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  • July 18, 1863
  • Page 6
  • ON" GEOMETRICAL AND OTHER SYMBOLS.
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The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, July 18, 1863: Page 6

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    Article ON" GEOMETRICAL AND OTHER SYMBOLS. ← Page 4 of 5 →
Page 6

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

On" Geometrical And Other Symbols.

all . The arrow in either case is intended to indicate here the concentrative line of direction . * This concentrative process , as I have hinted , seems to extend from the circumference to the centre of the mental organisation , as is implied by a , b , c , fig . 2 ; and it can be shown to be as distinctly operative in the positive or lowest region as in the comparative or

intermediate , and in the superlative , or highest . In short , there is a concentrative power or principle operative in and throughout all the mental actions and acquisitions , from circnmference to centre . But a little further consideration show also that there is a principle of the contrary or radiative description , represented simply as in fig . 3—

FIG . 3 . or , in a sort of anatomised and outspread or separated but more completive form , as in fig . 2 , c , d , e , —a radiative principle , operative—in fact , co-operative—along with the concentrative : especially in all re-presentations , re-member-ances , re-identifications , & c . Thus , nothing can be remembered unless Avhat has before

been identified , as an object of attention ; that is , an object must be identified by and in the concentrative ere it can be re-presented in the radiative , and remembered and re-identified in the concentrative again . And , on the whole , it appears that as subjective terms can be concentrated into relations ; so relations can

be re-radiated into subjective terms ; and here Ave find the operation of what Dr . Thomas Brown calls the relative suggestion , on the one hand , and the simple suggestion—which may perhaps be more properly resolved into the subjective suggestion , in co-operative alternation with the relative suggestion—on the other hand .

The mind thus displays itself as a concentrating and radiating sphere , circle , or cone ; and its phenomena are sustained or conserved under the mutual and conjoint action of these two distinct though co-operative principles , poAvers , or forces , —the concentrative and the radiative : and the latter of these , —the radiative ,

—is as it were a light shining into and illuminating the dark concentrative ; bringing within the range of the conscious or identitive principle , in the concentrative sphere , according to certain laAvs of relationshi p or association and suggestion , all the varied and heterogeneous acquisitions of the conscious mindin

; new forms and combinations as well as in old ; but being in itself , as a radiative sphere , beyond as it were , or extrinsic to , the conscious principle , which is in and of the concentrative enlightened by it , but not of or in the enlightening radiative , AVIIO is another besides the ego or identitive , and is not only " the

true light which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world , " and which " teacheth all things , and bringeth all things to remembrance , " whether in the comparatively dark moonlight of this life—the life of the concentrative ; or in the glorious sunlight and open day of the radiative life , or life " to come ; " but is also the true Lord and Grand Master ofthe human

soul itself , who is his servant ; and of the human body , which is his temple . The concentrative principle , therefore , is the conscious principle or soul and life of man himself ; while the radiative principle is a spirit of light to the soul , with which it co-operates in the maintenance of that

circle of alternate action , —concentrative and radiative ,, aggregative and segregative , synthetical and analytical ,, identitive and antithetitive , relative and subjective , — by means of Avhich the mental phenomena are eA er circulated , organised , and conserved . Although the radiative may be said to send back

from the one common centre to the one common circumference of the mental sphere what has been concentrated from that circumference to the centre ; this venous and arterial system , as it were , of the mental circulution may be symbolically or figuratively laid open or anatomised , as in fig . 2 ; the lower moiety or venous root ofthe system denoting the concentrative ,. and the upper or arterial " branch , " the radiative ; or they may be symbolised more elementarily and simply

thus , y or thus NQ ^ ; or thus / Qk , to denote

the suppression of the radiative in the concentrative life ; it is also evident , indeed , that the same tAVO principles , A and V , or the concentrative and the radiative , may be thus symbolized N ; as well as by a variety of other geometrical forms , such as many of those in Mr . Godwin ' s collection in the Arcliceologia , of 1813 , the following inclusive : —

the conversion of angles into triangles in the hexalpha being regarded as indicative of the creaturely limitation of universal principles into the human and : angelic form ; the angelic being a ray of the radiative universal Spirit , and tlie human a spark of the unitive and creative soul or universal Father of all , in whom

we live , move , and have our being . And here , though to a certain extent anticipatively , I may remark that the Unitive power , whence the Concentrative throughout creation emanates , being , the Father of all , is of course masculine in principle j and the Infinitive poAver of the Universal Spirit ,

whence the Radiative emanates , is feminine . These are the tAVO first and paternal principles ; aud the Son . of the Unitive and Infinitive powers is also a universal and eternal principle , partaking of both ; Avhile the three are one , though this ono is threefold—a trinity in unity . And this is so even in the creaturely images of the universal Godhead . The Concentrative is the masculine principle , and the Radiative the

