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Excerpt from the Article "Manifesto of the Three"
(Crescent Magazine, Winter 2004)
"All life and nature follows a threefold and, by extension, a fivefold pattern of creation. Everything emanates from this primal Matrix. Most of us have some familiarity with trinitarian groupings in myth and religion. According to this threefold scheme, the First Principle of the Matrix-Seed is generative, active and willful. The Second Principle is material, receptive and formative. The Third Principle is harmonizing, rational and integrative. Many metaphors have been used to describe these abstract forces: fire/water/air, father/mother/son, energy/mass/mind, etc.
The primal Matrix-Seed is invisibly inscribed on every atom in the cosmos, as well as in the heart of every human and the heart of the sun. One may describe the whole of the manifest universe as an extended variation on a single threefold theme. This divine Thought-seed, or "rational principle," was referred to by the Greeks as the "Logos."
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Excerpts from the book
APHORISMS OF LIGHT: The Hermetic Wisdom
*The extraction of our essential Self, expressed in word or sound or line or color, this is our essential creative task.
* Art is the tool of regeneration and inner sight.
* Art is the experience of life transmuted, made timeless and everlasting.
*The greatest Masters of Art & life incorporate all levels of being in their vision, & reveal to the world the Whole.
* At the root of great art is the conscious expansion of particulars into Universals.
* Spirit is the sentient Fire which drives our souls to completion.
* Spirit is the will of Infinity imposing its fullness on the fabric of the world.
* By attuning to the harmonies of number & nature & art & music, one may experience the perfect, primal Order that unites all things.
* The cynosure of symbol converts the flesh to flash & flame.
* Art has this much in common with dying, it takes one from the simply physical, and reaquaints one with the vastness & beauty of the interior world.
* Spirit is Energy completing itself through Mind.
* Spirit is Energy comprehending itself as Mind made manifest.
* Symbol, myth & metaphor form the language of Eternity.
* The world we see & seek is a reflection of our interiors.
* The path we follow is the maze of the Mind.
* At first words lead us; then we become the living Word, leading others, filling them with renewing Light.
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Excerpt from the Book
MYSTERIES OF THE CATHEDRALS
[Vakler Press]
Accompanying the Platonic credo of a divinely proportional, orderly cosmos, was a belief that the visible world, the microcosm, reflected the patterns of the hidden universal order, the macrocosm. Plato taught that the physical world has a secondary, variable reality in relation to the immutable eternal order. He believed that the eternal realm "must have been constructed on the pattern of what is apprehensible by reason and understanding and eternally unchanging; from which again it follows that the physical world is a likeness of something else. [Timaeus]" However, as the microcosm, or the earthly realm, was an imperfect reflection, he taught that the physical senses did not readily perceive the hidden macrocosmic order. It is thus philosophy and the disciplines of the quadrivium that can lead one to the original harmony, which according to Plato is "a thing invisible, incorporeal, perfect, divine."
Excerpt from the article, "Maps of the Eternal"
[Gnosis Magazine, Spring 1993]
Plato expressed his deepest wisdom through metaphor, myth and fable, just as Christ revealed divine truth through his parables. The relationship of metaphor, or "fabula," to their underlying truth bore the same relationship as the visible, material world did to the divine cosmic order. According to Plato, by applying higher reason and the harmonic principles of mathematics, music, art and astronomy, the veil of matter and metaphor might be removed and the divine order revealed. In this way, geometry, "which aims at knowledge of the eternal," may serve to "draw the soul toward truth and create the spirit of philosophy, and raise up that which is now unhappily allowed to fall down [Plato, "Republic"] Such revelation would lead to a restoration of the godly nature, a process Plato termed anamnesis, or a recollection of one's lost divinity.
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Excerpt from the Book
MYSTERIES OF THE CHRISTOS:
Revelations of the Logos & the Celestial Grail
Mysterious is the source of revelation, born in the hidden depths of human consciousness. Divine illumination may come in an instant, unexpectedly, while gazing upon the sunlight off a silver dish, as occurred with the German mystic, Jacob Boehme. Or it may burst upon the mind with fire's fury, as in the case of Hildegard of Bingen. Most often it comes after years of assiduous study, meditation and prayer.
Even with the world's greatest spirits, the path to illumination was not simply found. The way was often tortuous. For wisdom comes as a result of endless query and passionate striving. Such are the demands of finding truth in the maze of the material world. And the world is nothing if not the reflection of our labyrinthine interiors.
