THE GREAT SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES
AS IT APPEARS ON THE BACK OF THE $1 DOLLAR BILL
NOTE: THE GREAT SEAL IS DISPLAYED HERE FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.
(AP) Conspiracy theorists take note: The myths surrounding one of America's oldest and most enduring national symbols are about to be debunked ... if you believe the government, that is.
The keepers of the Great Seal of the United States, the familiar emblem on the back of the $1 bill, want you to know what it is not. It is not a sign that Freemasons run the country, it has nothing to do with the occult, and it does not contain clues to a fabulous hidden treasure.
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Partial summary of statements by Joseph Campbell on the symbolism contained in the Great Seal:
Obverse:
The eagle is the incarnation principle of the deity, the American counterpart of the eagle of Zeus, the highest god. The eagle is the downcoming of the god into the field of time - descending into the world of the pairs of opposites, which is the field of action. Thirteen arrows in one claw for war, a laurel leaf with thirteen leaves for peace in the other. The eagle is looking toward peace.
Above his head are thirteen stars in the form of Solomon's Seal. Each triangle is a Pythagorean tetrakys, where the apex represents the creative center, out of which energy, the universe and everything comes.
As soon as this energy enters the field of time, it breaks into pairs of opposites. When you have two, you have three ways of relationship; this one dominant over that one, that one dominant over this one, or both balanced in accord. From these three relationships, all things in the four quarters of space derive (out of Tao - the transcendent - comes the One; out of One come Two; out of Two come Three; out of Three come all things). Two of these symbolic triangles are interlocked on the Great Seal, creating thirteen points with six apexes - one above, one below, and four in the four quarters. The sense of this is that from above or below or from any point of the compass, the creative Word might be heard, so that anyone from any quarter might speak the truth, because no one is cut off from it.
This is the great thesis of democracy.
Reverse:
There are thirteen ranges on the pyramid, this is the number of states and the number of transformation, resurrection, and rebirth or new life.
The desert behind the pyramid is representitive of the past; the plants in the foreground are representitive of the future.
The pyramid has four sides. These are the four points of a compass. Someone could be at any point at the lower levels of the pyramid. When you get to the top, all the points come together and the eye of the God of Reason opens up.
We were the first nation established on the basis of reason. It symbolizes that all people in the world are capable of reason, without special revelation or authority reserved for the privileged.
This is the fundamental principle of democracy.
