Points on the surface of the Sphere, at equal adjacent distances, or by
six diameters of the sphere mutually inclined at angles whose tangent
is 2, the number of the octave in music. Joining each of the twelve
with every other point, we have 66 lines, of which 36 are internal.
Six of the latter being diameters, there remain 30, intersecting at 20
points, which give the 30 edges of the internal DODECAHEDRON. The 30
outer, or external lines of the 66, form the edges of the ICOSAHEDRON.
Joining one set of alternate corners of the Dodecahedron by 12 lines,
a CUBE appears. So far, there are 33 points defined, including the
center of the sphere. Joining opposite corners on each Cube-face by 12
lines, _two_ interlaced TETRAHEDRONS appear. These define, by their
intersection, 6 new points and 12 new lines forming the OCTAHEDRON,
beautifully poised in the heart of the Sphere.
Thus only 39 points, including the central point, are needed to define
the Pythagorean solids, only one solid form being repeated, the
Tetrahedron, which in fact is seen to repeat itself ten times. For
between the interlaced Tetrahedron corners and the eight faces of the
included Octahedron, eight smaller Tetrahedrons are seen.
The interlaced Tetrahedrons suggest the origin of the plane symbol--the
interlaced triangles; but the full beauty of the symbol does not appear
until we notice that the axis of symmetry of the Tetrahedrons coincides
with the diagonal of the Cube, and that the orthographic projection
of all these on a plane perpendicular to the diagonal gives a perfect
hexagon with the interlaced triangles in the center. The interlaced
Tetrahedrons--one a reflection of the other--in fact define the eight
corners of the Cube. The Tetrahedron is "3," and the Cube is "4" (or
6). So we see one way in which the "three fall into the four," and
why it is a septenary, and a decad, as well as a three, or a four,
according to the various aspects and interrelations considered of the
electric, rotary, magnetic, or vibratory forces symbolized by the
various lines.
Science has already reached the speculation that the hypothetical
carbon "atom" has a tetrahedronal form. Let us look at this Tetrahedron
with the eye opposite the middle of an edge and in line with the
center. The two opposite edges now form the Cross, composed of two
equal lines, but separated by a space. One is reminded of an electric
wire, and a magnetized needle placing itself at right angles to,
although at some distance from, the current in the wire. Thus the
opposite edges, whether as rotational vectors or in some other way,
indicate a connexion with the dual forces of attraction and repulsion.
The Tetrahedron, a triangular pyramid, may be a Fire-symbol. In any
case the following passage is suggestive:
When the molecules of salt, clustering together, begin to deposit
themselves as a solid, the first shape they assume is that of
triangles, of small pyramids and cones. It is the figure of _fire_,
whence the word "_pyramids_"; while the second geometrical figure
in _manifested_ nature is a square or a cube, 4 and 6; for, "the
particles of earth being cubical, those of fire are pyramidal"
truly--(Enfield). The pyramidal shape is that assumed by the
pines--the most primitive tree after the fern period. Thus the two
opposites in cosmic nature--fire and water, heat and cold--begin their
metrographical manifestations, one by a trimetric, the other by a
hexagonal system. For the stellate crystals of snow, viewed under a
microscope, are all and each of them a double or treble six-pointed
star, with a central nucleus, like a miniature star within the larger
one. (_The Secret Doctrine_, II, 594.)
The number Five penetrates the whole system of the Five solids in a
remarkable way. Thus there are 24 pentagons visible, and by joining
other corners of the Dodecahedron, Five Cubes are seen, which of course
produce Five Octahedrons, and twice that number of principal interlaced
Tetrahedrons. Five has been said to be the Number of Life.
Confining ourselves to one rectangular system, we find Four axes of
symmetry for the Tetrahedrons and Three for Cube and Octahedron. Thus
there are really 73 principal lines in the complete system defined by
the 39 points. A study of the three principal orthographic projections
shows that the circle should be divided into 3, 4, 5, 6, parts, and
the products of these, or 360 degrees. Certain angles are found in
abundance, such as 36, 60, 72, 90, 108, 144; and their combinations
and products by 10 and 12, and their multiples, give figures bearing a
strong resemblance to the various cyclic periods of eastern chronology.
