The History of the Esoteric School 1904–1914, Volume Two

GA 265 — Hildesheim

The Triangle

From the lecture in Stuttgart, June 14, 1921

If we consider the outstanding position of the human being in the universe, several important lines emerge above all. Firstly, the line parallel to the earth's surface, the horizontal. Secondly, that which distinguishes the human being from the animal, namely that the spinal column is vertical to the horizontal. Thus you have drawn two figures; first the horizontal line, and second the right angle. If you are aware of the significance of the horizontal line, which basically creates animality, and the significance of the right angle for man's place in the universe, then you associate certain mental images with the horizontal line and the right angle, which can therefore become symbols.

Freemasonry, which seeks to characterize the essence of man, has the spirit level and the right angle among its symbols. The other symbols are also modeled on the forces of the universe. How they are modeled on the forces of the universe will become clear from the following consideration.

You see, if we imagine the earth here: man moves on the earth, let us say so – I will therefore draw it radically – then it is the case that man has his direction here in the vertical and that the way he connects with the center of the earth is a triangle.

You have the triangle again as a symbol in the Freemasons' cult. Everything in this Freemasonry is taken from the configuration of the human being in the first degree. There you see the formation of symbolism. Symbolism is there where it appears in its essence, not arbitrarily invented. You only arrive at symbolism when you study it in reality. Symbolism is grounded in the universe, it is there somewhere. It is the same with the cult.