freemasonry of the ancient Egypt 9

freemasonry of the ancient Egypt 9

Plato journied to Egypt where, after making a general tour of the country,

he finally decided to settle at Sais, "learning of the wise men there what they

held concerning the universe, whether it had a beginning, and whether it is

moved at present, wholly or in part, according to reason." From Pausanius we

also gather that it was from the Egyptians that Plato learned the mystery of

the immortality of the human soul. Is it possible that the priests of Sais, who

recognized, from the inscriptions still preserved, Osiris to be the supreme au-

thor of the world, could they, on the one hand describe the eternity of First

Cause and the reasonable motion of Being and, on the other hand, accept

such doctrines as Plutarch advances that the whole mystery of this god is con-

tained in the germination of corn?

 

Democritus spent a great part of his life in Egypt and from the priests of

 

 

 

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FREEMASONRY OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS

 

 

 

that nation he secured the foundation for his celebrated doctrine of atoms, a

doctrine which has survived as a scientific fact to this day. From all these dif-

ferent philosophers who visited Egypt we shall secure a better estimation of

the profundity of Egyptian learning than from even the Egyptian writings

themselves. If we may assume the Pragmatic viewpoint that the substance of

a matter is to be determined from its consequences, we must indeed highly

reverence the wisdom of the Egyptians for it seems that first among the con-

sequences of that wisdom is civilization itself. Civilization is no fable, nor is

it a progeny of myths, but that which is real and substantial in it bears witness

to a profound and superior wisdom which must have existed over a great pe-

riod of time and have been communicated to at least a privileged few, since

the very beginning of mans cultural impulse.

 

We may also take the example of Pythagoras. This great philosopher

while a youth, if we may credit Iamblichus, associated himself with Thales of

Miletus from whom he gained a considerable knowledge of the Mysteries.

 

1 hales, being at that time of great age and infirm body, apologized for his in-

complete understanding of the sacred doctrines and urged Pythagoras to visit

Egypt the mother land of wisdom. Iamblichus wrote that Thales confessed

that his own reputation for wisdom was derived from the instruction of these

priests; but that he was neither naturally, nor by exercise, induced with those

excellent prerogatives which were so visibly displayed in the person of

Pythagoras. Thales, therefore, gladly announced to Pythagoras, from all these

circumstances, that he would become the wisest and most divine of all men, if

he associated with these Egyptian priests. Iamblichus then describes the jour-

ney which Pythagoras made to Egypt, how en route he was initiated into the

Mysteries of several nations and at last arriving at his destination, was re-

ceived by the Egyptian priests with respect and affection. He associated with

the Egyptian philosophers for some time and after demonstrating by his sin-

cerity and consecration that he was worthy to associate with the initiated, he

was at last admitted into the secret s of their orders.

 

"He spent, therefore," observes Iamblichus, "two and twenty years in

 

 

 

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THE SECRET DOCTRINE IN EGYPT

 

 

 

Egypt, m the adyta of temples, astronomizing and geometrizing, and was ini-

tiated. not in a superficial or casual manner, in all the mysteries of the gods."

 

Pythagoras must be acknowledged among the first of those divine men to

whom the race is indebted for the principles of science, art and philosophy;

and are we to presume that so noble an intellect could have spent twenty-two

years pursuing fabulous shadows in Egyptian crypts? If, as some have as-

serted. Osiris signified merely the Nile, and Isis, the black earth rendered fer-

tile by its inundation, could such a fable have so greatly stimulated the

admiration of Pythagoras that he would have spent a score of years in the as-

similation of the idea? Or, again, would he have spent this great length of

time, the very best years of his life, in memorizing the myth-encrusted history

of an ancient king who at some remote period had reigned in Egypt and

whose memory seemed sufficient to inspire a vast civilization for some 6,000

years? Or, to approach the matter from another of these "explanations"

would Pythagoras have pounded himself for a score of years against the walls

of Memphis and find himself fully rewarded by being informed with bated

breath by some archi-magus that Isis is the dog-star?

 

It is not impossible that in the course of its long and illustrious history,

Egypt devised many opinions relative to her sacred myths; but no such expla-

nation as involved Egypt alone, her histories, her heroes, or her agricultural

problems, could have caused illustrious men from all parts of the world to

have visited her in quest of essential wisdom.

