Temple legend
The Temple legend tells the story of the building of King Solomon's temple by the architect Hiram Abiff (an early incarnation of the Individuality of Christian Rosenkreutz), and includes the linked legend of the Molten sea.
The legend plays an important role in the rosecrucian tradition, for more context see the introduction on Paradise legend
Hiram Abiff symbolizes the Human 'I', and the story represents the transition to build the temple of Man and his higher self or Man's higher triad, along with the challenges the threefold soul faces as the lower three of Man's bodily principles inhibit the development of the higher ones.
Illustrations
Schema FMC00.330 provides a schematic overview of the Temple Legend and the building of Solomon's temple (click three times to enlarge)
Lecture coverage and references
Coverage
Rudolf Steiner covers the topics of the Temple legend in many lectures,
- the first reference is 1904/5-GA093 (Temple legend) with four main lectures:
- 1910-06-10 on Cain and Abel,
- 1905-05-15 and 22 and 29 on the lost temple and how it is to be restored
- and further references in 1904-11-04, 1905-10-23
- the most extensive coverage is in GA265, oa p 379-386 and p 400-416
- furthermore also in GA046 p 430-437
Extracts
1905-05-29
1906-12-17-GA096
1907-05-21-GA284
1907-11-25-GA100
1913-03-25-GA145
1915-12-19-GA165
