216 FROM THE ART OF BUILDING TO THE ART OF THINKINGthe contruction of the southern side of the ancient Parisian church Saint
Jacques de la Boucherie.^8 This same Nicholas Flamel gave two paintings
to this church in 1413, one of which is called An Image of a
Misericorde of Our Lord, whereas the other depicts the Passion and the
Resurrection.^9 It so happens that the coat of arms of the Parisian
masons and stonecutters depicted the Resurrection and Ascension of
Jesus Christ. Another famous architect and Hermetic philosopher from
a later time is Philibert Delorme, the builder of many "dwellings for
philosophers," who was "general master of the masonry of the king-
dom as well as the king's chaplain.^10
It is important to underscore that the immense symbolism, the true
thought of the Middle Ages, was not only the philosophical province of
great doctors and scholars; it had a universal teaching power and the
Church understood how to impart it to the masses. This is why there
exists such perfect unity between different works—though of course the
artisans who crafted it, be they ever so humble, were admirable artists.
That masons may have benefited from outside contributions to
their repetoire of symbolic expression is beyond doubt. But the terrain
was prepared beforehand to receive them. Traditional symbolism was a
framework that was ready to accept these diverse influences. A vital
force fully aware of its own universal nature, it did not hesitate to cre-
ate the synthesis and transmutation of everything it found valid in its
inheritance from the past. Hence it is legitimate to detect the most
diverse influences in traditional symbolism, but it would be erroneous
to view it as debatable syncretism, or even heresy. Furthermore, during
the Middle Ages everything, even that which seems most profane to us,
remained within the universal Christian vision, marked by a connection
between the visible and invisible. Our modern mind, habituated as
much to a strictly logical method of reasoning as to crystalized dogmas,
often finds it difficult to perceive such a mentality. Convincing evidence
exists, however, that from the times of earliest antiquity to the time of
Descartes, the modes of expressing thought were essentially esoteric
and symbolic. At the risk of perplexing our Cartesian, habit-trained
minds, it is not rash to state that such a system of logic equally deserves
the label of rationalist, because it simultaneously addresses the two
poles of thought (discursive and intuitive). Modern scholars, moreover,