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

enclosed in any body, is the efficient cause of all things. From infinite matter made of similar parts, everything is created according to its species by the divine mind; when all things were initially mixed in confusion, this mind came and brought them to order. Archelaus declared the principle of all things to be twofold: mind (which was non-physical) and air (which was physical), where the thinning and thickening of the air resulted in fire and water, respectively. Archelaus conceived of the stars as burning iron plates. Heraclitus (who lived 536–470 B.C. and is sometimes included in the Ionic school) asserted in his doctrine of change and eternal flux that fire was the primary element, and also the state into which the world would eventually be reabsorbed. He regarded the soul of the world as an evaporation from its moist parts, and he claimed the ebb and flow of the sea was caused by the sun.

After Pythagoras of Samos, the Italic or Pythagorean school included among its most distinguished representatives Empedocles, Epicharmus, Archytas, Alcmaeon, Hippasus, Philolaus, and Eudoxus. Pythagoras (580–500? B.C.) believed mathematics to be the most sacred and exact of all the sciences. He required all who came to him for study to be familiar with arithmetic, music, astronomy, and geometry. He placed special emphasis on the philosophic life as a necessary requirement for wisdom. Pythagoras was one of the first teachers to establish a community where all members provided mutual assistance to one another in the shared pursuit of the higher sciences. He also introduced the practice of retrospection the act of reviewing one's past thoughts and actions as essential to developing the spiritual mind. Pythagoreanism may be summarized as a system of metaphysical speculation regarding the relationships between numbers and the governing causes of existence. This school also first explained the theory of celestial harmonics, or "the music of the spheres." Johannes Reuchlin said of Pythagoras that he taught his disciples nothing before the discipline of silence, as silence is the first step of contemplation. In his work Sophist, Aristotle credits Empedocles with the discovery of rhetoric. Both Pythagoras and Empedocles accepted the theory of transmigration the passage of the soul at death into another body, with Empedocles saying:

"I was once a boy, then I became a girl; a plant, a bird, a fish, and swam in the vast sea."

Archytas is credited with inventing the screw and the crane. He declared pleasure to be a plague because it opposed the self-control of the mind; he considered a man without deceit to be as rare as a fish without bones.

The Eleatic sect was founded by Xenophanes (570–480 B.C.), who was famous for his attacks on the mythological stories of the gods and the universe found in Homer and Hesiod. Xenophanes declared that God was homoios original: "homoios"; meaning: uniform or consistent, non-physical, round in substance and shape, and in no way resembling man. He taught that God is all sight and all hearing, but does not breathe; that He is all things, the mind and wisdom—not created, but eternal, incapable of suffering, unchanging, and rational. Xenophanes believed that all existing things were eternal, that the world had no beginning or end, and that everything created was subject to decay. He lived to a great age and is said to have buried his sons with his own hands. Parmenides studied under Xenophanes but never entirely agreed with his doctrines. Parmenides declared the senses to be unreliable and reason the only standard of truth. He was the first to assert that the earth is round and divided its surface into zones of heat and cold.

Melissus, also of the Eleatic school, held many opinions in common with Parmenides. He declared the universe to be immovable because, since it occupied all space, there was no place it could be moved to. Furthermore, he rejected the theory that a vacuum exists in space. Zeno of Elea also maintained that a vacuum could not exist. Rejecting the theory of motion, he asserted there was but one God, an eternal, uncreated Being. Like Xenophanes, he conceived of the Deity as spherical. Leucippus held that the universe consists of two parts: one full and the other a vacuum. From the infinite, a host of tiny fragmentary bodies descended into the vacuum, where, through constant movement, they organized themselves into spheres of substance.

The great Democritus expanded upon the atomic theory of Leucippus to a certain degree. Democritus declared the principles of all things to be twofold: atoms and vacuum. Both, he asserted, are infinite—atoms in number, and the vacuum in size. Thus, all bodies must be composed of atoms or vacuum. Atoms possessed two properties, form and size, both characterized by infinite variety. Democritus also conceived the soul to be atomic in structure and subject to dissolving along with the body. He believed the mind was composed

of spiritual atoms. Aristotle suggests that Democritus obtained his atomic theory from the Pythagorean doctrine of the Monad the indivisible "One" or first principle. Protagoras and Anaxarchus are also included among the Eleatics.

Socrates (469–399 B.C.), the founder of the Socratic sect, was fundamentally a Skeptic. He did not force his opinions on others but, through questioning, caused each person to express his own philosophy. According to Plutarch, Socrates believed every place was appropriate for teaching because the whole world was a school of virtue. He held that the soul existed before the body and, before being immersed in it, possessed all knowledge; when the soul entered the material form it became numbed, but discussions about physical objects caused it to reawaken and recover its original knowledge. His attempt to stimulate the soul's power through irony and inductive reasoning was based on these premises. It has been said of Socrates that the sole subject of his philosophy was man. He himself declared philosophy to be the path to true happiness and its purpose twofold: (1) to contemplate God, and (2) to detach the soul from physical senses.