No one book, no single myth or individual can fully describe the path within. For the ways to the One are as many as there are souls on earth and stars in the sky. Answers reside in many times and places, as they are uttered by the voices of many women and men.
Through the ages, the religious Mysteries have provided bright beacons for weary travelers of the spirit.
Holy women have offered words of hope and wisdom.
Wise men have offered illuminations of the sun.
Some men have claimed the answers to every question.
Yet the reply of the religious Mysteries has always been this: all answers lie ultimately within.
Within each of us lies the first Seed of creation.
Within each of us resides the Mind divine.
Within each of lives the anointed one, the fully realized woman or man.
This is the message of the sacred Mysteries.
This is the light of the gnostic path.
This is the hidden secret of Pythagoras, Buddha, and Jesus.
This the brightest wonder of the invisible Holy Grail.
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Excerpt from the book
THE SECOND POWER
The World as Energy & Number-as-Idea
Prologue - Alpha & Omega
According to the opening words of the Bible, the first act of creation was the formation of the polar pair, the celestial and the earthly spheres.
Lao Tzu echoes this theme in the beginning of the Tao Te Chang, when he declares, "having no name, the Tao is the originator of heaven and earth."
Using similar images the two texts refer to the same universal principle: from the unmanifest Absolute (ie. God, Tao, Ain, Brahman), the extremes of being are first established. From the polar pair, from the idea of contraries, all creation arises.
The first creative act is the logical outgrowth of the divine impulse toward infinite variety. If the reason for creation is for the unmanifest Source to experience the greatest possible fullness of Its being, then the greatest disparity of opposites must be created.
Initially, these primal "Powers" or "Principles" are extremely abstract, all-inclusive, and nonspecific. Existing before manifestation, they may be best understood as "seeds of intent" or "universal inclinations."
It is for woman and man, as the inspired poet, the artist, the scientist, the mystic, the philosopher, to provide metaphors which will make these abstractions comprehensible to each successive age. Empedocles called these dialectical powers love and strife. Schopenhaur identified them as will and representation. Lao Tzu referred to them as yang and yin, Kapila as purusha (spirit) and prakriti (matter).
The twofold motif has been expressed in creation myths around the world, as well as by illumined mystics and philosopher. All life and form may be understood as a set of variations on a single abstract theme. We call this nexus the "Matrix-Seed" of creation. While the original twofold model may be expanded to a three (Proclus), four (Pythagoras), or fivefold scheme (Coleridge), the underlying dyadic root remains the same. Many metaphors have been used to describe these abstract forces: fire/water, energy/mass, spirit/soul, thesis/antithesis.
Just as the polar pair lies at the root of all creation, so this dichotomy lies at the base of human consciousness. The interplay of these dual forces shapes our thoughts and actions and drives us, unconsciously, toward evolution and completion. Our very existence depends upon the incessant exchange of first and second Principles, through the exhalation [I] and inhalation [II] of our breath. Our twofold breath makes possible the third, harmonizing spirit, which is life itself.
The extent to which we can identify and willfully wield these two forces in our lives goes a long way toward determining how aware and self-realized, how successful and happy we will be. To be excessively swayed by the force of either impulse or form is to risk becoming a slave to limits and the pains of disharmony.
Just as the polar pair animate the world, so the balance, the dance of opposites brings completion. Each is essential to our being, each serves the same ultimate end, light united to dark, spirit feeding flesh, matter completing energy through the thought of the all.
DIONYSOS & APOLLO: THE DIVINE DYAD
In the early twentieth century, Karl Jung labeled the polar forces in our psyche as the animus [I] and the anima [II]. Jung identified animus as the masculine principle, creative and active. The feminine, formative, receptive force he designated as anima. For thousands of years these two forces have been known by different names and in various forms. In the ancient Mysteries of Delphi the two were identified as the Greek gods Dionysos and Apollo. The Delphic rituals revolved around these two eternal powers.
Dionysos (animus) was a singular god and the vegetative form of the Sun Lord, the solar force as manifested in nature. Dionysos is the embodiment of the first creative Principle. He is a god of impulse, instinct, revelry, ecstasy, music and dance. He may be understood as active and fiery. Apollo (anima) was a twofold god, forever tied to his sister, Diana, the watery moon. Apollo is the embodiment of the second Matrical Principle, and represents the solar power as manifested in man. He is the force of civilization and control, of invention, art, order, institutions, and convention. Like the two-faced god, Janus, the forces represented by Dionysos and Apollo are two sides of the same solar coin.
