You have in yourself something similar to God; therefore use yourself as the Temple of God. Be bold, O man! Divine thou art. Truth is to be sought with a mind purified from the passions of the body. Having overcome evil things, thou shalt experience the union of the immortal God with the mortal man. (b) THE ESOTERIC TEACHINGS (1) Symbols The esoteric teachings of Pythagoras, which he called "the Gnosis of Things that Are," or "the Knowledge of the Reality," so far as they can be gathered from the extant fragments, dealt with (1) Symbols, (2) Number, that is, the inner meaning of arithmetic and geometry, (3) Music, (4) Man, and (5) the Earth and the Universe. In his esoteric teachings Pythagoras gave out the keys to the system of practical ethics outlined in his exoteric sayings. Such of his public utterances as were called Symbols were mere blinds, capable of several interpretations with several distinct and highly important meanings attached to them. H. P. Blavatsky, speaking of these, says: Every sentence of Pythagoras, like most of the ancient maxims, had (at least) a dual signification; and while it had an occult physical meaning expressed in its words, it embodied a moral precept. It is no mere coincidence that many of the maxims were and still are current among widely separated nations. The following are examples of some Pythagorean Symbols together with their possible meanings as moral precepts: "Do not devour your heart": that is, do not consume your vitality in futile grief. "Do not devour your brain": that is, do not waste your time in idle thoughts. "When you are traveling abroad, turn not back, for the furies will go with you": that is, do not dally or cry over spilt milk but hasten to accomplish whatever you have begun; otherwise you will fail, and remorse and sorrow will thereafter attend you. "Do not indulge in immoderate laughter": that is, restrain the unstable parts of your nature. "Do not stir fire with a sword": that is, do not return angry words to an angry man, for "hatred ceaseth not by hatred but by love--this is an everlasting truth." "Turn away from yourself every sharp edge": that is, control your passions. "Nourish nothing which has crooked talons or nails": that is, cultivate only kindliness of disposition. "Help a man to take up a burden but not to lay it down": that is, by toils and sorrows men are strengthened. "Do not step above the beam of the balance": that is, live a life of perfect justice. "Spit not upon the cuttings of your hair or the parings of your nails": that is, even trifles are important. "Destroy the print of the pot in the ashes": that is, correct all mistakes. "Put the shoe on the right foot first but put the left foot first into the bath-tub": that is, act uprightly and honestly, washing away all impurities.