Periodic orbits are vibrations on a large scale.
Twice the perimeter of an Icosahedron-face divided by the perimeter
of a Dodecahedron-face is 3.1416, the value of π used in all
ordinary scientific and constructional work.
The actual error is so small that if both were accurately made of
copper at the same temperature, the Icosahedron-face would only have to
be brought rather more than one degree Fahrenheit below the temperature
of the other for the π value to be absolutely correct. Accuracy of this
sort is unattainable outside of specially equipped laboratories. So the
Pythagorean solids may be said to "square the circle."
THE "BLACK AGE": by Ariomardes
Let us imagine a romance, such as most people must have heard, wherein
some royal child is stolen away and reared amidst peasants in ignorance
of his birth; and where some wise man comes and reveals to the youth
the secret of his parentage. The young man forthwith steps out from his
lowly life, and clothed in a new self-respect, begins to acquit himself
worthily of his origin and destiny.
Thus has Theosophy declared to outcast humanity, "Thou art the king's
son"; and in proof it has referred him to his ancestry. This is why H.
P. Blavatsky, pointing out in the skein of history certain clues which
scholars have hitherto overlooked, started that greater enthusiasm for
archaeology which since her day has already borne such wonderful fruit.
In a dark age there is the danger that man might forget his divine
origin altogether. The revelations of archaeology confirm the teachings
of Theosophy that before the dark age of our historical period set in,
there were brighter ages; and by showing what man has been, they are
indicating what he may again be in the future.
The epochs and durations of the various ages are not uniform all over
the earth, so that it cannot be said that the black age began, for the
earth generally, at any definite time. The ancient Hindûs have their
own chronology, showing the dates of the different ages for their race.
We find in a very ancient work, the _Vishnu-Purâna_, a prophecy of
the characteristics of Kali-Yuga or the "Black Age," from which the
following extracts are taken:
Then property alone will confer rank; wealth will be the only source
of devotion; passion will be the sole bond of union between the
sexes; falsehood will be the only means of success in litigation; and
women will be objects merely of sensual gratification. Earth will be
venerated but for its mineral treasures; the Brahmânical thread will
constitute a Brâhman; external types (as the staff and red garb) will
be the only distinctions of the several orders of life; dishonesty
will be the (universal) means of subsistence; weakness will be the
cause of dependence; menace and presumption will be substituted
for learning; liberality will be devotion; simple ablution will be
purification; mutual assent will be marriage; fine clothes will be
dignity.... Amidst all castes, he who is the strongest will reign over
a principality thus vitiated by many faults.--iv, ch. xxiv. (From H.
H. Wilson's translation, vol. iv, pp. 226-228.)
Some of these details may be thought to apply more to the East, some to
the West; we can surely recognize many of the characteristics of our
own civilization. What is particularly striking is the way in which
things which we regard as inevitable qualities of human nature are
here spoken of with horror and classed among the iniquities. And there
are signs in our contemporary literature that some of the standard
human frailties are now being exalted into virtues. One of the signs
of decadence mentioned is the fact that passion will be regarded as
the sole bond of union between the sexes. And we have philosophers
who would persuade us that passion is and always has been and always
will be the bond of union! For some writers, passion, even in its most
material form, is the origin and supreme fact of all union. Here,
then, is the danger--that having allowed our ideals to drag down our
practices, we afterwards suffer our practices to drag down our ideals,
thus descending by a continuous and periodical process of leveling down.
It seems as if the saying that "property alone will confer rank" has
some meaning for us today, as also the phrase "wealth will be the
only source of devotion." What is said about falsehood in litigation
reflects no discredit on our jurisprudence, but surely it describes
much of what occurs in practice. That about the mineral treasures
of earth is very true; for we consider people simpletons when they
fail to tear out the bowels of their homeland in order to coin them
into "the only source of devotion." When the ancient scribe says that
dishonesty will be the means of subsistence, he may seem to be going
too far; but what does he mean by dishonesty? If it includes every form
of insincerity and injustice, the statement may not be too extreme
after all. The question, "Shall I do as the others do or let my family
starve?" becomes every day more difficult to answer.
