“The most primitive and fundamental of all symbols is the dot.” — Manly P. Hall; Lectures on Ancient Philosophy

The ancient symbol known as the dot in the circle, circled dot, circle with a point, or a circumpunct, is one of the oldest symbols known to humans.

According to Gnostics, it is the most primal aspect of God. To Greek philosophers and the Pythagoreans, the circumpunct represents God, or the Monad – the point of the beginning of creation, and eternity.

It is the sun of astrologers and astronomers; the alchemical gold of the alchemist, and the Keter of the Kabbalah.

33rd Freemason, and one of Masonry’s foremost scholars, Manly P. Hall had written about the circumpunct in the Lectures on Ancient Philosophy view;

“The keys to all knowledge are contained in the dot, the line, and the circle. The dot is universal consciousness, the line is universal intelligence, and the circle is universal force – the threefold, unknowable Cause of all knowable existence (the three hypostases of Atma).

In man the spirit is represented by the dot and conscious activity or intelligence by the line. Conscious activity is the key to intelligence, because consciousness belongs to the sphere of the dot and activity to the sphere of the circle.

The center and the circumference are thus blended in the connecting line – conscious activity or intelligence. The circle is the symbol of body and body is the limit of the radius of the activity of mind power pouring out of the substance of consciousness.”

The circle around the dot is the universe or world in which we live.

A blank canvas to draw from the circle that we wish to create.

A place to also retreat back from the world when things in life get too chaotic. Erase our problems in ‘order’ to have a clean slate.

In a sense, to redeem our souls.

As you can see, the circumpunct is a symbol that can help evolve our souls to become truly illuminated. An enlightened soul who is “I AM.”

In order to know the meaning of this symbol, you first must understand how the world in which we live operates.

The modern man-made world is ruled by chaos which confuses people and often leads their souls astray.

Man-u-fact-ured chaos.

This is why the motto of the 33rd degree of Freemasonry is ORDO AB CHAO.

A Latin term meaning “Order from (out of) Chaos.”

To find order, we must first look within our own selves. You do not find true order within by searching without in books or buying the latest online course from some self-proclaimed enlightened guru who claims they have all the answers.

The whole goal of going within is to find your true soul. To find your true self. To “KNOW THYSELF.”

To KNOW THYSELF, we must go WITHIN THYSELF.

To accomplish this, we must silence the outside world and any chaotic thinking by going within and finding the center of space that is within each one of us.

In a sense, meditate.

We must often leave the web of the man-made reality of confusion in order to move into the circumpunct where we find clarity and retain our true selves.

The knowing of who you are, who you were, and where you are heading.

The symbol to your own individual Gnosis, knowledge, the past, and our mission as an evolving soul in life is contained in the dot within the circle. Our mission is to go there.

To be one with the one. To be you.

The symbol of the circumpunct is the ancient symbol that helps us realize this truth. If you concentrate on the circumpunct, you can visualize your soul as the dot within the world of which we live.

Think and meditate on the symbol of the circumpunct. This is how knowing the meaning of symbols can help you learn, grow and evolve.