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202
BC8ICEUCTAN PHILOSOPHY
QUESTION No. 100.
What is the meaning of the cross? Is it simply an in-
strument of torture as usually taught in the orthodox
religion ?
Anstver: Like all other symbols, the meanings of the
cross are many. Plato gave one of these meanings when
he said, "The Worldsoul is crucified," that is to say: We
have four kingdoms in the world the mineral, the plant,
the animal and the man.
The mineral kingdom ensouls all chemical substance of
whatever kind, so that th^ cross, of whatever material it is
made, is first a symbol of that kingdom.
The upright lower limb of the cross is a symbol of the
plant kingdom because the currents of the group spirits
which give life to the plants come from the center of the
earth where these group ppirits are located and reach out
toward the periphery of our planet and into space.
The upper limb of the cross is the symbol of man, be-
cause the life currents of the human kingdom pass downward
from the sun through the vertical spine. Thus man
is the inverted plant, for as the plant takes its food through
the root, passing it upward, so does the man take his nourishment
by way of the hpad, passing it downward. The
plant is chaste, pure and passionless, and stretches its creative
organ, the flower, chastely and unashamed toward the
sun, a thing of beauty and delight. Man turns his passion
filled generative organ toward the earth. Man inhales the
life giving oxygen and exhales the poisonous carbon dioxide.
The plant takes the poison exhaled by man, building its