a
movement leading down towards quantity and “materiality”,
it evidently has an “unfavorable” significance,
“sinister” and opposed to spirituality; but, in another
aspect, it is none the less necessary in order to prepare, though it
be in a manner which could be called “negative”, the
ultimate fixation of the results of the cycle in the form of the
“Heavenly Jerusalem”, where these results will at once
become the germs of the possibilities of the future cycle.
Nevertheless, it goes without saying that in the final fixation
itself, and in order that it may indeed become a restoration of the
“primordial state”, the immediate intervention of a
transcendent principle is necessary, otherwise nothing could be saved
and the “cosmos” would simply evaporate into “chaos”.
It is this intervention which produces the final “reversal”,
already prefigured by the “transmutation” of minerals in
the “Heavenly Jerusalem”, and bringing about the
reappearance of the “Earthly Paradise” in the visible
world, where there will thereafter be “a new heaven and a new
earth”, since it will be the beginning of another Manvantara
and the existence of another humanity.
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