"The Pythagoric Letter two ways spread, Shows the two
paths in which Man's life led. The right hand track to
sacred Virtue tends, Though steep and rough at first,
in rest it ends; The other broad and smooth, but from
it's Crown On rocks the traveler is tumbled down. He
who to Virtue by harsh toils aspires, Subduing pains,
worth and renown acquires: But who seeks slothful
luxury, and flies, The labor of great acts, dishonor'd
dies." ........Maximinus
Music encompasses every phase of human life. It is the
precondition of man's very existence; a key to the knowledge of ultimate
truth; and the trainer and conditioner of man's earthly life.
Aristotle tells us that the followers of Pythagoras believed that the
motion of the great sphere like bodies of the universe must produce a
noise, since on our own earth the motion of bodies far inferior in size
and speed of movement has that effect. Also, when the sun and the moon,
they say, and all the stars, so great in number and in size, are moving
with so rapid a motion, how should they not produce a sound immensely
great? Starting from this argument, and the observation that their
speeds, as measured by their distances, are in the same ratio as musical
concordances, they assert that the sound given forth by the circular
movement of the stars is a harmony. This harmony the great avatar and
teacher of teachers Pythagoras referred to as the "Music of the
Spheres."
Music lies at the very beginning of the
universe; through it's harmony, number and perfection order is brought
into the world. Thus at every level of existence music is a controlling
factor. It is one of the ultimate truths of a universe framed in the
beginning by its Maker in musical proportions. After imposing order upon
the material of the soul, which is imagined by Plato to be a length
graduated by the various musical proportions, the Maker of the world
split this fabric lengthwise into two halves. These he formed into a
cross, joining them in their centers. Then he bent each into a circle
with the ends meeting opposite their first point of contact. The outer
circle became the sphere of the fixed stars having but one motion. The
interior circle, however, was subdivided into seven other circles which
were the individual orbits of the seven planets. The first circle's
motion is the motion of the Same while that of the second is the motion
of the Different. Weaving these heavenly motions of the soul together
with material of the four elements, the structure of the entire universe
is finally completed. The great German philosopher Johann Wolfgang Von
Goethe was quoted as saying: "Eternal harmony converses "within itself".
Yes, the harmonies are eternal, but they are also self-sufficient: the
conversation takes place within the bosom of God and does not require
validation in the phenomenal world."
"God "has represented Himself in the world," and the way he
has done so is through mathematics: "I sometimes wonder
whether the world of nature and all the beauty of the heavens
is not symbolized in geometry." ..........Johanne Kepler
It has been a long held belief in the ancient mysteries
that after the last Great Flood the fundamental knowledge of the cosmos
had survived to the remaining world inscribed upon two great pillars,
one of marble and the other of brick. Upon the marble pillar were
written the Astronomical discoveries and upon the other were written the
secrets of music carved it is believed by Jubal, known as the father of
music and musicians. This knowledge known as the prisca theologia, was
believed to have been revealed in origin by God, to the first men. The
writings possessed all the divine word that man needed to know, and
having survived the last great chaos on earth were eventually
rediscovered, one of them found by Hermes and the other by Pythagoras
who both imbibed this secret knowledge and passed it on through their
philosophies. Pythagoras was the first man who applied to the universe
the name 'Kosmos', and who first called the earth round.The very word
'Philosophy' itself was coined by Pythagoras who held that no mortal was
entitled to claim the honor of possessing wisdom; the term 'The Wise'
should be reserved for the gods, who alone were perfect in wisdom. The
Greeks of his day commonly used the word 'Sophos', meaning 'The Wise',
which he personally regarded as arrogant. He therefore devised the word,
Philosophus, which meant, "a lover of wisdom." Philosoper, is also a
word that might accurately represent a person who is seeking the truth.
The Thrice Great Hermes Trismegistus was known to have
been an inspired Aryan Egyptian seer who lived and wrote at the very
dawn of antquity: he was indeed the inventor of writing with
hieroglyphs, and so many discoveries of wonder that he alone more than
any other man to have ever walked this earth could rightfully be titled
as the "Father of Human Civilization". Second to Hermes and Orpheus in
wisdom and as a semi divine initiate would undeniably have to be
Pythagoras. In fact the first great exponent of the Orphics was
Pythagoras. The mother of Pythagoras who's name was Parthenis, was a
woman of great intellect and ambition and she made it her lifes focus to
see to it that her son would possess the greatest knowledge on earth by
first learning to comprehend the innermost secrets of the Egyptian
mysteries. The parents of Pythagoras were aristocratic and wealthy by
the standards of the time, his father, Mnesarchus was a cutter of
precious stones.
