Secret symbology

[PeterG]

A quick search of the interwebs reveal: Jachin and Boaz, pillars in Solomon's Temple, apparently.

I'm not on the level at all, BTW.

Well done!

You've got the biblical/historical fact right there. But you still have to identify/explain the secret connection of B & J to the modern world.

[BaldJean]

Inspired by my North & South, East & West thread.

I asked:

BTW, I'm sure there are some studiers of symbology and theology (like myself) amongst y'all, who know why we say north, south, east, west more often than not, why it is that order that trips off the tongue most readily, rather than the clockwise order north, east, south, west or any other combination. I will not reveal until a few have answered.


And to ny delight someone answered correctly very quickly, Rick Robson when he wrote "the same movement when the catholic people make the whole cross gesture."

I am a bit doubtful about that. It is normal that one would start at the "top" with "North". But which direction does immediately come to your mind when thinking of "North"? Why, "South" because it is the polar opposite, so this is the one you name next

[notallwhowander]

Well done!

You've got the biblical/historical fact right there. But you still have to identify/explain the secret connection of B & J to the modern world.

Well, I'm not a mason, nor studied in masonic philosophy. So the secret connection to the modern world for me is that local lodges of a nominally secret society still have these as part of their occult decoration.

But if I were to take a larger guess: the combined meaning of the names is something to the effect, "He will establish by his strength/in its strength." On top of one is a globe, and another a sky-sphere, so this is a reference to the God, the Grand Architect, laying the foundation of the heaven and the earth, the pillars being the symbol of God's design. Undoubtedly, this is key to the whole masonic trip, whatever that actually is. I suppose that masons are trying to build the human world along the lines of this divine pattern, which they keep hidden away in their abstruse tomes of lore and mystery plays.

(I had the opportunity to enter a masonic lodge/temple in the early nineties. It was the site for a live-action conspiracy role-playing game where Robert Anton Wilson played God. I played a mob assassin. I asked RAW for a divine revelation, and he spilled the whole conspiracy to me, but I didn't believe him. I still managed to obtain immortality by the end. No shit.)

[PeterG]

In simple terms, the Temple of every lodge has a B pillar and a J pillar.

[Sputnik]

Are you really sure you want to be discussing BJs in the temple?

[PeterG]

This one isn't about symbols, just a general question.

Why did I react angrily to Dan Brown's Opus Dei monk?

[notallwhowander]

Because he was an overly tall albino assassin, the fundamental absurdity of which would offend any right thinking person?

[PeterG]

Because he was an overly tall albino assassin, the fundamental absurdity of which would offend any right thinking person?

Yea, there is that.

The correct answer though is rather more mundane - Opus Dei simply doesn't have a monastic order. Opus Dei is made up of 98% laymen and laywomen and 2% priests, who themselves were previously lay members.