The Temple of Man: Apet of the South at Luxor

by R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz, Deborah Lawlor (Translator), Robert Lawlor (Translator)

Two 544-page volumes, cloth with slipcase The monumental Temple of Man represents the most important breakthrough in our understanding of Ancient Egypt since the discovery of the Rosetta stone. This exhaustive and authoritative study reveals the depths of the mathematical, medical, and metaphysical sophistication of Ancient Egypt. Schwaller de Lubicz's stone-by-stone survey of the temple of Amun-Mut-Khonsu at Luxor allows us to step into the mentality of Ancient Egypt and experience the Egyptian way of thinking within the context of their own worldview.

His study finds the temple to be an eloquent expression and summary--an architectural encyclopedia--of what the Egyptians knew of humanity and the universe. Through a reading of the temple's measures and proportions, its axes and orientations, and the symbolism and placement of its bas-reliefs, along with the accompanying studies of related medical and mathematical papyri, Schwaller de Lubicz demonstrates how advanced the civilization of Ancient Egypt was, a civilization that possessed exalted knowledge and achievements both materially and spiritually. In so doing, Schwaller de Lubicz effectively demonstrates that Ancient Egypt, not Greece, is at the base of Western science, civilization, and culture.

To understand the temple of Luxor, twelve years of field work were undertaken with the utmost exactitude by Schwaller de Lubicz in collaboration with French archaeologist Clement Robichon and the respected Egyptologist Alexandre Varille. From this work were produced over 1000 pages of text and proofs of the sacred geometry of the temple and 400 illustrations and photographs that make up The Temple of Man .

The Temple of Man is a monument to inspired insight, conscientious scholarship, and exacting archaeological groundwork that represents a major contribution to humanity's perennial search for self-knowledge and the prehistoric origins of its culture and science.

Genres: History, Egypt, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Spirituality, Reference, Science

1088 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Known to English readers primarily for his work in uncovering the spiritual and cosmological insights of ancient Egypt. In books like Esotericism and Symbol, The Temple in Man, Symbol and the Symbolic, The Egyptian Miracle, and the monumental The Temple of Man--whose long awaited English translation has finally appeared--Schwaller de Lubicz argued, among other things, that Egyptian civilization is much older than orthodox Egyptologists suggest, a claim receiving renewed interest through the recent work of Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval.

If his view of Egyptian antiquity wasn't enough to place him securely beyond the pale, he also argued that the core of ancient Egyptian culture was a fundamental insight into "the laws of creation." Everything about Egyptian civilization, from the construction of the pyramids to the shape of a beer mug, de Lubicz claimed to be motivated by a central metaphysical vision about the nature of cosmic harmony and an awareness of humanity's place in the evolution of consciousness. As his translator Deborah Lawlor remarks (introduction to Nature Word 47), Schwaller de Lubicz's Egyptian studies are only a part of his overall work as a metaphysician and philosopher.

Born in Alsace-Lorraine, then part of Germany, René Schwaller grew up in a polyglot atmosphere. (He was later given the title "de Lubicz" by the Lithuanian poet and diplomat O. V. de Lubicz Milosz, for his efforts on behalf of Lithuania in the aftermath of World War I.) Alsace-Lorraine has oscillated between French and German rule many times since Schwaller's birth, and this Franco-Germanic blend lends a curious characteristic to his work. As Christopher Bamford (introduction to Schwaller’s Study of Numbers 1) suggests, Schwaller thought in German, but wrote in French. Added to the inherent difficulties of expressing nonlinear, "living" insights in "dead" linear language, this odd combination places many obstacles before a first-time reader. As he wrote apropos the insights into "functional consciousness," presented in his truly hermetic work, Nature Word (129): "Nature had shown me a great mountain, crowned with a peak of immaculate whiteness, but she was unable to teach me the way leading to it."

Readers wishing to grasp Schwaller's insights may feel that they, too, have found themselves at the foot of a very steep mountain. This challenging prospect would not have fazed Schwaller. He believed knowledge was the right only of those willing to make the effort to achieve it, the elite who would endure suffering in their pursuit of wisdom. This sensibility influenced his political views as well.

(extracted from "Rene Schwaller de Lubicz and the Intelligence of the Heart", by Gary Lachman: http://www.unitedearth.com.au/lubicz....)

Reviews

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is staggering in its achievement, and staggering in the effort it demands from the reader. Worth it, but lots of work. I've sunk hours and hours into it and am proud to be on page 60 (when I first wrote this).

Sacred Geometry, Egyptian worldview, the doctrine of the study of man as the universe.

Best quote so far:

You are I are not two. In the identity of form, in the origin and in the end, we are one.
I am responsible for your evil and your good, for your truth and your falsehood. I can do nothing to change you now, but I can improve you by improving myself.

I'm updating this review and downranking it to 4 stars. After spending a lot of time with this and its undeniable revelations and transmitive power, I do feel there is an aspect of sacred geometry where, without knowing what was in the mind of the builder, one can after the fact apply analytical tools and perhaps find meaning and order that was not consciously intended by the builder, and I do think some of that is in evidence here.

The thing is, in an inspired construction not all meaning is conscious. Same as an inspired analysis.

So yes, a transmission.

[Contrail Storey · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're really into ancient Kemet, Schwaller de Lubicz pulls out the microscope in The Temple of Man. His direct comparison of the Luxor Temple to that of Human Anatomy gives a true scope of what was being studied in the Ancient learning centers along the Nile River Valley.

[Alex Bigney · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love reading schwaller, but this is more an encyclopedia than something to sit and read through. i will be reading it for a long time.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow. Talk about deep. I'd give it a higher rating, but it's so laborious to dig through. Definately for the hardcore students of egyptian thinking, math and sacred geometry.

[Soren Kerk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was given to me by a friend who had found it too dense to read.
I flew through it like a bird.
I finally understand 1 and 2 and 3.

A great book. Thank you Schwaller de Lubicz.

[Todd Bender · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very difficult topic, but well worth the many months it took to read, reread, and reread again. The author did an amazing job at thining outside the box, albeit not such a great job at keeping the reader enthusiastic about the material. However, the discoveries made more than make up for any shortcomings in presentation.

[Christian Irigaray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the greatest work in Pharaonic mathematics and geometry, the "Sacred Science" used in their art and architecture. Schwaller was a genious of the 20th century who spent many years in Egyt studying the Luxor Temple, the "Temple of Man" which is a gigantic megalithic monument to Man and the divine powers at work within.
To anyone interested in Pythagorean mathematics and Sacred Geometry with its root in Pharaonic Egypt, this is a must. The work is translated from the french by Robert Lawlor who is author of Sacred Geometry: Philosophy and Practice. Schwaller's Temple of Man is a most impressive and still unrecognized/unregistered in its findings on the Pharaonic science of measure, proportion, and philosophical meaning regarding Pharaonic art.

[Frederik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought I read this, but it turns out to be the way thicker version of the book I read (Temple IN Man). So I'll go ahead and give it five stars already and mark it as want to read.

[Richard Kriheli · Rating 5 out of 5]

probably one of the greatest achievements in writing and research - ever.

[Distorture · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dense and occult writing with superlative graphics on slick paper.