Royal art

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term royal art (lat. Ars regia , English royal art ) now stands for either Freemasonry or “practical” alchemy .

etymology

Plato used the term royal art (gr. Basilikê technê ) to describe philosophy ("love of wisdom").

Based on the verb “can”, the term “art” initially meant “knowledge, wisdom, knowledge”, but also “science” ( see also: Seven Liberal Arts ). Then the term was also used in the sense of "skill, dexterity acquired through practice" and "skill".

Alchemy

Elias Ashmole was translating alchemical books from Latin into English during the 1650s. From his diaries is known that he in 1646 a member of October 16 Masonic Lodge in Warrington ( Lancashire was).

Freemasonry

James Anderson used the term royal art in his constitution book from 1723 to describe "building science in many places as the noblest and most distinguished of all arts."

This building science is in Freemasonry as an art at the building of the temple of humanity transferred symbolically to humans, within the meaning of the categorical imperative about self-knowledge ( you Know yourself ) and self-education for one's neighbor and love of enemy is. The symbolic model here is the temple of Solomon , who in the legend in a dream wished for a hearing heart to listen to the law . ( 1 Kings 3,9-13  EU )

“Freemasonry as an art of living can also be described as a royal art; for Freemasonry recognizes love as its highest commandment, and this commandment becomes the royal, i.e. H. called the highest, most excellent. Jak 2,8  EU : "If you complete the royal law according to the scripture: 'Love your neighbor as yourself', you do well." [...] "

Mackey assumes in his Lexicon of Freemasonry that “Masonry has been called a royal art, not only because it received its present form from the hands of Solomon, King of Israel and Hiram, King of Tire […], but especially because of the dignity and majesty of the principles which it imprints and which elevates it so high above all other arts [...]. "

Art is communicative and conveys something. It therefore differs from the merely pleasant art of games “which have no further interest than making time go by unnoticed. Fine art, on the other hand, is a mode of representation that is purposeful in itself and, although without purpose, nonetheless promotes the culture of the emotional forces for sociable communication. "

According to Johann Christian Gädicke , royal art therefore consists in tempting people to do what is good and keeping them away from evil - without having to seek refuge in the force of law and thus also in planning large buildings (such as the Temple of Humanity ). This symbolic temple work is supported by the three pillars of wisdom, strength and beauty.

Hegel's aesthetics see in art the appearance of the absolute in the form of perception, its beauty stands "between the sensual as such and the pure thought."

It is precisely this beauty that, according to Friedrich Schiller, leads the “sensual person to form and thought” and “the spiritual person is led back to matter and returned to the world of the senses.” The protection of the lodges of Freemasonry enables each individual member to “ king ” over his or her thoughts be, d. H. he is expressly granted freedom of thought - a right that for a long time was exclusively a privilege of the rulers. Johann Gottfried Herder, in particular, turns against this supposed exclusivity of freedom of thought in his letters, Writings on Aesthetics, as the mouthpiece of the Enlightenment.

Philosophy, religion and (royal) art have the fundamental common task of world orientation, existence illumination and metaphysics . While philosophy starts from the sensual and seeks to grasp it scientifically through reason, art fulfills this task through the sensual. The truth of philosophy lies in the conclusiveness of reasonable arguments, whereas the truth of art lies in the perfection of its presentation. Art is about the beauty of the work, while the goal of philosophy is the generality of theory and is not interested in being beautiful.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Freiherr von Campenhausen, Erich Dinkler, Gerhard Gloege, Knut E. Løgstrup, Kurt Galling (eds.): The religion in past and present: Concise dictionary for theology and religious studies . 3. Edition
  2. ^ Karl Christoph Schmieder: History of Alchemy . Halle, Verlag der Buchhandlung des orphanage, 1832. Page 112 (PDF)
  3. ^ Plato: Euthydemus . In: Complete works in ten volumes. Based on the translation by Friedrich Schleiermacher, supplemented by translations by Franz Susemihl and others. Ed. V. Karl-Heinz Hülzer. Volume 3, Frankfurt a. M., Leipzig, 1991. 291 b.
  4. ↑ Duden: Dictionary of Origin - Etymology of the German Language . 7th volume, 3rd edition. Brockhaus AG, ISBN 3-411-04073-4 .
  5. ↑ a b General Manual of Freemasonry. Third edition of Lenning's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry , Association of German Freemasons, Leipzig , completely revised and brought in line with the new scientific research . Max Hesse's publishing house, 1900.
  6. ↑ Immanuel Kant : Critique of Judgment
  7. ↑ Robert Macoy: A Dictionary of Freemasonry . Gramercy 2000, ISBN 978-0-517-69213-4 .
  8. ↑ Peter Kunzmann, Franz-Peter Burkard, Frank Wiedmann: dtv-Atlas for philosophy . Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, ISBN 978-3-423-03229-2 .
  9. ↑ Friedrich Schiller: On the aesthetic education of people , 18th letter, 624
  10. ↑ Karl Jaspers : Philosophy 3 volumes (I. Philosophical world orientation; II. Existence illumination; III. Metaphysics). Springer, Berlin 1932, ISBN 3-540-12120-X .
  11. ↑ Anno Anzenbacher: Introduction to Philosophy . Herder publishing house. Pages 34–35