"Menace and presumption will be substituted for learning." This may
allude to the fact that most people argue for the purpose of pushing
their own ideas, losing their temper and resorting to tricks in
order to attain this end; and that the attainment of knowledge is so
often subordinated to the desire to compel assent or gain notoriety.
"Liberality will be devotion," may be better understood if we
substitute the word "munificence," as applying to large donations to
churches and also to the prevalence of the charity of the purse rather
than the charity of the heart.
A difficult subject to speak upon, in view of the mental chaos reigning
today, is the hint that there can be higher motives for marriage than
mere mutual attraction or worldly convenience. The quotation gives a
rebuke to those who, seeing no farther back than the Black Age, argue
that there never have been any higher ideals of marriage. We may point
to the ancient Egyptian religion as an instance of a culture that is
free from the erotic element; while in the quotation given above the
erotic idea is expressly condemned. Clearly, then, that idea belongs
to the age of decadence. The word "love" having now become practically
useless from its association with passion, we must seek our clue to the
real meaning of marriage in the word "duty." Regarded as a sacred rite
involving vows of unselfishness and self-restraint, undertaken only
in sober earnestness and with a vision undimmed by the colored mists
of selfish romance, marriage might take its place among the blessings
instead of among the problems of life.
In days when philosophicules try to define honor in terms of vanity,
and devotion in terms of self-interest, it is beneficial to receive
from antiquity a hint that may help us to understand that honor and
devotion are the breath of the Soul. Pretended reformers, claiming a
superior acumen and to be quite grown-up and out of leading-strings,
may dissect before us the animal nature of man, pointing out its
sordid details and requesting us to believe that these represent our
entire endowment. Some prominent writers, whose outlook upon life has
somehow suffered from unfortunate circumstances, would have us accept
depravity and neurotic conditions as inevitable concomitants of human
nature; and, profanely invoking Freedom, they recommend open license
as a means of purity! Signs like these justify one in thinking that
the Black Age is casting the shadow of its pinions over the firmament
of modern thought; and we are grateful for the smallest hint of the
possibility of an age free from the all-absorbing morbidity and itching
self-consciousness that seem to dominate every department of inquiry.
Will society ever again be so constituted that honor and reverence and
duty shall be a universal atmosphere, a currency in which all share,
a life-force that flows from man to man, a common possession in the
maintenance of whose integrity all are involved--as we are now all
involved in the maintenance of commercial credit and the upkeep of
standards of outer respectability? Can we imagine a society wherein
no man would dare to sully the purity of this inner atmosphere by
any unworthy thought? If so, then we might call honor and morality
real existences instead of mere abstractions; these words might then
convey the genuine qualities they were meant to denote, instead of
the spurious imitations which they now seem to stand for in the minds
of those who try to express them in terms of selfishness and passion.
It is well to think that such things have been upon earth; and it is
easier thus to account for some of the deeds of antiquity whose signs
remain. It is easier to see in religion the faint echo of a former
knowledge and conduct, than to interpret it as an outgrowth of fear and
charlatanry. We need a greater faith in human nature.
EGYPTIAN ART UNDER THE XXVIth DYNASTY: by C. J.
The statue of Neshoron, of which we give an illustration, is a very
fine example of the work of the XXVIth Dynasty (B. C. 666 to 528).
This was a period of great prosperity for Egypt, after long years of
depression. Rawlinson says:
The entire valley of the Nile became little more than one huge
workshop, where stone-cutters and masons, bricklayers and carpenters,
labored incessantly. Under the liberal encouragement of the king and
his chief nobles, the arts recovered themselves and began to flourish
anew. The engraving and painting of the hieroglyphs were resumed with
success, and carried out with a minuteness and accuracy that provoke
the admiration of the beholder. Bas-reliefs of extreme beauty and
elaboration characterize the period. There rests upon some of them "a
gentle and almost feminine tenderness, which has impressed upon the
imitations of living creatures the stamp of an incredible delicacy
both of conception and execution." Statues and statuettes of merit
were at the same time produced in abundance.
