An encyclopedic outline of masonic, hermetic, cabbalistic and rosicrucian symbolical philosophy. Being an interpretation of the secret teachings concealed within the rituals, allegories and mysteries of all ages

combine to form an endless variety of aspects or modes. The mind of man is one of the modes of infinite thought; the body of man is one of the modes of infinite extension. Through reason, man is enabled to elevate himself above the illusionary world of the senses and find eternal peace in perfect union with the Divine Essence. Spinoza, it has been said, deprived God of all personality, making the Deity synonymous with the universe itself.

German philosophy began with Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz, whose theories are filled with optimism and idealism. Leibnitz's philosophic discoveries revealed to him that Descartes' theory of extension was insufficient. He therefore concluded that substance itself contained an inherent power in the form of a countless number of separate and self-sufficient units. When matter is reduced to its ultimate particles, it ceases to exist as a physical body and is instead resolved into a mass of immaterial ideas or metaphysical units of power, which Leibnitz called the monad an indivisible, indestructible unit that is the basic constituent of reality. Thus, the universe is composed of an infinite number of separate monadic entities unfolding spontaneously through the external expression of their innate active qualities. All things are conceived as consisting of single monads of varying sizes or of clusters of these bodies, which may exist as physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual substances. God is the first and greatest Monad; the spirit of man is an awakened monad, in contrast to the lower kingdoms whose governing monadic powers are in a semi-dormant state.

Though a product of the school of Leibnitz and Wolff, Immanuel Kant, like Locke, dedicated himself to investigating the powers and limits of human understanding. The result was his critical philosophy, which included the critique of pure reason, the critique of practical reason, and the critique of judgment. Dr. W. J. Durant sums up Kant's philosophy in the concise statement that he "rescued mind from matter." Kant conceived the mind to be an active organ—the coordinator of all perceptions—which are themselves the result of sensations grouping themselves around some external object. In the classification of sensations and ideas, the mind employs certain categories: of sense (time and space); of understanding (quality, relation, modality, and causation); and the universal and necessary judgments of mathematical laws. Time and space are considered absolute and sufficient bases for exact thinking. Kant's practical reason declared that while the nature of the noumenon the thing-in-itself, or reality that exists independent of intellectual perception could never be fully understood by reason, the existence of morality proves three necessary postulates: free will, immortality, and God. In his critique of judgment, Kant demonstrates the union of the noumenon and the phenomenon the appearance of a thing as it is perceived by the senses in art and biological evolution. German super-intellectualism is the result of overemphasizing Kant's theory of the absolute dominance of the mind over sensation and thought. The philosophy of Johann Gottlieb Fichte was an extension of Kant's work, in which he attempted to unite Kant's practical reason with his pure reason. Fichte held that what is known is merely the contents of the knower's consciousness, and that nothing can exist for the knower until it becomes part of those contents. Therefore, nothing is actually real except the facts of one's own mental experience.

Recognizing the need for certain objective realities, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, who succeeded Fichte as the chair of philosophy at Jena, first advocated the doctrine of identity as the foundation for a complete system of philosophy. While Fichte regarded the self as the Absolute, von Schelling conceived of an infinite and eternal Mind as the all-pervading Cause. Realization of the Absolute is made possible by intellectual intuition which, being a superior or spiritual sense, is able to separate itself from both the subject and the object. Von Schelling conceived Kant's categories of space and time to be positive and negative respectively, with material existence resulting from the reciprocal action of these two expressions.

Von Schelling also held that the Absolute, in its process of self-development, proceeds according to a law or rhythm consisting of three movements. First is a reflective movement: the attempt of the Infinite to embody itself in the finite. The second is that of subsumption: the attempt of the Absolute to return to the Infinite after being involved in the finite. The third is that of reason: the neutral point where the two former movements are blended.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel considered von Schelling’s intellectual intuition to be philosophically unsound and therefore turned his attention to creating a complete system of philosophy based upon pure logic. It has been said of Hegel that he began with nothing and showed with logical precision how everything had proceeded from it in a logical order. Hegel elevated logic to a position of supreme importance—in fact, as a quality of the Absolute itself. He conceived existence to be a process of unfolding that never actually reaches a finished state. In the same way, thought has neither beginning nor end. Hegel further believed that all things owe their existence to their opposites and that all opposites are actually identical. Thus, the only true existence is the relationship of opposites to each other, whose combinations produce new elements.

A complex circular diagram titled 'THE TREE OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY'. It shows a genealogy of Greek and Roman deities branching out from a central point at the bottom labeled 'Chaos'. Nodes include Gaia, Uranus, Cronus, Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, and many others, connected by lines to indicate relationships. Small blocks of text surround the diagram.

As the Divine Mind is an eternal process of thought that is never finished, Hegel attacked the very foundations of religion, even though his philosophy limits immortality to the ever-flowing Deity alone. Evolution is consequently the never-ending flow of Divine Consciousness out of itself; all creation, though continually moving, never arrives at any state other than that of ceaseless flow.

