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Robert E. Wood always taught that it was important to create a ‘unified whole' within the frame. He called this ‘Containment'. The subject was to be whole, not dependent on anything outside of itself and not leading to anything beyond itself.

Similarly Christopher Alexander in his book, The Nature of Order, explains that everything is coming from the whole. It is an unfolding process in nature where the whole is differentiating itself but doing so with the same underlying algorithm. It is this whole and the underlying algorithms that make forever paintings and it is the job of the artist to use these underlying principles in the design of a successful painting.

Woods List included the following...

Unity

Balance

Containment

Alexander's List is a bit longer....

Levels of Scale

Strong Centers

Boundaries

Levels of Scale
Strong Centers
Boundaries
Alternating Repetition
Positive Space (no leftovers)
Good Shapes
Local Symmetries
Deep Interlock and Ambiguity
Contrast
Gradients
Roughness
Echoes
The Void
Simplicity and Inner Calm
Non-Separateness

What we find is that these same principles go beyond just painting and into all pursuits in the world. Anything that seems to have the ‘forever' feel seems to have more of these than not involved in its design.     

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Personal Speculation on the Meaning and Purpose of the Great Pyramid

The Egyptians were symbolic in nature so the Great Pyramid may symbolize one or more concepts or ideas.

1. The upright pyramid form has been considered by some(multi cultural) as a symbol of mans striving for order and knowledge.
2. Pi and Phi are locked into the design of the Pyramid as they are in the human body.
3. No writing or other symbols exist in the great pyramid except for the name of Kufu(on one place above the Kings chamber) which recently has been exposed as a possible hoax through the diaries of an explorer of the 1800's.
4. The architect/builder of the First Pyramids (Imhotep) had great knowledge of medicine and astronomy.
5. In viewing the Great Pyramid from the point of view of a constructed symbolic object a thought occurred to me. The thought was that perhaps one of its meanings may have been as a symbolic representation of the human mind-brain complex.
6. It is known and documented that one use of the pyramid was as an initiation tool or venue used by the priests where the pharaohs were said to have spent time and gained understanding of the mysteries. As a place of ritual it could have taken on the guise of that part of the person(brain/ mind) that was to be initiated. If this is true then one of the layered meanings may be that of the human condition represented by the brain/ mind complex.
7. As so large and complex a structure it is not unreasonable to expect that the Egyptians would have used it to symbolize the greatest problems or issues of the time. It may have been meant to send us a message through time that reflected what they knew to be the case of the human condition. (Who we are and how we work.)
8. The interior construction of the great pyramid is unique to this point. While it shares some common design thoughts and ideas with other pyramids its interior is its own and may carry a different message.
9. The Symbol
1. Physically there are three parts to the Brain/ Mind complex as there are three main chambers accessible through the passageways of the pyramid.
2. The first part of the human brain comes down through the eons to us from the animal kingdom(reptilian?). It is the area that represents the forces of instinctual action. I believe that it is represented by the chamber below the ground(embedded in the earth) which appears to be unfinished but may have been left that way to depict the lack of self consciousness of the animal kingdom. It is the one that connects us with the earth and our ancestry from nature.
3. The second part of the human brain is that which deals with our intellectual/ logical nature and I believe that this is represented by the Kings Chamber. This is the chamber that represents the conscious mind. In the pyramid it is slightly off center and has two 8 inch ascending passageways that connect it to the outside of the structure. It must have been placed off center on purpose. Could it be that it is slightly off center because of the dominance of the left lobe of the brain(logic and linear thinking)? Could the 8 inch passageways symbolize the ears open to the physical world of space and time and could the five stress relieving chambers above the Kings chamber represent the five senses used by this part of our mind?
4. The third part of the human mind is that of the sub conscious. Could it be represented by the Queens Chamber? The Queens changer is aligned with the center of the pyramid. It is the middle room between the sub terrain one and the Kings chamber. It to has small ascending passageways but they seem to stop within the pyramid. Is it possible that the designers intended these small passageways to be symbolic of the connection to our inner self. It has been speculated and proven to some degree that there are other rooms connected to the queen's chamber by these small passages. Could these contain a special form of knowledge that the initiate would have to glean to pass the initiation test? It has been written that an object of the initiation tests was to put the initiate into a state where they would experience out of body experiences. Was this an objective so they could visit these other chambers and come back with the knowledge and wisdom contained therein? If the pyramid as an initiation site for the leaders was to provide knowledge then it may have been secret knowledge only to be gained by a worthy initiate. Buddhist texts suggest that initiates into the mysteries would have access through sub conscious meditative processes(known today as remote viewing ) to travel to anywhere in the universe. It is suggested that with these mental techniques one can gain access to a body of knowledge that we have lost touch with in the distant past. This is due to the development and domination of the second part of our brain mind complex.
10. If the ancients knew that what we were just beginning to grasp again was the real knowledge of wisdom and power that is within and not without then it is possible that they would have wanted to secure that notion in something that could withstand the ravages of time. It is a story in rock and this may be one if its meanings. If they knew that it was within our more powerful sub conscious mind where all of the answers lie then they may have wanted that idea to outlive their mortal existence. It is a big idea and would have required a big symbol. The great historian Toynbee called the ritual experience that seems to have gone on in the pyramid as ‘ Withdrawal and Return'. He said that in any given age certain people(leaders) withdraw from society and contemplate the problems and issues of the time. Once they have ‘received the answers' they return to the phenomenal world with their new found gifts and the world is reborn. I believe that it is possible that one of the purposes of the Great Pyramid was as a ‘withdrawal and return machine'. Once in the pyramid(and I can personally attest to this) you are cut off from outside sensory data and placed in a state of isolation that would enhance any form of meditative state.      
11. The Egyptians believed that one was responsible for making progress while on the earth(preparation for the next state of life after death). They would have done all they could to support this belief even to the point of constructing means for man(and civilization) to progress to the next stage. One of their symbolic practices was the idea of the weighing of the heart. It was symbolically weighed on a scale against the weight of a feather to determine whether or not the dead victim had lead a worthy life that would allow them ascendance into the afterworld. Building the pyramid as an initiation machine may have been one way of helping the leaders lead such lives.
12. Perhaps the geometry of the pyramid will give further evidence that this was, at least on one level, an initiation machine used to inform the leaders and allow the civilization to take advantage of knowledge not readily apparent in the conscious mind
13. Perhaps if the Pyramid did allow assess to the sub conscious, and the sub conscious is tied into a common field of all knowledge(as has been speculated by many) then the great Library once sought as a physical manifestation may in fact not be physical at all. It may exist, as it always has, within the depths of our own psyche. (The Tree of Knowledge?)
14. Note: the Egyptians were well versed in what we call today ‘depth psychology.
15. In the Kabala(practice of mystical Judaism) the three basic worlds are those of the Nefesh(animal world/ world of action), Ruach(world of formation/ elementary consciousness/ emotions), and the Neshama(world of creation/ spiritual world/ inner world). This tradition seems to have in it the seeds of what this possible symbolic meaning of the great pyramid is all about.