Under King Psametik I, the first king of the XXVIth Dynasty, a
semi-Libyan devoid of Egyptian prejudices, foreigners, especially
Greeks, were encouraged to settle in the Delta and to establish
commercial relations on a large scale--a hitherto unheard-of
innovation. The effect of this was a great change in the character
of the Egyptians, perhaps not for the better. A mercenary army was
enlisted, and the beginning of Egypt's downfall and subjugation
drew nigh. In the reign of Apries (Uah-ab-Rā, the "Pharaoh Hophra"
of Jeremiah xliv, 30) an unsuccessful attempt was made to restore
the greatness of the ancient Egyptian empire. Apries, or Hophra,
finding the Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was unable to reduce Phoenicia
to subjection, concluded a treaty with Zedekiah, king of Judah, in
B. C. 588, promising him assistance if he would help him to attack
the Babylonians. The war that followed resulted in the capture and
destruction of Jerusalem, and the transfer of the Jews to Babylon.
Apries failed to protect Zedekiah, though he appears to have done his
best. He retreated before the victorious Babylonians, and with the
fall of Palestine, the two great powers of Babylon and Egypt became
conterminous. Within a few years Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Egypt,
making it a tributary kingdom.
The statue of Neshoron is remarkable for the realism shown in the
treatment of the face, which is obviously an excellent portrait. The
feet are also treated in a naturalistic manner, but the rest of the
figure is more conventional in accordance with the prevailing custom.
[Illustration: Lomaland Photo. and Engraving Dept. STATUE OF NESHORON,
A DIGNITARY UNDER KING APRIES LOUVRE MUSEUM, PARIS]
[Illustration: Lomaland Photo. and Engraving Dept. THE HOUSE OF LORDS,
LONDON]
THE HOUSE OF LORDS, PALACE OF WESTMINSTER, LONDON: by R.
Though such an important chamber, the House of Lords is only forty-five
feet wide, forty-five feet high, and ninety feet long, yet it is
very well adapted to its purpose. There is none of the crowding from
which the House of Commons suffers when all the members wish to be
present at some important debate. Like the rest of the Palace of
Westminster, the House of Lords is built in the Tudor-Gothic style,
but it does not date back to the fifteenth century. The old House of
Parliament, a patched-up and unimposing building, was almost completely
destroyed in 1835--an important service to architecture being rendered
thereby--and the new one was commenced upon the same site in 1840.
It took twenty-seven years to build and it is generally admitted,
in spite of many weaknesses, to be a worthy home for "the Mother of
Parliaments," and the most impressive modern Gothic building in Europe.
One important though indirect result of the fire which burned down the
old Parliament House was that public competition, almost unknown in
England, was adopted as the safest way to obtain a good design. Sir
Charles Barry, the architect, was greatly helped by the famous Pugin in
the superintendence of the detail, which, as can be seen in the plate,
is well-designed and executed, _for modern work_. Of course no modern
imitation-Gothic possesses the life and vigor of the old; there is a
mechanical feeling about it which can never be avoided in some degree;
there is want of spontaneity, a rigidity and formal correctness, which
is entirely absent in the old work. The House of Peers and the King's
Apartments occupy the western portion of the palace; the House of
Commons the eastern.
Being so new, there are few important historical associations connected
with the House of Lords, and in recent times the most thrilling scenes
in parliamentary life have taken place in the other House, where the
expression of the emotions has always been allowed freer play, and
where the Government of the day has to meet its strongest opponents in
debate, but a very impressive ceremony takes place when the Sovereign
in person opens Parliament. He then takes his seat on the throne,
which can be seen in the plate, and reads his speech from it before a
brilliant audience. The British monarchy being a constitutional one,
this speech is, of course, really an outline of the policy of the
Ministry in office, and it usually says very little.