“The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine: 1863-07-18, Page 6” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 12 July 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmr/issues/mmr_18071863/page/6/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
THE CRAFT LECTURES, OF FIFTEEN SECTIONS. Article 1
ON" GEOMETRICAL AND OTHER SYMBOLS. Article 3
MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES. Article 7
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 9
THE MASONIC MIRROR. Article 9
THE BOYS' SCHOOL. Article 9
METROPOLITAN. Article 9
PROVINCIAL. Article 10
TURKEY. Article 15
ROYAL ARCH. Article 15
ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED RITE. Article 15
NOTES ON MUSIC AND THE DRAMA. Article 16
THE WEEK. Article 16
TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 20
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

On" Geometrical And Other Symbols.

all . The arrow in either case is intended to indicate here the concentrative line of direction . * This concentrative process , as I have hinted , seems to extend from the circumference to the centre of the mental organisation , as is implied by a , b , c , fig . 2 ; and it can be shown to be as distinctly operative in the positive or lowest region as in the comparative or

intermediate , and in the superlative , or highest . In short , there is a concentrative power or principle operative in and throughout all the mental actions and acquisitions , from circnmference to centre . But a little further consideration show also that there is a principle of the contrary or radiative description , represented simply as in fig . 3—

FIG . 3 . or , in a sort of anatomised and outspread or separated but more completive form , as in fig . 2 , c , d , e , —a radiative principle , operative—in fact , co-operative—along with the concentrative : especially in all re-presentations , re-member-ances , re-identifications , & c . Thus , nothing can be remembered unless Avhat has before

been identified , as an object of attention ; that is , an object must be identified by and in the concentrative ere it can be re-presented in the radiative , and remembered and re-identified in the concentrative again . And , on the whole , it appears that as subjective terms can be concentrated into relations ; so relations can

be re-radiated into subjective terms ; and here Ave find the operation of what Dr . Thomas Brown calls the relative suggestion , on the one hand , and the simple suggestion—which may perhaps be more properly resolved into the subjective suggestion , in co-operative alternation with the relative suggestion—on the other hand .

The mind thus displays itself as a concentrating and radiating sphere , circle , or cone ; and its phenomena are sustained or conserved under the mutual and conjoint action of these two distinct though co-operative principles , poAvers , or forces , —the concentrative and the radiative : and the latter of these , —the radiative ,

—is as it were a light shining into and illuminating the dark concentrative ; bringing within the range of the conscious or identitive principle , in the concentrative sphere , according to certain laAvs of relationshi p or association and suggestion , all the varied and heterogeneous acquisitions of the conscious mindin

; new forms and combinations as well as in old ; but being in itself , as a radiative sphere , beyond as it were , or extrinsic to , the conscious principle , which is in and of the concentrative enlightened by it , but not of or in the enlightening radiative , AVIIO is another besides the ego or identitive , and is not only " the

true light which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world , " and which " teacheth all things , and bringeth all things to remembrance , " whether in the comparatively dark moonlight of this life—the life of the concentrative ; or in the glorious sunlight and open day of the radiative life , or life " to come ; " but is also the true Lord and Grand Master ofthe human

soul itself , who is his servant ; and of the human body , which is his temple . The concentrative principle , therefore , is the conscious principle or soul and life of man himself ; while the radiative principle is a spirit of light to the soul , with which it co-operates in the maintenance of that

circle of alternate action , —concentrative and radiative ,, aggregative and segregative , synthetical and analytical ,, identitive and antithetitive , relative and subjective , — by means of Avhich the mental phenomena are eA er circulated , organised , and conserved . Although the radiative may be said to send back

from the one common centre to the one common circumference of the mental sphere what has been concentrated from that circumference to the centre ; this venous and arterial system , as it were , of the mental circulution may be symbolically or figuratively laid open or anatomised , as in fig . 2 ; the lower moiety or venous root ofthe system denoting the concentrative ,. and the upper or arterial " branch , " the radiative ; or they may be symbolised more elementarily and simply

thus , y or thus NQ ^ ; or thus / Qk , to denote

the suppression of the radiative in the concentrative life ; it is also evident , indeed , that the same tAVO principles , A and V , or the concentrative and the radiative , may be thus symbolized N ; as well as by a variety of other geometrical forms , such as many of those in Mr . Godwin ' s collection in the Arcliceologia , of 1813 , the following inclusive : —

the conversion of angles into triangles in the hexalpha being regarded as indicative of the creaturely limitation of universal principles into the human and : angelic form ; the angelic being a ray of the radiative universal Spirit , and tlie human a spark of the unitive and creative soul or universal Father of all , in whom

we live , move , and have our being . And here , though to a certain extent anticipatively , I may remark that the Unitive power , whence the Concentrative throughout creation emanates , being , the Father of all , is of course masculine in principle j and the Infinitive poAver of the Universal Spirit ,

whence the Radiative emanates , is feminine . These are the tAVO first and paternal principles ; aud the Son . of the Unitive and Infinitive powers is also a universal and eternal principle , partaking of both ; Avhile the three are one , though this ono is threefold—a trinity in unity . And this is so even in the creaturely images of the universal Godhead . The Concentrative is the masculine principle , and the Radiative the

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