Summary:

If we accept that the world has experienced many civilizations all of which have risen only to decline then we way assume that the builders of the Great Pyramid were also aware of this in their time.

If they knew that one of the main reasons for this was the way that man thinks(his nature) and that he has always been driven by self interest ego and greed(intellect coupled with instinct) then they may have wanted to pass this on to the future as a built in but dangerous path.

Perhaps the Great Pyramid was an attempt to change this situation forever and to send man off on a new path(higher level of consciousness) that might be more successful. A path created from the inner depths of our spirit and not the outer needs and desires of our ego.

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To me the Sphinx, along with the Great Pyramid of Giza represents a single message. It is a message in stone that is concerned with the inner development of the human brain/ mind complex.

At the dawn of civilization our inner nature was changing with the emergence of a new and more dominant layer of mind. The emergence of this new layer represented an addition to the already present layer of instinctual mind. We still had our instincts but we were now self conscious.

Further we could plan, create and thus dominate the lower species that did not have this facility. We could now both create and destroy with more power than any species on the planet. We had thus become the most capable of development and the most dangerous. We had a new and dominant voice in our heads coupled with our old and instinctual (survival of the fittest) mind.

Personal Speculation on the Meaning and Purpose of the Sphinx

1. If the Sphinx had been fashioned with a Human Body and a Lion Head it would have carried a message of one of the weakest and most vulnerable animals on the planet. It would have had a body that lacked the physical strength that its mind required for success in the environment. Instead it seems to represent a new hybrid species that has the greatest mind and the most powerful body. It can both think and execute at new levels of performance.
2. On a recent trip to Egypt our guide related to us the logic behind the great monuments of Abu Simbel. They were made, he told us, on a large scale to scare anyone encountering them on the border of Egypt and Nubia. The Sphinx I believe was also meant to scare anyone encountering it or groups of it as exist in Luxor along the Avenue of the Sphinx.  The message seems to be, ‘beware as we are thinking men with the power of lions'.

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