 

1 he Nile meant nothing to the Greeks who cared little whether it rose or

fell. Not Egypt but the umbos of Delphi was the center of their universe, and

local fables derived from Egypt’s forty-two nomes could never have won for

the double Empire its illustrious reputation as patron of all learning, human

and divine. We must look deeper. We must not be deceived by the obvious nor

allow ourselves to be misdirected by the evident subterfuges of these ancient

priests who so carefully concealed their arcana from the uninitiated world

that we at this late time may even doubt its existence. The ignorant, even

among the Egyptians, might derive their inspiration from the processionals

 

 

 

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FREEMASONRY OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS

 

 

 

and rituals of the state religion, but those great philosophers who came from

afar were in search of the highest form of human knowledge, and could not

be satisfied by such outer show. Had these fables been but hollow and unsub-

stantial forms, Egypt would have been the ridicule of the wise, who would

speedily have exposed her sham and reduced her vain pretenses to a humble

state. But this did not occur. The initiates of her Mysteries, returning to their

own countries, not only felt themselves more than repaid for their hazardous

journeys and long vigils, but furthermore, they became founders of distin-

guished systems of thinking, disseminators of useful knowledge and in all

cases bore witness to a broad and deep learning.

 

Diodorus describes two famous columns erected near Nysa in Arabia, one

to Isis and the other to Osiris. The column to Isis bears this inscription: “I

am Isis, Queen of this country. I was instructed by Mercury. No one can de-

stroy the laws which I have established. I am the eldest daughter of Saturn,

most ancient of the gods. I am the wife and sister of Osiris the king. I first

made known to mortals the use of wheat. I am the mother of Horus the king.

In my honor was the city of Bubastis built. Rejoice, O Egypt, rejoice, land

that gave me birth.”

 

The column to Osiris bore these words: “I am Osiris the king, who led my

armies into all parts of the world, to the most thickly inhabited countries of

India, the North, the Danube, and the Ocean. I am the eldest son of Saturn; I

was born of a brilliant and magnificent egg, and my substance is of the same

nature as that which composes light. There is no place in the Universe where I

have not appeared, to bestow my benefits and make known my discoveries ”

The rest of the inscription has been destroyed.

 

In examining Plutarch s treatise, the introductory remarks appear of spe-

cial significance, yet these remarks arc wholly ignored by Egyptologists who

are content to confine themselves entirely to the fable which constitutes the

larger part of the writing. If Plutarch, by any word or symbol, reveals even a

small part of the sacred mystery, it is to be found in the following words:

For Isis, according to the Greek interpretation of the word, signifies knowl-

edg; as does the name of her professed adversary Typhon, insolence and pride, a

 

 

 

THE SECRET DOCTRINE IN EGYPT

 

 

 

name therefore extremely well adapted to one, who, full of ignorance and

error, tears in pieces and conceals that holy doctrine, which the Goddess collects,

i ompiles and delivers to those, who aspire after the most perfect participation

ol the divine nature.”

 

Osiris, the black god of the Nile, must be regarded as the personification

ol .m order of learning, for Plutarch identifies him beyond question with the

holy doctrine, or the Mystery tradition. As Thoth personifies the whole

sphere of knowledge and it was through his assistance that Osiris came into

being, so Osiris embodies the secret and sacred wisdom reserved for those

who were proficients in the ancient rites. Unquestionably Osiris was later

confused with other members of that vast pantheon of divinities which de-

veloped in the decadent period of Egyptian religious culture, but to the elect

lie represented to the end primordial knowing, that utter realization of truth, un-

deliled by intellection, unlimited by any mortal procedure, uncircumscribed

by the limitation of thinking. He signified not only that divine at-onc-mcnt

with the Absolute which is the end of all illumination, but by his life, death

.11 ul resurrection, revealed the means by which mortal consciousness could

achieve that end. Thus Osiris becomes a dual symbol, being in the first place

the esoteric wisdom itself, and in the second place, the composite order of Initi-

ates through whom that tradition was perpetuated. The personality of Osiris

thus typifies the institution erected by the ancients to perpetuate the deathless

truths of the soul. The living head was crowned with the plumes of wisdom

and power, the hands bore the sceptres of the three worlds, but the body was

bound with the mummy wrappings of the dead. Here we find spirit, the living

head, bound incongruously to matter, the mummified body. The soul was im-

prisoned in the narrow bonds of flesh. One thing is certain: Osiris repre-

sented the Secret Doctrine prior to that time when the omnific Word was lost.

 

Osiris is the first of the five children of Nut; he therefore corresponds

with the first of the five divine kings of China and the five exoterically known

I )hyana-Buddhas of Lamaism. The five children of Nut are the five conti-

nents which have appeared upon the earth and the five races which have pop-

ulated these c