He conceived the principles of all things to be three in number: God, matter, and ideas. Of God he said:

"What He is I do not know; what He is not I do know."

He defined matter as the subject of creation and decay; and "idea" as a non-physical substance—the unchanging thought of God. He considered virtue to be the highest good. Among the prominent members of the Socratic sect were Xenophon, Aeskhines, Crito, Simon, Glauco, Simmias, and Cebes.

Professor Zeller, the great authority on ancient philosophies, recently declared that the writings of Xenophon relating to Socrates are forgeries. When The Clouds by Aristophanes—a comedy written to ridicule Socrates' theories—was first performed, the great Skeptic himself attended the play. During the performance, which mocked him by showing him sitting in a basket high in the air studying the sun, Socrates rose calmly in his seat to allow the Athenian spectators to better compare his own facial features with the ridiculous, grotesque mask worn by the actor portraying him.

The Elean sect was founded by Phaedo of Elis, a youth from a noble family who was bought out of slavery at the urging of Socrates and became his devoted disciple. Plato admired Phaedo’s intellect so much that he named one of his most famous dialogues The Phaedo. Phaedo was succeeded in his school by Plisthenes, who was followed by Menedemus. Little is known of the doctrines of the Elean sect. Menedemus is presumed to have leaned toward the teachings of Stilpo and the Megarian sect. When asked for his opinions, he always answered that he was free, indicating that men were enslaved by their opinions. Menedemus apparently had a somewhat aggressive personality and often returned from his lectures badly bruised. The most famous of his propositions is stated this way: That which is not the same is different from that which it is not the same. This point being admitted, Menedemus continued: To benefit is not the same as "the good," therefore "the good" does not benefit. After Menedemus died, the Elean sect became known as the Eretrian school. Its members rejected all negative propositions and all complex, obscure theories, declaring that only simple, affirmative doctrines could be true.

A classical engraving of the philosopher Plato, shown in profile within an oval frame atop a decorative pedestal. He has a long beard and is wearing a robe.

Plato's real name was Aristocles. When his father brought him to study with Socrates, the great Skeptic declared that the previous night he had dreamed of a white swan, which was an omen that his new disciple was to become one of the world's illumined ones. There is a tradition that the immortal Plato was once sold as a slave by the King of Sicily.

The Megarian sect was founded by Euclid of Megara (not the famous mathematician), a great admirer of Socrates. The Athenians passed a law sentencing to death any citizen of Megara found in Athens. Undeterred, Euclid dressed in women's clothing and went at night to study with Socrates. After the cruel death of the great Skeptic, many of his disciples fled to Megara fearing a similar fate, where Euclid hosted them with great honor. The Megarian school accepted the Socratic doctrine that virtue is wisdom, adding to it the Eleatic concept that goodness is absolute unity and all change is an illusion of the senses. Euclid maintained that good has no opposite, and therefore evil does not exist. When asked about the nature of the gods, he declared himself ignorant of their character except that they hated nosy people.

The Megarians are occasionally included among the dialectic logical or argumentative philosophers. Euclid (who died around 374 B.C.) was succeeded by Eubulides, whose disciples included Alexinus and Apollonius Cronus. Euphantus, who lived to a great age and wrote many tragedies, was among the foremost followers of Eubulides. Diodorus is usually included in the Megarian school, having heard Eubulides lecture. According to legend, Diodorus died of grief because he could not instantly answer certain questions asked of him by Stilpo, a former master of the Megarian school. Diodorus held that nothing

can be moved, since to be moved it must be taken out of the place where it is and placed in the place where it is not—which is impossible because all things must always be in the places where they are.

The Cynics were a sect founded by Antisthenes of Athens (444–365? B.C.), a disciple of Socrates. Their doctrine can be described as an extreme individualism that views man as existing for himself alone. It advocates surrounding him with discord, suffering, and extreme need so that he may be forced to withdraw more completely into his own nature. The Cynics gave up all worldly possessions, living in the crudest shelters and surviving on the coarsest, simplest food. Based on the assumption that the gods wanted nothing, the Cynics claimed that those whose needs were fewest were closest to the divinities. When asked what he gained from a life of philosophy, Antisthenes replied that he had learned how to talk to himself.

Diogenes of Sinope is remembered chiefly for the tub in the Metroum a temple in Athens that served as his home for many years. The people of Athens loved the beggar-philosopher; when a youth bored holes in the tub as a prank, the city gave Diogenes a new one and punished the youth. Diogenes believed that nothing in life can be properly achieved without constant practice. He maintained that everything in the world belongs to the wise, a claim based on the following logic: "All things belong to the gods; the gods are friends to wise people; all things are shared among friends; therefore, all things belong to the wise." Among the Cynics are Monimus, Onesicritus, Crates, Metrocles, Hipparchia (the wife of Crates), Menippus, and Menedemus.

