The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) · 81 of 530
The Initiation of the Pyramidc
From Levi's Les Mystères de la Kaballe.
The Egyptian Sphinx is closely related to the Greek legend of Œdipus, who first solved the famous riddle propounded by the mysterious creature with the body of a winged lion and the head of a woman which frequented the highway leading to Thebes.
To each who passed her lair the sphinx addressed the question, "What animal is it that in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two feet, and in the evening on three feet?" These who failed to answer her riddle she destroyed.
Œdipus declared the answer to be man himself, who in childhood crawled upon his hands and knees, in manhood stood erect, and in old age shuffled along supporting himself by a staff.
Discovering one who knew the answer to her riddle, the sphinx cast herself from the cliff which bordered the road and perished.
There is still another answer to the riddle of the sphinx, an answer best revealed by a consideration of the Pythagorean values of numbers.
The 4, the 2 and the 3 produce the sum of 9, which is the natural number of man and also of the lower worlds.
The 4 represents the ignorant man, the 2 the intellectual man, and the 3 the spiritual man.
Infant humanity walks on four legs, evolving humanity on two legs, and to the power of his own mind the redeemed and illumined magus adds the staff of wisdom.
The sphinx is therefore the mystery of Nature, the embodiment of the secret doctrine, and all who cannot solve her riddle perish.
To pass the sphinx is to attain personal immortality.
*** The Caliph then returned to the city of his fathers and the Great Pyramid was left to the mercy of succeeding generations.
In the ninth century the sun's rays striking the highly polished surfaces of the original casing stones caused each side of the Pyramid to appear as a dazzling triangle of light.
Since that time, all but two of these casing stones have disappeared.
Investigation has resulted in their discovery, recut and resurfaced, in the walls of Mohammedan mosques and palaces in various parts of Cairo and its environs.
PYRAMID PROBLEMS C.
Piazzi Smyth asks: "Was the Great Pyramid, then, erected before the invention of hieroglyphics, and previous to the birth of the Egyptian religion?" Time may yet prove that the upper chambers of the Pyramid were a sealed mystery before the establishment of the Egyptian empire.
In the subterranean chamber, however, are markings which indicate that the Romans gained admission there.
In the light of the secret philosophy of the Egyptian initiates, W.
W.
Harmon, by a series of extremely complicated yet exact mathematical calculations; determines that the first ceremonial of the Pyramid was performed 68,890 years ago on the occasion when the star Vega for the first time sent its ray down the descending passage into the pit.
The actual building of the Pyramid was accomplished in the period of from ten to fifteen years immediately preceding this date.
While such figures doubtless will evoke the ridicule of modern Egyptologists, they are based upon an exhaustive study of the principles of sidereal mechanics as incorporated into the structure of the Pyramid by its initiated builders.
If the casing stones were in position at the beginning of the ninth century, the so-called erosion marks upon the outside were not due to water.
The theory also that the salt upon the interior stones of the Pyramid is evidence that the building was once submerged is weakened by the scientific fact that this kind of stone is subject to exudations of salt.
While the building may have been submerged, at least in part, during the many thousands of years since its erection, the evidence adduced to prove this point is not conclusive.
Themes
◆Hidden Sayingssoteriology
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The text explicitly refers to 'secrets' and 'mysteries' of Nature and the Pyramid that must be solved to pass.
All passages →◆Numerical Mysticismtheology
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The passage explicitly discusses Pythagorean values of numbers (4, 2, 3) and their sum (9) as the foundation for understanding human evolution and the pyramid's construction.
All passages →◆Self Knowledgesoteriology
The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.
Solving the Sphinx's riddle requires recognizing that man himself is the answer to the riddle.
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