In the year 580 B.C.E. while
Pythagoras was still in his mothers womb, both parents were journeying
through Delphi and decided to consult the Oracle at Delphi at the Temple
of Apollo to see if the Fates would promise them a safe trip home to
Samos. The Pythian priestess completely ignored their question and
instead, solemnly announced from the Tripod of divination these words:
"Parthenis was then with child and that she would soon give birth to a
son destined to excel all men in wisdom and beauty. This child, she
foresaw, would devote his whole life to the benefit of mankind and would
attain immortal honors that would be remembered to the end of history."
It is handed down that Pythagoras' mother at the time Pythagoras was
ready to advance in his studies, eagerly sold all of her fine jewelry so
that her son would have the advantages of an Egyptian education. Women
in those days were forbidden to learn the divine secrets but the mother
of Pythagoras was determined to know them and was confident that her son
would learn the divine mysteries and tell her. Pythagoras at age 18 had
already studied with Hermodamas of Samos, and before he was 20 attended
the classes of Pherecydes at Syros. These masters had opened up new
horizons for Pythagoras but did not satisfy him.
It
was at the age of 20 that Pythagoras left his home in Samos and headed
off to Egypt to knock upon the great bronze temple doors and present
himself to his teachers. Among the first wise ones that Pythagoras
visited before embarking to Egypt were Thales, of Miletus, and Bias, of
Priene, both wise men of high renown. It was Thales who strongly urged
Pythagoras to sail straight to Egypt and associate with the priests of
Jupiter; if the young man would do this, he would become the wisest and
most divine of mortals. The Egyptian priests of the temples were known
to strongly guard the arcane mysteries they possessed with zealous if
not jealous dread.
Upon his arrival Pythagoras was
immediately turned away with the explanation that no foreigners could
ever enter the sacred portals---that the initiates must be those born in
the shadows of the temples and nurtured in the faith from infancy by
holy virgins. Even with his credentials from the Pharaoh Amasis, the
priests of Heliopolis would not except him and he was dispatched to
Memphis, and there the masters sent him to the ancients of Diospolis.
Pythagoras cleverly found a sponsor to represent him and convince the
high priests that he was in fact a living son of Apollo of which he
certainly looked the part being a youth of exceedingly handsome
qualities and remarkable knowledge and dignity for his age. Hard pressed
by Pythagoras the wise Masters eventually gave in and instructed him to
appear before the door of the temple naked at midnight on a specific
night and he would be admitted. On that appointed hour Pythagoras
approached the huge majestic doors of the temple and knocked but the
only answer was a hollow echo. It was a cold and windy night and
Pythagoras was chilled to the bone and continued to pound on the doors
with a stone and called out aloud demanding admittance. He now heard the
barking of angry dogs within but continued to demand admittance and
soon found the dogs were let loose upon him which he fought with his
desperate strength. By morning Pythagoras was still standing naked
before the temple doors and the Egyptian workers passing by threw stones
at him until all at once he heard the creaking of the doors begin to
open and stepping inside found himself in dense darkness as he stumbled
down upon the cold stone floor. A voice in the darkness demanded to know
if he wished to go on, to which he replied, "I desire to go on." A
black-robed figure wearing a mask, then appeared with a flickering
candle light and Pythagoras was led into a stone cell where his head was
shaved, and he was given a course robe and then left alone for many
hours.
So was to begin an ongoing series of difficult
testing which Pythagoras was only too willing to bear knowing that each
obsticle was necessary to gauge his will and determination, such as
running across burning hot sands where he sank to the waist to where he
felt sure he would perish. Always a voice at the most extreme moment
would call out loudly, "Do you desire to go on?" His answer was always,
"I desire to go on!" As with all initiations the initiate soon comes to
find that most of the dangers that they fear are simply illusions. The
Egyptian Masters grew to have such a high and esteemrd regard for
Pythagoras that he was given every oppurtunity to learn and know the
inmost secrets known to man and he would spend 25 whole years of his
life learning this God given sacred knowledge in the Egyptian temples
until he encompassed all that could be taught save that knowledge
which was incomprehensible. From Egypt he then journeyed to Babylon and
discoursed with the Magus Nazaratus. Some affirm that he studied with
the last of the Zoroasters, the fire priests of Persia. From Babylon he
pushed on to Crete and Sparta; and then made his celebrated journey to
the Far East. According to records preserved by the Brahmins, Pythagoras
reached India, and there he was initiated into Brahmanic Rites in the
cave temples at Ellora and Elephanta; he is still believed to be the
only non-Hindu of ancient or modern times to be accepted into full
membership.