Before one can properly appreciate the deeper scientific aspects of Greek mythology, it is necessary to organize the Greek pantheon and arrange its gods, goddesses, and various superhuman hierarchies in a linked or sequential order. Proclus, the great Neo-Platonist, in his commentaries on the theology of Plato, gives an invaluable key to the sequence of the various deities in relation to the First Cause and the inferior powers emanating from them. When arranged this way, the divine hierarchies may be compared to the branches of a great tree. The roots of this tree are firmly embedded in Unknowable Being. The trunk and larger branches symbolize the superior gods; the twigs and leaves represent the innumerable existences dependent upon the first and unchanging power.

Johann Friedrich Herbart's philosophy was a materialistic reaction against the idealism of Fichte and von Schelling. To Herbart, the true basis of philosophy was the great mass of phenomena observable events or facts that continually pass through the human mind. However, an examination of these phenomena shows that a great part of them is unreal, or at least incapable of providing the mind with actual truth. To correct the false impressions caused by phenomena and discover reality, Herbart believed it was necessary to break phenomena down into separate elements, for reality exists in these elements and not in the whole. He stated that objects can be classified by three general terms: thing, matter, and self. A "thing" has several distinct properties; "matter" is an existing object; and the "self" is a self-conscious being. All three notions, however, give rise to certain contradictions, and Herbart is primarily concerned with solving these. For example, consider matter: though it is capable of filling space, if reduced to its ultimate state, it consists of unimaginably tiny units of force, each of which occupies no physical space at all.

The true subject of Arthur Schopenhauer's philosophy is the will; the object of his philosophy is to elevate the mind to the point where it can control that will. Schopenhauer compares the will to a strong blind man who carries on his shoulders the intellect, which is a weak, lame man with the power of sight. The will is the tireless cause of all manifestation. The entire intellectual and emotional makeup of man is subservient to the will and is largely concerned with trying to justify the will's demands. Thus, the mind creates elaborate systems of thought simply to prove the necessity of what has already been willed. Genius, however, represents a state where the intellect has gained mastery over the will, and life is ruled by reason rather than impulse. The strength of Christianity, said Schopenhauer, lay in its pessimism and its conquest of the individual will. His own religious viewpoints closely resembled Buddhism. To him, Nirvana represented the complete subjugation of the will. Life—the manifestation of the blind "will to live"—he viewed as a misfortune. He claimed that the true philosopher is one who, recognizing the wisdom of death, resists the inherent urge to reproduce his kind.

Regarding Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, it has been said that his unique contribution to human hope was the "glad tidings" that God had died of pity! The outstanding features of Nietzsche's philosophy are his doctrine of eternal recurrence and the extreme emphasis he placed on the will to power—a development of Schopenhauer's will to live. Nietzsche believed the purpose of existence was the production of a type of all-powerful individual, whom he called the superman. This superman was the product of careful cultivation; if not forcibly separated from the masses and dedicated to the production of power, the individual would sink back to the level of the "deadly mediocre." Love, Nietzsche said, should be sacrificed to produce the superman, and only those best fitted to produce this outstanding type should marry. Nietzsche also believed in the rule of an aristocracy, with both bloodline and upbringing being essential to establish this superior type. Nietzsche's doctrine did not liberate the masses; instead, it placed superiors over them, for whom their "inferior" brothers and sisters should be perfectly willing to die. Ethically and politically, the superman was a law unto himself. To those who understand the true meaning of power to be virtue, self-control, and truth, the idealism behind Nietzsche's theory is apparent. To the superficial observer, however, it is a heartless and calculating philosophy, concerned only with the survival of the fittest.

Due to limited space, other German schools of philosophic thought cannot be mentioned in detail. The most recent developments from the German school include Freudianism and Relativism (often called the Einstein theory). The former is a system of psychoanalysis through the study of mental and neurological phenomena; the latter challenges the accuracy of mechanical principles that depend on the current theory of velocity.

René Descartes stands at the head of the French school of philosophy and shares with Sir Francis Bacon the honor of founding the systems of modern science and philosophy. Just as Bacon based his conclusions on the observation of external things, Descartes founded his metaphysical philosophy on the observation of internal things. Cartesianism (the philosophy of Descartes) first eliminates all doubtful things and then establishes as fundamental those premises without which existence is impossible. Descartes defined an idea as that which fills the mind when we conceive of a thing. The truth of an idea must be determined by the criteria of clarity and distinctness. Hence, he believed that a clear and distinct idea must be true. Descartes also has the distinction of developing his own philosophy without relying on outside authority. Consequently, his conclusions are built from the simplest facts and grow in complexity as the structure of his philosophy takes shape.

The Positive philosophy of Auguste Comte is based on the theory that the human intellect develops through three stages of thought. The first and lowest stage is theological; the second is metaphysical; and the third and highest is positive. Thus, theology and metaphysics are the feeble efforts of the intellectual child-mind, while positivism is the mental expression of the adult intellect. In his Course of Positive Philosophy, Comte writes:

"In the final, positive state, the mind has given up the vain search for absolute notions—the origin and destination of the universe, and the causes of phenomena—and applies itself to the study of their laws: that is, their constant relations of succession and resemblance. Reasoning and observation, properly combined, are the means of gaining this knowledge." Comte's theory is described as an "enormous system of materialism." According to Comte, it was formerly said that the heavens declare the glory of God, but now they only recount the glory of Newton and Laplace.

