The Heart of the world
by Athos A. Altomonte
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Q : According to Guénon's writings (but not only them…) it is obvious, from his point of view, the existence of a ‘primordial tradition'. […] I think that primordial tradition exists and it has a meaning in the initiatory journey of those who want to free themselves. I don't think that this belief is in contrast with scientific laws and discoveries. On reflection, the thought also goes to ‘analogies' (I put this word in inverted commas) with some aspects of science. Which ones?
There are three possible answers: 1. the Jungian world of archetypes and collective unconsciousness; 2. The before of the Big Bang (provided that it makes sense to talk about it); 3. What Jacques Monod called ‘attempts' of the first ‘living' molecule'. He sees them as casual attempts (indeed, he mentions ‘Chance and need'); but couldn't they be various attempts made by someone? From the start, everything continues with the laws that science tries to discover.
To use a Masonic symbolic reference, the word that Hiram had has been lost. After Hiram's death we are in the world of material construction where the rules and laws of material constructions count. Perhaps the man who can find the true lost word, not its replacement, will be able to understand the primordial design (reach the universal tradition)? M.

A : What if the ‘heart of the world' was the heart of the humankind? If the center of primordial culture was the plane of spiritual conscience?

Kant believed in an ‘inborn' sense of justice, above the human codes that too often are built in favor of a part and to the disadvantage of another.

The Sufi Masters (not the dancers, of course) teach that Eden, the Earthly paradise delimited by four rivers, is the initiatory metaphor of the human heart (of man and woman) and the four tributaries that surround it are the streams of vital energy that flow in the four limbs of the human body, arms and legs (see the Apocalypse and the four rivers of Eden ). Their initiatory school teaches how to ‘access' this paradise of peace and wisdom, joined with the transcendent and becoming transcendent ourselves.

The initiatory thought believes that all that has been ‘lost or mislaid' is not placed outside the human being, but inside him. And the quest for ‘what has been lost' is, like Dante (but not only him) teaches us, an inner Journey (see Esotericism of the four journeys of the Masonic initiation ). This was Parsifal's mistake, who set off in the quest for the Holy Grail (the lighting of the cardiac center, viz. of the Christic center) on land and sea, but not in the place where it ‘lay motionless', that is inside himself (see How to find oneself ).

The loss of conscience of oneself as Ego (archetype of the Idea) or soul, or spirit (the platonic monad) is the ‘lost Word'. The ‘lost Word' is the true name of the (real) Initiate; this name represents the ‘revelation' of his ‘occult' identity (see the Occult Name of the Initiate in the paragraph The symbol-words AUM and OM ).

(Occult) identity and primitive tradition have a common denominator: the recognition of Self and one's own role in the universal (divine) Work. This ‘revelation' is placed into a case (conscience sphere) and its key ‘is broken' and must be recomposed (see The broken Key ).

Dear Friend, I will not continue with the symbolic meanings of the key. Mainly because I don't claim the ability to show any ‘new way' of interpreting the initiatory symbology. But since you mentioned Jung, I wanted to enter certain points of your reasoning about symbolism.

On the ‘legend' of Hiram and the Four Secret Masters there is much to be said, too.

Mine has only been a brief outline; I realize it is absolutely insufficient.