Pythagoras also studied with the Arabs,
the Chaldeans, and the Druid priests of Gaul. In every place that he
visited he sought out the most learned, discoursed with them and
compared their doctrines. In the end, after his initiation into fourteen
systems of world religions, he solomnly asserted in conclusion that all
religions were identical in principle, serving the same God, teaching
the same virtues, and practicing the same esoteric disciplines.
Religions vary as do people. Pythagoras recognized that people, too, are
arranged in a hierarchy, and that they vary enormously in their
receptivity to philosophy. Some are little more than animals, and
require the same loving attentions, while others are little short of
Gods. Consequently he reserved different degrees of teaching for the
different levels.
By the time Pythagoras was ready to
return home to Samos he found that his mother had already died. He was
welcomed home with great honor were crowds flocked to hear his lectures
and royalty paid him profound obeisance. In time Pythagoras found that
the people of his home town began to view him as too aloof, austere, too
severe in his methods and when he began to expose the local officials
for their sloth and indifference, he was invited to go elsewhere to
teach his science of life. He journeyed into Southern Italy, and at
Crotona built his Temple to the Muses and founded the Pythagorean
School. All the people of his time viewed him as the wisest and most
learned living man on earth.
Pythagoras was the
principle exponent of Greek mystical philosophy. The Pythagorean
doctrines were circulated throughout the Greek state and are to be
found, at least in part, in the teachings of most of the Greek thinkers
who followed him in time. Some of the Maxims that Pythagoras taught his
followers were these: Cut not into the grape. You hope too much in this
condition, so are afterwards depressed.--- Wise men are neither cast
down in defeat nor exalted by success.--- Eat moderately, bathe
plentifully, exercise much in the open air, walk far, and climb the
hills alone.--- Above all things, learn to keep silence---hear all and
speak little.--- If you are defamed, answer not back. Talk convinces no
one.--- Your life and character proclaim you more than any argument you
can put forth.--- Lies return to plague those who repeat them.--- The
secret of power is to keep an even temper, and remember that no one
thing that can happen is of much moment.--- The course of justice,
industry, courage, moderation, silence, means that you shall receive
your due of every good thing.--- The gods may be slow, but they never
forget.--- It is not for us to punish men nor avenge ourselves for
slights, wrongs and insults---wait, and you will see that Nemesis
unhorses the man intent on calumny.--- A woman's ornaments should be
modesty, simplicity, truth, obedience.--- If a woman would hold a man
captive she can only do it by obeying him.--- Violent woman are even
more displeasing to the gods than violent men---both are destroying
themselves. Strife is always defeat.--- Debauchery, riot, splendor,
luxury, are attempts to get a pleasure out of life that is not our due,
and so Nemesis provides her penalty for the idle and gluttonous.--- Fear
and honor the gods. They guide our ways and watch over us in our
sleep.--- After the gods, a man's first thought should be of his father
and mother. Next to these his wife, then his children.---Wear not the
image of God upon your jewelry---do not make religion a proud or
boastful thing.--- Help men to a burden, but never unburden them.---
Leave not the mark of the pot upon the ashes---wipe out the past, forget
it, look to the future.--- Eat no fish whose fins are black---have
nothing to do with men whose deeds are dark.--- Eat not the heart--- do
not act so as to harrow the feelings of your friends and do not be
morbid.--- Never stir the fire with a sword--- Do not inflame people who
are wrathful.---Assist a man in raising a burden; but do not assist him
in laying it down.---Receive not a swallow into your house.--- Decline
from the public ways, walk in unfrequented paths.
"Consult and deliberate before you act, that thou mayest not
commit foolish actions. For 't is the part of a miserable man
to speak and to act without reflection. But do that which will
not afflict thee afterwards, nor oblige thee to repentance."