Among the French schools of philosophy are Traditionalism (often applied to Christianity), which values revelation as the proper foundation for philosophy; the Sociological school, which regards humanity as one vast social organism; the Encyclopedists, whose efforts to classify knowledge according to the Baconian system revolutionized European thought; Voltairism, which attacked the divine origin of the Christian faith and adopted an attitude of extreme skepticism toward all matters of theology; and Neo-Criticism, a French revision of the doctrines of Immanuel Kant.

Henri Bergson, the intuitionist and arguably the greatest French philosopher of his time, presents a theory of mystic anti-intellec-

tualism founded on the premise of creative evolution. His rapid rise to popularity is due to his appeal to the finer sentiments in human nature, which rebel against the hopelessness and helplessness of materialistic science and realistic philosophy. Bergson sees God as life continually struggling against the limitations of matter. He even conceives of a eventual victory of life over matter, and in time, the total destruction of death.

Applying the Baconian method to the mind, John Locke, the great English philosopher, declared that everything passing through the mind is a legitimate object of mental philosophy, and that these mental phenomena are as real and valid as the objects of any other science. In his investigations into the origin of phenomena, Locke departed from Bacon’s requirement that it was first necessary to create a natural history of facts. Locke regarded the mind as a blank slate until experience is written upon it. Thus, the mind is built up from received impressions plus reflection. Locke believed the soul was incapable of directly perceiving the Deity, and that man's realization of God is merely an inference made by the reasoning faculty. David Hume was the most enthusiastic and powerful disciple of Locke.

A triangular emblem representing the Christian Trinity. A central circle contains 'Deus' (God). Three outer circles contain 'Pater' (Father), 'Filius' (Son), and 'Spüs Süs' (Spiritus Sanctus/Holy Spirit). Connecting lines are labeled 'est' (is) leading to the center, and 'non est' (is not) along the edges of the triangle, indicating the Father is God, but the Father is not the Son, etc.

Attacking Locke’s sensationalism, Bishop George Berkeley substituted it with a philosophy founded on Locke’s basic premises but developed into a system of idealism. Berkeley held that ideas are the real objects of knowledge. He declared it impossible to prove that sensations are caused by material objects; he also attempted to prove that matter has no actual existence. Berkeleianism holds that the universe is permeated and governed by mind. Thus, the belief in the existence of material objects is merely a mental condition, and the objects themselves may very well be fabrications of the mind. At the same time, Berkeley did not believe it was necessary to question the accuracy of perceptions; for if the power of the perceptive faculties is questioned, man is reduced to a creature incapable of knowing, estimating, or realizing anything at all.

In an effort to represent the Christian doctrine of the Trinity in an appropriate figure, it was necessary to design an image in which the three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—were separate yet one. In different parts of Europe, figures similar to the one above may be seen, where three faces are joined in a single head. This is a legitimate method of symbolism, for to those able to understand the sacred significance of the threefold head, a great mystery is revealed. However, when such symbols are used in Christian art, it is hardly fair to consider the philosophers of other faiths as ignorant if, like the Hindus, they have a three-faced Brahma, or, like the Romans, a two-faced Janus.

In the Associationalism of Hartley and Hume, the theory was advanced that the association of ideas is the fundamental principle of psychology and the explanation for all mental phenomena. Hartley held that if a sensation is repeated several times, there is a tendency for it to repeat spontaneously, which may be triggered by association with some other idea even if the object that caused the original reaction is absent. The Utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham, Archdeacon Paley, and James and John Stuart Mill declares that the "greatest good" is that which is most useful to the greatest number of people. John Stuart Mill believed that if it is possible to gain knowledge of the properties of things through sensation, it is also possible to gain knowledge of the true substance of things through a higher state of mind—that is, intuition or reason.

Darwinism is the doctrine of natural selection and physical evolution. It has been said of Charles Robert Darwin that he determined to banish spirit entirely from the universe and replace it with a cold, omnipresent Mind that is synonymous with the all-pervading powers of an impersonal Nature. Agnosticism and Neo-Hegelianism are also notable products of this period of philosophical thought. The former is the belief that the nature of ultimate realities is unknowable; the latter is an English and American revival of Hegel's idealism.

Dr. W. J. Durant declares that Herbert Spencer’s great work, First Principles, made him almost immediately the most famous philosopher of his time. Spencerianism is a philosophical positivism that describes evolution as a process of ever-increasing complexity, with equilibrium as its highest possible state. According to Spencer, life is a continuous process from uniformity to complexity and back again. Life also involves the continual adjustment of internal relations to external relations. The most famous of all Spencer's aphorisms is his definition of Deity: "God is infinite intelligence, infinitely diversified through infinite time and infinite space, manifesting through an infinitude of ever-evolving individualities."

The universality of the law of evolution was emphasized by Spencer, who applied it not only to physical form but also to the intelligence behind the form. In every manifestation of being, he recognized the fundamental tendency to unfold from simplicity to complexity, observing that when the point of equilibrium is reached, it is...