The Real Secret of the Great Sphinx: Insights from Papus' Treatise on Occult Sciences
Many dream and talk about the secret of the Great Sphinx of Giza. Are treasures hidden beneath their paws? Unlimited and unrestricted knowledge? Immortality? Papus (Gerard Encausse), one of the notorious esoteric writers and sage, provides a very interesting answer…
Religions follow one another on Earth, generations pass and those who came last believe they can, in their pride, insultingly disregard the knowledge of antiquity. Above all sects, above all quarrels, above all errors, rises the motionless sphinx that answers with a disturbing "Who am I?" to the ignorant who blaspheme science. Temples can be destroyed; books can disappear without the great knowledge acquired by the ancients being forgotten.
The sphinx stays and that's enough. Symbol of unity, it sums up the strangest forms of one another. Symbol of truth, it shows the reason for all errors in its own contrasts. Symbol of the absolute, it reveals the mysterious quaternary.
“The one true religion!” shouts the fanatical Christian. “Yours is the work of an impostor! Only mine comes from God!” replies the Jew. “All your sacred books are copies of our revelation!” exclaims the Hindu. “All religions are impostures! Nothing exists outside of matter! The principles of all cults arise from the contemplation of the stars, which is the only true science!” Ensures the modern sage.
And the sphinx rises above all disputes, immobile, summary of the unity of all cults, of all sciences. It shows the Christian the angel, the eagle, the lion and the bull that accompany the evangelists; the Jew recognizes Ezekiel's dream there; the Hindu, the secrets of Adda Nari and the sage, when he would pass by disdainfully, discovers beneath all these symbols the laws of the four elementary forces: magnetism, electricity, heat, light.
Undecided about his path in life, the future initiate questions the sphinx and she says:
"Look at me, she says, I have a human head in which science resides, as the initiate's ornaments that adorn it indicate. Science guides my march in life, but, alone, it is a weak resource. I have lion's claws in my four limbs; I am armed for action, I make my way to the right and to the left, forward and backward, nothing resists the audacity led by science. But these legs only have great solidity because they are grafted onto my bull's flanks. When I undertake an action I continue my path laboriously, with the patience of the ox that traces the furrow of the plow. In moments of weakness, when discouragement is about to invade me, when my head does not feel strong enough to direct my being, I flap my wings like an eagle. I rise in the domain of intuition, I read in the heart of the world the secrets of universal life; then, I return to my work in silence".
My head recommends you to Know
My claws recommend you Dare
My flanks recommend you to Will.
My wings recommend you to Keep Silent.
Follow my advice and life will seem fair and beautiful to you.
"The man's forehead of the sphinx speaks of intelligence. Its teats of love, its nails of combat. Its wings are faith, dream and hope And its bull sides are earthly work. If you know how to work, believe, love, defend If you are not chained by vile needs, If your heart knows how to want and your spirit understands, Hail, king of Thebes, you are crowned!”
In the sphinx, two great oppositions are evident: In front: the Head (science) opposes the legs (audacity). Behind: the flanks (work) are equally opposed to the legs (audacity) Between the two: there is intuition (wings) that regulate them. The audacity in its action will act effectively if science always dominates it enough to guide it. Audacity in studies will be crowned with success if it (hind legs) allows itself to be guided by work and perseverance. Finally, excesses in action or study must be tempered by the use of imagination (eagle wings).
Another opposition arises, that of high and low harmonized by the middle.
Science and imagination preside at the top; below, practice: practice in science (front legs), practice in imagination (back legs). Theory must always dominate and lead practice; He who wants to discover the truths of nature only through material experience is similar to a man who would like to dispense with his head to put his limbs into action.
No theory without practice
No practice without theory
This is what the sphinx tells us.