First Temple Floorplan As Anthropomorphic Divinity?

[JeremyOrbe-Smith]

Well, my mind just got potentially blown. This can't be true, can it? I really, really want it to be true and not a crank call, but it seems too awesome to be legit, and the amateur/sensationalistic webdesign does nothing to ease my trepidation. Anyone more knowledgeable than I care to comment? Hamblin? Smith? Peterson? Maklelan? Volgadon?

... Bueller?

It would be too utterly cool if it turns out that the design of the First Temple itself is the ultimate record of anthropomorphic divinity (hermaphroditic, as if the Heavenly Father and Mother were united in the loving embrace of the hieros gamos to fuse their two genders into an androgynous whole) whom we enter into in order to be reborn.

Talk about "seeing God" when visiting a Temple! Like da Vinci's Vitruvian Man Squaring the Circle, or the Hindu Temples hiding the mahapurusha ("Cosmic Man") in the mandala governing the floor plan surrounding the Garbhagriha, the bridal-chamber-like Womb House Holy of Holies where only consecrated Priests are worthy to enter. The microcosm is the macrocosm, dudes. As above, so below.

/setting self up for disillusionment

[Robert F. Smith]

It would be too utterly cool if it turns out that the design of the First Temple itself is the ultimate record of anthropomorphic divinity (hermaphroditic, as if the Heavenly Father and Mother were united in the loving embrace of the hieros gamos to fuse their two genders into an androgynous whole) whom we enter into in order to be reborn.

Talk about "seeing God" when visiting a Temple! Like da Vinci's Vitruvian Man Squaring the Circle, or the Hindu Temples hiding the mahapurusha ("Cosmic Man") in the mandala governing the floor plan surrounding the Garbhagriha, the bridal-chamber-like Womb House Holy of Holies where only consecrated Priests are worthy to enter. The microcosm is the macrocosm, dudes. As above, so below.

/setting self up for disillusionment

I don't know about androgyny, but Tony Badillo obviously used as his sources the Jewish Qabbala, and R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz, The Temple of Man: Apet of the South at Luxor, 2 vols., trans. D. Lawlor & R. Lawlor (Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 1998), from Le Temple de l'homme, anthropocosmic purusha and all. The set is huge and it would have to be in the oversized section of a university library. My set cost me over $200.

You might also want to have a look at D. John Butler, Plain and Precious Things: The Temple Religion of the Book of Mormon’s Visionary Men (Amazon Digital Services eBook, 2012), for the temple layout and symbolism, and for his positioning of YHWH and His creatures inside the temple. I don't recall now whether di Santillana & von Dechend, Hamlet's Mill, contains anything along such lines, but it is possible.

Edited April 20, 2012 by Robert F. Smith

[JeremyOrbe-Smith]

Oh my stars, Smith, I must get those. *drool* Thanks for the recs!

[CV75]

As above, so below.

The world’s oldest temple: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/gobekli-tepe/mann-text

Note the motif involving “stylized human beings” and “bas-reliefs of animals”… In many ways Creation is man and the organisms he stewards as a complete entity; even our modern temples reflect that idea in their construction, design, teaching, etc.

But what impresses me is the thought that “We used to think agriculture gave rise to cities and later to writing, art, and religion. Now the world’s oldest temple suggests the urge to worship sparked civilization.”

[kolipoki09]

I suppose it's possible, given the tendency the Hebrew scriptures have of addressing the physical characteristics of deity in anthropomorphic terms. On a related note, Margaret Barker views the priestly tabernacle and it's later form as a temple as a metaphor for the creation. Those who ascended to the hill of the LORD did so to see the physical representation of the creation drama.

The first day (Genesis 1:1-5) represented the Holy of Holies, where the High Priest would invoke the presence of God on the Day of Atonement. The Holy of Holies signified perfection and that all things originated from God. The second day (Genesis 1:6-8 ) represented the Veil, which divided man from the presence of God just as waters above and below the firmament were divided from one another. The third day (Genesis 1:9-13) represented the Table for the Bread, and was illustrated through God causing the dry land to appear (the table) and all manner of plant life coming forth (the bread). The fourth day (Genesis 1:14-19) represented the Seven-Branched Lamp, and was illustrated by God causing the lights in the firmament to appear. The fifth day (Genesis 1:20-23) represented the Altar and the Burnt Offering. This is illustrated in the text by the appearance of animal life. The sixth day (Genesis 1:24-31) represented the High Priest. This was illustrated by the appearance of man on the earth.

