Bernhard taught us that the body is the temple of the dancer. The idea was to embody spirit, to fill the temple with spirit. To do this we have to bring movement right down to the feet and out to the other extremities. It is not a mechanical discipline.
“To build the temple,” he said, “all you need is a square and the pendulum.” I have worked with the Pendulum since then. Until my ankle was sprained in 2007 it gave me a very sturdy foundation. I am still working with the Square and will explore some aspects of it on my other site.
At school I had three squares, a tee-square, an isosceles square and a scalene square, all sides different.
Bernhard taught us that when the student was ready, the Temple would open its doors. When we, as individuals are ready to take up our responsibility within the group, we are ready to join the group.
He demonstrated the three positions of the Apprentice, Journeyman and Master through his diagram of the Temple and told us that there were eight pillars to the temple.
These he then drew within the circle of the year. He was rightly very proud of that diagram.
I have tried fro time to time to identify the pillars as I progressed along my way. I realised that at one time I was working as a scaffolder. Building platforms for others to work from. We might enumerate the pillars to include, plasterer, painter, scaffolder, builder, sculptor, carpenter, designer and accountant. Each of these a task essential to the harmonious building of a medieval cathedral. Today we might name them differently or include other skills such as plumber and electrician.
In Architecture we learn that the square, or right angle, is found only in the Foot of the human. All the other joints are triangles. It is only on reaching the head that we come to the dome.
These three forms represent the earth or body, the world of matter represented by the square and the cross. A cross is only a square with its corners pointed to the centre. The mind is represented by the triangle. And the heavens or spirit is the sphere or dome. For the dancer dancing within both Cube and Sphere he or she is dancing in the world of Matter and of Spirit. For some the two are synonymous. There is only one Creation, it is within, the Mind of God.