Throughout Wester n History , Pythagoreanis m ha s ha d a
checkered bu t honorabl e career .
The Pythagorea n brotherhoo d wa s founde d b y Pythagora s
to appl y hi s mathematical , philosophica l an d harmoni c the ories
t o th e mora l an d practica l sphere s o f everyda y life .
Within decades it dissolved, but small groups and isolated individuals
continue d t o regar d themselve s a s Pythagoreans .
Number mysticis m becam e degenerat e o r diffuse , bu t
Pythagorean principle s o f rhythm , harmon y an d proportion
continued t o exercis e a n important , sometime s a command ing,
influenc e i n ar t an d architecture ; thes e principle s made
(and make) sens e to all thos e individuals whose personal experience
compelle d a belie f in a fundamental order . Throughou t
Western histor y th e grea t creativ e talent s hav e bee n explicitly
or implicitl y Pythagoreans .
Plato, especiall y i n th e Timaeus, showe d himself a Pythagorean,
a s wer e th e Neoplatonist s o f Alexandri a i n th e third , fourth an d fift h centurie s AD . Th e earl y Christia n churc h
seems t o hav e evince d n o interest , bu t Boethius , wit h Rom e
crumbling abou t him i n th e sixt h century , gathere d togethe r
what remaine d o f Pythagorea n doctrin e an d wrot e i t dow n
before bein g bludgeone d t o deat h b y Theodoric . Thoug h
apparently no t a Christian , Boethiu s enjoye d grea t estee m
within th e otherwis e intoleran t church , an d Pythagoreanism
was neve r entirel y submerged .
Enlightened elements within Islam , probabl y inheriting the
teaching of the late r Neoplatonists, kep t th e flame alive; and it
seems possibl e tha t i t ma y hav e survived , mor e or les s under ground,
i n Gnostic , Hermeti c and alchemical societies . I n any
case, i t survive d (or , conceivably , wa s reformulate d afres h
through direc t revelation) , fo r i t surface d i n ful l flowe r i n th e
Gothic cathedrals .
Much myster y stil l surrounds th e building of the cathedrals.
The technique s employe d were not part of th e Christian tradi tion
u p t o tha t time ; th e effec t create d b y th e cathedral s was
unlike anythin g earlier , an d no on e toda y i s certai n where the
knowledge cam e from . Th e cathedra l builder s appeare d i n
France i n th e eleventh century. Fo r the next three centuries the
movement wa s widesprea d ove r Europe , an d whateve r wa s
responsible fo r th e guidin g spiri t seeme d t o disappea r a s
abruptly a s it had appeared. In the later cathedrals (St. Peter's,
Rome; St . Paul's , London , fo r example) th e spiritua l effec t is
not th e same ; everyon e notices .
That effec t i s no t th e resul t o f accident. No r is it a concomitant
o f shee r size : moder n structure s fai l t o conve y a similar
effect, thoug h i t ma y b e tha t th e Empir e Stat e Buildin g and
Waterloo Statio n d o conve y a sens e o f th e 'sacred ' t o techno crats
an d financiers . Th e cathedral s 'work' , a s d o th e Par thenon
an d th e Ta j Mahal , becaus e whoeve r designe d them
had precis e an d profoun d knowledg e o f universa l harmonic ,
rhythmic an d proportiona l laws , an d equally precise and profound
knowledge of the manner in which t o employ these laws
in orde r t o creat e th e desire d effect .
The cathedral ag e represents the height of European civilisation.
The precise knowledge tha t went in to building the cathedrals
wa s mysteriousl y lost , o r diffused, never again t o become
a visibl e livin g forc e i n th e West . Bu t i t percolate d dow n
through th e guilds , throug h th e alchemists , th e Cabbalists ,
Rosicrucians an d Masoni c order s — wit h whos e wor k
Schwaller d e Lubic z wa s thoroughl y familiar .