Edited April 20, 2012 by kolipoki09

[JeremyOrbe-Smith]

CV75: Yeah, Gobekli is fascinating - I incorporated some stuff on it in a report for an archaeology class I took a few terms back.

kolipoki: I am a huge fan of Mrs. Barker. The insights she (and Nibley!) provide into the Creation Drama are fantastic.

[zerinus]

Swedenborg teaches that the structure of heaven is anthropomorphic and is in the human form, which he calls the "Grand Man".

Edited April 22, 2012 by zerinus

[CV75]

It would be interseting to see an LDS temple floor plan. A quick search http://en.wikipedia....28LDS_Church%29 brought up the Nauvoo first floor, which would show the head to the far left of the drawing, but not show the legs (or very stubby legs!).

The Salt Lake Temple floor plan doesn't look very anthropomorphic to me https://dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V29N03_9.pdf but perhaps if other aspects of the architecture were to be viewed from another angle (???)

Edited April 22, 2012 by CV75

[Ron Beron]

Well, my mind just got potentially blown. This can't be true, can it? I really, really want it to be true and not a crank call, but it seems too awesome to be legit, and the amateur/sensationalistic webdesign does nothing to ease my trepidation. Anyone more knowledgeable than I care to comment? Hamblin? Smith? Peterson? Maklelan? Volgadon?

... Bueller?

It would be too utterly cool if it turns out that the design of the First Temple itself is the ultimate record of anthropomorphic divinity (hermaphroditic, as if the Heavenly Father and Mother were united in the loving embrace of the hieros gamos to fuse their two genders into an androgynous whole) whom we enter into in order to be reborn.

Talk about "seeing God" when visiting a Temple! Like da Vinci's Vitruvian Man Squaring the Circle, or the Hindu Temples hiding the mahapurusha ("Cosmic Man") in the mandala governing the floor plan surrounding the Garbhagriha, the bridal-chamber-like Womb House Holy of Holies where only consecrated Priests are worthy to enter. The microcosm is the macrocosm, dudes. As above, so below.

/setting self up for disillusionment

The temple itself is modeled after several in Syria, especially the ‘Ain Dara Temple. All of these temples show a proclivity towards a "sun worship" rather that the heiros gamos which you suggest. In Biblical Archeaology Review 20:03 (May/June 1994). there is a fascinating article entitled "Was Yahweh Worshiped as the Sun?" by J. Glen Taylor. Other scholars such as Mark Smith (THE NEAR EASTERN BACKGROUND OF SOLAR LANGUAGE FOR YAHWEH) suggest similar connections.

[mfbukowski]

"The body is a temple".

The idea has been around a long time.

[mfbukowski]

To the mystic Christian Mason, CHiram. represents the Christ who in three days (degrees) raised the temple of His body from its earthly sepulcher. His three murderers were Cæsar's agent (the state), the Sanhedrin (the church), and the incited populace (the mob). Thus considered, CHiram becomes the higher nature of man and the murderers are ignorance, superstition, and fear. The indwelling Christ can give expression to Himself in this world only through man's thoughts, feelings, and actions. Right thinking, right feeling, and right action--these are three gates through which the Christ power passes into the material world, there to labor in the erection of the Temple of Universal Brotherhood. Ignorance, superstition, and fear are three ruffians through whose agencies the Spirit of Good is murdered and a false kingdom, controlled by wrong thinking, wrong feeling, and wrong action, established in its stead. In the material universe evil appears ever victorious.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/sta18.htm

[LDSToronto]

<deleted - wrong thread>

Edited April 23, 2012 by LDSToronto

[Xander]

Yes the original temple was designed after a rough sketch of a man laying down, but what man is debatable.

[JeremyOrbe-Smith]

Well, yeah. My point was mostly that Giant Dude = Totally Rad.

[Xander]

Well, yeah. My point was mostly that Giant Dude = Totally Rad.

Why?

Sorry, I don't get why you're so ecstatic about it.

[altersteve]

"The body is a temple".

The idea has been around a long time.

Wish I could give you two rep points for this.