.........................Pythagoras
The school that Pythagoras built in Crotona grew rapidly
in size until it became the cheif attraction in the city. In the
gardens in front of the institute there was erected a statue of Hermes
and on its pedestal the words: Eskato Bebeloi; No entrance for the
profane! The population of the town actually doubled in size as result
of the flow of pilgrims that flocked to the school. Students of
Pythagoras were directed in studies in music, mathematics, medicine,
ethics and the science of government. Pythagoras admitted woman to his
school on the same basis as men and with equal opportunity for
advancement to all the grades. Many students came to the master hoping
to gain a shortcut to the wisdom that Pythagoras had learned in his 20
years of study in Egypt. Pythagoras was the age of 60 when he married
the daughter of one of the chief citizens of Crotona. His wife was
named Theano, daughter of Brotinos of Crotona and she bore him two sons
Arimnestes and Telauges, and a daughter Damo. At a later date Telauges
became the master of Empedocles to whom he handed down the secrets of
the Pythagorean doctrine.
Both Pythagoras and his
wife attempted to establish an enlightened Utopian Community but again
the townspeople took offence finding the Pythagoreans far too aloof and
soon jealousy set in and it all boiled down to Town verses Gown. The
Pythagoreans who numbered about 300, forbade any strangers to enter
within their walls and were in essence a law unto themselves. Many
inaccurate rumers began circulating with heated prejudice running high
among the townspeople. On a particular night, led by a band of drunken
soldiers, a mob made an assult upon the Temple and the buildings were
burned and most all inside were killed in the flames. It has remained a
belief that Pythagoras escaped and he lived on to the age of 100 years.
Other accounts reveal the Pythagoras did indeed escape with two of his
students Archippus and Lysis but was hunted down and killed a short time
later and crucified. Figures of Pythagoras crucified on a cross were
reportedly known among the Greeks in those times but later stricken from
history books because it conflicted with the dramatic symbolism of the
death of Christ promotion centuries later during the time of the Roman
empire.
Not unlike the grim end to all of the works
and labors of Pythagoras, Orpheus also, suffered a not so unsimilar end.
After a series of revolutions, the tyrants of Thrace committed his
books to the flames, overthrew his temples and drove away his disciples.
A concerted effort was then made by his detrctors to obliterate all the
great knowledge that he had left to mankind and efface his very memory
leaving no signs whatsoever of his existence. The immediate
acknowledged successor to Pythagoras was Aristaeus, the son of the
Crotonian Damophon, who was Pythagoras' contemporary, and lived seven
ages before Plato. Being exceedingly skillful in Pythagoric dogmas,
Aristaeus carried on the school, educated Pythagoras' children, and
married his wife Theano. Pythagoras was said to have taught his school
39 years.
In his teachings Pythagoras correctly
observed that all things are linked together proportionately, by justice
and harmony---call it what you will. By cultivating an awareness of
harmonic forming principles and working within the bounds set by
necessity, mankind possess the potential to become a sacred steward of
the earth and co-creator with Nature; but the inevitable corollary is
that humanity also has every power to create and inhabit a hell on earth
of its own making. The simple fact remains that the scales of justice
are inexorable---it is a principle of Nature, and not merely of human
morals, that each should receive his due. If we poison our rivers, we
poison ourselves; if we act in stupidity, it is only appropriate that we
suffer the consequences. After the destruction of the Pythagorean
institute at Crotona, the survivors, and later, their disciples, formed
themselves into a kind of secret brotherhood and they scattered
throughout Asia minor and were able to recognize each other by secret
signs and passwords. In the years to follow it would be Plato who would
become the rightful successor to the mysteries of the Samian sage.
"If you would, therefore, deserve praise, you must endevour to
resemble the gods." .....................Pythagoras
As an individual Pythagoras exhibited extraordinary self
control on all occasions. He was never known to be angry, unkind, quick
tempered, or impatient. He was humble even in the presence of men whose
knowledge was far less than his own, and would devote many hours to
solving problems of local farmers, merchants or anyone who was in
difficulty. A strong contributing factor to his gentleness of spirit was
known to have resulted from a tragic incident which occured in his
early years of teaching. A student that he was instructing obviously
dull-witted could not comprehend even the simplest parts of philosophy
and kept asking the same question over and over again. Pythagoras was
patient for the longest time; but at last becoming weary with the young
man's density of mind, rebuked him severely for his slowness. The
youth, who adored Pythagoras, and simply lacked the mental capacity to
understand, was brokenhearted and drawing a dagger from his cloak killed
himself there on the spot at his master's feet. From that time on till
the very end of his life Pythagoras never rebuked a man for any reason
whatsoever. Pythagoras not unlike Apollonius were so majestic in their
appearance that people at times in passing them on the street would drop
to their knees believing that they were in the presence of a god.
