The Natural Sun
Announcements about our sun and its natural conditions
- Chapter 19 -
Interior of a plain temple. Temple Orchestra
You now know that the temple comprises fifteen rooves, namely the big central roof, with seven rooves on each side of it. At the centre of each roof inside, there is a magnificent spiral staircase, which reaches right into the roof with rising magnificence and deeper significations with each higher roof towards the central one.
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There is no such staircase beneath the highest central roof however, as instead the roof is carried by shining blue-red pillars about thirty in number. These pillars reach nearly double the height of those of the actual temple, which is the reason for the greater height of this central section of the temple.
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These pillars are enclosed with seven circular galleries, which can be reached by a spiral staircase around the pillar. Each pillar is wound around by a staircase up to the seventh gallery. In the midst of this great temple-rotunda stands a great main pillar reaching up to the highest point of the high roof. At the place where the fourth gallery surrounds the pillar there is a walkway from the main pillar in four directions, i.e. two walkways crossing at this pillar.
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From these crossways, a very wide spiral staircase rises around the main pillar right up to the highest rooftop. The galleries running around this main rotunda of columns likewise are supported by shining rainbow-type arches, each of which is of a single colour; but since there are seven galleries there are also seven supporting arches, each shining with a different colour. Looking over all the seven galleries one enjoys seeing a scattered rainbow.
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In this main middle rotunda of the temple the gallery rails give the appearance of glowing gold and although of the highest craftsmanship themselves, have their enclosed areas augmented by all kinds of smaller ornamentation of every colour, somewhat like the artfully crafted gold and silver emperor's crown, further adorned with all kinds of expertly polished precious stones.
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The armrests upon the gallery rails are of shining dark-red, whilst the gallery floors look like a star-studded sky.
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The middle pillar, rising from the floor to the highest roof-tip looks like a fiery cloud-column. What actually is the purpose of this main pillar? Firstly, it helps to support the heavy roof, the natural use. Secondly, the roof top can be reached by the spiral staircase for potential roof repairs over time. Thirdly, climbing is employed inside this largest educational institution to train men to overcoming dizziness on looking down. The sun dwellers are especially in need of this, notably those thinking of rising through the various building professions. Man's willpower also is tested at various heights to determine at what height his will is still effective over the ground. For you need to remember that the pillar height is not inconsiderable and in some temples can compete in height with your highest mountains even from sea level.
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This pillar is also of enormous girth, especially at the base with a diameter of two hundred metres, of course, tapering off gradually pyramid-fashion towards the rooftop. With such a girth, you can also imagine the roominess of the staircases around it, which are wide enough at the base for a hundred persons climbing abreast and the seven galleries around them in turn, are of immense roominess as are also the intersecting walkways connecting the middle galleries with the main pillar; these walkways too are wide enough for a hundred persons abreast.
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How are these crossed walkways and the entire central gallery utilized? Behold, this will interest you, for here is the orchestra for the entire temple. On every walkway there are seventy-seven harps, whilst on the gallery there are seats for the leading singers. Upon this gallery and two walkways, a hymn of praise to the Great God is sung accompanied by harps after every service, the entire extensive temple majestically resounding therewith.
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You should not think the tone of these harps is like its Earthly counterpart; the tone of these harps is so exceedingly pure and capable of such swelling from pianissimo to forte that you cannot conceptualise it on Earth. With regard to its volume, there your loudest bell is pianissimo by comparison. As for its gentlest tones however, none of your instruments are capable of producing its truly spirit-like soft tones. Besides, your harp-tone is of short duration, whilst that of a sun harp continues to sound until cut off by the player. And such a harp is also capable of all kinds of tone-variations, to the extent that such a harp could replace a full Earth orchestra tenfold. Considering this will give you the impression of a sun concert.
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This is also the actual purpose of this main temple rotunda. It is the actual house of prayer for this temple, within which nothing is to be carried on that is not in harmony with unanimous praise of the Great God.
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Only the testing of willpower is carried on at the different heights of this pillar, but that too within this house of prayer, so that all men's wills should unite all the more with that of the Great God. With this go the training exercises, to actually achieve people looking down indifferently without becoming dizzy.
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Such exercises should not be too bad for Earth either where people are eminently prone to becoming dizzy because people are already filled with dread when looking down from a man's height, and the higher a man's status, the more unbearable the giddy height, which at times runs wild to where some exalted noble would prefer being shot with ten canons at a time rather than even once look into the depths on a work-day and see himself donning a farmer's simple jacket: is this exaggerated? Not at all! Just look at a nobleman; do they not prefer to have their sons torn and hewn into a thousand pieces by the enemy on the battlefield, rather than have such a noble son come to his high nobility parents and say: I would rather become a peasant than be shot as a commander by an enemy on the battlefield.
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Behold, in order to make people giddy-proof in this respect, it would be highly recommended for them to attend such a pillar-climbing school. But Earth people are still too fond of themselves in this their most destructive sickness. Hence we shall return to where they take appropriate steps, to guard against this sickness in the natural and spiritual sense.
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It hardly needs repeating that this main temple rotunda is too sublimely beautiful and marvellous for you. Whoever can even moderately awaken his imagination shall be able to form a small concept. But a complete concept shall only be formed by whoever will be able to see such wonders with their own and transcendent eyes and with their own sensitive spiritual ears hear the music of the heavens.
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Regarding the other parts of the temple, these are assigned partly to divine education and partly as accommodation for students as well as teachers, with one wing for the male and another for the female sexes, who never encounter each other in the temple except in the rotunda, but certainly outside the temple, in frequent walks through the free solar air, as also during scaling higher mountain regions.
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So much for the temple exterior and interior. The ground surrounds-system is like that of the private houses, except for the size being proportionate to the number of residents.
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If therefore permanent temple-resident numbers reach ten thousand, then the ground area is that many half acres by your measure, excepting the broader promenades dividing the fields, and the lower surrounding fruit trees are at sufficiently low levels to avoid obstructing the view of the temple.
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It is also the reason for an extensive, luscious, vivid deep-green lawn around the temple.
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Bordering the lawn are water fountains that sprinkle both the lawn and the further descending grounds.
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Behold, this is a temple of the first variety. Next time we shall look at the following two types. And so we shall leave it at that for today.