Edited April 23, 2012 by altersteve

[JeremyOrbe-Smith]

I don't get why you're so ecstatic about it.

I like humans. Anyone who's read my posts on this forum knows that anthropomorphism is a hobby-horse of mine. Anything that might help to contribute to people seeing something divine in each other's primate bodies is a Good Thing in my book.

[Xander]

I like humans.

Touche!

[Robert F. Smith]

"The body is a temple".

The idea has been around a long time.

Yessir,

However, I just found a slightly different, more communal twist on it in a book by Joseph Fitzmyer (a Jesuit and now prof. emeritus at Catholic Univ. of America), The Semitic Background of the New Testament (Eerdmans, 1997), 2 vols in one, At I:214-215, he says of "the followers of Christ":

As a community they constitute the temple of God. The same theme can be found also in genuine Pauline passages like I Cor 3:16-17 and Eph 2:21-22. But the idea of the community as the "holy of holies" is a notion cherished by the Qumran Essenes. "At that time the men of the community shall be set apart as a sanctuary for Aaron (

byt qwdsh l'hrwn

), being united as the Holy of Holies, and those who walk in perfection as a house of community for Israel" (

wbyt yhd lysr'l

, IQS 9:5-7), etc.

[The Nehor]

I like humans.

[JeremyOrbe-Smith]

[mfbukowski]

Yessir,

However, I just found a slightly different, more communal twist on it in a book by Joseph Fitzmyer (a Jesuit and now prof. emeritus at Catholic Univ. of America), The Semitic Background of the New Testament (Eerdmans, 1997), 2 vols in one, At I:214-215, he says of "the followers of Christ":

As a community they constitute the temple of God. The same theme can be found also in genuine Pauline passages like I Cor 3:16-17 and Eph 2:21-22. But the idea of the community as the "holy of holies" is a notion cherished by the Qumran Essenes. "At that time the men of the community shall be set apart as a sanctuary for Aaron (

byt qwdsh l'hrwn

), being united as the Holy of Holies, and those who walk in perfection as a house of community for Israel" (

wbyt yhd lysr'l

, IQS 9:5-7), etc.

Great quote. And then that would make the temple the "Body of Christ" as well in a New Testament sense. And then we have the veil of the temple representing the temple which would be torn down and rebuilt in 3 days, with references to Hebrews 10:20

Very cool stuff. Not much time to respond at length at the moment but clearly we are onto the Crux of the issue, if you catch my drift. And as Isaiah knew well, one must have a sure place to put a nail in any building project.

[Robert F. Smith]

Great quote. And then that would make the temple the "Body of Christ" as well in a New Testament sense.

And in the Roman Catholic sense as well.

And then we have the veil of the temple representing the temple which would be torn down and rebuilt in 3 days, with references to Hebrews 10:20

Hadn't noticed that ref before. Thanks.

So both Jesus and the veil of the Temple are destroyed and rebuilt in three days.

And as Isaiah knew well, one must have a sure place to put a nail in any building project.

Yes, Isaiah 22:23-25, which I like to compare with de Santillana & von Dechend, Hamlet's Mill, 123, and passim, who observe that the return of the rule of Kronos-Saturn (as described by Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue, just before Christ), under the sign of Pisces and Virgo, took place at the birth of Jesus, it must be noted that Saturn is to be identified as the Lord and Pivot of the Mill of the Gods, i.e., he is Polaris, and Polaris is none other than the “north nail” or “World Nail.” Saturn is to be identified as Yahweh/Jesus the Messiah, who is there the Son of God, and whose crucifixion is symbolized by signs familiar to every Christian. That he should also be the central peg of the turning mill of time and destiny, and the way into and out of the watery abyss of death and hell is actually entirely appropriate.

[Nathair/|\]

Well, yeah. My point was mostly that Giant Dude = Totally Rad.

I assume you are familiar with Cerne Abbas?

[JeremyOrbe-Smith]

I am! And the Long Man of Wilmington! I am all about folks making Giant People Art.

(This isn't my photo, but I was lucky enough to make it down myself to that last one, Our Virgin Lady, the Queen Mary of Quito. Pretty awesome!)

(Of course, I'd feel a lot less guilty about appreciating the artistry if such things hadn't been built so often on the blood, sweat, tears, and plundered goods of the lower castes. Sigh.)