In the teachings of Pythagoras, mathematics was the master
science and the key to all heavenly and earthly knowledge. Pythagoras
has always been viewed as a scientist because of his incessant views
upon the laws governing mathematics, astronomy, and music. It could be
said that Orpheus was the priest, Pythagoras was the scientist, and
Plato was the philosopher. The most sacred symbol of the Pythagorean
sect was a pyramid of ten dots, called the Tetractys arranged in
triangular form of 4 dots at he bottom 3 dots above 2 additional dots
above that and 1 at the top. The Pythagoreans also venerated the
'Tetrahedron'---the symmetric solid composed of four equalateral
triangles and the absolute symbol of the World Mystery. It was strictly
forbidden to ever talk anything at all about the Tetrahedron to the
profane.
Pythagoras carried the teachings of numbers a
great deal farther than any before or after him. In each number he
defined a principle, a law, an active force of the universe. He said,
however, that the essential principles are contained in the first four
numbers, since all the others are formed by adding or multiplying them.
In the same way the infinite variety of beings composing the universe is
produced by the combinations of the three primordial forces; matter,
soul, spirit, under the creating impulse of the divine unity which
mingles and differentiates, concentrates and separates. Along with the
chief masters of esoteric science Pythagoras attached great importance
to the numbers seven and ten. Seven, the compound of three and four,
signifies the union of man and divinity. It is the figure of the adepts,
of the great initiates, and, since it expresses the complete
realization in all things through seven degrees, it represents the law
of evolution. The number ten formed by the addition of the first four
numbers, and containing the former number, is the perfect number, par
excellence, for it represents all the principles of divinity, evolved
and re-united in a new unity.
On finishing the
teaching of his theogony, Pythagoras showed his disciples the nine
Muses, personifying the sciences, grouped three by three, presiding over
the triple ternary evolved in nine worlds, and forming, along with
Hestia, the divine science, guardian of the primordial Fire---The Sacred
Decad. Pythagoras like other great initiates was able early in his
lifetime to penetrate through the narrow door into the immensity of the
invisible universe. He would instruct his adepts to awake within
themselves direct vision of the purified soul, and arm themselves with
the torch of intelligence, with the science of the sacred principles and
numbers. He regarded the universe as a living being, animated by a
great soul and filled with a mighty intelligence. Spirit in itself,
whether in the far-away sky or on earth, must have an organ; that organ
is the living soul, whether bestial or sublime, obscure or radiant,
retaining, however, the human form, the image of God.
The ancient Greeks recognized three orders of human souls, classified
to natures or qualities. The first order was that of Essential Heroes
who were described as the perpetual attendants of the gods; they were
the order of world sages born out of the divine nature to fulfill the
will of the gods. The second order was that of the Terrestrial Heroes;
these possessed a high degree of impassivity and purity and formed the
Golden Chain of Homer, which binds the earth to the Olympian state.
Hecules, Thesus, Pythagoras, and Plato were terrestrial heroes. Though
not actually divine, they possessed divine powers and virtues, and were
born into the mortal state principally to benefit less advanced human
beings. The third order was simply called Corporeal; it contained those
human souls who descended with intemperate passions and appetites and
lacked the virtue of purity. It was to redeem these, that the
terrestrial heroes were born. Only one's own efforts and acquired wisdom
can free one from this migration around the states of being.
Nevertheless, there is every reason for piety towards the Gods, and for
gratitude to Pythagoras and those others who have taught the means to
attain freedom through rational conduct and the philosophic life.
Pythagoras represents to us an adept or avatar of the
highest order, possessed of the scientific mind and cast in philosophic
and spiritual mould to which the spirit of modern times most nearly
approaches. Men the likes of Hermes, Orpheus, Pythagoras or Apollonius,
these men have bore different names in different times in history. They
are primordial men, adepts, great initiates, sublime geniuses, who
transform and metamorphose humanity. So rare are they that they may be
counted in the long stretch of our history on one or two hands.
Providence scatters them here and there at long intervals of time, like
stars in the heavens. How brilliant they shine in the darkness! How
close their names remain to our lips over centuries of time! They are
the lights in the darkness and will continue to return so long as men
will listen.
"Man is a microcosm, which means a compendium of the
universe; not because, like other animals, even the least,
he is constituted by the four elements, but because he
contains all the powers of the cosmos. For the universe
contains Gods, the four elements, animals and plants. All
of these powers are contained in man. He has reason,
which is a divine power; he has the nature of the elements,
and the powers of moving, growing, and reproduction."
.........Pythagoras
Ron McVan
Posted in: Editorial,Eugenics,Indo-European
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