The composition of the members of the House of Lords consists of Lords
spiritual (Bishops), and Lords temporal. The latter include the five
dignities of Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and Baron. No new dignity
has been created since the time of Henry VI, when the rank of viscount
was established. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth there were only
fifty-nine temporal peers, but the present number is about ten times as
many. The principle under which a peer holds his seat is in the main
the hereditary one, but there are a few peerages which are bestowed for
life only. The peers who are judges, sitting as a judicial tribunal,
constitute the Supreme Court of British Law, and the presiding peer of
the whole House, the Lord Chancellor, is a lawyer, and always belongs
to the party of the government in power. The Lord Chancellor's seat
is known as the Woolsack; this peculiar term comes from a period in
Elizabeth's reign when wool was the staple industry of England and its
export was forbidden; sacks of wool were kept in the Chamber of Peers
to remind them of its importance.
MUSIC NOTES: by Charles J. Ryan
Richard Wagner's autobiography, just published to the world at
large, though it does not include the last twenty years of his
life when he had attained success, has made a great stir among all
who are interested in the study of human nature. It is an amazing
self-revelation, and, from the Theosophical standpoint, a striking
example of the duality of man. The popular conception of Wagner is
amply confirmed by this "human document." But why should we waste
our time, and perhaps feed our own sense of self-righteousness
injudiciously, by dwelling on the failings of genius? Have not the
great men given us, in their immortal works, that which is really
worthiest of remembrance? Whatever his personal shortcomings were,
Wagner never failed in his loyal devotion to his ideal in music-drama;
he dared everything and suffered greatly in his protracted efforts
to lead the incredulous world to listen to his novel and glorious
revolutionary forms, which he knew to be superior to those of his
time. The soul behind stands out in his immortal music, high above the
limitations of his personality, for there was that in him which had
listened to the music of the spheres and which lived serenely apart
from the jar and jangle of the petty life. That it is possible for an
inspired Soul in touch with the Realities to force its way through
all kinds of difficulties, even the greatest--the incarnation in a
hindering personality--and to deliver its message of living beauty to
men, seems to be the principal lesson this ill-advised autobiography
teaches. It would have been better perhaps that it had never seen the
light, for there are not many who have the understanding of the complex
nature of man, the higher and the lower, which alone can interpret so
unusual a character.
* * * * *
THE SPIRIT of revolution was in the air of Europe when Wagner was
meditating upon the imperfections of the grand opera of his youth. He
says, "The spirit of revolution took possession of me once forever."
In 1842 _The Flying Dutchman_ was brought out in Dresden, and in 1845
_Tannhäuser_ appeared and set all musical Europe by the ears. For
the rest of his life, till 1882, Wagner was at war with his fellow
musicians and critics. His keen perception of natural beauty and
artistic fitness is shown in the following passage from his _Life_:
One solitary flash of brightness was afforded by our view of the
Wartburg, which we passed during the only sunlit hour of this journey.
The sight of this mountain fastness, which from the Fulda side is
clearly visible for a long time, affected me deeply. A neighboring
ridge further on I at once christened the Hörselberg, and as I drove
through the valley pictured to myself the scenery for the third act of
my _Tannhäuser_. The scene remained so vividly in my mind that long
afterwards I was able to give Despléchin, the Parisian scene painter,
exact details when he was working out the scenery under my directions.
* * * * *
THE DEATH of Felix Mottl came as a sudden blow to all music lovers.
It was known for a little while that the great Viennese conductor
was in bad health, but not that he was dangerously ill. He was only
fifty-five. His reputation was made at an early age; in 1885 he was
conducting _Tristan_ at Baireuth. Mottl was virtually the last of the
great conductors who had received the true Wagnerian tradition by
personal contact with the great composer. He was also distinguished
among German conductors of his time by his liking and understanding of
French music, and for the success with which he conducted French music
before the most discriminating Parisian audiences. He was well known
in New York; where his conducting of the Nibelungen Ring series made
a profound impression. His remains were cremated. At his funeral in
Munich no clergy were present, but Richard Strauss gave an eloquent
address.
* * * * *