The Cyrenaic sect, founded by Aristippus of Cyrene (435–356? B.C.), promoted the doctrine of hedonism. Hearing of Socrates' fame, Aristippus traveled to Athens and applied himself to the teachings of the great Skeptic. Socrates, distressed by the luxurious and greedy tendencies of Aristippus, tried in vain to reform the young man. Aristippus is notable for being consistent in both principle and practice, for he lived his life entirely according to his philosophy that the pursuit of pleasure was the main purpose of life. The doctrines of the Cyrenaics may be summarized as follows: All that is actually known about any object or condition is the feeling it awakens in a person's own nature. In ethics, whatever awakens the most pleasant feeling is therefore the greatest good. Emotional reactions are classified as pleasant or gentle, harsh, and neutral. The result of pleasant emotion is pleasure; the result of harsh emotion, grief; the result of neutral emotion, nothing.

Because of mental confusion, some men do not desire pleasure. In reality, however, pleasure (especially physical pleasure) is the true goal of existence and exceeds mental and spiritual enjoyments in every way. Furthermore, pleasure is limited entirely to the moment; now is the only time. The past cannot be viewed without regret, and the future cannot be faced without worry; therefore, neither leads to pleasure. No man should grieve, for grief is the most serious of all diseases. Nature permits man to do anything he desires; he is limited only by his own laws and customs. A philosopher is someone free from envy, love, and superstition, whose days are one long cycle of pleasure. Aristippus thus elevated indulgence to the highest position among the virtues. He further declared that philosophers differ significantly from other men because they alone would not change their way of life even if all human laws were

abolished. Among the prominent philosophers influenced by Cyrenaic doctrines were Hegesias, Anniceris, Theodorus, and Bion.

The sect of Academic philosophers established by Plato (427–347 B.C.) was divided into three major parts: the Old, the Middle, and the New Academy. Among the Old Academics were Speusippus, Xenocrates, Polemon, Crates, and Crantor. Arcesilaus established the Middle Academy, and Carneades founded the New. Plato's primary teacher was Socrates. Plato traveled extensively and was initiated by the Egyptians into the depths of Hermetic philosophy. He also drew much from the doctrines of the Pythagoreans. Cicero describes the threefold structure of Platonic philosophy as consisting of ethics, physics, and dialectics logic. Plato defined "the good" as threefold in character: good in the soul, expressed through virtues; good in the body, expressed through the balance and endurance of its parts; and good in the external world, expressed through social status and companionship. In The Book of Speusippus on Platonic Definitions, that great Platonist defines God this way:

"A being that lives immortally by means of Himself alone, sufficient for His own happiness, the eternal Essence, and the cause of His own goodness."

A complex combinatorial diagram consisting of a triangular grid with various symbols (diamonds, crescents, circles with crosses) and letters (B, C, D, F, G, H, K, L, M, P, Q, R, S, T, V, X, Y, Z) along the sides and within the grid. The grid creates a visual representation of permutations.

In the diagram above, Kircher arranges eighteen objects in two vertical columns and then determines the number of arrangements in which they can be combined. Using the same method, Kircher further estimates that fifty objects may be arranged in 1,273,726,838,815,420,339,851,343,083,767,005,515,293,749,454,795,473,408,000,000,000,000 combinations. From this, it is clear that infinite diversity is possible, for the countless parts of the universe may be related to each other in an incalculable number of ways; through the various combinations of these limitless subdivisions of being, infinite individuality and infinite variety must inevitably result. Thus, it is further evident that life can never become boring or exhaust the possibilities of variety.

According to Plato, the One is the most suitable term for defining the Absolute, since the whole comes before the parts, and diversity depends on unity, while unity does not depend on diversity. The One, or God, existed before "being," for to be is an attribute or condition of the One.

Platonic philosophy is based on the proposal of three orders of being: that which moves without being moved, that which is self-moved, and that which is moved by something else. That which is immovable is the highest; next is that which is self-moved, which also comes before that which it moves. That in which motion is natural cannot be separated from its power to move; it is therefore incapable of dissolving. This is the nature of the immortals. That which receives motion from another can be separated from its source of life; it is therefore subject to death. This is the nature of mortal beings. Superior to both mortals and immortals is that which does not move, but constantly causes movement while remaining unmoved itself. The power of permanence is natural to this state; it is therefore the Divine Permanence upon which all things are built. Being even nobler than self-motion, the "unmoved Mover" is the highest of all dignities. The Platonic discipline was founded on the theory that learning is actually reminiscence, or the bringing into awareness of knowledge previously acquired by the soul in an earlier state of existence. At the entrance to the Platonic school in the Academy were written the words: "Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here."

After Plato's death, his disciples split into two groups. One, the Academics, continued to meet in the Academy where he had once presided; the other, the Peripatetics, moved to the Lyceum under the leadership of Aristotle (384–322 B.C.). Plato recognized Aristotle as his greatest disciple and, according to Philoponus, referred to him as "the mind of the school." If Aristotle was absent from the lectures, Plato would say: "The intellect is not here." Of Aristotle's immense genius, Thomas Taylor writes in his introduction to The Metaphysics:

"When we consider that he was not only well acquainted with every science, as his works abundantly prove, but that he wrote on almost every subject included in the circle of human knowledge—and did so with matchless accuracy and skill—we do not know which to admire more: the depth or the breadth of his mind."