The Initiates of the FlameHall, Manly P. (Manly Palmer)
Religion
The Initiates of the Flame
Hall, Manly P. (Manly Palmer)
Occultism; Symbolism
Let us first consider it simply from the exterior standpoint. When we
first look at it in the distance it seems to be one great stone, but as
we come closer we see that it is made of thousands of smaller stones,
each one carefully fitted into place. Here we see the first likeness
between the pyramid and man. We consider man to be a unit, but when we
examine more closely, we find that he is a great number of small units,
each working in harmony with the others. It is the same with everything.
We take a successful life and we think of it as an entirety, but when
we examine it, we find that it is a number of small achievements joined
together.
[Illustration: Cross Section of the Great Pyramid of Gizah.]
As thousands of workmen were used in the building of the pyramid, so
there are unnumbered workmen at work in the building of our bodies, which
are symbolical of the same building.
There are many pyramids all over the world. We find them in South America
and in Mexico; we find mounds which were made to represent them among
the American Indians, and in Europe and Britain we find remnants of the
same things. But there is only one real pyramid in all the world. Even
the others in Egypt are but copies of the Great Pyramid, and were used
as tombs for the Pharaohs, but nobody was ever found in Cheops, nor were
there ever any signs that it had been so used.
Now let us continue our analogy between the pyramid and man. If you
will look at the accompanying illustration, you will see the pyramid
laid flat, and you will notice it is made of four triangles laid around
the base square. The four-sided base of the pyramid represents the
four elements of which man’s bodies are composed. These are hydrogen,
nitrogen, oxygen and carbon, or earth, water, fire, and air. These are
called the base of all things, and upon this base the four bodies of man
are raised, each from its own element. Thus the physical body is raised
from the earth. The vital body is raised from the water, the emotional
body from the fire, and the mental body from the air.
[Illustration: The Pyramid:
Here we see the pyramid laid out so that the four triangles and the
square are clearly seen. This represents man once again, and the ancient
Pyramid is man offering his higher being upon the altar of the Great Fire
Spirit.]
There are twelve lines used in the drawing of the four triangles, which
stand for the twelvefold constitution of man when it is complete: the
threefold body, the threefold mind, the threefold soul, and the threefold
spirit. It also gives us the twelve signs of the zodiac, divided into
their respective groups.
[Illustration]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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