tubulcain

47th Problem of Euclid?

The Kabalist said: "Ten is the most perfect number because it
includes unity which created everything, and zero, symbol of matter
and chaos whence everything emerged. Thus zero can be taken away and
the one remains unchanged." Referring to the ritual (Royal Arch) we
read that the principal secrets had "laid buried in DARKNESS" from a
certain event until another certain event. A time specifically
designated as "a period of four hundred and seventy years".
Darkness is the opposite of light. Masonically speaking, "light" is
enlightenment or knowledge. In the same sense the opposite of "light",
darkness, must be ignorance or lack of knowledge. It is therefore
apparent that the principal secrets were "buried" or hidden in
"ignorance" or "lack of knowledge" and that this concealment was
accomplished in some manner related with the numbers four hundred and
seventy. If we follow the procedure of the Kabalist, and take away the
from this number the zero (0) there remains FORTY SEVEN (47). In other
words, symbolically we are informed that concealed within the number
FORTY SEVEN will be found the principal secrets of the Royal Arch
degree. The only "forty seven" of Masonic significance is the Forty-
Seventh problem of Euclid.
Masonry teaches that man is a composite being consisting of the
Material, Psychical and Spiritual. That the Material is the physical
body, the Psychical the mind and the Spiritual, that divine spark
which makes him the image and likeness of his Creator. The forty-
seventh problem of Euclid geometrically demonstrates this fact of
being, and further proves that man is predominantly spiritual. The
horizontal line symbolizes the material; the perpendicular is
emblematic of the psychical; the hypotenuse the spiritual. Regardless
of the proportionate length of the horizontal or perpendicular, the
square of the hypotenuse is always the sum of the square of the other
two, and the total of the angles of their joining is constant at one
hundred eighty degrees. Thus is demonstrated the preponderance of the
spiritual over the material and the psychical. Here is the PRINCIPAL
SECRET of Royal Arch Masonry, or for that matter, ALL MASONRY. The
supreme fact concerning man's being. That the physical and mental are
but passing phases of his evolution toward perfection, that basically
and intrinsically he is inherently and OF NECESSITY, if he actually be
in the image of his Creator, ESSENTIALLY A SPIRITUAL BEING!