The force of Apollo is needed to bring beauty, balance and form to impulsive, unreflective acts. In this manner, Apollo shapes the irrational creative/destructive power of Dionysos. On the other hand, Dionysos drives the soul to create and evolve. Dionysos gives inspiration and energy to lifeless forms. Like the Hindu god Shiva, he destroys the old order, providing the renewing force of evolution and revolution. These two forces, Dionysos and Apollo, live within each of us. They drive and lead us while vying with each other for domination. The most advanced initiates recognize the need to balance these dialectical forces within themselves, for inner peace and self-realization can not otherwise be achieved. They have learned that the way to attain this harmony is through the power of the Three, and through the forces of imagination, universalism, synthesis, art and ultimately, wisdom.
In considering the Dionysian/Apollonian pair, the force of the Three is embodied in the goddess Athene-Sophia. As the ultimate power of Wisdom, she brings the brothers Dionysos and Apollo together into harmonious union. Through her art and universality she weds the two as an all-inclusive One.
THE FIVEFOLD HUMAN BRAIN
Modern science and psychology have revealed the two and threefold structure of the human brain. On one level, which we will call the horizontal [II] or functional plane, the brain may be understood as being twofold.
According to this right brain/left brain model, the right side is said to control the intuitive, qualitative, nonverbal, creative and global functions. These traits correspond to those of the Dionysian force. In contrast, the left side controls the verbal, analytical, rational, and quantitative functions. These qualities correspond to the Apollonian force.
On the vertical [I], evolutionary plane, the brain has a threefold structure. These levels are: I. the reptilian II. the mammalian III. the human. As the human species has evolved so has the brain grown and evolved, layer upon layer, expanding in depth and complexity.
At its root lies the reptilian portion of the brain, the instinctual core that is responsible for autonomic functions and the physical survival of the species. In the reptilian brain lies the impulse for self-preservation, propagation, territoriality, and reflexive aggression. The reptilian portion of the brain may be equated with the Dionysian force. It embodies the intuitive and the impulsive.
Over this reptilian core developed the mammalian brain. Here arose the instincts for social bonding, nurturing and hierarchal structure. The mammalian portion may be equated with the Apollonian force and thus the formative, herd-like or self-containing impulse. Finally, with the development of the neocortex, man developed into a fully creative being, capable of higher reasoning, artistic creativity, language, writing, unlimited invention, advanced states of consciousness, even unto powers bordering on the divine.
Many holy men and philosophers, as well as the ancient mystery religions, have reminded us that man is not simply an animal, doomed to respond blindly to instinct and conditioning. Through the exercise of right and left brained harmony, through a balanced use of higher reason, discipline, love and imagination, he may emerge as a creature divine.
In this light did the Renaissance philosopher Pico della Mirandola state: "whichever of these seeds a man shall cultivate, the fruit will he bear in him. If vegetative, he will become a plant; if sensual, he will become and animal; if rational, he will reveal himself a heavenly being; if intellectual, he will be an angel and the son of God (Oration on the Dignity of Man)."
Men and women, as animals, may draw upon the divine joy of nature's abundance, communal building and sensual delight. Unlike other animals, women and men also have the capacity to identify the primal forces within themselves, and through the strength of will, compassion, creativity and reason channel them constructively.
Unfortunately, a portion of humanity periodically feels the destructive impulse within, be it the herd-like cry of paranoia and conformity or the angry, reptilian scream, and responds unthinkingly to the call. With compulsive drives and emotions holding sway, the instincts of fear, self-preservation, and animal aggression may be transformed into acts of violence and injustice, and territorial hunger may turn to war.
At a certain point in his evolution, man must face the irrational forces of the psyche, those titanic monsters of the unconscious. In ancient myth these forces were often symbolized by the serpent or dragon. Thus the various solar heroes, Perseus, Hercules, Rama, Jason, Saint George, had to confront the dragon/serpent before their life's quest could be complete.
It is for man, using his powers of reason, to recognize the source of his various impulses. If not sufficiently aware, empathetic or educated he will respond rashly to his fears. Fear of differences, fear of the unknown, which were necessary for survival in the wild but unnecessary in our modern times, can lead to hate, bigotry and war in the "civilized" world.
The fiery force of Dionysos, like that of blind Eros/Cupid, must by its very nature be released. For Dionysos is, most simply, the inexorable will to act. He represents the ceaseless creative flame which ever seeks to be expressed. He embodies the intuitive joy of life and motion. The Dionysian power of libido may for a time be suppressed or it may be transmuted, but it can never be extinguished. It can be expressed in one of two ways, through creation or destruction. It for man and woman and their greater natures to choose between the two.
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